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The Craft of Research, Booth et al.
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Booth, W. C., Booth, W. C., Colomb, G. G., Williams, J. M., & FitzGerald, W. T. (2016). The craft of research (Fourth edition.). University of Chicago Press.
See chapters 3-6 for more information, explanation, and examples. |
Use this Google doc (make a copy) to help you work through the research process.
Move from Topics to Questions
| 1. Start by writing a question or two to guide you as you research. |
What are the benefits of intramural sports for college students? Do college students who participate in intramural sports get better grades or make more friends or have better coping skills than students who don't? |
Add details to help you focus and clarify your research goals. (From Booth, Ch. 3)
p. 49
For example:
I am studying the possible benefits of intramural sport participation for college students because I want to find out if those student benefit in more than just physical ways in order to help my reader understand that participation in sports is about more than professional sports and to highlight the social and mental benefits of being physically active in a group activity.
| 2. Break down your question into its essential concepts to identify keywords. | What are the benefits for college students who engage in intramural sports? |
| 3. Brainstorm synonyms for each of your key concepts / keywords. |
benefits... physical, mental, social, academic, etc. college students... college, university, undergraduate intramural sports... specific sport: soccer, basketball AND/OR group: women |
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4. Decide which databases will have the information you seek. |
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| 5. Search by combining terms. This part is experimental. You will need to adjust - use different terms, combine terms in new ways, etc. until you find what you need. |  |
| 6. Look at the records for articles that seem promising to see what search terms the database uses to describe them. Add those to your keyword list. |
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| 7. Analyze your results. Read the title and abstract. Decide which articles are most likely to meet your needs. |  |
*If you find that your question has been asked and answered by another author or authors, look at the discussion or next steps section of their work to see what gaps they have identified. Use that information to help you draft a different research question related to your topic and start this process again.
| 8. Use the Share button to keep track of what you found (articles), where you found them (databases) and what search terms you used. |  |
If you get stuck at any point in this process, contact a librarian - we're always happy to help!