English 101: Composition I: Topic Development

Pre-Research

Pre-Research is the very beginning of any research process. This is when you're trying to figure out what topic you're interested in and see what kind of information is out there about it. CQ Researcher and Wikipedia are great places to get started with the pre-research process. 

• CQ Researcher provides in-depth coverage on controversial issues covering a wide range of topics.  Reports in CQ are written by journalists and contain references that are both scholarly and popular. Many reports include graphs, photographs, a "pro-con" section, and historical background on a topic. CQ reports are fact-checked. 
• Wikipedia provides user-generated content meaning anyone can edit Wikipedia articles (including you!). Articles are supposed to contain references, but references are not always there or accurate. It's a great place for pre-research, but once you pick your topic you'll want to head towards more scholarly sources. 

Helpful Tutorials for Topic Development

Research is a Conversation from UNLV Libraries on Vimeo.

Asking Academic Questions from UNLV Libraries on Vimeo.