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Step 1: Have a Question.
Questions help to direct our information needs all throughout our personal lives.
Asking questions help to determine what resource to use to find the information
you need.
For example, when buying a car you might ask,
"am I getting a good deal?" and you might answer your question by checking the Kelley
Blue Book for your answer.
Or when going to the movies, you might ask,
"what time is the movie playing?" and to answer your question,
you might check the newspaper or use a service like Fandango.
However, in your college career you will have an information need when your
professor gives you an assignment that requires you to research a topic.
In this case you will generally need to use the scholarly resources, including
books and articles,
provided through the library. Having a question,
just as it does in your personal life, will help you to better identify what
types of information
and how much information you will need. So,
before you begin searching for materials, but, after you have read and understand
the assignment
you will need to have a question that you will want to answer
through your research. A question should not be too broad
or too narrow, it should be just right for the assignment.
For example, if you need to write a three to five page paper within the field of
health education
you might ask, "what can be done to improve public health?"
However, this topic is so huge by itself
that when weighed against a three to five page paper is
way too big! This topic is much too broad for even a whole book to cover all
of the issues. Then you might get more specific and ask
"How does the physical education of females,
ages 5 to 15, living in the Western Addition neighborhood of San Francisco,
affect their overall all well-being?" However,
when this question is weighed against a three to five page paper,
this topic is way too narrow. It involves one health topic within a very, very
narrow community,
which might be appropriate if you are conducting a small-scale study,
but for three to five page paper for your class
it is too little. A more appropriate choice to begin with
would be to just use the health issue and ask, "what role
does physical education play in an individual's overall well-being?"
This question is just right to begin searching for information.
If you have trouble thinking about question within your field of study
try brainstorming, mind-mapping, a thesaurus,
searching in Google, or encyclopedias.
Now it is your turn! Click the Next button to enter in the question that you
want to try answering through your research.