If I want to write a paper about that hobby of mine, baking, there are several ways to go about narrowing this topic. Do I want to research a certain discipline of baking, such as pastry or bread? Baking in a certain country or region? A particular baker?
Another hobby of mine is watching way too many cooking shows on Netflix, and my favorites revolve around baking. I can combine the hobby of baking and the hobby of watching cooking shows into one topic: baking shows.
That’s a good starting point, but it’s still a broad topic. Now, I can make a list of the things I find interesting about baking shows:
- How they’ve evolved over time
- Differences between shows on different networks
- Cookbooks based on baking shows/written by hosts or participants on baking shows
- How different networks market baking shows
- How networks make money off baking shows
- Baking competition shows
- How baking shows influence the broader world of baking
- Competition show contestant personalities
I can take this list and select some of the topics I think would work best or be the most interesting to research. Remember: not every topic has been researched before. The brainstorming process may be a bit hit-or-miss once you start researching.