Refining Your Topic

You will begin to refine your topic as soon as you select it and continue until your last draft is written. Refining a topic is not a step in the research process, but an ongoing effort. As you start your research, your topic may be a vague idea, just two or three words. As you learn more, your understanding changes; as your understanding changes, so will your topic. The factors for choosing a topic discussed earlier apply to refining a topic as well.

There are several steps to consider as you refine a topic.

STEP ONE) Explore the possibilities.

Be open minded and don't limit yourself. The approach you take in refining a topic may take you in any number of directions. Try to determine what paths have been taken before to help guide you on your way, but also try to bring a fresh approach to a subject.

STEP TWO) Write something down.

Writing something down, even a single sentence, can help you think clearly. As your continue to refine the topic, the sentence may grow to a paragraph or an outline. Moving your ideas from your head to a piece of paper or onto a computer screen will force you to think about the topic. Writing forces you to abandon vague notions or fuzzy thinking and helps you produce a clear, coherent thought.

STEP THREE) Focus, focus, focus.

Once you have started with a general concept you need to limit your topic to put it in focus. There are any number of ways in which you can do this. They include, but, of course, are not limited to those old five W's: Who, What, When, Where, and Why

STEP FOUR) Think of questions that you would want your research to address.

Asking questions about your topic will give you a direction for your focus. The library may have thousands of sources for you to sort through. Knowing what questions you want to address will help determine which sources are the most relevant for you to use.

STEP FIVE) Consider the whole project.

You should consider all the steps involved through to the final draft. Keeping in mind all that you have to do for each part of the project should give you a better idea how to refine your topic, whether the topic is researchable, how broad or narrow to make it.

STEP SIX) Stay true to your focus as you continue to refine your topic.

Keeping a clear focus in mind will help you sort through and evaluate sources. Based on what you learn, you will change and refine your topic, but try not to be distracted or led away from the main thesis. Your focus should guide you as you make these changes. Research is not compiling little piles of unconnected facts. A clear focus will help tie your ideas together and allow you build a cohesive unit.