Tips and Hacks

Use the library database to start collecting relevant sources. Generally, your professor will have guidelines about amount and types of sources you need. Collect more as you will often find a number of them redundant or not as useful as anticipated (let alone problematic!).

Browse abstracts, introductions and conclusions. Take notes as you go to keep track of ideas, claims and evidence. Before you know it, you’ll have an annotated bibligraphy that is helpful for you as you dive further into the project.

Write your main claim or research question in three different ways. This will force you to articulate it in more sophisticated ways and provide you with options as you move to the next step.