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Here's your chance to stretch those mental muscles before you search the Web, on a CD, or an encyclopedia. It may take a couple of minutes, but it will save you TONS of TIME later.
1. Identify the purpose of your research
The purpose of this research is to __________________________________________.
2. Identify some research questions that apply to your research
1.2.
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3. Brainstorm ideas and information about the research questions.
Use a web or outline or whatever you find to be the best way for you to develop ideas about what you need to know to answer your research questions.
4. Identify key words and names
Look at the materials you generated in step 3. List the key words and names that you should use to search for the information you need. Circle the 5 best words.
5. Identify the best source for finding this information.
Some sources of information are better for finding detailed information (http://www.altavista.com for topic specific databases) while other sources are good for doing general searches (http://www.dogpile.com or http://www.ask.com or an encyclopedia http://www.britannica.com).