Download - Choosing a topic
Choosing a Topic5 Methods
Take your time to look for a topic
Look around “to see if a juicier topic may be in full view nearby” (George 30).
Think about preparing the topic for company
“Choose something that interests you” (George 31).
See Mary George’s book The Elements of Library Research: What Every Student Needs to Know. Princeton, NJ: Princeton UP, 2008. (30-31)
Toadstool Peeking
See Artful Danni’s Peeking in the Fairy Door: http://www.flickr.com/photos/danniquee/
Ask Advantage
◦ Instructor = interested in whatever they recommend
◦ Knows your strengths & weaknesses
◦ Knows library collection Disadvantage
◦ You may not be interested
◦ Instructor may be an expert on the topic Seek and relish wisdom Ignore her fame
See Mary George’s book The Elements of Library Research: What Every Student Needs to Know. Princeton, NJ: Princeton UP, 2008. (31-32)
Read
Record intriguing facts Start your research log
Multiple summaries in reference tools◦ Encyclopedia Britannica◦ Wikipedia◦ Plus more
Note how various accounts of a subject differ
Find and record keywords to search with later.
See Mary George’s book The Elements of Library Research: What Every Student Needs to Know. Princeton, NJ: Princeton UP, 2008. (32-36)
Browse
Discover good books Meet “Serendipity”
Look at lists of references in textbooks or encyclopedias
Browse the library shelves aka stacks
Libraries organize books according to subjects
See Mary George’s book The Elements of Library Research: What Every Student Needs to Know. Princeton, NJ: Princeton UP, 2008. (36-40)
“Hence you can browse, or scan, your way to an exciting topic of your own by standing in one place” (George 37).
Look Primary Sources
◦ Evidence by or near whatever you are studying.
◦ Examples: Sonnet Speech Law Photograph Equation Stock market chart Computer graph of a drug
interaction Musical score Letter
◦ Can be shared with someone
Image courtesy of Suttonhoo:
http://suttonhoo.blogspot.com/2008/07/postdated.html
“One way to discover a captivating topic is to look deeply into a primary source to see what it tells you and to attempt to understand it in its original context.”
- Mary George
See Mary George’s book The Elements of Library Research: What Every Student Needs to Know. Princeton, NJ: Princeton UP, 2008. (41)
Link Think about what you
already know Canal building in
Idaho and transportation
Try to connect the dots
See Mary George’s book The Elements of Library Research: What Every Student Needs to Know. Princeton, NJ: Princeton UP, 2008. (41-42)
Seek approval from your instructor
Don’t go to the library or search on your computer for a whole day
Engage your imagination
Avoid drowning in a sea of sources before you know what to do with them
See Mary George’s book The Elements of Library Research: What Every Student Needs to Know. Princeton, NJ: Princeton UP, 2008. (42-43)
“A longer process is in fact easier to manage and a lot less painful than a compressed one.”
See James Good and “Balmy Ocean.”
What to do after choosing a topic