Coming up with a topic for your assignment can sometimes be the most frustrating part of the research process. It's okay to feel uncertain about your topic. That is why we do research: to see what is already out there, and then come to a conclusion or make an argument. It may take several iterations before you settle on a topic. That's why it's important to start as early as you can, so that you still have enough time for the searching and exploring stage.
Below are a few tips to help you choose a topic.
First, take a look at your assignment. Before you get started on your research, make sure you understand the assignment requirements. Does your assignment provide you with topic options or can you select your own? Are there any course readings on the topic?
You'll also want to pay attention to the kinds of information sources you need and how you will be expected to incorporate them into your own work. Later on in this module, you'll learn about different types of sources and how to choose sources for your assignment.
Once you have chosen a general topic idea the next step is to refine your topic. You start with all possible topics and narrow your topic down until you have focused your interests enough to be able to state precisely what you want to find out. 1 Start with a question in mind, rather than beginning with an answer that you are setting out to prove.
If you're having trouble, you can use some of the 5Ws to help narrow your topic into a searchable question.
Say, for example, that your assignment is to write on the topic of higher education. You decide that you want to write about the high cost of tuition but that topic is still too broad. Start by asking some or all of the following questions.
Question |
Specific Focus Possibilities |
---|---|
Who? |
First year students, mature students, part-time students |
What? |
Graduation rates, degree completion, attrition, drop-out rates |
When? |
Last 10 years |
Why or how? |
Financial burden, unemployment, student debt |
From asking these questions, you will be able to refine your topic into a research question. Here's an example:
How does the high cost of tuition impact the degree completion of mature college students?
For the above question about college tuition, the important questions to ask would be who? and what?
However, be careful about getting too specific with your question. Not every question that you come up with will be searchable. For example, trying to find information on the impact of rising tuition in a particular city or province will likely be too restrictive, and the location may, in fact, be irrelevant to the search. A large-scale study across Canada or North America would likely yield relevant information that could be useful to your question.
Going through this process can be the hardest part of doing research, but once you have a question that is not too broad and not too narrow it will inform the rest of your work.
References
1 Brinkerhoff, C. (2019, August 1). Doing research: A students guide to finding and using the best sources. Kwantlen Polytechnic University Catalogue. Retrieved August 20, 2020, from https://kpu.pressbooks.pub/doingresearch/
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