The above visual simplifies the research process. Shown are all the steps, roughly in order, that should be taken when doing research. Depending on the end product, one may need more of one step than others. The black arrows indicate places where one may need to circle back to a previous step one or more times before moving onto the next step.
Step 1: Define topic
Know what you're trying to achieve (a research paper, a literature review, a presentation, a poster, a report, etc.) and your audience (a class, a conference, an employer, etc.). Use instructions from your professor to determine the broad topic, for example communication during World War II.
Step 2: Narrow the topic
Take what you already know about the broad topic and list out narrower ideas to research.
For example: "Communication during WWII" becomes propaganda posters, new technology, code languages as well as locations: European theater, South Pacific theater, US home front, etc. and audiences: politicians, military leaders, soldiers, civilians, etc.
Choose a topic that is most of interest to you or best matches the assignment. If a topic is interesting to you, the research won't be more interesting.
Step 3: Preliminary research
Do a little broad research in encyclopedias, books, or legitimate websites to see if the narrowed topic has enough information for your purposes. At this stage, Wikipedia is acceptable. You will likely narrow your topic even more during this process.
Examples at the end of this step:
Code Languages: The development and use of the Navajo language for use as code language in the South Pacific arena of World War II.
Code Languages: Methods used by Alan Turing to crack the German Enigma code in the European theater of World War II.
New Technology: The impact of Hedy Lamarr 's frequency hopping technology developed during World War II.
You may or may not need a thesis statement or research question. This is where you would develop it.
Step 4: Identify keywords
Using the narrowed topic, identify keywords - the unique words - for use in your research.
Examples:
Code Languages: The development and use of the Navajo language for use as code language in the South Pacific arena of World War II.
Code Languages: Methods used by Alan Turing to crack the German Enigma code in the European theater of World War II.
New Technology: The impact of Hedy Lamarr 's frequency hopping technology developed during World War II.
Note that alternate words or phrases might be needed, for example the Navajo language is also called the Diné language.
Step 5: Select sources and research
Armed with your narrowed topic and keywords, identify which sources you should use and start researching.
It's difficult to say, broadly, which sources one should start with because it depends so much on the subject. In general, match the purpose of a database with your subject, for example an education research paper should use education databases, a history research paper should use primary source databases, a medical research paper should use health, science, and medical databases, etc.
Consider searching broader through the library's main search function to search multiple databases at a time. Useful sources can be found in unexpected places.
Step 6: Evaluate sources
Using your method of choice, evaluate your sources. The method isn't as important as evaluating them, but some disciplines have preferred evaluation methods.
Writing, Revision, Citations
Once you've found your sources, you can start reading them, outlining your work, writing and revising your work, and citing your sources. You will likely cite your sources throughout the writing process rather than at the end.
