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Choosing a Topic

Overview

General Concepts

Trying to decide what to write about is often the most difficult and frustrating part of research. The instructor will usually give a pre-assigned topic or expect a self-chosen topic to focus on some aspect of the course material. Still, it is up to the individual student to decide from what angle to approach the topic. This section of the Research Assistant recommends resources that help make choosing a topic a little easier. Before continuing, please read the following general concepts about choosing research topics.

Narrow your topic if it is too broad.

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Depending on the subject and required length of a research assignment, be careful not to choose a topic that is too broad in scope. The Vietnam War, for example, was a major event in the history of the United States. Thousands of books and articles have been written concerning the historical and social implications of that period. Subsequently, a topic such as "The History of the Vietnam War" would be too general and broad to comprehensively research and cover in a short paper of 5-10 pages. Instead, it would be necessary to narrow the focus of the topic to some smaller aspect or incident of the Vietnam War. For example:

"The My Lai Massacre of 1968 and its Impact on U.S. Involvement in the Vietnam War"

By focusing on a particular event (massacre committed by U.S. soldiers), time (1968), person or group (U.S. military), and place (My Lai, Vietnam), the topic has been narrowed and is more manageable.

Broaden your topic if it is too narrow.

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If you are required to write a long paper (anywhere from 25-100 pages), there should be enough information available about the topic for the paper to be comprehensive and complete. If an obscure person, event, or subject is chosen as the basis for a research topic, it may be difficult finding relevant and accessible material to do effective research. Take for example the topic "The Impact of Julia Roberts on the Body Image of Young Women." Granted, Julia Roberts is a very famous actress, but there is unlikely to be relevant, scholarly information available about her sole impact on the issue of body-image. In this case, broadening the focus of the subject to include some larger aspect of Julia Roberts would be necessary in order to write an effective paper. Since it is well known that a great deal of emphasis is placed on physical appearance within the motion picture industry, broadening the topic's scope to include some broader aspect of the industry, such as media images of beauty , would make the subject more manageable. For example:

"The Impact of Movie Industry Beauty Standards on the Body Image of Young Women"

Altering the focus of the subject matter from one person or issue (Julia Roberts) to some larger aspect of the person or issue (the movie industry), expands the scope of the topic so that more relevant and scholarly information can be found.

Choose a topic that will interest you.

There is more motivation to do a research assignment if there is genuine interest in the topic. If the research assignment is unrestricted, try to relate the topic to some personal experience or issue of personal relevance. If there is no personal interest in the assigned topic, try to pick a topic from some angle of the subject for which there is slight curiosity.

Make the topic appropriate to the assignment.

Your instructor will usually give you detailed instructions describing the assignment and its scope. Even if instructions are not provided, make sure that the chosen topic is suitable to the instructor and is relevant and appropriate to the assignment or course of study. If there is uncertainty as to the appropriateness of the topic, ask the instructor for more direction.

Additional Resources for Choosing a Topic

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