example of narrowing down a research topic

• USC Libraries
• Research Guides

Organizing Your Social Sciences Research Paper

• Narrowing a Topic Idea
• Purpose of Guide
• Design Flaws to Avoid
• Independent and Dependent Variables
• Glossary of Research Terms
• Reading Research Effectively
• Broadening a Topic Idea
• Extending the Timeliness of a Topic Idea
• Academic Writing Style
• Applying Critical Thinking
• Choosing a Title
• Making an Outline
• Paragraph Development
• Research Process Video Series
• Executive Summary
• The C.A.R.S. Model
• Background Information
• The Research Problem/Question
• Theoretical Framework
• Citation Tracking
• Content Alert Services
• Evaluating Sources
• Primary Sources
• Secondary Sources
• Tiertiary Sources
• Scholarly vs. Popular Publications
• Qualitative Methods
• Quantitative Methods
• Insiderness
• Using Non-Textual Elements
• Limitations of the Study
• Common Grammar Mistakes
• Writing Concisely
• Avoiding Plagiarism
• Footnotes or Endnotes?
• Further Readings
• Generative AI and Writing
• USC Libraries Tutorials and Other Guides
• Bibliography

Importance of Narrowing the Research Topic

Whether you are assigned a general issue to investigate, must choose a problem to study from a list given to you by your professor, or you have to identify your own topic to investigate, it is important that the scope of the research problem is not too broad, otherwise, it will be difficult to adequately address the topic in the space and time allowed. You could experience a number of problems if your topic is too broad, including:

• You find too many information sources and, as a consequence, it is difficult to decide what to include or exclude or what are the most relevant sources.
• You find information that is too general and, as a consequence, it is difficult to develop a clear framework for examining the research problem.
• A lack of sufficient parameters that clearly define the research problem makes it difficult to identify and apply the proper methods needed to analyze it.
• You find information that covers a wide variety of concepts or ideas that can't be integrated into one paper and, as a consequence, you trail off into unnecessary tangents.

Lloyd-Walker, Beverly and Derek Walker. "Moving from Hunches to a Research Topic: Salient Literature and Research Methods." In Designs, Methods and Practices for Research of Project Management . Beverly Pasian, editor. ( Burlington, VT: Gower Publishing, 2015 ), pp. 119-129.

Strategies for Narrowing the Research Topic

A common challenge when beginning to write a research paper is determining how and in what ways to narrow down your topic . Even if your professor gives you a specific topic to study, it will almost never be so specific that you won’t have to narrow it down at least to some degree [besides, it is very boring to grade fifty papers that are all about the exact same thing!].

A topic is too broad to be manageable when a review of the literature reveals too many different, and oftentimes conflicting or only remotely related, ideas about how to investigate the research problem. Although you will want to start the writing process by considering a variety of different approaches to studying the research problem, you will need to narrow the focus of your investigation at some point early in the writing process. This way, you don't attempt to do too much in one paper.

Here are some strategies to help narrow the thematic focus of your paper :

• Aspect -- choose one lens through which to view the research problem, or look at just one facet of it [e.g., rather than studying the role of food in South Asian religious rituals, study the role of food in Hindu marriage ceremonies, or, the role of one particular type of food among several religions].
• Components -- determine if your initial variable or unit of analysis can be broken into smaller parts, which can then be analyzed more precisely [e.g., a study of tobacco use among adolescents can focus on just chewing tobacco rather than all forms of usage or, rather than adolescents in general, focus on female adolescents in a certain age range who choose to use tobacco].
• Methodology -- the way in which you gather information can reduce the domain of interpretive analysis needed to address the research problem [e.g., a single case study can be designed to generate data that does not require as extensive an explanation as using multiple cases].
• Place -- generally, the smaller the geographic unit of analysis, the more narrow the focus [e.g., rather than study trade relations issues in West Africa, study trade relations between Niger and Cameroon as a case study that helps to explain economic problems in the region].
• Relationship -- ask yourself how do two or more different perspectives or variables relate to one another. Designing a study around the relationships between specific variables can help constrict the scope of analysis [e.g., cause/effect, compare/contrast, contemporary/historical, group/individual, child/adult, opinion/reason, problem/solution].
• Time -- the shorter the time period of the study, the more narrow the focus [e.g., restricting the study of trade relations between Niger and Cameroon to only the period of 2010 - 2020].
• Type -- focus your topic in terms of a specific type or class of people, places, or phenomena [e.g., a study of developing safer traffic patterns near schools can focus on SUVs, or just student drivers, or just the timing of traffic signals in the area].
• Combination -- use two or more of the above strategies to focus your topic more narrowly.

NOTE : Apply one of the above strategies first in designing your study to determine if that gives you a manageable research problem to investigate. You will know if the problem is manageable by reviewing the literature on your more narrowed problem and assessing whether prior research is sufficient to move forward in your study [i.e., not too much, not too little]. Be careful, however, because combining multiple strategies risks creating the opposite problem--your problem becomes too narrowly defined and you can't locate enough research or data to support your study.

Booth, Wayne C. The Craft of Research . Fourth edition. Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago Press, 2016; Coming Up With Your Topic. Institute for Writing Rhetoric. Dartmouth College; Narrowing a Topic. Writing Center. University of Kansas; Narrowing Topics. Writing@CSU. Colorado State University; Strategies for Narrowing a Topic. University Libraries. Information Skills Modules. Virginia Tech University; The Process of Writing a Research Paper. Department of History. Trent University; Ways to Narrow Down a Topic. Contributing Authors. Utah State OpenCourseWare.

• << Previous: Reading Research Effectively
• Next: Broadening a Topic Idea >>
• Last Updated: May 9, 2024 11:05 AM
• URL: https://libguides.usc.edu/writingguide

Research Tips and Tricks

• Getting Started
• Understanding the Assignment
• Topic Selection Tips

Topic Narrowing

Ways to narrow your topic, be careful, tools to help, youtube videos about narrowing a topic.

• Breaking Topic Into Keywords
• Developing A Search Strategy
• Scholarly vs Popular Sources
• What Are Primary Sources?
• Finding Scholarly Articles
• Finding Scholarly Books
• Finding Primary Sources
• Citing My Sources This link opens in a new window

Instructional Librarian

Talk to your professor

A common challenge when beginning to write a research paper is determining how to narrow down your topic. 

Even if your professor gives you a topic to study, it will seldom be specific enough that you will not have to narrow it down, at least to some degree.

A topic is too broad to be manageable when you find that you have too many different, conflicting or only remotely related ideas. 

Although you will want to start the writing process by considering a variety of different approaches to studying the research problem, you will need to narrow the focus of your investigation at some point early in the writing process - this way you don't attempt to do too much in one paper.

Here are some strategies to help narrow your topic :

Aspect  -- choose one lens through which to view the research problem, or look at just one facet of it.

• e.g., rather than studying the role of food in South Asian religious rituals, explore the role of food in Hindu ceremonies or the role of one particular type of food among several religions.

Components  -- determine if your initial variable or unit of analysis can be broken into smaller parts, which can then be analyzed more precisely. 

• e.g., a study of tobacco use among adolescents can focus on just chewing tobacco rather than all forms of usage or, rather than adolescents in general, focus on female adolescents in a specific age range who choose to use tobacco.

Methodology  -- how you gather information can reduce the domain of interpretive analysis needed to address the research problem.

• e.g., a single case study can be designed to generate data that does not require as extensive an explanation as using multiple cases.

Place  -- generally, the smaller the geographic unit of analysis, the more narrow the focus.

• e.g., rather than study trade relations in North America, study trade relations between Mexico and the United States. 

Relationship  -- ask yourself how do two or more different perspectives or variables relate to one another. Designing a study around the relationships between specific variables can help constrict the scope of analysis. 

• e.g., cause/effect, compare/contrast, contemporary/historical, group/individual, male/female, opinion/reason, problem/solution.

Time  -- the shorter the time period of the study, the more narrow the focus.

• e.g., study of relations between Russia and the United States during the Vietnam War.

Type  -- focus your topic in terms of a specific type or class of people, places, or phenomena. 

• e.g., a study of developing safer traffic patterns near schools can focus on SUVs, or just student drivers, or just the timing of traffic signals in the area.

Cause  -- focus your topic to just one cause for your topic.

• e.g., rather than writing about all the causes of WW1, just write about nationalism.

When narrowing your topic, make sure you don't narrow it too much. A topic is too narrow if you can state it in just a few words.

