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Writing a Research Paper: Limiting and Expanding the Topic ITEM #1 Scope How to know if you need to either broaden or narrow down your topic The first clue is simply the stated length of your research paper. You can't properly discuss "war" in 1,000 words, nor talk about orange rinds for 12 pages. Use your common sense first, then use the concrete feedback you get from the library system. Preliminary research offers two additional practical guides to determine whether or not you'll even need to refine your topic. Chances are good that you will, but at least asking yourself this question gets you to understand why you would have to. The amount of resources is often a great guide. For example, if you were either specifically asked for or think you'd need no more than about six to eight references for your paper and there are over 50 books, that's a good sign to narrow your subject area to a more specific topic. Or vice-versa, if you're writing a whopping 15-page research paper where you can easily imagine yourself consulting, if not citing, a couple dozen sources and only five pop up as a result of all your innovative searches, better start "broadening" your horizons, as it were. The other great guide, which is still concrete but a bit more subjective, is the popularity of the subject area or topic itself. There are two separate elements to consider here. First, there is popularity in relation to the general library-going population who, like you, read up on topics of personal interest. As a matter of course more individuals are going to take out books by Stephen King or on job-hunting than books by straight academics like Jacques Derrida or on historiography or animal symbolism. That's a bit of common sense to remember the next time you try to research the fashion or travel industries which have a broader societal, not just strictly academic, appeal. Second, popularity will rear its head more specifically in relation to students in your class or other academics who might also be interested in working with the topic during the same semester. Both of these elements will definitely factor into your topic choice. So even if the topic is great and the number of resources is perfect, they may just all sadly say beside them not "On Shelf" but "Due back ##/#/##" which turns out to be way too late for you! So you need to refine: how to go about doing it Narrowing One- or even two-word topics are more aptly called subjects and thus are the most usual culprit for this kind of change; too short is usually too broad. To add more meaningful words--and thus limiters--to your "topic," use the journalist's 5Ws again to restrict your subject to a particular time, place, kind, quality etc. For example, one of the sample keywords we mentioned on the preliminary research page was "Postcolonialism." How could that be narrowed? What about changing it to an adjective and then asking one of our 5 Ws? Now we have: Postcolonial what? Maybe postcolonial ATTITUDES is something you're interested in. A natural question to follow what could now be who, or in this example, where are those attitudes originating from? So from just straight "Postcolonialism" you now have a specific topic like "Postcolonial attitudes in India" or "Postcolonial attitudes in Canadian fiction." Of course, that would be way too specific to type into a computer database, but at least you have more than one word to find resources for. Now you try! Activity: how could you refine the subject "Hominids"? (hints: is there one stage of hominid development you'd want to focus on? what discipline would you be looking at it from? anthropology? archaeology? biology?) Think of some other limiters and then see if you can come up with a specific topic similar to the example above. Broadening Having to broaden a topic isn't as common a change since refining is obviously harder to do. But if it's like our silly "orange rind essay" example or something incredibly specific like "The importance of dung beetles to the Australian cattle industry" you're going to find that tracking down resources will be a real pain. No resources, no research paper. The trick to broadening--whether it's just a mindset to help you locate resources on more obscure subjects, or whether it's to seriously alter your eventual topic--is to look for associations and the context around your topic. Maybe dung beetles aren't just important in Australia but other countries where livestock was originally imported. Maybe it's beetles in general you could discuss, with the dung beetle being an example. Or maybe dung beetles have impacts farther reaching than just the cattle industry. Practice and clues from the few resources you do find will help you feel comfortable moving up (and down) context ladders and intellectual hierarchies surrounding your subject. The process is basically the same as for narrowing but this time you'd be looking at things from the regular end of a telescope where your (mind's) eye can look at a wider landscape, not just the tip of your nose. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ITEM #2 Narrowing Your Essay Topic The first step in writing an essay is finding something to write about. Whether you are working from a list of assigned topics or selecting your own, try to find something which sparks your interest: not only will working on the assignment be more stimulating, but your commitment will also help you write a more convincing essay. Some preliminary reading may help determine how deep your interest goes, as well as letting you know what kind of material will be available as you write your essay. A common problem of beginning writers is wallowing around in a topic too wide for their purposes. General words such as "media,""war," "life,"or "nature"are often incorrectly used as if they were topics (even "dragons"is too broad). However, students often begin to write essays with nothing more in mind than a general concept, and the result is a vague and generalized essay, of little interest to the student and less to the instructor. If you start with a broad area, concentrate on narrowing your subject„it will also help you deal with your topic within the length of the paper assigned and the time you have been given to complete it. You can narrow your topic by considering a particular approach to the subject, or a sub-topic within it. You might ask yourself key questions, such as the following: Dragons Am I writing of one specific species of dragon, or of dragons in general? What kind of dragon do I wish to write about? Chinese? Fire-breathers? Kites? What activities, qualities, or myths of that particular dragon do I wish to explore? War Am I writing of one war or of war in general? Which war do I wish to write about? WWI? WWII? The Gulf War? "War"taken more metaphorically„between the sexes, siblings, or members of different races? Am I concentrating on the history of the war itself, or its causes or outcome? What specific events or examples will illustrate my points? In deriving a workable topic from your subject, be careful not to narrow it too far; your topic must provide scope to develop a sustained presentation and argument. General subject: Media Narrowed topic: Commercials Specific topic: How commercials manipulate their audience General subject: Dragons Narrowed topic: Fire-breathing dragons Specific topic: Problems in fighting the medieval fire-breathing dragon. How to Narrow or Broaden Your Topic Be prepared to be flexible with your topic idea! If it is too broad or vague you will find too much information and will need to narrow the focus. If it is too specific or specialized or new, it will be difficult finding enough information to write your paper this quarter. In that case, you will need to broaden your idea. How to Narrow Your Topic Example: I'm thinking of doing a paper on "fashion." This topic could develop in many different ways. Hint: Ask Yourself Questions About Your Topic: What do you know about it? What don't you know? What aspects of your topic interest you: historical, sociological, psychological, etc.? What time period do you want to cover? On what geographic region do you want to focus? What kind of information do you need? a brief summary or a lengthy explanation? periodical articles, books, essays, encyclopedia articles? statistics? Sample Topic Narrowing: General Topic: fashion Time span: 1920s Place: US; urban; big cities (not rural) Person or Group: youth; college age Event or Aspects: sexual attitudes, behavior, sociological : Narrowed Topic: What did American youth fashions of the 1920s say about sexual mores? How to Broaden Your Topic Example: I'm thinking of doing a paper on "whether genetically altered soybeans are safe for consumers." This topic as stated is seeking to answer a question for which there may be no answer yet -- more scientific and long-term research may need to be done. How can this be turned into a more manageable topic? Hint 1: Look for parallels and opportunities for broader associations: Could you examine other bioengineered foods, in addition to soybeans? Could you think broadly about safety concerns and issues -- what might these be? Who are the key players in this controversy? Consumer activists? The FDA? Scientists? What other issues are involved in this topic? Such as, how should be foods be labeled? Hint 2: Brainstorm! (and ask a reference librarian!) Sample Topic Broadening: Specific Topic: Are genetically altered soybeans are safe for consumers? Alternate focus: bioengineered or genetically altered foods Alternate Place: general: US, Europe Brainstorm Focus on: Person or Group: consumer advocates vs FDA and scientists Broadened Research Question: What are the main issues/concerns of consumer activists in the labeling controversy over bioengineered foods? ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [Adapted from Perdue University On-line Writing (OWL) Lab; The Department of English, University of Victoria, 1995; Regents of the University of California] |
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