Narrowing Your Research: Process

Process

Ask the Journalist's Questions: Who, What, When, Where, Why, How?

Who is involved in the topic? Who are the experts? Who does the issue affect?
What do you already know about the subject?
When? Is there a specific time period you want to cover?
Where? Is there a geographic region or country on which you would like to focus?
Why and How? Is there a particular aspect of this topic that interests you? For example, public policy, historical influence, sociological aspects, psychological angles, specific groups or individuals involved in the topic.

Fill Out a Concept Map

Concept maps are one way of developing your thinking on a topic. They can be a good way to get started by getting some thoughts down on paper very quickly. Click here to print out a map.

Decide: What's Your Angle?

Identify the main perspective or academic discipline you are using to approach the topic. Some possibilities include psychological, ethical, political, economic, or scientific, but these are just examples. You might think of others. If more than one of these applies, be sure to identify the single main perspective you plan to use.

The City University of New York has a tutorial for narrowing your research topic. To check it out, click here.

Also, if you've never checked out Google Scholar, take a look. It's a great place to find resources that might help you narrow your topic.

Example: Mrs. T Narrows Her Own Topic

Here's an example of how I narrowed one of the 15 abstract topics:

Let's say that the abstract topic Hopefulness appealed to me the most. So, I started thinking about the questions listed under the topic. It says, "Do Americans have an inherent need for hopefulness? Are there varying degrees of hope, and how does having it affect one’s life?"

As I was thinking about the questions, I started thinking about my Grandma who recently passed away.I thought about how through her entire life she held onto her faith as a Christian. I think that she needed hopefulness that there would be a reward for all of her good works during her lifetime. I have always been profoundly affected by her unwavering faith, belief, and hopefulness.

All of this personal experience led me to thinking about why anyone believes in an afterlife. I knew I didn't really want to do a paper on major religious beliefs; I wanted to focus on the psychology of belief. Maybe even research statistics on whether people who are believers are happier than people who are non-believers.

So, I started looking for books on Amazon.com. I typed in "hope" "belief" and "faith." There were a lot of results, so I just scrolled through them. The book I found most appealing was 50 Reasons People Give for Believing in God by Guy P. Harrison. Amazon allows buyers to "take a look inside" books, so I did. I found a bibliography inside this book that led me to another book on the topic. The Link between Religion and Health: Psychoneuroimmunology and the Faith Factor by Harold G. Koenig and Harvey J. Cohen.

I decided to buy both, and then choose which one to annotate after reading the first few chapters of each. Once I started annotating, my topic became clear: I definitely wanted to research how religion (hopefulness) affects one's health and happiness.