For example:

• How many soldiers died during the first world war?
• Who was the first President of the United States?
• Why is ocean water salty?
• Why are Pringles shaped the way they are?
• Developing a Research Topic This exercise is designed to help you develop a thoughtful topic for your research assignment, including methods for narrowing your topic.
• What Makes a Good Research Question?
• Narrowing Your topic
• Four Steps To Narrow Your Research Topic

• << Previous: Topic Selection Tips
• Next: Breaking Topic Into Keywords >>
• Last Updated: Apr 9, 2024 10:45 AM
• URL: https://kingsu.libguides.com/research

Want to create or adapt books like this? Learn more about how Pressbooks supports open publishing practices.

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 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.”

Going through this process can be the hardest part of doing research, but once you have a question that is realistically scoped (not too broad, not too narrow) it will guide the rest of your work.

 The Process of Narrowing a Topic

ACTIVITY: Which Topic is Narrower? 

Now it’s your turn. Practice thinking about narrower topics with these 3 examples. Click the arrow to show the next question.

TIP: Use Some of the 5 W’s to Help Narrow Your Topic to a Searchable Question

Your assignment is to write on the topic of higher education. You decide you want to write about the high cost of tuition, but that is still too broad.

Start by asking some or all of the following questions.

From asking these questions, you might come up with a research question like this:

“How does the high cost of tuition impact the degree completion of mature college students?”

Image: “ Rq-narrow ” by Teaching and Learning, University Libraries is licensed under CC BY-4.0 .

Doing Research Copyright © 2020 by Celia Brinkerhoff is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

Share This Book

Want to create or adapt books like this? Learn more about how Pressbooks supports open publishing practices.

1-Research Questions

2. Narrowing a Topic

For many students, having to start with a research question is the biggest difference between how they did research in high school and how they are required to carry out their college research projects. It’s 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 tell precisely what you want to find out, instead of only what you want to “write about.”

Process of Narrowing a Topic

All Possible Topics -You’ll need to narrow your topic in order to do research effectively. Without specific areas of focus, it will be hard to even know where to begin.

Assigned Topics – When professors assign a topic you have to narrow, they have already started the narrowing process. Narrowing a topic means making some part of it more specific. Ideas about a narrower topic can come from anywhere. Often, a narrower topic boils down to deciding what’s interesting to you. One way to get ideas is to read background information from a source like Wikipedia.

Topic Narrowed by Initial Exploration –  It’s wise to do some more reading about that narrower topic to a) learn more about it and b) learn specialized terms used by professionals and scholars who study it.

Topic Narrowed to Research Question(s) –  A research question defines exactly what you are trying to find out. It will influence most of the steps you take to conduct the research.

ACTIVITY: Which Topic Is Narrower?

When we talk about narrowing a topic, we’re talking about making it more specific. You can make it more specific by singling out at least one part or aspect of the original to decrease the scope of the original. Now here’s some practice for you to test your understanding.

Why Narrow a Topic?

Once you have a need for research—say, an assignment—you may need to prowl around a bit online to explore the topic and figure out what you actually want to find out and write about.

For instance, maybe your assignment is to develop a poster about the season “spring” for an introductory horticulture course. The instructor expects you to narrow that topic to something you are interested in and that is related to your class.

Ideas about a narrower topic can come from anywhere. In this case, a narrower topic boils down to deciding what’s interesting to you about “spring” that is related to what you’re learning in your horticulture class and small enough to manage in the time you have.

One way to get ideas would be to read about spring in Wikipedia, looking for things that seem interesting and relevant to your class, and then letting one thing lead to another as you keep reading and thinking about likely possibilities that are more narrow than the enormous “spring” topic. (Be sure to pay attention to the references at the bottom of most Wikipedia pages and pursue any that look interesting. Your instructor is not likely to let you cite Wikipedia, but those references may be citable scholarly sources that you could eventually decide to use.)

Or, instead, if it is spring at the time you could start by just looking around, admire the blooming trees on campus, and decide you’d like your poster to be about bud development on your favorites, the crabapple trees.

What you’re actually doing to narrow your topic is making at least one aspect of your topic more specific. For instance, assume your topic is the maintenance of the 130 miles of sidewalks on OSU’s Columbus campus. If you made maintenance more specific, your narrower topic might be snow removal on Columbus OSU’s sidewalks. If instead, you made the 130 miles of sidewalks more specific, your narrower topic might be maintenance of the sidewalks on all sides of Mirror Lake.

Anna Narrows Her Topic and Works on a Research Question

The Situation: Anna, an undergraduate, has been assigned a research paper on Antarctica. Her professor expects students to (1) narrow the topic on something more specific about Antarctica because they won’t have time to cover that whole topic. Then they are to (2) come up with a research question that their paper will answer.

The professor explained that the research question should be something they are interested in answering and that it must be more complicated than what they could answer with a quick Google search. He also said that research questions often, but not always, start with either the word “how” or “why.”

What you should do:

• Read what Anna is thinking below as she tries to do the assignment.
• After the reading, answer the questions at the end of the monologue in your own mind.
• Check your answers with ours at the end of Anna’s interior monologue.
• Keep this demonstration in mind the next time you are in Anna’s spot, and you can mimic her actions and think about your own topic.

Anna’s Interior Monologue

Okay, I am going to have to write something—a research paper—about Antarctica. I don’t know anything about that place—I think it’s a continent. I can’t think of a single thing I’ve ever wanted to know about Antarctica. How will I come up with a research question about that place? Calls for Wikipedia, I guess.

At https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antarctica . Just skimming. Pretty boring stuff. Oh, look– Antarctica’s a desert! I guess “desert” doesn’t have to do with heat. That’s interesting. What else could it have to do with? Maybe lack of precipitation? But there’s lots of snow and ice there. Have to think about that—what makes a desert a desert?

It says one to five thousand people live there in research stations. Year-round. Definitely, the last thing I’d ever do. “…there is no evidence that it was seen by humans until the 19th century.” I never thought about whether anybody lived in Antarctica first, before the scientists and stuff.

Lots of names—explorer, explorer… boring. It says Amundson reached the South Pole first. Who’s Amundson? But wait. It says, “One month later, the doomed Scott Expedition reached the pole.” Doomed? Doomed is always interesting. Where’s more about the Scott Expedition? I’m going to use that Control-F technique and type in Scott to see if I can find more about him on this page. Nothing beyond that one sentence shows up. Why would they have just that one sentence? I’ll have to click on the Scott Expedition link.

But it gives me a page called Terra Nova Expedition. What does that have to do with Scott? And just who was Scott? And why was his expedition doomed? There he is in a photo before going to Antarctica. Guess he was English. Other photos show him and his team in the snow. Oh, the expedition was named Terra Nova after the ship they sailed this time—in 1911. Scott had been there earlier on another ship.

Lots of stuff about preparing for the trip. Then stuff about expedition journeys once they were in Antarctica. Not very exciting—nothing about being doomed. I don’t want to write about this stuff.

Wait. The last paragraph of the first section says “For many years after his death, Scott’s status as a tragic hero was unchallenged,” but then it says that in the 20th-century people looked closer at the expedition’s management and at whether Scott and some of his team could be personally blamed for the catastrophe. That “remains controversial,” it says. Catastrophe? Personally blamed? Hmm.

Back to skimming. It all seems horrible to me. They actually planned to kill their ponies for meat, so when they actually did it, it was no surprise. Everything was extremely difficult. And then when they arrived at the South Pole, they found that the explorer Amundsen had beaten them. Must have been a big disappointment.

The homeward march was even worse. The weather got worse. The dog sleds that were supposed to meet them periodically with supplies didn’t show up. Or maybe the Scott group was lost and didn’t go to the right meeting places. Maybe that’s what that earlier statement meant about whether the decisions that were made were good ones. Scott’s diary said the crystallized snow made it seem like they were pushing and pulling the sledges through dry sand .

It says that before things turned really bad ( really bad? You’ve already had to eat your horses !), Scott allowed his men to put 30 pounds of rocks with fossils on the sledges they were pushing and dragging. Now was that sensible? The men had to push or pull those sledges themselves. What if it was those rocks that actually doomed those men?

But here it says that those rocks are the proof of continental drift. So how did they know those rocks were so important? Was that knowledge worth their lives? Could they have known?

Wow–there is drama on this page! Scott’s diary is quoted about their troubles on the expedition—the relentless cold, frostbite, and the deaths of their dogs. One entry tells of a guy on Scott’s team “now with hands as well as feet pretty well useless” voluntarily leaving the tent and walking to his death. The diary says that the team member’s last words were ”I am just going outside and may be some time.” Ha!

