Research Process: 1e. Refine a Topic

1e. At this point, you may want to ask yourself some questions:

Is your topic too broad? If you're finding too much information and not enough related to your research questions, your topic may be too broad. Consider narrowing it by:

• Time period -- 1960's, bronze age, etc.
• Geographic location -- Denver, New York, Australia, etc.
• Population -- age, race, gender, nationality or other group
• Smaller piece of the topic:
  • Genre -- jazz (music)
  • Event -- Battle of the Bulge (WWII)
  • Aspect -- government regulations (pollution)
  • Discipline or Subject -- music (in early childhood education)

Is your topic too narrow? If you are not finding enough information or finding only items related to one or two research questions, your topic may be too narrow. Consider broadening it by:

• Exploring related issues
• Comparing or contrasting the topic with another topic
• Choosing an alternative topic that is not so recent -- it may not be covered in books and journal articles yet
  • time period covered
  • population considered
  • geographic area discussed
• Choosing an alternative topic that is not so popular -- it may be covered in popular magazines and tabloids only