Creating Your Research Paper

Pick a Topic – Choose something that interests you, like technology and learning.

Ask a Research Question – Think about what you already know and what you want to learn. Example: How can technology be used to improve learning for elementary school students?

Identify Keywords – Find key terms in your question. Example: technology, learning, elementary school.

Find Synonyms – Search for related words. Example: education, teaching, K-4, “elementary students.”

Use Boolean Operators – Connect keywords with:

• AND to narrow results (technology AND education AND “elementary school”).

• OR to broaden search (education OR teaching).

• NOT to exclude irrelevant results (java NOT coffee).

Other limiters: 

• Quotation Marks: Used to search for exact phrases 

  • Example: "elementary school"

• Parentheses: Used to group terms 

  • Example: (cats OR dogs) AND adoption

• Example: Educat* will bring back results for educate, educated, education, educational, and educator

Start Searching – Use databases, search engines, and book catalogs with your keyword combinations.