To properly focus your topic on a research question, you first need to understand what is known and believed about your topic, in other words, the scholarly consensus on your topic. Begin with reference sources, such as encyclopedia articles, textbooks, surveys in books and articles, informational web sites, and statistics. Make a note of any questions or unresolved issues about the topic. These may make good research questions!
Research on a college level is not the compiling and regurgitating of information that papers in the past were, they are about investigation, about finding the answers to questions. Your research should answer a question, your research question, thesis statement or hypothesis. Your topic should be stated in the form of a question that directs your research. Getting to a focused thesis takes a few steps where a broad subject is broken into more focused topics which in turn are whittled down to form a research question. You often have to start at the broad base of the subject to get to a focused research question.
For more help using Boolean Searching See the LibGuide Boolean Searching
