Information Literacy - or learning to do research: a life time skill: Thesis

Before you begin the Research process you want to fully understand the assignment.  

Read and Re-Read the assignment.  Do you understand what is being asked of you?  What are the requirements?  Is there a Rubric that your project or paper will be graded against?  Designing your paper or project around these requirements will go a long way in helping you earn the best grade.

Choose a topic. Within the parameters of the assignment brainstorm for an appropriate topic to research. What interests do you have?  Why do you care about this topic?

Look for possible angles to approach the topic and then put it in the form of a question or statement.  

• Nutritional supplements are beneficial to the health of children
• Do college students who approach their assignments with a positive attitude achieve better grades?

Focus.  Is your topic too broad or too narrow?  As you research your topic you may find that you are getting too many results.  Your topic may be too broad:  

• How does the weather affect our food supply? 
• Illegal drugs are bad for our society. 

These topics are too broad.  on the other hand, you may have chosen a topic that is too narrow:

• Children who live in Kosciusko County and watch Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood achieve better grades
• Drinking Light Rail coffee every day helps the economy in Winona Lake, Indiana. 

When you choose a very narrow topic you will have difficulty in locating resources to support your thesis statement or question.  Broaden your statement/question to retrieve more results.