How to Develop Research Questions/Topics
Before you begin the search,
Think about
1) Which topic in this class are you interested in?
-- think about all the readings, anything you find it useful
2) What are the current scholarships on this topic?
-- from the topic, try some search on Summon, Google Scholar or OBIS to start with.
3) What are the arguments/thesis of these scholarship? Do they agree with each other or against each other?
4) Which side of the argument you agree or disagree? Do you have your own argument?
-- from what you have found, extend your search, using Subject Heading search in OBIS, or particular database search for alternative keywords
Search Tips: how to use "AND" "OR" and "NOT";
| And | Or | Not |
| Each result contains all search terms. | Each result contains at least one search term. | Results do not contain the specified terms. |
| The search heart and lung finds items that contain both heart and lung. | The search heart or lung finds items that contain either heart or items that contain lung. | The search heart not lung finds items that contain heart but do not contain lung. |
Where to start your search?
can help you search the library catalog (OBIS), many of the full text and article indexing databases, as well as digital repositories from colleges, universities, research centers, and other open-access archives on the web.
OBIS
Find books, e-books, videos, scores, and recordings at Oberlin by title, author, subject, keyword, or other options.
OhioLINK
Can't find a book at Oberlin? Find and request materials held at 120 OhioLINK libraries. Requested items are delivered to the circulation desk on the first floor of Mudd Center, typically within 3-5 business days. The OhioLINK catalog describes over 46 million items, including books, periodicals, maps, music scores, and audiovisual materials.