Research Tips and Tricks

While some instructors may require you to select a topic from a prepared list, you'll often be able to choose your own research topic related to the course. This much freedom can be intimidating, but the following exploration of topic brainstorming helps tame the beast.

1. What do I know about my topic?
2. What do I like/dislike about my topic?
3. Why does this topic matter to me?
4. How does this topic relate to my major?
5. What is controversial about my topic?
6. How does my topic relate to current events? Why write about my topic now?

Make sure your topic suits the assignment. If you're not sure, talk to your instructor before beginning your research. Your topic shouldn't be too broad or too narrow for the assignment. Here are some tips for narrowing a broad research topic:

• Focus on a population, ethnic group, or age group.
  • infants, college students, Asian Americans, senior adults, etc.
• Focus on a geographical area or environment.
  • public schools in cities or in rural towns in the Great Plains
• Focus on a particular theory.
  • positivism, constructivism, behaviorism, feminist theory, etc.
• Focus on a certain author, movement, or historical event.

The database Academic OneFile is a great resource for narrowing topics. The “Topic Finder” tool under “Search Tools” allows you to find connections between topics while also breaking down topics into subtopics. Instead of a big topic like “baking,” the term clusters when searching for “baking” include topics like holiday baking, different regions (including New York), recipes, and patent applications related to baking.

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.