The University of Kansas Libraries

Getting Started

Choose your topic, considering:

• Your interests (for suggestions see Research Paper Topics)
• Your assignments/discipline requirements
• Time factors

Think about what types of information will help you answer your questions and how you might learn more about your topic

• Interviews with someone who knows a lot about your topic (talking to a professor or a local expert on domestic violence)
• Direct personal observation (studying the Massachusetts street McDonalds as an example of the impact of fast food chains on a downtown community)
• Library research (see Choosing Materials, or talk with a librarian to discover some possibilities)

Begin gathering information and, based upon your findings, start refining your topic to a working thesis and developing an outline

• Do you need to narrow, broaden, or change your focus?
• Are you able to work with (locate, evaluate) the information you'll need in the amount of time that you have available?
• Should you be incoroporating materials from class, such as course readings, lectures, or discussions?
• If you're having difficulty, can someone (instructor, librarian, friend) help you refine your topic?

Follow through by finding and organizing information to satisfy your working thesis and outline.

• Think about how this information pertains to your ideas (confirms, challenges, etc.)
• Take notes, and begin to synthesize your ideas for the project.

Outline and prepare (write, design, etc.) a rough draft of your paper or project.

• Set it aside for a while if possible and then reread and revise it
• Consult with the Writing Center if you have questions about presenting your research in writing.
• You may need to return to the previous step.

Final readthrough.

• Check over your ideas, presentation, organization, grammar, spelling, citations, etc.

Be prepared to refine and re-think your approach to the topic. Everyone works differently, but many researchers change their topic throughout the course of their research--while they are reading an article about the topic and learn something new, or when they are writing their draft and discover they are interested in a different question or angle.