Orientation

Once the outline and framework of your assignment are clear, explore the possibilities of your topic. Search broadly for information about your subject, let yourself be guided by information you find. During this exploratory search phase, you will get an increasingly clear picture of your topic. This will help you delineate your topic and eventually formulate specific search questions.

To orient yourself on your topic you can:

During the orientation phase, you often encounter subject terminology and English terms. This too can help you find good search terms. Make a note of these terms. (See devise search terms). In addition, you often find literature references that can further help you find new sources. Write these down as well.

Nice to know: Mindmap


Making a mind map can help you with your orientation to the topic. When you make a mind map, in the middle you place the topic your research should be about. Around it you put words that come to mind when you think about the topic.

 

 

 


A mind map gives a good overview of all kinds of aspects of your topic. This makes the choice for your final angle a lot easier. If your (preliminary) subject is already more specific, a mind map can help you determine main, sub- and search questions.

You can work out a mind map on paper, or you can use specialized Software for it.


Search Log

To structure your desk research and carry it out systematically, it is good to keep track of how and where you have already searched. It is useful to know what sources and combinations of words you have searched in. In a search log you can record this information in an organized manner.

Download a search log

 

 

NOG DOEN

Download een zoeklogboek voor eenvoudig probleem

Download een zoeklogboek voor uitgebreid zoekproces