I.  Choosing a Topic
Choosing a topic or research question for your project can be a long and arduous task, and may be the hardest part of writing a research paper. Here are some questions that can help you through the process of finding a topic:
Some sources that may lead you to a topic or research question are: 
Initial Evaluation of Your Topic
Early on it is helpful to conduct some preliminary searches on your topic to ascertain if there are enough relevant and available resources you can use to complete your paper.  Are there books relevant to your topic in the library?  Search the TCNJ Library Catalog. 

Do some searches in  Sociological Abstracts or Social Sciences Abstracts using key concepts derived from your topic.  Depending on your results, it may be necessary to modify or refine your topic. 

Refining Your Topic
If your preliminary searches produced too many books and/or articles, you should consider narrowing your topic to something more specific.  You can narrow by population, age group, gender, occupational group, race or ethnic group, theoretical approach, time period, or research method.  For example, instead of writing about racism, focus on racism or racist violence between two age groups or nationalities.  Broad topics are hard to write about because too much information is available. 

If you find too few resources, consider broadening your topic.  For example, instead of  writing about the social impact of violence on television on children between the ages of two and four, write about the impact on elementary school children.  Topics that are too obscure and specific can be just as hard to write about as topics that are too broad. 

If you haven't found anything at all in the library, consider choosing a new topic. Discuss your research question  and preliminary searches with your professor.  She will be able to provide guidance.   It is better to change your topic early on  than to scramble for a new one two days before your paper is due! 

II.  Researching Your Topic
You've chosen and, perhaps, refined your topic.  Now it is time to do in depth research for your project.  Below is a list of resources to use.  Make sure to keep track of these, and in particular, note keywords you have used to search book and article databases.  This will save you time if you need to backtrack later. 
 
Books:
Articles:

An important aspect of writing a research paper is knowing the differences between scholarly journal articles and popular magazine articles.  You need to ask your professor what type of article is required-research papers usually cite scholarly articles.  Is This a Scholarly Journal? is a useful guide to distinguishing scholarly periodical sources from popular sources.  You may also want to consult Finding Scholarly Articles. 

Scholarly Databases:

Interdisciplinary Databases:
These periodical databases cross disciplines and also provide access to both popular and scholarly articles.  If you do not know how to access/use any of the above databases, ask a reference librarian!!

Internet Sites:

 

III.  Analyzing and Evaluating Your Resources
Critical thinking is an extremely important part of the research process. As you collect and read your sources, you might want to consider the following questions: 
Critically Analyzing Information Sources (Cornell University Libraries) is a useful guide to appraising your resources. 

Additionally, evaluating what you find on the World Wide Web is extremely important.  Anyone can publish on the Web, and you must critically evaluate information you find there, before including it in your paper. Do consult  Evaluating Web Sites for useful questions to ask. 

IV.  Writing Your Paper
We each have our own approach to writing a paper.  Below are steps you might want to follow and some general points  to consider: 
The following  guides are also useful: 

Books:

Internet Sites:

Please send and questions or comments to whitela2@tcnj.edu