How do I narrow down my research topic?
Answer
What's my topic?
You've chosen a research topic, and now you need to find resources about it. Before you get too far along, you will need to narrow down your topic into a research statement or question. The sooner you do this in your research process, the more time you'll save because you can conduct more focused searches.
How do I know if it's too broad?
Maybe you received feedback that your topic is too broad, or maybe you're having trouble finding relevant resources using your search keywords. Topics that are too broad are difficult to research. Your topic may be too broad if any of the following happens to you:
- You find too many information sources and it's difficult to determine what is important or relevant, making it hard to decide what to include or exclude.
- You find information that is too general, so it's difficult to develop a clear framework or argument for examining the topic.
- You do not have a clearly defined thesis statement that you can analyze.
- You find information that covers a wide variety of concepts or ideas that can't be integrated into one paper.
- Your outline or proposal seems like it is trailing off into unnecessary tangents.
Tips for narrowing your topic
Think about your topic in terms of Who, What, When, Where, Why and How. The more of these you incorporate the more specific your research question will be.
- Who: demographic characteristics
- Consider age group, gender, race, occupation, ethnic group, religious affiliation, immigration status, socioeconomic class, etc.
- What: relevant issues
- Try to identify key issues related to your topic, especially ones that you have an opinion on. You can turn your opinion into your thesis statement or research question.
- Where: location
- Focus on a specific region, country, state/province, city, or type of environment (rural vs. urban).
- When: timeframe
- Decide whether you want to study recent events or a historical time period. This will also help you decide how current the information you use must be.
- Why and How: cause and effect
- You can take the perspective of looking for causes of an issue you are researching. Why does something affect one group more than another? What events or actions have led to a particular outcome?
For more in-depth guidance, check out the library's guide to developing a research topic: https://libguides.york.cuny.edu/research