They all seem lost and desperate but still have those sledges. Why would you keep pulling and pushing those sledges containing an extra 30 pounds of rock when you are so desperate and every step is life or death?

Then there’s Scott’s last diary entry, on March 29, 1912. “… It seems a pity but I do not think I can write more.” Well.

That diary apparently gave lots of locations of where he thought they were but maybe they were lost. It says they ended up only 11 miles from one of their supply stations. I wonder if anybody knows how close they were to where Scott thought they were.

I’d love to see that diary. Wouldn’t that be cool? Online? I’ll Google it.

Yes! At the British museum. Look at that! I can see Scott’s last entry IN HIS OWN HANDWRITING!

Actually, if I decide to write about something that requires reading the diary, it would be easier to not have to decipher his handwriting. Wonder whether there is a typed version of it online somewhere?

Maybe I should pay attention to the early paragraph on the Terra Nova Expedition page in Wikipedia—about it being controversial whether Scott and his team made bad decisions so that they brought most of their troubles on themselves. Can I narrow my topic to just the controversy over whether bad decisions of Scott and his crew doomed them? Maybe it’s too big a topic if I consider the decisions of all team members. Maybe I should just consider Scott’s decisions.

So what research question could come from that? Maybe: how did Scott’s decisions contribute to his team’s deaths in Antarctica? But am I talking about his decisions before or after they left for Antarctica? Or the whole time they were a team? Probably too many decisions involved. More focused: How did Scott’s decisions after reaching the South Pole help or hurt the chances of his team getting back safely? That’s not bad—maybe. If people have written about that. There are several of his decisions discussed on the Wikipedia page, and I know there are sources at the bottom of that page.

Let me think—what else did I see that was interesting or puzzling about all this? I remember being surprised that Antarctica is a desert. So maybe I could make Antarctica as a desert my topic. My research question could be something like: Why is Antarctica considered a desert? But there has to be a definition of deserts somewhere online, so that doesn’t sound complicated enough. Once you know the definition of desert, you’d know the answer to the question. Professor Sanders says research questions are more complicated than regular questions.

What’s a topic I could care about? A question I really wonder about? Maybe those rocks with the fossils in them. It’s just so hard to imagine desperate explorers continuing to push those sledges with an extra 30 pounds of rocks on them. Did they somehow know how important they would be? Or were they just curious about them? Why didn’t they ditch them? Or maybe they just didn’t realize how close to death they were. Maybe I could narrow my Antarctica topic to those rocks.

Maybe my narrowed topic could be something like: The rocks that Scott and his crew found in Antarctica that prove continental drift. Maybe my research question could be: How did Scott’s explorers choose the rocks they kept?

Well, now all I have is questions about my questions. Like, is my professor going to think the question about the rocks is still about Antarctica? Or is it all about continental drift or geology or even the psychology of desperate people? And what has been written about the finding of those rocks? Will I be able to find enough sources? I’m also wondering whether my question about Scott’s decisions is too big—do I have enough time for it?

I think my professor is the only one who can tell me whether my question about the rocks has enough to do with Antarctica. Since he’s the one who will be grading my paper. But a librarian can help me figure out the other things.

So Dr. Sanders and a librarian are next.

Reflection Questions

• Was Anna’s choice to start with Wikipedia a good choice? Why or why not?
• Have you ever used that Control-F technique?
• At what points does Anna think about where to look for information?
• At the end of this session, Anna hasn’t yet settled on a research question. So what did she accomplish? What good was all this searching and thinking?

Our Answers:

• Was Anna’s choice to start with Wikipedia a good choice? Why or why not? Wikipedia is a great place to start a research project. Just make sure you move on from there, because it’s a not a good place to end up with your project. One place to move on to is the sources at the bottom of most Wikipedia pages.
• Have you ever used that Control-F technique? If you haven’t used the Control-F technique, we hope you will. It can save you a lot of time and effort reading online material.
• At what points does Anna think about where to look for information ? When she began; when she wanted to know more about the Scott expedition; when she wonders whether she could read Scott’s diary online; when she thinks about what people could answer her questions.
• At the end of this session, Anna hasn’t yet settled on a research question. So what did she accomplish? What good was all this reading and thinking? There are probably many answers to this question. Ours includes that Anna learned more about Antarctica, the subject of her research project. She focused her thinking (even if she doesn’t end up using the possible research questions she’s considering) and practiced critical thinking skills, such as when she thought about what she could be interested in, when she worked to make her potential research questions more specific, and when she figured out what questions still needed answering at the end. She also practiced her skills at making meaning from what she read, investigating a story that she didn’t expect to be there and didn’t know had the potential of being one that she is interested in. She also now knows what questions she needs answered and whom to ask. These thinking skills are what college is all about. Anna is way beyond where she was when she started.

Choosing & Using Sources: A Guide to Academic Research Copyright © 2015 by Teaching & Learning, Ohio State University Libraries is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

Share This Book

Want to create or adapt books like this? Learn more about how Pressbooks supports open publishing practices.

Narrowing a Topic

For many students, having to start with a research question is the biggest difference between how they did research in high school and how they are required to carry out their college research projects. It’s 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 tell precisely what you want to find out, instead of only what you want to “write about.”

Process of Narrowing a Topic

Visualize narrowing a topic as starting with all possible topics and choosing narrower and narrower subsets until you have a specific enough topic to form a research question.

All Possible Topics – You’ll need to narrow your topic to do research effectively. Without specific areas of focus, it will be hard to even know where to begin.

Assigned Topics –  Ideas about a narrower topic can come from anywhere. Often, a narrower topic boils down to deciding what’s interesting to you. One way to get ideas is to read background information in a source like Wikipedia.

Topic Narrowed by Initial Exploration –  It’s wise to do some background reading about that narrower topic to a) learn more about it and b) learn specialized terms used by professionals and scholars who study it.

Topic Narrowed to Research Question(s) –  A research question defines exactly what you are trying to find out. It will influence most of the steps you take to conduct the research.

Why Narrow a Topic?

Once you have a need for research—say, an assignment—you may need to prowl around a bit online to explore the topic and figure out what you actually want to find out and write about. For instance, maybe your assignment is to develop a poster about “spring” for an introductory horticulture course. The instructor expects you to narrow that topic to something you are interested in and that is related to your class.

Another way to view a narrowed topic is as a sliver of the whole topic.

Ideas about a narrower topic can come from anywhere. In this case, a narrower topic boils down to deciding what’s interesting to you about “spring” that is related to what you’re learning in your horticulture class and small enough to manage in the time you have. One way to get ideas would be to read about spring in Wikipedia, a reference database such as CREDO, or a subject encyclopedia. Look for things that seem interesting and relevant to your class, and then let one thing lead to another as you keep reading and thinking about likely possibilities that are more narrow than the enormous “spring” topic. Be sure to pay attention to the references at the bottom of most Wikipedia pages and pursue any that look interesting. Your instructor is not likely to let you cite Wikipedia, but those references may be scholarly sources that you could eventually decide to use and cite.

Or, instead, if it is spring at the time you could start by just looking around, admire the blooming trees on campus, and decide you’d like your poster to be about bud development on your favorites, the crabapple trees.

Jada Narrows Her Topic and Works on a Research Question

The Situation: Jada, an undergraduate, has been assigned a research paper on Antarctica. Her professor expects students to narrow the topic to something more specific about Antarctica because they won’t have time to cover that whole topic. Then they are to come up with a research question that their paper will answer.

The professor explained that the research question should be something they are interested in answering and that it must be more complicated than what they could answer with a quick Google search. She also said that research questions often start with either the word “how” or “why.”

Try it out:

• Read what Jada is thinking below as she tries to do the assignment.
• After the reading, answer the questions based on your own approach to research.
• Check your answers with ours.
• Keep this passage in mind the next time you start a research topic and mimic the process that Jada uses.

Jada’s Thoughts

Okay, I have to write—a research paper—about Antarctica. I don’t know anything about that place—and I can’t think of a single thing I’d like to know about Antarctica. Calls for Wikipedia, I guess.

Guess I’ll go here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antarctica . Just skimming. Pretty boring stuff. Oh, look– Antarctica’s a desert! I guess “desert” doesn’t have to do with heat. That’s interesting. Why is it considered a desert, there’s lots of snow and ice there. Have to think about that—what makes a desert a desert.

