Conduct initial research on the concept.

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You will need to research your concept in three stages:

  1. Gain an overview of the concept.
  2. Identify an aspect of the concept to focus on.
  3. Conduct enough research to learn about this aspect of the concept.

The following activities will help you begin putting your ideas into words that you may be able to use as you draft.

Ways In

WHAT DO I ALREADY KNOW?

WHAT DO I NEED TO LEARN?

Describe what you already know about the concept, reviewing textbooks and lecture notes as needed.

Why have you chosen the concept and why do you find it interesting?

  • My concept is important/useful for the study of because .

Explain the concept briefly, using as a starting point the sentence strategies below.

  • My concept can be divided into categories: , , .
  • Examples of my concept include , , and .
  • My concept is a [member of a larger category] that is/does/has [defining characteristics].
  • My concept is [similar to/different from] in these ways: .

Conduct a search on your concept using a reference database such as the Gale Virtual Reference Library or Web of Science. After reading several articles, list the following:

  • Names of experts on your subject
  • Terms, phrases, or synonyms that you might use as search terms later
  • Interesting aspects of the concept that you might want to focus on

Conduct a search for relevant books on your topic, and then click on each library record to find additional subject terms.

Enter the word overview or definition with the name of your concept into a search engine, and skim the top ten search results to get a general sense of your topic. Bookmark useful links, or save a copy (.edu, .gov, or .org sites are more likely to be reliable than .com. sites)