FCS 1100 – Research Methods: Choosing & Focusing Your Topic

If you have a choice, you should always pick a topic that interests you and one with which you are already somewhat familiar.

For Topic Ideas

• Browse current journals in your field of inquiry for articles on current or interesting topics. Click here for instructions on browsing journals by title in Galileo databases.
   
• Go to Galileo and explore a periodical database which covers a subject you are interested in, such as Oxford Art Online*, or a general database like Research Library*, which covers all fields. 
• Ask your instructor for suggestions.
   
• Brainstorm topics with your class or Learning Team.
   
• Ask a librarian for assistance.

Here's a general rule of thumb: If you find too much published information on your topic, you need to narrow it; if you find too little, you need to broaden it.

One way to narrow a topic is to find an interesting approach to it.

• Example: If your topic is education, and you also have an interest in technology, you could narrow your topic to instructional technology.

Consider ways to subdivide the topic: time period, person, location, technology, or event.

• Example: Education in the 20th century; Maria Montessori’s methods; Education in the United States compared to Britain; History of technology in schools.

If you find little background information on your topic, broaden it by removing one or more of the elements that make up its subject.

• Example: Your topic is leadership practices at the accounting department of an Atlanta life insurance company from 2000 – 2003. You find nothing written on this topic. Try broadening your topic to leadership practices in accounting or leadership practices in life insurance companies.

Determine the Boundaries of the Project

Consider the following:

• What are the requirements of the assignment that you are completing, and how do they have an impact on your project? Are there specific instructions from your instructor about how to go about this project that you need to follow?

• Can you determine the format of the project yourself, or has your instructor specified a format? For example, does the course you are taking require you to write a traditional term paper, an oral report, or something less traditional, like a multimedia project?
  
  
• How soon do you need information? Do you have time to wait for an interlibrary loan (1 to 6 weeks), or is the project due tomorrow? This is not an issue in Research Methods, since the majority of the sources you will need are available online.
  
  
• How long does your paper need to be? This is important because it will affect the breadth of your topic and the number of sources you will need.

Identify the Main Concepts

As you read through background sources (see the next section), try to identify the main concepts associated with your topic. Make a list of the terms used to refer to these concepts. You can later search for words from this list in reference books, periodical databases, indexes, and other information sources. Keep in mind that these sources may not use the same terms to identify your topic that you would. When looking at citations in periodical databases you can see the headings, or terms, used to describe a certain article in the "subject heading" or "descriptor" field. Find other articles on the same topic by searching under these headings. The same applies to book catalogs.