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ENGL 112

Concept Map Tool

Plot out key information as you deepen your research and understanding of your topic

What aspects of the topic are of particular interest to you?  What questions around this topic are you wanting to investigate?

Concept map with nodes around a topic representing useful information to gather (definitions, history, contoversies, causes, interesting perspectives to include such as professional or insider views, national or local sources, statistics, and individual stories)

Identify Concepts & Keywords

Consider keywords for the concepts around your topic and combine these ideas to search strategically.  The Coming up with Keywords worksheet may help with this.

What is the environmental impact of the disposal of plastic water bottles? Key concepts are environmental impact, disposal, and plastic water bottles. Each concept could be captured with other keywords; disposal for example can also be represented by the keywords discarding, dumping or throwing away.

Crafting a Search

When doing your search, you can also use Boolean operators. Boolean operators are small words (AND, OR, NOT) that can give you more control over your search results. These three words used with your keywords can help narrow, broaden, and focus your results.

Narrowing your search: if you're getting too many results, or results that are too general

AND: By adding AND to your keywords, results will include both key terms. The more you include AND, the fewer results you'll have.

screenshot of a search bar from an Ebscohost database showing "and" in the dropdown and a blank search query bar

Example: If your research question is, How does the amount of rain affect deforestation in Brazil? you could search "rainfall AND deforestation AND Brazil."

NOT: The Boolean operator NOT will also limit the results returned. It should be used sparingly.

screenshot of a search bar from an Ebscohost database showing "not" in the dropdown and a blank search query bar

Example: If your research question is exploring the effects of pollutants on Mexico but your results keep coming back with results on Mexico City, your search will look like pollutants AND Mexico NOT city. 

Broadening your search: if you're not getting enough results 

OR: Including OR into your search terms expands your search results -- casting a wider net for resources you want to see.

screenshot of a search bar from an Ebscohost database showing "or" in the dropdown and a blank search query bar

If your research question is Are teens who spend time on social media more depressed? pull out the key terms teens, social media, depressed. But maybe you're also wanting to see results that include synonyms. Your search may look like teens OR teenagers OR adolescent.

For more tutorials about how to search in the library database, check out our guide Library Research Tutorial or Advanced Research Strategies.

Narrowing in

Now that you have your research topic, you'll want to narrow in on a specific question you have about a topic. The best research is driven by questions, inquiry, and hypothesis: instead of writing a paper or designing a lab where you already know the results, you'll instead be engaging in research to answer a question. Here are a few useful frameworks to help you move from a general topic to a specific research question:

  • Ask about the history of your topic. What came before? How has it changed over time?
    • Example: What is the history of AI development? What particular aspects of AI have emerged recently? What aspects have stayed the same for the last few decades? How have perspectives about AI-generated internet content changed over time? 
  • Ask about its structure and composition. How does this topic fit into a larger context or structure? 
    • Example: What is the role of AI in higher education? In medicine? How are Chat GPT prompts similar/different to research queries in a research database? What is the relationship between AI and authorship?
  • Ask about if your topic can be categorized. Can it be grouped into kinds? How does it compare or contrast to others like it?
    • Example: How is AI unique among other research technology tools that college students generally use? What ethical distinctions exist between various natural language processing tools? 
  • Ask "what if?"
    • Example: What if AI was government regulated? What if universities provided free access to an AI source and provided parameters for use? What would be the consequences if all online health resources were replaced with AI? 
  • Ask questions that agree with or disagree with your sources.
    • Example: Source X claims that AI literacy is one of the leading indicators of an individual's success in the field of marketing; does the same principle hold true in higher education? Source X claims that Gen Z displays a higher proficiency with AI than any previous generation. But, could AI proficiency also be accompanied by an increase in anxiety around AI among Gen Z? 

Once you have a few questions drafted, identify the one that is clear, focused and interesting to you. This is your research question! If you have questions about if your research question is too specific or too general, speak to your professor.

(Adapted from The Craft of Research, 4th edition by Wayne C. Booth, Gregory G Colomb, Joseph M. Williams, Joseph Bizup, and William T. Fitzgerald, pp. 39-41.)