The Library Research Process, Step-by-Step

1. Review Assignment: What's the assignment? What are the expectations for your work? Are there any specific parameters that you need to be aware of?

2. Brainstorm: Pick a topic that interests you! Do you have a strong opinion on something? Do you have a personal issue, problem, or pastime that you would like to know more about?

• Librarian Tip: The research and writing will go by more quickly if you care about the topic you are researching!

3. Find Background Information: Reading an overview of a topic will allow you to better understand the landscape of what you are researching. This in turn will allow you to narrow in on a specific concept that piques your interest.

• Librarian Tip: This process also allows you to find common vocabulary used in the field, which offers you keywords for your resource searching. Make a list of these keywords as you are going.

4. Focus Your Topic: Make sure to keep your work manageable by honing in on a specific thesis statement or question.

• Librarian Tip: Remember to stay flexible while picking a thesis statement, if a topic is too broad or too narrow it will be hard to research. So keep in mind - picking your topic is research!

Make sure you understand your assignment thoroughly. Is it an argumentative paper, where you will need to choose a side and find evidence to support it? Or is it a literature review or annotated bibliography, where you need to find quality sources and be able to summarize them?

If you're not sure, talk to your instructor! They can help you better understand your assignment.

The library has specialized databases which summarize both sides of an issue. These may help you develop a topic, and help you track down appropriate research. You can also search your ideas on Wikipedia to learn more about them and help inform your topic development.

Library Databases:

Sometimes a topic that seems like the right size for your paper can seem way too big after you’ve learned a little more about it. When this happens, you need to narrow the focus of your paper. You can do this by considering different ways to restrict your paper topic.

Some of the ways you can limit your paper topic are by:

• Who – population or group (e.g., college students; women; Asian Americans)
• What – discipline or focus (e.g., sociological or historical perspective)
• Where – geographic location (e.g., United States; universities; small towns)
• When – time period or era (19^th century; Renaissance; Vietnam War)
• Why – why is the topic important? (to the class, to the field, or to you)

For example, a paper about social media would be very broad. But a paper about social media use by female college students in the United States since 2010 might be just right.

Try using the U-M Library-designed Goldilocker tool (a search strategy generator) to help you determine and narrow down your topic. The tool will prompt you to think about the Who, What, When, and Where aspects of your topic. 

It will look something like this: 

General Topic: social media and its effects on the mental health of female-identifying college students 
Who: female-identifying college students 
What: social media 
When: since 2010
Where: United States

Sometimes you will find that your topic is too narrow - there is not enough published on your topic. When this happens, you can try to broaden your topic. There are a couple of strategies you can try when broadening your topic.

Tip #1: choose less specific terms for your search, e.g., standardized tests instead of SATs, or performance-enhancing drugs instead of anabolic steroids.

Tip #2: broaden your topic by changing or removing limits or filters from your topic:

• Who - population or group (e.g., instead of college students, choose a broader section of the population)
• What  - discipline or focus (e.g., instead of choosing a sociological perspective, look at a number of perspectives)
• Where  - geographic location (e.g., instead of Michigan, choose United States)
• When  - time period or era (e.g., instead of 1999, choose 1980s or 20th century)

For example, a paper about Tik Tok use by female identifying college students at the University of Michigan in 2024 might be too narrowly defined. But a paper about social media use by female identifying college students since 2010 might be just right.