Good luck on your projects for this class and be sure to contact me if you have questions or would like more help! Email me, stop by my office, or click the "Schedule Appointment" button to set up a meeting with me (look below for my contact info). 

1. Consider your geographic Focus

Broadest: international, global

Regional: Latin American, developing world, first world, Arab

Country: Afghanistan, Canada, etc

2. Consider organizations, advocacy groups, or specific campaigns working on the issue you are researching. For example, there are some organizations dealing with LGBT issues on international level and their websites could be good sources of information. These organizations will be mentioned in articles and Web sites; take note of them and look them up in Google AND library databases.

3. Approach the topic from different discipline perspectives. Most library database have a discipline (education, religion, health) focus so be sure to use different databases (see the library's subject Guides). Or, use OneSearch, which combines all library databases into a single search.

4. Use of a mix of broad and more focused searches

Broad: global lgbt* discrimination

More focused: arab lesbian "human rights"

See the box below for more ideas on how to narrow your topic.

5. Use statistics. Find them in articles, books and websites or use the statistics and country profile sites on the International Relations guide.

Use these prompts to narrow BIG topics you are researching. This will help you focus your thoughts and give you good terms to use as you search for information.

What is the population?

This can be gender, age, sexual orientation, social, or other groupings.

What is the context?

Think of specifics of place (urban, rural, suburban, inner city), geographic areas (countries, regions), institutions (prison, school), etc

What are the interventions or solutions or outcomes?

How is the problem being addressed (government regulations or treaties)? How is it measured (carbon output, income inequality)?

What time period are you researching?