Conducting Preliminary Research

A research plan should begin after you can clearly identify the focus of your argument. First, inform yourself about the basics of your topic (Wikipedia and general online searches are great starting points). Be sure you’ve read all the assigned texts and carefully read the prompt as you gather preliminary information.  This stage is sometimes called pre-research.

Preliminary Search Tips

1. It is okay to start with Wikipedia as a reference, but do not use it as an official source. For more ideas, look at the links and references at the bottom of the page.
2. Use “Ctrl+F” to find certain words within a webpage and jump to the sections of the article that interest you.
3. Use Google Advanced Search to be more specific in your search. You can also use tricks to be more specific within the main Google Search Engine:
   1. Use quotation marks to narrow your search from just tanks in WWII to “Tanks in WWII” or “Tanks” in “WWII”.
   2. You can find specific types of websites by adding “site:.gov,” “site:.edu,” or “site:.org.” You can also search for specific file types, like “filetype:.pdf.”
4. Click on “Search Tools” under the search bar in Google and select “Any time” to see a list of options for time periods to help limit your search. You can find information just in the past month or year or even for a custom range.

For more tips on refining your Google searches, watch this video:

^{Credit: “How To Google Like A Pro! Top 10 Google Search Tips & Tricks 2020” by Epictutorials License: All Rights Reserved. License Terms: Standard YouTube License.}

Using Google Scholar: An Academic Search Engine

An increasingly popular article database is Google Scholar. It looks like a regular Google search, and it aims to include the vast majority of scholarly resources available. While it has some limitations (like not including a list of which journals they include), it’s a very useful tool if you want to cast a wide net.

Here are three tips for using Google Scholar effectively:

1. Add your topic field (economics, psychology, French, etc.) as one of your keywords. If you just put in “crime,” for example, Google Scholar will return all sorts of stuff from sociology, psychology, geography, and history. If your paper is on crime in French literature, your best sources may be buried under thousands of papers from other disciplines. A set of search terms like “crime French literature modern” will get you to relevant sources much faster.
2. Don’t ever pay for an article. When you click on links to articles in Google Scholar, you may end up on a publisher’s site that tells you that you can download the article for $20 or $30. Don’t do it! You probably have access to virtually all the published academic literature through your library resources. Write down the key information (authors’ names, title, journal title, volume, issue number, year, page numbers) and go find the article through your library website. If you don’t have immediate full-text access, you may be able to get it through inter-library loan.
3. Use the “cited by” feature. If you get one great hit on Google Scholar, you can quickly see a list of other papers that cited it. If they cited that work, then these papers may also be useful to you. For example, the search term “crime economics” yielded this hit for a 1988 paper that appeared in a journal called Kyklos:

A broad online search will yield thousands of sources that no one could be expected to read through. To make it easier on yourself, the next step is to narrow your focus. Think about what kind of position or stance you can take on the topic. What about it strikes you as most interesting? Figuring out the subtopic or niche that you want to research can save you a lot of time finding sources.

As you narrow your focus, create a list of questions that you’ll need to answer in order to write a good essay on the topic.  The research process will help you answer these questions.

Another part of your research plan should include the type of sources you want to gather. This may mean you want to focus more on scientific research papers or find more popular newspaper articles. Keep track of these sources in a bibliography and jot down notes about the book, article, or document and how it will be useful to your essay. This will save you a lot of time later in the essay process—you’ll thank yourself!