This document provides guidance on refining research topics and performing basic searches. It discusses narrowing a topic of interest into focused research questions. Examples are provided of refining a topic about how non-player characters impact storylines in Final Fantasy 12. The document also covers performing surface level searches on Google and ProQuest to initially explore a topic and identify potential sources, gaps, and ways to refine the research focus. It cautions that informal online sources require verification and should be used carefully in research.