Getting Started

When you start out with the research process, you may have an assigned topic area or you may need to choose one. Whether you are choosing a topic from scratch, or developing your own research question about a more general topic, it's important to consider the scope of your inquiry.

If you have a large or broad scope, you are looking at the big picture, or something very general. If you have a small or narrow scope, you are looking at something more specific.

If your scope is too broad, there may be too much information related to your topic. On the other hand, if your scope is too narrow, you may find very little or nothing at all that directly addresses your topic.

Too narrow or too broad?

Sometimes students choose topics that are too narrow and can't find enough related information. More commonly, however, they try to work with a topic that is too broad.

You'll know your topic is too broad when:

You can summarize it in one or two words (e.g. "climate change," "student success," etc.).
You find too many resources on your topic, making it hard to decide which are the most relevant (e.g. dozens of books, hundreds of articles, etc.). You may be skimming through, uncertain which are relevant and where to start reading.
It's difficult to write a thesis statement because the information you've found seems very general and ranges across a wide variety of concepts and ideas.

So what are some strategies for narrowing down a very broad topic?

Brainstorm using questions: who, what, where, when

For example, if your general topic is "success in college" you might want to use the following questions to brainstorm some more specific areas of focus:

Who: Undergraduate students, female students, student athletes?
What: Sleep, study skills training, grades, class size, family support, online courses?
Where: Canada, US, North America, Japan?
When: In the 1980s, in the 1990s, today?

Once you've done a bit of brainstorming, choose a few ideas from your list to select a focus of interest to you.

Examples: How does family support affect the success of undergraduate students in college today?

How can study skills training affect the success of students enrolled in online courses?