Got a research assignment due?  Here are some great researching tips for online and offline use.  The best way to start researching is to break it down into steps.  Steps include - Topic, Keywords, and Your goal of the piece.  Take some time to think about the goal of finish product.  Do you want to express yourself, explain a topic, or compare two or more elements?  Once you have gotten a clear direction make a list of keywords related to your topic.  Whether this is a blog post, or a research paper for college there are tools online to help you.  Two great resource for keywords are Google Adword and Free Keyword tool.   Just enter your broad topic to get related keywords.  If this research is for an online article, be sure to check out the search stats.  Search stats will provide you with the number of searches and the competition of any given keyword.  Try using a keyword with a high search volume but with less competition. 

Now that you have your topic and keywords you are ready for the researching part.  Locate other articles, books, newspaper clips, and videos surround your topic and keywords.  Compile all this information.  Remember, plagiarism is a bad thing.  Note sources carefully.  A great way to give your paper credibility is to quote facts and figures.  So, remember to include charts and graphs in your research.  When using charts and graphs good phrases to use are "percent of, "census bureau", "survey results", and "experts report".

Okay, all your research is done.  Now, all you have to do is put it all together to form a great article or paper