Pre-writing strategies for narrowing your topic and writing a strong thesis statement:
1) Brainstorm by answering these questions:
What do you want to know? What are your interests? What do you wonder about those topics?
What do you want your essay to accomplish? How well does this topic fit the assignment? Why does this matter? Why do you believe what you do about the topic?
What are the different facets to this topic? Who are the parties involved?
2) Brainstorm some more. . .
I wonder if...
Is it possible...
What would happen if...
What does the future hold for...
Learn how to use the keywords developed after watching the video above, and improve your search results.
Identify KEYWORDS from your RESEARCH QUESTION
Keywords will help you search for information
KEYWORDS ARE:
Tips for finding Keywords:
How to write a research question: From the Writing Center at George Mason University. (WORD)
Creating a Thesis Statement: Tips and examples for writing thesis statements from Purdue OWL.
Thesis Statement: From the Writing Center at George Mason University. (WORD)
Two minute video explaining how to create effective keywords for searching databases.
Keywords best represent your main
Keywords are NOT whole statements or questions.Space
Improving Your Keywords:
Use Synonyms
The vocabulary you use may be different than vocabulary used by others. Look for the "Subjects" the database uses to tag or label the articles you find.
Tip: Databases offer related terms and subject terms as links
Use Related Terms:
Techniques: