Library Research Skills Tutorial

1. Develop a Research Question
2. Narrow and Broad Topics
3. Current Event Topics
4. Module 1 Quiz

Estimate time 15 minutes

1. Examine your course outline and your course readings for a topic

2. Frame your topic as a problem - your research will address this problem

3. This is not your final thesis – you can revise your argument as you research

Preparing - Defining a Research Question and Doing Background Research.

Conestoga College Library(Closed Captioned) CC-BY

Finding Interesting Ideas

• Review course readings and classroom or tutorial discussions.

• Skim your notes from course readings and lectures for issues, topics or approaches

• Examine your course syllabus for course goals and context that may provide some ideas

Driving Questions

• Develop some driving questions (or problems) to guide your research.

• Begin by considering course themes or issues relevant to your assignment.

• Examine these and then pay attention to questions that come to mind.

Example of a Research Question:

In using the topics of poverty and childhood obesity, here are a few driving questions to consider:

• Are city-run programs successful at reducing the risk of childhood obesity?

• What is being done at the federal, provincial or city level to reduce childhood obesity?

• Why are poverty and childhood obesity linked

In some cases, your topic and questions may be too broad to be handled successfully within the length limits of a written assignment. You will need a strategy for narrowing the focus to something more manageable.

On the other hand, some topics and questions may prove too narrow and focused for an assignment, and you need to consider ways to broaden the topic.

It is not always easy to determine if a topic is too broad or too narrow for a specific assignment. Consult with your instructor (or Writing Support if you are unsure).

Here are some common strategies for narrowing or broadening topics.

Ways to Narrow your Topic

Screen Reader Script for Ways to Narrow your Topic (Google Doc)

Revise, revise, revise! 

Understanding the publication timeline is the key to tackling current event topics!

For current event topics, it's important to remember that  scholarly articles can take years to be published, but we don’t want you to think that you can’t write about current events. Writing on current events involves linking your current event to the larger topic  or to previous research on a similar event.

The Larger Topic:

So for example if you are writing on the use of social media to feel connected during Covid-19, you can look for research on how people use social media to feel connected and link this research to your current topic.

The Similar Event: 

If you topic is about how social media helped a current cause or social justice movement, look for research on previous social movements that were helped by social media and link this research to your movement. 

The following infographic outlines how you can use current resources like newspapers, blogs or music and older scholarly resources that are related to your current event.