How do I pick a research topic?

Answer

Choose a topic that interests you and fulfills the requirements of your assignment. As you start crafting your research question, consider the following steps.

Step 1: Identify a broad topic of interest.

  • For example, immigration, pollution, health disparities, or any other issue that you think could be relevant to the assignment

Step 2: Consider other variables or subtopics to narrow and focus your research.

  • Use the 4Ws of What? Where? Who? and When? to think about possible variables or subtopics.

  • Example: Here are a few possible variables for a broad topic related to water pollution.

    • What? plastics, microplastics, microfiber contamination, plastic bottle waste

    • Where? oceans, lakes, rivers, or a specific area of the world

    • Who? whales, aquatic life, shrimp, humans, children

    • When? Last 10 years, historically, 20th century

Step 3: Start to string some of your variables or sub-topics into a research question.

  • You may not include every W in your question, and your question may have more than one W (what, where, who, when).

  • Examples:

    • In the past 10 years (WHEN), what impact have microplastics (WHAT) had on aquatic life (WHO) in the Pacific Ocean (WHERE)?

    • To what extent is plastic bottle waste (WHAT) entering the aquatic ecosystem (WHAT) and impacting the health (WHAT) of children (WHO) in China (WHERE)?

Step 4: Make adjustments with your research criteria in mind.

  • As you start searching, you may find that you need to revise your research question by adjusting the variables to broaden or narrow your research question's scope.

For more detailed information about how to pick a topic, check out the Start Your Research tutorial. 

If you need additional help, you can always email us or make an appointment with a librarian.

 

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