It says one to five thousand people live there in research stations. Year-round. And there is no evidence that it was seen by humans until the 19th century. I never thought about whether anybody lived in Antarctica first, before explorers and scientists.

Lots of names—explorers, others. It says Amundsen reached the South pole first. Who’s Amundsen? But wait. It says, “One month later, the doomed Scott Expedition reached the pole.” Doomed? Doomed is always interesting. Where is there more information about the Scott Expedition? There is only one sentence. Why would they have just that one sentence? I’ll have to click on the Scott Expedition link.

Terra Nova…

But it gives me a page called Terra Nova Expedition. What does that have to do with Scott? Who was he and why was his expedition doomed? There he is in a photo before going to Antarctica. Guess he was English. Other photos show him and his team in the snow. Oh, the expedition was named Terra Nova after the ship they sailed this time—in 1911. Scott was also there earlier on another ship.

Lots of info about preparing for the trip. Then stuff about expedition journeys once they were in Antarctica. Not very exciting—nothing about being doomed.

Wait. The last paragraph of the first section says “For many years after his death, Scott’s status as a tragic hero was unchallenged,” but then it says that in the 20th-century people looked closer at the expedition’s management and at whether Scott and some of his team could be personally blamed for the catastrophe. That “remains controversial,” it says. Catastrophe? Personally, blamed? Hmm.

Back to skimming. It all seems horrible to me. They actually planned to kill their ponies for meat. Everything was extremely difficult. And then when they arrived at the South Pole, they found that the explorer Amundsen had beaten them. Must have been a big disappointment.

The homeward march was even worse. The weather was bad. The dog sleds that were supposed to meet them periodically with supplies didn’t show up. Or maybe the Scott group was lost and didn’t go to the right meeting places. Maybe that’s what that earlier statement meant about whether the decisions that were made were good ones. Scott’s diary said the crystallized snow made it seem like they were pushing and pulling the sleds through dry sand .

It says that before things turned really bad, Scott allowed his men to put 30 pounds of rocks with fossils on the sleds they were pushing and dragging. Now was that sensible? But here it says that those rocks are the proof of continental drift. So how did they know those rocks were so important? Was that knowledge worth their lives? Could they have known?

Scott’s diary is quoted about their troubles on the expedition—the relentless cold, frostbite, and the deaths of their dogs. One entry tells of a guy on Scott’s team “now with hands as well as feet pretty well useless” voluntarily leaving the tent and walking to his death. The diary says that the team member’s last words were ”I am just going outside and may be some time.”

They all seem lost and desperate but still have those sleds. Why would you keep pulling and pushing those sleds containing an extra 30 pounds of rock when you are so desperate and every step is life or death?

Then there’s Scott’s last diary entry, on March 29, 1912. “… It seems a pity but I do not think I can write more.”. The diary apparently gave lots of locations of where he thought they were but maybe they were lost. It says they ended up only 11 miles from one of their supply stations.

I’d love to see that diary. Wouldn’t that be cool? Online? I’ll Google it. Yes! it’s at the British Museum. Look at that! I can see Scott’s last entry IN HIS OWN HANDWRITING! And there’s a digital copy too.

I wonder if I should narrow my topic to just the controversy over whether the expedition was doomed because of the bad decisions made by Scott and his crew?  Maybe it’s too big a topic if I consider the decisions of all team members. Maybe I should just consider Scott’s decisions. They should be noted in the diary.

So what research question could come from that? Maybe: how did Scott’s decisions contribute to his team’s deaths in Antarctica? Need to be more focused: How did Scott’s decisions after reaching the South Pole help or hurt the chances of his team getting back safely? There are several of his decisions discussed on the Wikipedia page, and I know there are sources at the bottom of that page.

Really, a desert?

Let me think—what else did I see that was interesting or puzzling about all this? I remember being surprised that Antarctica is a desert. So maybe I could make the desert of Antarctica my topic. My research question could be something like: Why is Antarctica considered a desert? But there has to be a definition of deserts somewhere online, so that doesn’t sound complicated enough. Maybe those rocks with the fossils in them. It’s just so hard to imagine desperate explorers continuing to push those sleds with an extra 30 pounds of rocks on them. Did they somehow know how important they would be? Why didn’t they ditch them? Or maybe they just didn’t realize how close to death they were. Maybe I could narrow my Antarctica topic to those rocks.

Maybe my topic could be something like The rocks that Scott and his crew found in Antarctica that prove continental drift. Maybe my research question could be: How did Scott’s explorers choose the rocks they kept? Or maybe I should stick with why Scott and his crew made bad decisions.

I should ask.

I think my professor is the only one who can tell me whether my question about the rocks has enough to do with Antarctica. Since she’s the one who will be grading my paper. But a librarian can help me figure out the other things. So Dr. Sanders and a librarian are next.

• Was Jada’s choice to start with Wikipedia a good choice? Why or why not?
• Have you ever skimmed resources first and then read more deeply later?
• At what points does Jada think about where to look for information?
• At the end of this session, Jada hasn’t yet settled on a research question. So what did she accomplish? What good was all this searching and thinking?

Our Answers

• Was Jada’s choice to start with Wikipedia a good choice? Although not usually cited in research papers, Wikipedia is a good place to learn more about all kinds of topics.  Information is usually general in nature and you can check out the references at the bottom of the page. Use those links to find additional resources. This may lead you to library based sources like subject dictionaries, encyclopedias, or guides.
• Have you ever skimmed resources first and then read more deeply later? When first exploring your topic you may choose to skim resources. That is a very brief read looking for interesting and useful information. Later when you select a topic and look for resources that provide deeper, more focused information.
• At what points does Jada think about where to look for information? After receiving the core part of the topic (Antarctica), she begins looking for general information and becomes curious about the Scott expedition. As she learns more she thinks about where she can look for additional information, such as the diary mentioned in Wikipedia..
• At the end of this session, Jada hasn’t yet settled on a research question. So what did she accomplish? What good was all this searching and thinking? The background information that Jada looked at helped her to focus on the problems with the Scott Expedition. She slowly narrows down some of the issues and centers on the weight of the rocks.  She considers two different questions (one more narrow than the other) and intends to seek input from the professor and librarian.  Taking the time to explore her topic has given her ideas useful for a solid research question.

Exercise: Determine the Topic Order

Critical Thinking in Academic Research Copyright © 2022 by Cindy Gruwell and Robin Ewing is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

Share This Book

Selecting a Research Topic

Why should i narrow my research topic, considerations, topic selection process.

• Topic Selection Strategies
• EBSCO's Research Starters
• Defining Scope

If you have a need to conduct research for a course at any level, you should understand the significance of narrowing down your research topic.  Reasons for narrowing down a research topic are:

• The field you are studying is much too broad, so you cannot formulate a research question or hypothesis from it.
• You are not quite sure what you want to cover in your research project/paper.
• You feel overwhelmed by the research topic you have already selected.
• Your assignment requires you to research a topic that has not yet been covered (research gap).

Before you begin your search for a research topic, there are some things to consider that could impact the topic you choose:

• In what field of study is your assignment?  In what course is your project?
• Does your assignment require you to research a specific topic within a particular discipline?
• How narrow or broad does your topic need to be?
• Who will be reading your paper?
• Will you be presenting your project to an audience?
• What type of paper are you writing?  This may determine the scope of your topic.

The process of narrowing down a research topic can be illustrated by the image below ("Choosing & Using Sources," 2016).  It illustrates the process of thinking about all potential research topics, then narrowing it down to a specific research question.  This diagram can assist you in determining your topic because it illustrates how all possible topics and subjects transform into your final research topic.  It is also recommended that you refer to your assignment instructions for guidance on topic selection.

All possible topics:  Represents all potential topics in your field of discipline.  This is often overwhelming, so it is typical to rule out irrelevant topics to create a "smaller" pool of topics.

Assigned topic:  This is a combination of determining topics that are interesting to you and that fulfill your assignment requirements.  You might have more than one topic, so you may need to narrow them down further.

Topic narrowed by initial exploration:  This results from conducting preliminary research on your assigned topic(s).  During this process, you will learn more about the topics you are considering.  From there, you can determine if the topic is still of interest.

Topic narrowed to research question(s):  From the information you have learned in your preliminary research, you formulate a research question that identifies what your paper/project will attempt to discover.

The video below from Wilsey Library demonstrates how to narrow down a general research topic.

• << Previous: Welcome
• Next: Topic Selection Strategies >>
• Last Updated: May 22, 2023 10:46 AM
• URL: https://library.tiffin.edu/selectingaresearchtopic

Thesis Helpers

Find the best tips and advice to improve your writing. Or, have a top expert write your paper.

