The Research Process

Though every department has its own variations, the basic components of the research process remain the same.  During your research, your findings may require you to rethink, revise, or adjust your initial research topic and search strategies.  Part of the research process may include circling back to repeat the steps, which is normal. (All links open in a new window)

The basic steps to the research process include:

• Choosing your topic.
• Conducting background research to learn more about it.
• Narrowing your topic into a specific research question.
• Using the library's database to find sources on your topic.
• Evaluating your sources for credibility.
• Citing your sources.

Choosing your topic

A well-developed topic is crucial in beginning academic research.  The Waters Library has online resources to help you create keyword synonyms and brainstorming using Credo Mind Map to organize your thoughts.

Conduct background research to learn more about it

Ask open-ended "how" and "why" questions about your topic.  This will also help you find search terms. These databases provide an overview of topics:

• Gale General OneFile

• Credo Reference

• Oxford Reference

Narrowing your topic into a specific research question

Narrowing your topic before locating sources helps you focus on specific details (words, phrases and concepts), making your search more accurate and applicable to the concepts you are researching.  It also helps by eliminating topics that may frequently come up during your search. 

Use the library's database to find sources on your topic

Finding sources involves using effective search techniques that tools.  Our Getting Started with OneSearch research guide offers practical solutions for developing search terminology, finding resources and other tips for a successful search.

Evaluate your sources for credibility

Evaluating your sources ensures that your research is based on credible and relevant information.  This process enhances the quality and reliability of your work.  The page on evaluating sources is invaluable in ensuring your sources are credible.

Citing your sources

Citing your work is crucial because it gives credit to original authors, avoids plagiarism, and allows readers to verify your sources and further explore the topic. The Waters Library created Citing with APA to help students properly cite their work by providing examples, organizing your citations and will help you spot common errors in citations.

Optional Instructional Modules

Credo Information Literacy is a suite of online instructional modules designed to help students develop an understanding of information literacy for research and is available for use, on campus or off.  The InfoLit-Core component of Credo Information Literacy offers self-paced modules that includes:

• Getting Started with Research
• Searching for Information
• Evaluating Sources
• Citations