Topic Development and Starting Your Search

If you're not sure how to start focusing your topic, ask the "Five Ws and an H" about it:

Who does this happen to?
What is exactly happening?
When does it happen?
Where does it happen?
Why do we care?
How does this affect any of the above?

Once you have an idea what you want to research, write the topic down in the form of a question.

How does home schooling affect social development?                  Do harsh sentencing laws reduce violent crime?

Unless your assignment is asking you to take a specific position (for instance, "Assisted suicide should be made legal.") it is important to leave your topic as a question. Most researchers start with an assumption, but understand that the information they find might lead them in a direction they hadn't thought of. This is actually one of the most exciting parts of research - finding out other perspectives and information.

Once you've written your question, underline the main concepts or ideas in your sentences:

How does home schooling affect social development?                  Do harsh sentencing laws reduce violent crime?

Leave out words that lead you to an assumption - like cause, reduce, affect, etc. as these often create false hits or biased search results.

Too Broad or Too Narrow?

A good rule of thumb is that you should have 2 or 3 underlined main concepts in a "good" research question.

Having only one main concept means your topic is too broad: Home schooling

Having more than three main concepts means there might not be much information on something so specific: How does home schooling affect the social development of girls in Massachusetts?

Don't get married to your terms.

In other words, when you are searching, brainstorm for synonyms and related words for your idea, and search with these too.

A search for sentencing and violent crime will get different results than a search for sentencing and rape. For instance, here are some developed keyword ideas from our examples:

• Social development - socialization, social skills, friendships, peer relations, social anxiety, peer groups, attachment
• Violent crime - rape, murder, felony, aggravated assault, domestic violence, child abuse
• Don't forget common synonyms as well: adolescent for teenager, females for girls, males for boys, feline for cat etc.

Thinking about synonyms and related terms can also help you focus your topic.