Narrowing Down Research Topic: Ultimate Guide With Examples

For most students, narrowing down a research topic makes a huge difference between how they carried out the research while in high school and how they should conduct their research projects in college.

Choosing a suitable research topic requires that you work from outside in. Often, you’ll start with a broader topic and narrow it down to a level where you can establish what you’d like to find out rather than only what you’d like to “write about.”

Whether you’ve been given a general topic to investigate, given several problems to study, or you need to come up with your own topic to study, you should ensure that the research problem’s scope underpinning the study isn’t too broad.

A Step-by-Step Example on Narrowing a Research Topic

To narrow down a specific topic, follow these steps:

1. Choose a general topic area.

An example could be employee turnover.

2. Give specific description of the topic area.

Example: turnover in the nursing industry

3. Mention an aspect of the specific topic:

Example: factors that affect turnover among registered nurses

To narrow down a topic’s focus, follow these steps:

4. Note down extra specifics about the topic.

Example: Workplace stress and turnover among registered nurses.

5. Turn the topic into a sentence or statement.

Example: Workplace stress has a significant impact on turnover among registered nurses.

6. Fine-tune your topic’s focus using elements such as time, place, and relationship.

Example: Workplace stress causes increased turnover among registered nurses in Brooklyn.

What’s Too Broad?

College students get tired when an instructor tells them that the topic they chose is too broad. This problem is very common. How do you tell if your topic is too broad?

If you’ve summed up the topic in one or two words, such as education, school cheating, corporal punishment, smoking, or overweight teens, it’s obviously too broad.

If you visit the library and realize you are staring at a whole section of books that you can use as sources for your study topic, then the topic is too broad. A good topic should address a specific problem or question. You should spot four to five books (or even fewer) on a shelf that can effectively address a specific research problem.

If you can’t easily come up with a thesis statement for your research paper, then chances are your topic is too broad.

The Dangers Of Not Narrowing Down

If you don’t do that, you’ll find it challenging to handle the study problem on the time and space provided. You might face a couple of issues if you choose to write on a very broad PhD research topic. The issues include:

Finding tons of sources of information, which makes it difficult to choose what to omit or include, or what’s the most essential.

Finding generic information that makes it tricky to come up with a clear framework for addressing the research problem

Lack of adequate parameters to effectively define the research problem makes it challenging to identify and use correct methods required for its analysis.

You come across information that addresses a wide array of concepts that can’t be included in a single paper. Consequently, you easily get into unnecessary details.

When starting to write a research paper, there’s a common challenge – determining how to narrow down a research topic.

Even if the professor assigns you a specific topic of study, you’ll still be required to narrow it down to some degree. Besides, the professor will find it boring to mark fifty papers talking about the same thing.

That’s why you should narrow your study’s focus early in the writing process. That way, you won’t try to do too much in one research paper.

Tips For Narrowing A Research Topic

Select one lens and use it for viewing a research problem. The other alternative is to focus on just one angle. For example, instead of studying the different factors that cause cancer, study how smoking can cause lung cancer.

Figure out if the initial unit or variable of analysis can be partitioned into smaller components, so you analyze them with more precision. For example, a study on the use of tobacco among teenagers can be narrowed down to chewing tobacco instead of all forms of tobacco use or teenagers in general. A better approach would be to focus on male teenagers in a specific age range and region who chew tobacco.

Methodology

The methods used to gather data can reduce the scope of interpretive analysis required to address your research problem. For example, you can design a single case study to generate data that won’t require an extensive explanation as that of using multiple cases.

In general, analyzing a smaller geographical unit means a narrow topical focus. For example, instead of studying trade relations in Asia, focus on trade relations between China and Singapore as a case study to guide you in explaining problems in that region.

Relationship

Find out how two or more variables or perspectives relate to each other. When you design a study around the correlation of different variables, it helps you to reduce the scope of your analysis. Examples of variables to look out for are:

Cause and effect

Group and individual

Compare and contrast

Contemporary and historical

Problem and solution

Male and female

Opinion and reason

Study periods can be assigned timeframes. Generally, the shorter a study’s time period, the more narrow its focus becomes. For example, instead of studying trade relations between China and Singapore, focus on the trade relations between China and Singapore between 2010 and 2018.

Focus the study topic with regard to a particular class of people, phenomena, or places. For instance, a study of developing better housing near schools may focus on condominiums, universities, or building materials only.

Combination

You can choose at least two of the above tips to narrow down to a specific topic.

Narrowing Down A Research Topic Is Vital – Use Our Advice!

In sum, you can use the broad topic given by your instructor to narrow down, or you can come up with your own topic first and narrow it down (some teachers give this freedom). Either way, you should ensure your narrowed topic is specific and more of a sentence than just a couple of words.

Remember, you want to be able to write a good thesis statement from the topic and proceed to write a paper on it. You can ask for feedback from your friends or instructor to confirm the topic is good and worth writing about. As you can see, it’s easier to write on a specific topic than one that’s too broad.

Make PhD experience your own

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

We use cookies to give you the best experience possible. By continuing we’ll assume you’re on board with our cookie policy

• A Research Guide
• Research Paper Guide

How to Narrow Down a Research Topic?

• Why narrowing the research topic
• Step-by-step guide

Strategies for narrowing the research topic

Narrowing topic example, why narrowing the research topic boosts your study.

• Enhances your comprehension of the selected topic, aligning you with the specialized vocabulary and concepts employed by scholars in the field.
• Allows your investigation to be enriched with contextual insights.

Step-by-step guide for narrowing topic

Step 1: initial brainstorming and exploration., step 2: define the goals., step 3: narrowing focus., step 4: include a literature review., step 5: finalize a topic., methodology, relationship, combination.

• Writing a Research Paper
• Research Paper Title
• Research Paper Sources
• Research Paper Problem Statement
• Research Paper Thesis Statement
• Hypothesis for a Research Paper
• Research Question
• Research Paper Outline
• Research Paper Summary
• Research Paper Prospectus
• Research Paper Proposal
• Research Paper Format
• Research Paper Styles
• AMA Style Research Paper
• MLA Style Research Paper
• Chicago Style Research Paper
• APA Style Research Paper
• Research Paper Structure
• Research Paper Cover Page
• Research Paper Abstract
• Research Paper Introduction
• Research Paper Body Paragraph
• Research Paper Literature Review
• Research Paper Background
• Research Paper Methods Section
• Research Paper Results Section
• Research Paper Discussion Section
• Research Paper Conclusion
• Research Paper Appendix
• Research Paper Bibliography
• APA Reference Page
• Annotated Bibliography
• Bibliography vs Works Cited vs References Page
• Research Paper Types
• What is Qualitative Research

Receive paper in 3 Hours!

• Choose the number of pages.
• Select your deadline.
• Complete your order.

Number of Pages

550 words (double spaced)

Deadline: 10 days left

By clicking "Log In", you agree to our terms of service and privacy policy . We'll occasionally send you account related and promo emails.

Sign Up for your FREE account

• University of Michigan Library
• Research Guides

Finding and Exploring Your Topic

• Narrowing/Broadening Your Topic
• General Brainstorming
• Subject-Specific Brainstorming
• Understanding Your Topic

Brainstorming

A bubble chart like the one below can help you brainstorm different ways that your topic can be narrowed or broadened.

Narrowing Your Topic

Sometimes a topic that seems like the right size for your paper can seem way too big after you’ve learned a little more about it.   When this happens, you need to narrow the focus of your paper.   You can do this by considering different ways to restrict your paper topic.

Some of the ways you can limit your paper topic are by:

• Who – population or group (e.g., college students; women; Asian Americans)
• What – discipline or focus (e.g., sociological or historical perspective)
• Where – geographic location (e.g., United States; universities; small towns)
• When – time period or era (19 th century; Renaissance; Vietnam War)
• Why – why is the topic important? (to the class, to the field, or to you)

For example, a paper about alcohol use would be very broad.   But a paper about reasons for alcohol abuse by female college students in the United States during the 1990s might be just right.

Goldilocker: An Online Tool For Narrowing Your Topic

The University of Michigan Library Learning and Teaching Team has created an online tool to help you narrow your topic.  The Goldilocker tool can be used as a stand alone/personal exercise to articulate your topic in a much more narrow fashion.  It can also be used in conjunction with University of Michigan courses and classes outside of the university.  

