These resources from York University Libraries can help you brainstorm ideas for your assignment. They explain, "The purpose of brainstorming is to generate as many creative new ideas as possible about a particular concept, issue, problem or question. The goal is for ideas to flow freely. Quantity [the number of ideas] matters more than quality, so quirky ideas are allowed and even encouraged!"
Research as Inquiry (ACRL, 2015) refers to an understanding that research is iterative (repetitive) and depends upon asking increasingly complex or new questions whose answers prompt additional questions.
Information scientist, Marcia Bates (1989), described online searching as being like berry-picking (see diagram at right). You start with one question (Q0) and as new thoughts or information are uncovered, the path winds along to incorporate this new knowledge. This means your original question may change as you work through your research; this is totally normal!
This 6 minute tutorial will help students learn to develop an appropriate topic for a research paper by considering goals, approaches, topic scope and helpful resources.