ECON-431 How Economies Grow (Zelada-Aprili)

This flowchart, based on chapter 2 of Kevin Michael Klipfel and Dani Brecher Cook's book Learner-Centered Pedagogy: Principles and Practice, is a good place to start brainstorming research topic ideas.

Having trouble coming up with a research topic?  Try using one (or more) of the strategies below to brainstorm some ideas, or check out the resources under the "Find Inspiration" tab to identify possible topics of interest:

• Freewriting – take 10-15 minutes to write anything that comes to mind without stopping to think about spelling, grammar, punctuation, or if it even makes sense.
• Mind/Concept mapping – start with a main idea in the middle and draw spokes out for additional related concepts or terms.  After creating the mind map, look at it to identify patterns or areas of interest.
• Bullet list – start with your main topic then add subtopics and concepts to touch upon beneath. Similar to a mind map, but in outline form, so it's slightly more structured.
• 3 Perspectives – this strategy helps you look at your concept from different angles, so you can decide how you might want to approach it in your research.  Answer questions related to the following three perspectives:
  • Describe it
  • Trace it (what’s the history of your subject/topic?)
  • Map it (what is your subject related to?  What does it influence or is influenced by? Etc.)
• Cubing – this strategy helps you look at your topic from 6 different perspectives and brainstorm different ways to approach it in your research by responding to the following prompts:
  • Describe it
  • Compare it
  • Associate it
  • Analyze it
  • Apply it
  • Argue for and against it
• Journalistic questions – asking journalistic questions (i.e. Who, What, Where, When, Why, and How) helps you brainstorm different areas of interest related to your topic, or areas you want to learn more about.  Writing questions down can also help you identify patterns in your thinking, or foundational information you need to get in order to better understand your topic.

This list is based off the "Brainstorming" handout by the Writing Center for the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

What is "Pre-Research"?

Pre-research is what you do when you're just beginning to brainstorm or explore a potential research topic.  Pre-research typically involves doing basic internet searches to learn more about the topic and discover potential aspects of your topic to focus your research on that interest you.  During pre-research you are beginning to build background knowledge on your topic, identify key terms you might use to search library databases for more authoritative sources later, and generating additional questions, or areas of intrigue about your topic to explore further.  To do this you might look at some Wikipedia articles, news articles, or websites related to your topic. You probably won't end up using any of these resources as sources in your final project, but this is an important stage in the research process because it helps you better understand your topic, begin turning the topic into a research question, and starts you on the path to find more credible, authoritative, and scholarly sources, which you will cite in your final project.

Simple Guide to Pre-Research

1. Do a quick internet search of your topic
2. Scan some Wikipedia articles, news articles, or websites related to your topic
3. Write down common "buzzwords" you come across
4. Write down any questions or thoughts that occur to you during this process

Advanced Google Searching

Search Strings

Combine keywords and phrases to form a "search string."

Example) "climate refugees" AND immigration policies AND "United States"

or... ("climate refugees" OR "climate change") AND immigration AND "United States" AND policies

AND tells the database you are looking for ALL of the listed terms and will narrow your results

OR tells the database you want EITHER of the listed terms and will help expand your results if you're not finding what you're looking for

You can also use NOT to tell the database you do NOT want to see sources with the specified term(s).

Quotes

Notice how key phrases are grouped together with quotation marks.

Ex.) "climate refugees"  /  "United States"

Using quotes tells the database to search for the words together as a phrase instead of searching for each word independently. Note that while this can be a very helpful tool, especially when you are looking for a very specific phrase, sometimes you might want to try searching for the terms without quotes. It's a good idea to try searches using quotes around key phrases and without to see which results in better results.

Filters

Filters are a useful tool in narrowing your search results to the specific type of source you are looking for. The most common filters you will likely use are:

• Publication Date - typically you will look for sources published within the past 5-10 years, but depending on your research question or topic that range could change.
• Material Type - this filter is helpful when you are looking specifically for books, articles, or another type of resource. Be sure to consider which resource type will best fit your needs before applying this filter.
• Peer Reviewed - if you are looking for academic articles, you will most likely want to use the "Peer Reviewed" filter as these articles are often considered the "gold standard" of scholarly articles. 

Although these are the most common types of filters people use when searching for resources, do not limit yourself to these and feel free to explore and use other available filters as you feel are useful and appropriate for your research.

Think Tanks & Research Institutes

Intergovernmental Organizations (IGOs)

U.S. Government Organizations

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