(North Carolina State University Libraries, 2014, CC BY-NC-SA)
Whether you are working with a clear topic; a rudimentary idea; or a research question: what if you start to look for resources to help but find very few--if any--sources?. If this happens, you have probably made your focus a bit too narrow.
The examples below show how you can broaden your question without completely changing the meaning.
Should Makah whaling rituals be permitted despite endangered species laws?
Should Native Americans practice religious and social customs outside of local and Federal laws?
What are the economic impacts of sweat shops on development in South Asia?
What are the impacts of U.S. labor practices on developing countries?
What happens if your question goes too far in the opposite direction--that is, it's too broad? The easiest solution to this problem involves taking your topic, in this case "Internet Security", and asking clarifying questions. This will be a great help in selecting the perfect topic for your project.
|
Strategy |
Explanation |
Example Topic: Internet Security |
|---|---|---|
|
Time |
Since 1990? This year? In the future? |
Current Internet security initiatives. |
|
Place |
Local social norms & values, economic & political systems, or languages. |
Internet security initiatives in the U.S |
|
Population |
Gender, age, occupation, ethnicity, nationality, educational attainment, species, etc. |
Filtering software and children's' access to Internet pornography |
|
Viewpoint |
Social, legal, medical, ethical, biological, psychological, economic, political, philosophical? A viewpoint allows you to focus on a single aspect. |
The constitutionality of Internet filtering technology |
(All images in table belong to the University of Idaho.)
Now that you've selected a topic, what's next? Actually searching for the information you need.
When choosing keywords for online searches, try to boil down the core topic into a few words or a short phrase.
| Example | Explanation |
|---|---|
| "media coverage of 9/11" | Media cover events. Unless the media caused the event, this term is unnecessary. |
| advantages of home schooling over public schools | Value words like "favorite," "advantage," or "better" are not useful if you need to gather evidence to help you make a decision or develop a solution. Don't just grab an opinion or the "right" answer off someone else's shelf. |
| dissertations about bioethics | Many databases and search engines are programmed to ignore common words that don't impact a search. These are called "stopwords" and typically include terms like "the," "from," "about," "when," etc. |
The two earlier sections focused on broadening and narrowing topic questions. The same techniques can be used on topic vocabulary as well. Example:
| Keywords | Broader | Related | Narrower |
|---|---|---|---|
| Native Americans | Indigenous peoples, North American history | Indians, Amerinds, North American Indians | Makah, Nez Perce, Cherokee, Kwakiutl, etc. |
| Customs | Social systems, anthropology, | Marriage, social relations, spirituality, rites and ceremonies, religion, culture |
Lodge house(s), hunting, whaling, potlatch, etc. |
| Law | Criminal justice, U.S. Constitution, constitutional law |
Legislation, crimes, treaty rights | Bureau of Indian Affairs, NAGPRA (Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act ), cases (e.g. Kennewick Man, Neah Bay whaling) |
The Reference Collection includes thousands of encyclopedias, dictionaries, handbooks, style manuals, and other resources to help you start your research. They can also help you find related subject terms and keywords.
These books can be found on the First Floor of the library near the Reference Desk.
Reference materials that are older or in less demand may also be shelved in the general collection on the Garden Level, so it is helpful to include the general collection when searching for background information.
Find background information to start your research on any topic. Content includes entries from various encyclopedias, dictionaries, thesauri, and other reference tools across all disciplines.
Electronic Access to the premier English language dictionary. Includes complete definitions with an etymology or history of each word. Extensive use of quotations from literature to show proper usage.
Discover the full panoply of American regional words, phrases, and pronunciations with DARE. The digital edition features audio, interactive maps, and insights into the DARE Survey.
In addition to content produced by S. Warden and the Reference Librarians at JDHL, the content for this module is adapted from PALNI Information Literacy Module 1.
All of the PALNI Information Literacy Modules are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
