| UNIT DESCRIPTION |
| CHOOSING A TOPIC |
| PRELIMINARY RESEARCH |
| DEVELOPING YOUR QUESTION |
| AVOIDING PLAGARISM |
| UNDERSTANDING CITATION |
| REFERENCE LIST |
PRELIMINARY RESEARCH
Developing a good research question is impossible without doing some preliminary research. Preliminary research gives you background information on your topic, answering questions such as who, what, when, and where. How you ask these questions will depend on your topic, so apply them in the way that makes the most sense. For instance ‘when’ could be the question when an event took place, when an idea was developed, or when that event or that idea became important.
Preliminary research will help you determine controversies related to your topic. You will also find out if there are enough sources available to cover the topic effectively.
Invisible Work
Some of the work that goes into a research paper is what might be called invisible work. You will encounter and learn much more information than you will convey in your final paper. Background information will enrich your research paper but should not bog it down in trivia. For example, if you were doing a paper on Hildegaard of Bingen, you should know that she was born into a noble family in Germany in 1098 and entered a hermitage at the age of eight and became a Benedictine Abbess. This information will help you contextualize her work in your own mind but your research paper should not be a simple recitation of these facts. Your research question should take you beyond the common knowledge found in encyclopedias, but without that invisible common knowledge your research will lack a solid foundation.
Doing the work of establishing in advance that your topic is viable will help you write a strong research paper and avoid a change of topic at the last minute, saving you time and agony in the long run. Make sure your topic is viable by keeping in mind its appropriateness to the assignment and its controversial nature, as well as the availability of adequate sources.
What follows is a list of resources that you may find useful for doing preliminary research in the field of Religious Studies. Keep in mind the type of information that you will need based on your preliminary topic and where your topic falls in the topic pyramid. Remember that the pyramid is a continuum rather than a series of discrete stages, so your topic likely will draw on both columns for some resources.
Sources: When to Use Them & How to Find Them
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Subject-Specific Dictionaries & Encyclopedias N.B. Be aware of publication dates, especially on web-based reference material Use Library catalogue or see Religious Studies: Select Listing of Encyclopedias and Dictionaries |
Get an overview of your topic | Fill gaps in prior knowledge |
Free-Standing Bibliographies These are bibliographies that list every item relevant to a particular subject within certain limits. They list important titles, include items you may not otherwise find, and often highlight parts of works that could be useful. |
Get an idea of what topics are covered in the area you have chosen | Find sources for your topic |
Scholarly books If you find a book that is appropriate to your topic, browse the shelves around it for other books in the same topic area. At this point, you will not need to read any of these books cover to cover. |
Find ideas based on book's topics Find ideas in the table of contents and indexes |
Check availability of sources Refine topic by scanning entries in tables of contents and indexes |
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Periodicals |
Get ideas based on article topics Find current debates |
Check availability of sources |
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Subject Web pages See, for example, the University Library Subject Page for Religious Studies |
Browse for ideas | Find sources |
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Librarians If you are having trouble finding resources, the help of a reference librarian or subject librarian could prove invaluable. They are there to help you! |
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For more information on selecting preliminary sources see: WISPR: Workshop on the Information Search Process for Research |
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