EDRS 605: Introduction to Educational Research

Create a Research Question: Come up with a tentative question you want to answer in your project.

Creating a research question will take your refined topic and turn it into a question your assignment will attempt to answer. Examples of research questions include:

• What causes incorrect information to spread on social media?
• How can we be informed social media users?

This will help keep you focused as you begin searching for information

Develop a Search Strategy: Select your resources and develop your keywords

The search terms or keywords you use to search are what determine the results you get.  Here's a good exercise to help you generate keywords:

1. Express your topic in a topic sentence: "What is the effect of television violence on children?"
2. Generate keyword search terms by identifying the main ideas or concepts within that topic sentence: "What is the effect of television violence on children?"; = Effect, Television, Violence, or Television violence and Children
3. Expand your search terms by brainstorming related terms or synonyms that describe your main ideas:

• Television; media, TV,
• Violence; aggression,
• Effect; influence,
• Children; toddlers, youngsters, boys, girls

From the University of Pittsburgh

The ABC's of appraising articles

In the age of open-access publishing, it is easier than ever to have a journal article published. It isn't always clear if the article went through the peer review process, so it is important for you to take a critical look at the information you find in an article. Here are some criteria to consider applying to articles.

• Authority – what are the qualifications of the authors? Was the article published in a reputable journal? 

• Accuracy – is the information reproducible or cited by other sources? Are references cited throughout the article?

• Bias – does the author have a conflict of interest? PubMed now includes conflict of interest statements when this information is supplied by the publisher. 

• Currency – when was the article published? Is the information out of date for your purposes? 

• Comprehension – is the information written at an appropriate level for its audience? How does the information compare with other sources on this topic? Is the article relevant to your research?