How Can You Narrow the Topic? Deciding When a Topic is Too Broad. Next, you will develop a research question to research, explore, and write about in your paper. Combine any number of elements from these questions until you find an interesting topic to research. ). Remember the pyramid: your topic should get narrower with each question that you ask. I need to pick a topic. A topic will be very difficult to research if it is too broad or narrow. It is indeed a complex knowledge area. General Strategies for Narrowing Topics. Deciding When a Topic Is Too Narrow. Research Considerations. Developing a Working Thesis. Use this activity to narrow the topic of “sports” to a topic that can be discussed in a 2-3 page paper to make it “juuust right.” If you're writing a five‐page paper, don't write on the history of women's rights; instead, write about one incident in the history of women's rights. Narrowing a Topic. This means you select a smaller part of the main topic to research. Student Research Help - Topic. For very narrow topics, combine elements from at least three of these questions. 1 Narrowing a Topic Defining your research question is a process of working from the outside in: you start with the world of all possible topics (or your assigned topic) and narrow down until you’ve focused your interest enough to be able to state precisely what you … Brainstorm topics that you are familiar with, interest you, and/or are currently topics of discussion. One way to narrow a broad topic is to assign limits to what you will cover. Research Topics. New topic idea: Rehabilitation of criminals who have committed murder . When you have an overall subject to pursue, your next task is to narrow and focus the topic. Some common ways to limit a topic are listed below using the broad topic, "the environment" as an example. I need to know if my topic is good. Choose a topic that you have the resources to research (access to information, people to interview, etc. Choose a topic that you can make relevant to your audience. Once you have chosen a general topic for your research paper, you will want to narrow this topic to something more specific. Back to Start; I need to know if my topic is too narrow or broad. Students often pick topics that are too broad to be adequately covered. Defining your research question is a process of working from the outside in: you start with the world of all possible topics (or your assigned topic) and narrow down until you have focused your interest enough to be able to state precisely what you want to find out, instead of only what you want to “write about.” Narrow topics lead to close observation, while broad topics lead to overgeneralization. It's important to have a topic that is the right scope for your assignment. Thus, writing a research paper on this subject can be both challenging and exciting at the same time.. Arriving at a Possible Thesis for an Essay Requiring Research. Here we have taken a the broad topic of climate change and broken it down into several different potential papers.. For example, a paper on the economic impact of ocean acidification on coastal fishing communities is a very different paper than researching the political impact of policy makers and pro-environmental legislation or public perception of scientific research about global warming. There are a few different ways you might come up with a topic. The starting point of every research work is to choose a proper direction and a unique topic. Moving from Topic to Thesis. 1 Narrowing a Topic . If the topic is getting bigger, there may be a problem. Once you have selected a broad topic, such as Global Warming or Drug Abuse, you should try to narrow your focus. 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