Broadening Your Topic

Sometimes you will find that your topic is too narrow - there is not enough published on your topic.  When this happens, you can try to broaden your topic.  There are a couple of strategies you can try when broadening your topic.

One strategy is to choose less specific terms for your search, e.g., standardized tests instead of SATs, or performance-enhancing drugs instead of anabolic steroids.

Another strategy is to broaden your topic by changing or removing limits or filters from your topic:

• Who - population or group (e.g., instead of college students, choose a broader section of the population)
• What  - discipline or focus (e.g., instead of choosing a sociological perspective, look at a number of perspectives)
• Where  - geographic location (e.g., instead of Michigan, choose United States)
• When  - time period or era (e.g., instead of 1984, choose 1980s or 20th century)

For example, a paper about alcohol use by college students at the University of Michigan in 1984 might be too narrow of a focus.  But a paper about alcohol use by college students in the 1980s might be just right.

How To Choose A Research Topic

Step-By-Step Tutorial With Examples + Free Topic Evaluator

By: Derek Jansen (MBA) | Expert Reviewer: Dr Eunice Rautenbach | April 2024

Choosing the right research topic is likely the  most important decision you’ll make on your dissertation or thesis journey. To make the right choice, you need to take a systematic approach and evaluate each of your candidate ideas across a consistent set of criteria. In this tutorial, we’ll unpack five essential criteria that will help you evaluate your prospective research ideas and choose a winner.

Overview: The “Big 5” Key Criteria

• Topic originality or novelty
• Value and significance
• Access to data and equipment
• Time limitations and implications
• Ethical requirements and constraints

Criterion #1: Originality & Novelty

As we’ve discussed extensively on this blog, originality in a research topic is essential. In other words, you need a clear research gap . The uniqueness of your topic determines its contribution to the field and its potential to stand out in the academic community. So, for each of your prospective topics, ask yourself the following questions:

• What research gap and research problem am I filling?
• Does my topic offer new insights?
• Am I combining existing ideas in a unique way?
• Am I taking a unique methodological approach?

To objectively evaluate the originality of each of your topic candidates, rate them on these aspects. This process will not only help in choosing a topic that stands out, but also one that can capture the interest of your audience and possibly contribute significantly to the field of study – which brings us to our next criterion.

Criterion #2: Value & Significance

Next, you’ll need to assess the value and significance of each prospective topic. To do this, you’ll need to ask some hard questions.

• Why is it important to explore these research questions?
• Who stands to benefit from this study?
• How will they benefit, specifically?

By clearly understanding and outlining the significance of each potential topic, you’ll not only be justifying your final choice – you’ll essentially be laying the groundwork for a persuasive research proposal , which is equally important.

Criterion #3: Access to Data & Equipment

Naturally, access to relevant data and equipment is crucial for the success of your research project. So, for each of your prospective topic ideas, you’ll need to evaluate whether you have the necessary resources to collect data and conduct your study.

Here are some questions to ask for each potential topic:

• Will I be able to access the sample of interest (e.g., people, animals, etc.)?
• Do I have (or can I get) access to the required equipment, at the time that I need it?
• Are there costs associated with any of this? If so, what are they?

Keep in mind that getting access to certain types of data may also require special permissions and legalities, especially if your topic involves vulnerable groups (patients, youths, etc.). You may also need to adhere to specific data protection laws, depending on the country. So, be sure to evaluate these aspects thoroughly for each topic. Overlooking any of these can lead to significant complications down the line.

Criterion #4: Time Requirements & Implications

Naturally, having a realistic timeline for each potential research idea is crucial. So, consider the scope of each potential topic and estimate how long each phase of the research will take — from literature review to data collection and analysis, to writing and revisions. Underestimating the time needed for a research project is extremely common , so it’s important to include buffer time for unforeseen delays.

Remember, efficient time management is not just about the duration but also about the timing . For example, if your research involves fieldwork, there may specific times of the year when this is most doable (or not doable at all).  So, be sure to consider both time and timing for each of your prospective topics.

Criterion #5: Ethical Compliance

Failing to adhere to your university’s research ethics policy is a surefire way to get your proposal rejected . So, you’ll need to evaluate each topic for potential ethical issues, especially if your research involves human subjects, sensitive data, or has any potential environmental impact.

Remember that ethical compliance is not just a formality – it’s a responsibility to ensure the integrity and social responsibility of your research. Topics that pose significant ethical challenges are typically the first to be rejected, so you need to take this seriously. It’s also useful to keep in mind that some topics are more “ethically sensitive” than others , which usually means that they’ll require multiple levels of approval. Ideally, you want to avoid this additional admin, so mark down any prospective topics that fall into an ethical “grey zone”.

If you’re unsure about the details of your university’s ethics policy, ask for a copy or speak directly to your course coordinator. Don’t make any assumptions when it comes to research ethics!

Key Takeaways

In this post, we’ve explored how to choose a research topic using a systematic approach. To recap, the “Big 5” assessment criteria include:

• Topic originality and novelty
• Time requirements
• Ethical compliance

Be sure to grab a copy of our free research topic evaluator sheet here to fast-track your topic selection process. If you need hands-on help finding and refining a high-quality research topic for your dissertation or thesis, you can also check out our private coaching service .

Need a helping hand?

You Might Also Like:

Submit a Comment Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

• Print Friendly

Narrowing your research topic

Contributors: Derrian Goebel

Narrowing a research topic is moving from a general topic, like global warming, to a tighter research focus, such as helping the environment by improving travel modes (example below). However, you can’t just forget about the big picture—how your argument/claim fits into the bigger discussion including connections to other viewpoints on your topic.

To ensure a connection with other viewpoints and the bigger picture, ask yourself some questions when revising your paper:

• Are you showing readers how your narrowed topic effects, or relates to, the bigger picture?
• When going through each topic point, do you acknowledge opposing viewpoints?
• When you are ready to relate your narrowed topic to the bigger picture, do you mention other topics included in the larger discussion?

Example: Solving Global Warming—Do Something

• Plant trees
• Best travel

Bigger picture

“Solving Global Warming—Do Something” is the larger discussion about climate change and the environment. “Use less,” “plant trees” and “be a catalyst” are some branches stemming from the larger discussion. The “best travel” topic is only one part of the global warming bigger picture. Articulate the multiple standpoints within the bigger picture :

• So, for example in the previous picture, you will need to be able to locate your narrowed topic (best travel) in relation to the other parts of the main issue.
• Show your readers how your focused subject is connected to these other conversations.

Narrowed research topic

How people can buy hybrid/electric cars, car pool with co-workers, walk, bike or use public transportation (above). Opposing viewpoints are ones that argue within your focused area.

Explore the multiple arguments, perspectives and alternative positions within your narrowed research topic:

• Take the time and give fair consideration to these other perspectives, which will benefit your argument by offering readers a fair report.

For example, not everyone will live close enough to their work to walk or ride a bike. These, too, are parts of the argument—they are the alternative point(s) of view.

• If you can argue, then do so: “People may not be able to walk or ride a bike, but what about the bus?” Otherwise, it is best to simply acknowledge and move on: “…which is a good point.” This is an example of fair reporting.

So overall, when your teacher asks you to focus your research, don’t forget that connection to the bigger discussion in which you were initially interested. Also, don’t forget other opinions for a fair and balanced essay.

• Spartanburg Community College Library
• SCC Research Guides
• Choosing a Research Topic
• 3. Narrow Your Topic / Thesis Statements

Narrow Your Topic

Once you have completed your background research, you will want to start narrowing down your topic a little further. You probably learned a ton of new information about your topic when you were doing your background research, but you cannot write about everything. You need to focus your ideas into one clear, concise research question.

The good news for you is that you already started subconsciously doing this before you began your background research, when you were brainstorming ideas in your concept map. Now that you have done your background research, you're ready to narrow down your topic further and develop a research question and a thesis statement.

What is the difference between a research question and a thesis statement?

The reason that we do research in the first place is to answer a question.

Your research question is the question that you answer while you complete your assignment. Think of your research question as your topic, but in question form.

Research Topic: Cost of college tuition.

Example: How does student loan debt affect students below the poverty line?

Your thesis statement is the answer to your research question. You will spend your whole paper working to prove your thesis statement.

Example: Student loan debt affects students below the poverty line by further hindering their ability to purchase a home, have a family, and pay off their debt.

What makes a good thesis statement?

