Students often see research as a linear process that they can proceed through to create a successful paper or project, but as you know, research is more circular than that.
We often explain to our students that the three beginning steps of the research process are:
- brainstorming keywords to use in a search for information (this keyword tool might help)
- reading contextual (or background information) to gain more knowledge and find more keywords (you can encourage students to use encyclopedias, wikipedia, etc. to broaden their understanding of a topic)
- evaluating the information we've found and gaining contextual information and finding more keywords.
Even after students have done a bit of background searching, landed on a topic, and brainstormed keywords, explain that:
- it is normal to search more than one database and try many keywords before you locate useful sources
- They may realize they are missing a crucial pieces of information (and have to search again)
- They may realize that they want to focus on a different aspect of a topic
That's okay! Research is an iterative process and it will look different for every person and project. Circling back and trying something new is a good way to get better results - use examples of this from your own research in your explanation.
