Polling for a key press

Hi, i am using a stellaris launchpad micro controller and i want to poll one of my switch's
for a press. I have configured all the necessary ports and everything but i cant get it to work. I know that all of my ports are configured correctly.

I created a function called wait_for_key that polls the switch for a press. The wait_for_key function is called from int main from inside a while loop.

I know that the micro processor and while loop run faster than i can press the key. So im am asking if anyone has any suggestions on how to "catch' the key press.

If tried delays, but that doesn't seem to work. Also i have to use the while loop in int main.

void wait_for_key (void) {

        while (GPIO_PORTF_DATA & 0x10); // wait for SW1 press, poll low

                          }

int main(void){
while(1)
        {
wait_for_key();
        }
              }

thanks Steve