Pick a research topic:

• Read your syllabus (assignment instructions).
• Pick a topic that interests you and meets the assignment instructions.
• Narrow or broaden the scope of your topic so that it is "doable."
  • What's scope? Scope refers to the "people, places and things" or "who, what, when and where" that you are studying. For example, Canada or another country? Children or adults? Education or child protection services?

Identify key concepts:

• Use an online thesaurus.
• Use a dictionary or encyclopedia to find definitions and explanations of social work terms and concepts. 
  • Canadian encyclopedia of social work 
  • Dictionary of social work 
  • International encyclopedia of the social and behavioral science 

Do an initial search for academic sources:

Here is a Subject Guide to help you pick the right databases, search-engines and sources for your assignment.