Brainstorming is a skill that will help you think critically and creatively. Give yourself some time to think about the assignment and think about what you’ve learned in class that may be relevant to a potential paper topic. Set yourself a timer for 15 minutes or less and start writing down ideas. You can either use a blank Word document, a sheet of paper, or one of the online tools listed below to help you get your ideas in front of you. Don’t overthink it, just write down everything that comes to mind.
Once you’ve completed the initial brainstorming process, review all your ideas. If you haven’t thought of anything particularly interesting yet, start your timer and write down more ideas.
Did you get too many results? If so, try some of these ideas to narrow down your results:
Narrow by dates (only newer, older, or a specific range of dates)
Narrow by type of source (peer-reviewed journals, magazines, etc. based on the assignment’s guidelines)
Add another of the search terms you listed above, connecting the two with the “AND” provided in the database’s Advanced Search
Using the database’s Advanced Search option, change “AND” to “NOT” to exclude terms you don’t want (ex. “Pride and Prejudice” NOT film)
Put any multi-word phrases into “quotation marks” to prevent other words from coming between them
Try searching within a specific publication
Try using a specialized limiter for the database(s) you’re searching (for example, PsycINFO offers a Methodology limiter; Education Source has one for Lesson Plans; and Business Source Complete lets you search for Company Reports, Case Studies, or Product Reviews)
There are many databases you can use to look for background information, such as Credo Ref, Gale Virtual Ref Library, and Wikipedia. If you decide to use Wikipedia, however, make sure you know how to use it correctly!