As you narrow down your topic and develop your thesis, keep in mind, a thesis statement should:

• Clearly answer your research question. Your thesis statement is the answer to that question.
• Outline the position you will take in your paper. Your reader should know exactly what point you are making in your paper.
• Show how you will support your position. Your reader should know exactly how you will support your position.
• Have multiple sides to the issue. Your thesis should not be a common fact or something that can be answered with a "yes" or "no."
• Be flexible. It is common and normal if your thesis statement ends up changing during the research process. As you learn more, your position may change. 

The below video from Scribbr gives a great overview of how to write a strong thesis statement for an argument essay.

• << Previous: 2. Background Research
• Next: Contact Us >>
• What Makes a Good Research Topic?
• 1. Concept Mapping
• 2. Background Research

Questions? Ask a Librarian

• Last Updated: May 8, 2024 9:31 AM
• URL: https://libguides.sccsc.edu/chooseatopic

Giles Campus | 864.592.4764 | Toll Free 866.542.2779 | Contact Us

Copyright © 2024 Spartanburg Community College. All rights reserved.

Info for Library Staff | Guide Search

Return to SCC Website

• How It Works
• PhD thesis writing
• Master thesis writing
• Bachelor thesis writing
• Dissertation writing service
• Dissertation abstract writing
• Thesis proposal writing
• Thesis editing service
• Thesis proofreading service
• Thesis formatting service
• Coursework writing service
• Research paper writing service
• Architecture thesis writing
• Computer science thesis writing
• Engineering thesis writing
• History thesis writing
• MBA thesis writing
• Nursing dissertation writing
• Psychology dissertation writing
• Sociology thesis writing
• Statistics dissertation writing
• Buy dissertation online
• Write my dissertation
• Cheap thesis
• Cheap dissertation
• Custom dissertation
• Dissertation help
• Pay for thesis
• Pay for dissertation
• Senior thesis
• Write my thesis

How to Narrow Down a Research Topic Succesfully

Narrowing a research topic can be hectic, but it is important to do it upfront to ensure your research workflows well. However, this depends on the number of words, the research should have. Do you know how to narrow a research topic? We will provide an overview on narrowing down a topic.

Are you looking for online research paper help? We have the best professional writers that will turn your ideas into quality research papers. Our expert writers help students in college and university. Thereby, be assured of quality work that will gain you top grades at cheap prices.

How to Find a Research Topic?

This depends on your field of study, through this, you will be able to research a relevant topic that you can work on. Getting a research topic should be based on what you want to focus on. A narrow topic will help make it easier to do your research.

Enquire From The Professor – While searching for a research topic, request advice from your professor or supervisor to ensure you get the best topic for your course. In some cases, the supervisors can narrow down on the type of research that you can do. Thereby, making it easier for you to choose a topic. Check The Resources Available – It depends on the number of resources you have. It wouldn’t be right to do a topic that will require you to travel a long distance to go collect your data. Even though there are various ways you can collect data online, it is better when it is an accessible place to get information upfront. What is Your Interest or Hobby? – Your research topic should be based on your hobbies or interests. It shouldn’t just be a topic, but one that you feel most interested in. This will give you the zeal to research more and do your best to provide the best paper to your professor. Your interests will make sure that you are highly motivated to carry out your research in college or university. As time goes by, when you further your studies, you can still do broader research on the same. Previously Done Research – While choosing a topic, ensure there is evidence of previous research on it. It might be hectic if you decide to just do a topic that no one else has ever dealt with. Remember to stick to your field and not just do anything for the sake. There is a wide variety of narrowing a topic examples that you can use as a starting point. The topic needs to be researchable to prevent you from getting issues when carrying out your research. Ideas From Books – Getting a place to begin may be hectic at first. You can even get an idea from books you have been reading and strike an interest. Always choose a topic that sounds interesting. There are a wide variety of books that you can use to get ideas. However, try to get a narrow topic from the broad topics.

How to Narrow Down a Topic

Now that you have gotten a suitable general topic, we can work on how to narrow down the topic. You can either decide to use one or two of the methods. However, using a combination of the methods is most suitable.

Ask Yourself the Three W’s And H.

While choosing a topic you need to ask yourself, why, what, where, when, how, and who? This will help you know whether the topic of interest is good

One of many narrow topic examples includes: Examine food security impact on health in America. Who? People in America

What? Food security

When? Currently in the 21 st century

Where? America – which state specifically?

Why? The impact of food security on health

How? Food security impact.

Through that, you can see whether your general topic is relevant and how to break it down.

Ask Further Questions

On this, you need to consider whether the topic is going to be of importance a few years from now or is just going to be relevant at the moment. In this, ask yourself about the problems, the effect on the target group, how the target group benefits, and the group responsible for it.

Hence, in this, you will research how food security impacts the target people. What problems can be faced if it is not achieved? On this, get to know the motives and effect on the people the food is intended for.

Narrowing down a research topic helps you get a better overview of what you are researching. You can check other scholarly articles to know what people have previously researched and the gap left to fill.

Consider Using the SOCRAPR Model

Take your research topic and narrow it down using the SOCRAPR model . With this, consider these different aspects.

Similarities – How is food security now compared to earlier years? Opposites – How has food security changed over the years? Contrast – How is food security affecting the kind of health people have? Relationship – This is between the accessibility of food and its impact on health. Anthropomorphism – This is in terms of human values – how the lack or plenty of food affects human behaviors. Personification – Give descriptions of human qualities. Repetition – Will food security establishment be a recurring thing?

Compare and Contrast Other Research Papers

You need to compare and contrast previously done papers on the same. This will provide a greater overview of what to expect. While comparing, you will get some great ideas on what to expect and the kind of points that you can write.

You can choose a topic that deals with comparing or contrasting two elements. For example, how food security had an impact on health in the 20 th century as compared to the 21 st century.

Try to read any scholarly articles you can get on the same and gather all the information that seems relevant to your research.

Remember to familiarize yourself with the topic and know how a compare and contrast research topic is done. Think about the topic as two mini papers you are doing while comparing.

The Dangers of Not Narrowing Down A Research Topic

If you work with a general topic be assured that it will be hectic to do the research. However, if you narrow down the topic to minimal it will be easier to narrow down the topic.

Too Much Irrelevant Information. If you do not narrow down a research topic, you will have too much irrelevant information. This will make it hard to know the kind of information to include or omit. It is like going to a store with a wide variety of clothes that look fabulous. You will be caught in between and not know the best one to choose. Hence, narrowing down, makes it easier to choose the resources to use. Difficulty in Coming up With A Clear Framework. It can be hectic to come up with a clear framework to address a research problem. However, if you are working with a straight topic, you will be able to get a clear framework to do your research. A broad topic can make it hard to find the right method you can use for analysis. Lack of Specific Information That Fits. When the topic is too broad, you get too much irrelevant information or relevant information that will make it hard to decide what to put and what to leave out. Getting the specific information that fits can then take you a while.

Hence, broad topic examples can affect how well you will carry out your research. The topic should be educational for at most relevance. Yes, there might be enough information that doesn’t fit your study.

The Best Tips on How to Narrow Down a Research Topic

This is how you can narrow down a research topic through the aspects, methodology, time, place, and type. However, you can either use some of the tips or a combination of all. In the end, it depends on your preference.

Consider the Aspect

From what view would you want to research your topic?

For example in our food security topic, consider finding out, whether the impact on health is different in different age groups; the young and the old.

This will help make you focus on what’s relevant most. Get to know how the initial topic can be partitioned into smaller components for analysis. This will make it easier to focus on the specifics and get relevant information

Methodology to Use

What kind of research methodology are you planning to use in your research? This will help provide a better overview of the research that you should expect to do.

Is it going to be a qualitative or quantitative research paper? Narrow down to what kind of methods are most specific for that specific region. Collection of data is a major factor that you shouldn’t take for granted.

Narrowing it down to a specific area will help make the research much easier to do. However, if it is a global issue, you can consider choosing a larger area. Your scope of the study should cover all the relevant information to make your research paper a success.

For example, where specifically in America? How many states are you planning to study?

Relationship

Get to know your two major variables and see how they relate to each other. Designing a study around the correlation of different variables will put you in a better place.

For example food and health. Those are our major variables as we try to find out how best they relate. Other examples are: cause and effect, compare and contrast, currently or historically, male and female, and opinion and reason.

Thereby, this will make doing the research easier.

At what phase, century or time do you want your research to be based. Is it during the historical or current period? Studies need to be based on the current timeframes. For example, food security impact on health in Washington DC during the 21 st century . Having a specific timeframe makes it easy to perform the research. Remember that different periods have different circumstances and causes.

