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Information Skills Tutorial: Define Your Research Topic

Defining your search

Right at the very start spend time thinking about your subject – be clear in your mind about what’s being asked of you.  You need to ask yourself :

  • Do I understand the title of my piece of work?  
  • What am I looking for?
  • What do I need to find out?  

Textbooks on your reading lists are always a good place to start.  Or, have you thought about using an encyclopaedia to help define and clarify your subject?   Remember to use a dictionary in your subject area to look up any terms you do not understand.  Don’t forget that many of our reference sources are now available online.  Find out more in the reference sources section of this guide.

Dictionaries and encyclopaedia in the Library

Encyclopedia of Human Nutrition
Routledge Encyclopedia of Language Teaching and Learning

Encyclopaedia on the web

Be careful when you do your background research on the web.  Sites like Wikipedia are generally not recommended by lecturers, so use with great care.

Remember the 4 Ws:
Who?
 Who wrote the online article you are planning to cite?
When?  When was is written?  Is it up to date?
Why?  Why was it written?  Is the author biaised? 
Where?  Where did the author get their information from?  Do they cite their sources?