Selecting a topic is one of the hardest parts of starting a research project. Developing a good research topic takes time and practice. Topics should be narrow and focused, yet broad enough to find available information/sources.
Follow the steps to start creating good research topics.
1. Brainstorm ideas:
Select a topic that interests you, it is always easier to spend an entire semester (or longer) researching a topic that you find interesting. Think through some of the following questions to help you access your interests. Remember to be open-minded when doing research, you do not want to select a topic/question that you "know" the answer to already. You must be able to objectively investigate the topic.
Is there a social or political issue that you are interested in?
Is there a topic in the news recently that you find interesting?
What aspects of your major/degree interest you the most?
2. Background Information:
Once you have an idea for a topic read background information to see how your idea fits within the topic. How does your idea relate to broader and narrower issues? Reading through background information will also give you some ideas of words related to your topic, keywords, and how others talk about your idea. Keywords and gaining a deeper understanding of your topic will help you search databases for articles.
Places to find background information-
Textbooks
Course work
Internet
Encyclopedias/Dictionaries/Reference Materials
Academic journal article and magazine introductions
3. Focus
Your topic must not be too narrow or too broad, meaning your topic has to stay manageable. Too narrow of a topic and you will not be able to find information to support your research. Too broad of a topic and you will find too much information and become overwhelmed. The key to good topic selection is finding the right balance between a narrow topic and a broad topic.
A key way to narrow your topic is to limit your topic by various factors, ideas include:
geography
culture
discipline
time frame
population
Topics that are too specific in location or too recent might be even harder to research. Really think through your topic to determine if one of these types of limits would help or hinder your research.
4. Keywords
Keywords are the foundation of your database searching, they are the words you put into the database to find scholarly articles and quality research. It is best to start tracking words that you and others use to describe your topic early, this way when it comes time to start searching you have a heard start.
Think about how you describe your topic, what words are most important?
How does your background information describe your topic?
Find synonyms for all these terms, utilize the internet, thesaurus, dictionary, and textbooks for help
5. Flexibility
It is normal for your topic to change a little or a lot during your research process. You are allowed to change up your topic during any stage of the research process depending on the type of information that you find. Found too much information,? You may need to narrow down your topic. Can't find enough information? You may need to broaden your topic. You may even decide to change the focus of your topic to something more interesting you found while reading through the literature. All this is normal and okay.
6. Research Question
After selecting a topic and starting to research it, you should transition your topic idea into a concrete research question. A research question will allow you to help focus your idea further and provide a question to be answered.
Idea - World War II
Research Question - What role did women play in WWII?
Focused Research Question - What roles did women from allied countries play in WWII on the Eastern Front?
Use handbooks and encyclopedias along with textbooks to locate background information. Answers: Who, What, When, Where.
Select which databases that best fit your topic and develop a list of search terms, keywords.
Use database thesauri to define terms
Test different combinations of search terms in database(s)
Expand synonym list for each of the main ideas
Don't forget to review recent theses and dissertations
Develop a thesis. If you think of the thesis as a problem to be explored, then the temptation to write "about" a topic can be kept in check.
Search for studies that align with your main ideas.
Identify the three or four research questions you want your research to answer in support of your thesis. Focus your searching on these smaller questions and you will have more satisfactory results. Researchers often are looking for one of two things: A cause for a problem (Why) or a solution to a problem (How).
PICO is a model of research used in many professions to identify key research questions:
P = Population (participants, problem, process, point of view, primary event)
I = Intervention (therapy, treatment, causes or etiology, improvement, interpretation, impact)
C = Comparison (Opposing arguments)
O = Outcome (measurement)
Read and think critically to synthesize the collected body of research. Review your purpose, thesis statement, and research questions to see if they need to be modified based on your new understanding of the topic.
Modify and research again as needed to ensure that you have located all key studies related to your thesis.
If you have too many articles, then you may need to narrow your topic. Are there specific populations or situations that you can use to focus your search?
If you need more research, think about your topic more broadly and look for related studies that may not "fit" exactly what you hope to do but support the development of your topic.
Use information ethically... carefully decide what to summarize, what to paraphrase, and what to quote. Remember, only about 10% of the paper should be direct quotes. Provide in-text citations or footnotes and a complete reference list for all content used that is not common knowledge.
If you have questions about your research process, contact your instructor or a librarian.