Don’t Know How To Narrow Your Research Topic?

Remember to narrow down a research topic, you need to first choose a general topic, giving a specific description of the topic, ask yourself questions on the topic, mention the specific aspects in the topic, narrow down the specifics of the topics, turn the topic into a sentence or statement, and get to know the specific place that you want to do the research. How to narrow a topic is easy if you follow all the relevant steps.

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Comment * Error message

Name * Error message

Email * Error message

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

As Putin continues killing civilians, bombing kindergartens, and threatening WWIII, Ukraine fights for the world's peaceful future.

Ukraine Live Updates

• How to Get Help in the Library

Narrowing a Topic

• Finding Background Information
• Finding Scholarly Sources
• For ENGL101 Instructors
• Brainstorming Activity

Activity Instructions

To help develop a research question from a broad topic, use the quadrant below to guide a discussion. Start with a broad idea and gradually narrow down your focus by answering the following questions: 

Copy the activity above into your notebook or download the Brainstorming Activity Worksheet below.

• Brainstorming Activity Use this activity to help narrow a broad topic idea to a focused research question.

Example Brains torm

Let's say that our research topic is  Climate Change . 

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 .

All three of these potential topics are still about the broad topic of climate change, but here we have identified more narrow lines of inquiry that would make excellent ENGL 101 topics.

• << Previous: How to Get Help in the Library
• Next: Finding Background Information >>
• Last Updated: Aug 18, 2023 3:11 PM
• URL: https://lib.guides.umd.edu/engl_101

• Need a Topic?
• Form a Research Position
• Background Research
• Brainstorming Strategies This link opens in a new window

Narrow Down Your Topic: Example #1

Narrow down your topic: example #2, try narrowing down your topic....

• Choosing Keywords
• Find Articles
• Get Help This link opens in a new window

Forming a Research Question

Topic Development

Concept Map

Topics/Thesis

• #1 Blank Worksheet Complete the attached Topic Development / Pre-Search Worksheet.
• #2 Blank Worksheet (Long Version) Complete the attached Research Exploration Form.
• #2 Fracking Example (Long Version - with additional Social Justice questions)
• << Previous: Brainstorming Strategies
• Next: Choosing Keywords >>
• Last Updated: Mar 15, 2024 9:26 AM
• URL: https://libguides.lmu.edu/needatopic

• Seneca Libraries

Q. How do I narrow down my research topic?

• 15 Academic Integrity
• 17 Accessibility Services
• 9 APA 7th Edition
• 18 Articles
• 9 Assignments
• 23 Audio-Visual
• 1 Audiobooks
• 12 Blackboard/Learn
• 35 Borrower Services
• 20 Business Research
• 5 Campus Libraries
• 56 Citation
• 13 Classroom
• 24 Collections
• 4 Contact Information
• 70 Copyright
• 25 Course Readings
• 11 Database Access
• 22 eLearning
• 35 eResources
• 3 ESL Resources
• 9 eTextbooks
• 11 Faculty Welcome Back
• 6 Group Study Rooms
• 2 Intercampus Loan
• 4 Interlibrary Loans
• 14 Library Account
• 29 Library Databases
• 12 Library Instruction
• 30 Library Search
• 2 Loan Periods
• 13 Marketing Research
• 6 Nursing Research
• 23 Online/Streaming Videos
• 7 Persistent Links
• 5 Photocopiers
• 4 Plagiarism
• 4 Remote Access
• 16 Research Databases
• 86 Research Help
• 27 Search Strategies
• 31 Seneca Services
• 10 Subject Guides
• 20 Teaching
• 22 Technical Help
• 15 Textbooks
• 12 Tutorials

Answered By: Allison Ball Last Updated: Apr 25, 2024     Views: 89115

Once you have chosen a research topic, you will need to narrow it down into a research statement or question. The sooner you do this in your research process, the more time you'll save because you can conduct more focused searches.

Below are some common ways you can narrow down a research topic, or get started by using our Brainstorming Topics & Search Terms tutorial . 

By demographic characteristics 

Narrow it down by age group, occupation, ethnic group, gender, etc.  

e.g. challenges faced by international college graduates entering the workforce

By relevant issues

Try to identify key issues related to your topic, especially ones that you have an opinion on. You can turn your opinion into your thesis statement or research question.

e.g. challenges faced by college graduates who are unable to find work related to their degrees

By location 

Focus on a specific country, province, city, or type of environment (rural vs. urban). 

e.g. challenges faced by college graduates entering the workforce in rural Ontario

By timeframe 

Decide whether you want to study recent events or a historical time period. This will also help you decide how current the information you use must be.

e.g. challenges faced by college graduates entering the workforce during the COVID-19 pandemic

You can take the perspective of looking for causes of an issue you are researching.

e.g. Do employers hire fewer recent college graduates?

For more ideas, see Narrowing the Scope on our Brainstorming Guide.

When developing a research question, think about: Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How. Also consider what information you need in order to prove your thesis and try some test searches on the library website to ensure you can find enough relevant research to back up your ideas before you settle on your final topic.

Need more information?

• Where do I start my research?

• Share on Facebook

Was this helpful? Yes 64 No 7

Comments (0)

Related topics.

• Research Help

PLEASE NOTE: This site was designed solely for informational purposes for the Seneca Polytechnic community. All other users are encouraged to check and confirm the information needed with their institution or public library. This site is prepared by library staff and is not reviewed by legal council.

•   [email protected]

Educational Leadership - Ed.D. and Ph.D.

Narrowing down or broadening your topic.

When you need to broaden or narrow down your topic, ask yourself the following questions:

Who am I researching?

• Consider age, gender, profession, ethnicity, humans vs. animals vs. corporations, etc.

What am I researching?

• Consider potential causes and effects, trends, statistics, problems, etc.

When? 

What time period am I interested in? 

• Consider when the topic became significant, century vs. specific dates, historical vs. current data, etc.

Where is my research topic taking place? 

• Consider country, state, city, urban vs. rural, environments like prisons vs. college towns, etc.

Why?  

Why does my research matter?

• Consider what makes it important to you, to your colleagues and peers, to your community, to the world, etc.

• << Previous: Sources of Inspiration for Topics
• Next: What is a Research Question? >>

Calculate for all schools

Your chance of acceptance, your chancing factors, extracurriculars, generating research paper questions.

I have an assignment to write a research paper, but I'm kind of stuck when it comes to coming up with a solid research question. Can you guys suggest some examples or techniques to help me generate a strong question for my paper?

When generating research paper questions, it's important to consider your interests, the scope of the assignment, and the available resources. Here are some techniques and examples to guide you in developing a strong research question:

1. Brainstorming:

Begin by listing topics that interest you within the subject domain of the research paper. This could include anything from global issues to the intricacies of your chosen field. Aim for a specific and focused topic that you feel passionate about or curious to learn more.

2. Narrowing down the topic:

Once you have chosen an exciting subject, refine it by focusing on a particular aspect or subtopic. For instance, if your topic is about climate change, explore one aspect such as the impact of climate change on coastal ecosystems.

3. Develop a research question:

Transform your narrowed topic into an open-ended question that can be investigated. For example, "How does climate change affect coastal ecosystems, specifically mangroves, and what are the implications for coastal communities?" This question allows for an in-depth investigation into the impact of climate change on mangroves and the communities that rely on them.

4. Evaluate the research question:

Ensure that your question is clear, concise, and manageable within the assignment constraints. Ask yourself if your question meets the following criteria:

- Is it focused on a specific issue or does it cover multiple aspects?

- Is it interesting and will it hold your attention for the duration of the research and writing process?

- Can you find enough information and resources to address the question comprehensively?

- Is it feasible given the deadline and word count of your assignment?

5. Adjust the question if necessary:

If your question does not meet all the criteria above, modify it to ensure that it's well-stated and practical to answer.

Here are some examples of research questions:

- What strategies are most effective in reducing plastic waste in the ocean?

- How do different parenting styles affect children's academic achievement and emotional well-being?

- What are the potential applications of artificial intelligence in healthcare, and what ethical considerations need to be addressed?

Remember, it's essential to choose a topic that genuinely interests you and can be thoroughly explored within the scope of your assignment. Invest time in honing your research question, as it sets the foundation for the rest of your paper.

About CollegeVine’s Expert FAQ

CollegeVine’s Q&A seeks to offer informed perspectives on commonly asked admissions questions. Every answer is refined and validated by our team of admissions experts to ensure it resonates with trusted knowledge in the field.