Identify your research topic.
You might have been assigned a research topic my your professor, or you may simply be exploring something that you are interested in. Research topics tend to be very broad (New York City, Current Events, Technology). Broad topics can be tempting, but they can be challenging to research because there are so many things to say.

Narrow your topic down! Identify a RESEARCH QUESTION

In some ways, your thesis statement and your research question are very similar: they identify the subject of your research/critique. The research question is whatever it is that you’re trying to find out about your topic. If my topic is technology, my research question might ask “how does a particular kind of technology change the way we perform a certain task” or “how does a certain technology influence behavior in a community). These examples are pretty basic, but you can find a good tutorial about developing research questions here.
You may need to explore a little before you find a research question that works well for your topic. Also keep in mind that your research question will evolve (or perhaps change completely) as you learn more about your topic.

Learn more here about developing a research question.

Identify what kinds of information you need to answer your question.
Are you looking for opinion? Facts? Creative work? News? Research? You’ll find different kinds of information in different places. This guide provides an overview of some of the things you might be looking for.

Evaluate!
Just because something you find addresses your topic, it doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a great fit for your needs. Information you locate using the open internet (say, a search engine like Google) varies greatly in quality and you’ll find that many sites don’t measure up for academic use. Talk to your professor about their expectations for your research. We suggest using the RECAP test when you are trying to figure out what you’re looking at.

Part of being a responsible scholar is making sure that your reader knows what sources you used to develop your work. You’ll provide this information by citing all of your sources.

Learning to properly cite your sources can take a little bit of practice. If you are ever in doubt as to whether or not you should cite a particular source, you can always discuss it with your instructor. When in doubt, err on the side of citing the source. Failing to indicate when you are referencing a source is plagiarism, a serious academic offense.

We recommend The Owl at Purdue for information about how to format your paper and incorporate sources into your text.

Online citation generators (Bibme.org, EasyBib) will help you to format entries for your works cited page.