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Selecting a Topic

a. Browse for Ideas | b. Developing the Topic

Developing the Topic

Key Questions to Ask | Narrowing the Topic | Broadening the Topic

Now that you have found a topic you need to focus on the specific aspects you will be researching. The goal is to make the question broad enough that it can be answered with available materials, but narrow enough that you can tackle the question.

Key Questions to Ask

Answering the Five Questions below can help you develop your topic

• Why?- Why is this topic important? Why are you interested in researching this topic?
• When?- Is there a certain time frame when this topic became important or experienced change? Do you want to research the current or historical view of this topic?
• Who?- Specific names or groups of people involved; consider gender, ethnicity, age groups, occupations, etc. Who does this topic affect?
• How?- How do aspects of this topic affect one another? (Identify the relationship between the different aspects of this topic.) How does this topic affect you and others? If this topic involves a process, how do aspects of this topic function?
• Where?- Does this topic fit into a local, regional, or global scheme? Is there a particular physical environment for this topic?

Narrowing the Topic

Now that you have answered the five key questions, think more specifically about what parts of your topic you wish to address. Look at the example questions below:

1. Is there political bias in the media?
2. Did the media affect the outcome of the 1992 presidential election by covering more liberal viewpoints?

Both questions cover the same topic, but Question #1 is too broad to research. There would be too much information about this topic. Question #2 narrows the topic enough to make it usable, but isn't too narrow that no material could be found.

If you are having problems narrowing your topic look at your answers to the key questions above.

Frequently your topic will evolve throughout your research project- narrowing and broadening as you find out the type and amount of information available.

Broadening the Topic

Sometimes your topic is too narrow and you can't find enough information about it. In this case you want to think about ways to broaden your search. Look at the following two questions:

1. Did the media coverage by CNN during the final two weeks of the 1992 presidential election influence the outcome of the election because of its liberal viewpoints?
2. Did the media affect the outcome of the 1992 presidential election by covering more liberal viewpoints?

Question #1 is too narrow and not enough information could be found. Question #2 covers the same topic, but broadens it enough to make it answerable.

When you need to broaden your topic consider the following:

• Include a larger date range (if your topic is too new, there may not be anything written yet)
• Include a larger group of people (instead of five year olds, research elementary school students)
• Include a larger geographic area (instead of San Antonio, search for Texas)
• Think about including other issues involved with the topic