Selecting a topic can be the most challenging part of doing research. Defining and refining your topic is an ongoing process. Be prepared to adjust the focus of your topic as you gather more information. How you choose your topic will also depend on what your instructor has specified.
These are some general guidelines to follow:
When writing about popular topics try to be original and creative. Some topics have been overdone, which leads to an overwhelming amount of information, making it difficult to focus on a topic. Some of those topics may include gun control, bullying, and drug abuse. You should try and look at topics like these from a new perspective or angle.
If a topic has recently been in the news, think about what made the issue newsworthy. Doing this will lead you to a more interesting research question or thesis statement.
First, break your topic into subtopics
All topics can have many angles. By breaking your topic into subtopics it helps to narrow down the topic for searching.
Who are the people affected by your study?
Think about age, ethnicity, gender, profession, and company/industry.
What aspects of the topic will you explore?
Think about causes, effects, diagnosis or treatment, problems, and trends.
Where does your topic fit?
"Where" could be a specific country, state, county, or city where your topic fits geographically. It could also define concepts such as urban or rural, and global or local. It could also represent a population such as college campuses, prisons, and elementary schools.
When did the issue or event become important?
Did the event occur in a specific century, decade, or a particular time period. Do you need the most current information available? Do you need Historical information?
Make sure you understand the basics of your topic. If it is new to you, start to familiarize yourself with terms, people, events, and statistics.
Reference books such as encyclopedias and handbooks offer short articles for precisely this purpose.
Form a thesis that is consistent with the data you find. It should be of significance to the discipline and supportable by the evidence. As you collect data, you will form new questions and possibly even change your researches focus. Thus, revising your thesis. If the issue is controversial, your thesis should reflect the position you are taking. A strong research paper will reflect both sides of an argument, and researching this is an integral part of gathering background information.
For further reading:
Your instructor, class readings, class notes, and Google can help you get ideas for topics.
Our Discipline-Specific Ready Resources (within the "Research Guides Section of our website") are great for helping you choose where to begin your research. These online guides will identify encyclopedias, books, databases, and other materials to help you start your research.
Library resources like Credo Reference, CQ Researcher, and subject-specific encyclopedias can help you develop topic ideas because they provide excellent overviews of topics. These may not be scholarly sources you can use in your paper, but they may lead you to more in-depth, scholarly resources you want to use in your essay.