Organizing Your Research
	Choose a Topic

Topic selection is an important part of the research process.

If you select a good topic, you will be able to enjoy researching it. You will find relevant, up to date information, you will learn about a subject that interests you, and your project will be satisfying and successful.

If the topic you select is not so good, your research process may be filled with frustration. You may not be able to find any relevant information, and your project will not turn out well.

So what makes a good topic?

A subject that interests you

If you are interested in the subject you are researching, you will have more energy for the project, it will engage your imagination, and your finished project will reflect your enthusiasm. If your topic has been assigned, try to interest yourself in it. It makes the whole process easier and more enjoyable.

 

A subject that is not too general

"AIDS" isn't a research topic; it is too general. There are so many books (personal stories, photographic studies, sociological studies, medical studies, histories, etc.), articles, government reports, Websites, etc., about AIDS or some aspect of it, that you could never find them all, let alone read them all and make sense of all the information in a paper or speech. But you could write a manageable paper about, for example, current research on cures for AIDS, or stories from the AIDS quilt, or how activists brought AIDS to national attention.

 

A subject that is not too narrow

The opposite problem from having too much information is having too little. Trying to find a comparison of the marketing strategies of two barbershops in Fortuna, California, or the effects of drug use on the performance of 18-year-old hockey players in Toledo, Ohio, isn't likely to turn up anything.

 

A subject within the scope you've been given

You can't describe and discuss all the important information about the home schooling controversy in five pages, but you could probably explain the positions of the different groups involved.

Try this quick quiz to see if you can identify good topics for a 5-page research paper.

What if you can't think of anything for your topic?

Think over what you've been studying in class. Browse in your textbook or other class readings for issues or concepts you'd like to know more about.

Browse in CQ Researcher (online 1991 to present; check the HSU Library Catalog for earlier years)

This is an excellent resource for choosing a topic or to begin research if you already have one. Each weekly essay covers a different topic. It includes background information, the current situation, and what is likely to happen in the future. There are charts and graphs relevant to the topic, a page of pro and con arguments about the topic, and an annotated bibliography of recommended books and articles for more information.

 

Browse in volumes of the Reference Shelf series.

Each volume includes primary source material, pro and con, on several issues related to a broad topic, such as women's rights, the car and its future, or free trade. Sort by Date-Newest First to see the most recent volumes.

 

Browse in a subject encyclopedia.

These specialized encyclopedias are especially helpful resource for choosing or narrowing a topic. Their articles, written by experts in the field, give a comprehensive introduction to the subject. They summarize and synthesize information from a variety of sources and include a selective bibliography of authoritative books and articles. This Selected List of Subject Encyclopedias in the HSU Library includes call numbers to help you with browsing.

 

Browse in a periodical index or abstract.

For more information on how to use these resources, go to OWL 3. They list articles from magazines and journals by subject. You can look up a subject and then look at the article titles listed to see which aspects of the topic have been written about. This may give you an idea for your project.

 

Browse in recent issues of a periodical devoted to your area of interest.

The Library's periodical stacks are arranged by subject, according to the Library of Congress Classification. You may want to start with the Current Periodicals display, which has the current issues of about 200 periodicals, arranged by title.

The next section of this OWL shows you how to take an idea and develop it into a research topic.