Know What You're Asking
Research Like a Professor · Guide 1 of 9
A search box answers what you type, not what you mean. Five minutes spent shaping your question will save an afternoon of scrolling, and it's the step professors never skip.
From topic to question
A topic is a place to stand; a question is a direction to walk. Four moves get you from one to the other. The example running through them is made up to show the moves; it isn't a finding.
- Name your topic in a few words. For example: Pendleton County schools.
- Ask what you want to know about it. Who, when, where, why, or how? Pick the one that pulls at you. How did the county's small community schools close?
- Narrow it by place, time, or people. Each limit cuts the pile of possible sources down to the ones that matter. When did Pendleton County's one-room schools close between 1920 and 1960, and where did those children go?
- Test it: would you recognize the answer? If you can picture what an answer looks like, such as a list of closing dates or a map of new bus routes, your question is ready. If you can't, narrow again.
A good question often changes as you go. That's not a failure; it's the research working. Write down each new version so you can see where you've been.
Find the words other people used
Search tools match words, not ideas. The writers you're looking for may have described your question in words you'd never think to type. Before searching, list a few alternatives.
Everyday synonyms. Closing might appear as consolidation, merger, or redistricting. One-room school might appear as rural school, common school, or district school.
Older words. Records use the language of their time. Kentucky's state school reports from the early 1900s list "colored schools," the term then used for segregated Black schools. To find those records, you search the words they used, while knowing what those words meant.
The database's own words. Once you find one good article in your library's databases (guide 3), look at its subject terms, usually listed under the abstract. Search those terms next; they lead to the articles filed alongside it.
Three to five search terms is plenty to start. You'll add more as each search teaches you how your topic is talked about.
Your question on one page
Fill this in before you search, and bring it to your library's desk if you'd like help. Whoever is at the desk can do far more with a question than with a topic.
| Example | Yours | |
|---|---|---|
| My topic | Pendleton County schools | |
| What I want to know | How the small community schools closed | |
| Narrowed by place, time, people | Pendleton County, 1920–1960, one-room schools | |
| My question | When did the one-room schools close, and where did those children go? | |
| Words to search | consolidation, rural school, common school, district school | |
| An answer would look like | A list of closing dates, or a map of where students were sent |
Next: Guide 2, Find It, on using Google Scholar as a map.
Research Like a Professor is a nine-part series. See all nine guides.