We do research every day.  Research is searching for information, usually to help us make decisions. What car should I buy?  Which career will pay the most? What school should I go to? How can I fix my computer?

In high school students are often required to search for answers to larger questions and communicate what they learned in a formal way.  Generally, the teacher assigns the question.  These handouts will help for those projects where the student gets to choose their own research question/topic.

  What's my angle?

How to narrow your topic.

Finding a topic that you will find interesting.

Before committing to your research topic, do a brief search on your topic.  Will there be enough information or will there be too much?  Search the South catalog to see if there will be any books.  Do a quick Google Search.  How many hits did you get on your topic?  Over a million?  Narrow your topic.  Only 5? You should broaden your topic.  This handout may help you organize the information you find in this quick search.