Take some time to make sure that you understand your assignment question.
It can be helpful to highlight the keywords in the question and to think about the wider concepts that are relevant to the topic. These keywords and concepts will help you search for information.
For example, your essay question may be:
Some possible alternative keywords for some of the concepts in this topic are shown in the table below.
|
Original keyword |
Alternative keyword 1 |
Alternative keyword 2 |
---|---|---|---|
Concept 1 |
Impact |
Death |
Injury |
Concept 2 |
Social conditions |
Demographics |
Socioeconomic factors |
Concept 3 | International relations | Foreign relations | Intergovernmental relations |
Ask Yourself:
How recent?
Do you need current information, a historical overview or a combination of both?
What type of sources?
You might think differently about your topic once you start researching it. This is normal. Just redefine your topic as you go and adjust your search strategies.
Sometimes you may be asked to come up with your own research question to write about. It can be daunting to try and think of a topic that is original and interesting. Generating Ideas is a short module which will give you some good pointers to get you started with thinking creatively around a topic. Just log in to iLearn to get started.