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Picking your topic is research!
Tips for Choosing Topics
- Consider your assignment when choosing a topic and planning your literature review.
- How long will the literature review be?
- How many sources are required?
- What types of resources are allowed or required?
- Are the resources you'll need readily available to you?
- Must the literature have been published within a certain time period (e.g., the past five years)?
- Will your literature review focus on a topical issue, a theoretical issue, or a qualitative/quantitative issue?
- Choose a topic that stimulates your curiosity. Have you made note of ideas in class that you would like to explore further or understand better?
- Choose a topic that is neither so narrow that nothing has been written about it nor so broad that it will be impossible for you to cover it adequately.
- If you have a few potential topics in mind, try doing some preliminary research on each one. Which one seems to have the most promising results—neither too few nor too many? If necessary, keep refining your topic until it isn't too broad.
- If you're having trouble thinking of a topic, try some brainstorming techniques like creating idea maps and lists.
- When you've settled on a topic, practice turning it into a thesis statement or research question.
