Get quick research help over chat, the phone, email, or visiting the Research Help Desk in person in the library. You can also schedule a research consultation with a librarian for in-depth help.
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Research Help Desk (Research Help Desk hours)
Research isn't a linear process. After selecting a topic and beginning your research you may find your topic doesn't work, needs to be refocused, or relies on terms you didn't know about. But no research is wasted--picking your topic is research, and research can help you pick your topic.
Watch this video created by NCSU Libraries on how to choose and refine your research topic
In a library search tool, typing your full research question will bring back few or NO results. Library search tools work best by using keywords--Keywords are terms that capture the big ideas of your research topic. This video demonstrates how to brainstorm keywords (search terms) strategically.
To find scholarly sources that are a good fit for your research, it helps to choose and combine search terms that reflect the specificity and complexity of academic research topics. This video demonstrates how to combine key terms to get more relevant search results.
