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Research Process for Assignments

This guide will walk you through the research process, from selecting a topic to doing your search and putting it all together.

Finding the Right Topic

Think of your topic like the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears. You don't want it to be too broad or to narrow, but just right.

​​​​Overly Broad Topics:

Searching for an overly broad topic will return too many results, and you'll be stretched thin trying to talk about everything in the page limit of your paper.

Overly Specific Topics:

If you're too narrow in your focus, you won't be able to find any results.

Just Right:

A manageable topic is narrowed down just enough to be interesting. You'll get results, but not thousands or millions. Because you have a clearer idea of what you're looking for, you have options for make those search results even better.

Examples

Overly Broad:   

test-taking stress

Too Narrow:

stress impact on Hispanic college students aged 18-24 in electrical engineer programs test-taking ability

Just Right:

stress impact on college students test-taking ability