#1: Task Definition
Your research should be yours, not a summary of other people's work. How do you ensure that your work represents your own original thought? One good approach is to pose a central, controlling question that points to the heart of a topic. (Note: You must do some reading and thinking about your topic before you will be able to do this.) Then you'll provide supporting questions that provide the necessary background and details to develop your central idea.
Example:
1. Central question:
What role did gold play in ancient Egypt?
2. Supporting questions could include:
Why was gold used for many Egyptian objects?
Where did the gold come from?
How did they work their gold?
How was the gold used?
Why were many images of Egyptian gods made of gold?
Where can examples of these be seen today?
How did the association of gold with the gods affect burial practices?
3. Notice that many of these questions concern concepts and start with "why" or "how." You will also need other kinds of questions, some of which give precise details relating to your subject.
Now look at the questions above. Can you highlight some significant words (keywords) and concepts? Can you think of additional synonyms that might be used in articles you might encounter?
How about these? gold, gods and goddesses, religion or burial practices, jewelry, how they worked with gold, antiquities, gold mines
4. As you begin to look up information, watch for these and other keywords, synonyms and concepts. Use them to help yourself come up with headings for your note cards.