Choose a Research Topic & Establish a Research Plan

Refining an Idea

Once you have a general subject in mind for your research, help ensure a successful project by considering ways to refine, direct, and narrow your topic. All the subjects that you have seen suggested in the reference tools noted in Step 1 are complex issues --- involving many interrelated topics, competing interpretations of the facts, and interdependent causes and effects. Due to the nature of college research project, you will not have the time necessary to effectively study a broad subject such as "terrorism," or "the battle of Gettysburg." Concentrating on a specific aspect of these broader topics will make for a much more interesting research project. It will also be a project that is much more reasonable for you to complete in time for your assignment deadline.

How do you refine your research subject into a manageable topic?

Begin by examining the source that suggested the subject to you. See if you can determine how that writer or speaker would break the subject down into narrower aspects or factors. In many sources, you will see headings, a table of contents or outline to give you some initial ideas for narrower topics. If you are fortunate enough to speak to an expert on this topic, ask him/her for a part of the issue that you might be able to examine in-depth.

Consider some basic means to limit your topic such as:

  • Consider only the developments of the past year.
  • Look at one individual's involvement with the issue (consider the early works of only one artist in the Cubist movement, even one piece of Cubist art).
  • Consider examining the issue in one geographic area (for example, water conservation efforts in Kentucky).