- PRO Courses Guides New Tech Help Pro Expert Videos About wikiHow Pro Upgrade Sign In
- EDIT Edit this Article
- EXPLORE Tech Help Pro About Us Random Article Quizzes Request a New Article Community Dashboard This Or That Game Forums Popular Categories Arts and Entertainment Artwork Books Movies Computers and Electronics Computers Phone Skills Technology Hacks Health Men's Health Mental Health Women's Health Relationships Dating Love Relationship Issues Hobbies and Crafts Crafts Drawing Games Education & Communication Communication Skills Personal Development Studying Personal Care and Style Fashion Hair Care Personal Hygiene Youth Personal Care School Stuff Dating All Categories Arts and Entertainment Finance and Business Home and Garden Relationship Quizzes Cars & Other Vehicles Food and Entertaining Personal Care and Style Sports and Fitness Computers and Electronics Health Pets and Animals Travel Education & Communication Hobbies and Crafts Philosophy and Religion Work World Family Life Holidays and Traditions Relationships Youth
- Browse Articles
- Learn Something New
- Quizzes Hot
- Happiness Hub
- This Or That Game
- Train Your Brain
- Explore More
- Support wikiHow
- About wikiHow
- Log in / Sign up
- Education and Communications
- College University and Postgraduate
- Academic Writing
- Research Papers
How to Establish a Research Topic: Easy Writing Tips
Last Updated: December 15, 2022 Approved
This article was co-authored by Alexander Ruiz, M.Ed. . Alexander Ruiz is an Educational Consultant and the Educational Director of Link Educational Institute, a tutoring business based in Claremont, California that provides customizable educational plans, subject and test prep tutoring, and college application consulting. With over a decade and a half of experience in the education industry, Alexander coaches students to increase their self-awareness and emotional intelligence while achieving skills and the goal of achieving skills and higher education. He holds a BA in Psychology from Florida International University and an MA in Education from Georgia Southern University. There are 9 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. wikiHow marks an article as reader-approved once it receives enough positive feedback. In this case, 98% of readers who voted found the article helpful, earning it our reader-approved status. This article has been viewed 113,726 times.
With a world of possibilities out there, choosing a research topic can be a daunting task. However, selecting a worthy subject is half the battle when it comes to producing valuable original research. If you take some time to attentively brainstorm possibilities and refine them down into a solid, focused research question, you’ll come away with a topic that’s manageable, worthwhile, and, most importantly, interesting to you.
Picking a Topic
- One way to ensure you have a topic that’s of interest to you to pick a subject to which you have a personal connection. For instance, if your sister has Crohn's Disease, you may be interested in investigating it. Or, if you went on an exchange program to Croatia, you might be keen to know more about its history or culture.
- Another way to trim down your possibilities is to see if there any patterns that emerge from the longer list. For example, if you wrote down “Gertrude Stein” and “Djuna Barnes,” you could focus on lesbian expat authors.
- You want to choose a topic that has some, but not too much information available on it. If there are some substantive related resources out there, you know you’re on the right track; if there are pages and pages of relevant search results, you can tell that plenty of people have already gone down that road or that the topic is likely too big to cover and you will need to narrow it further.
- For instance, if you are interested in the mapping of the human genome, read about the general history of the scientific advances that have allowed us to map DNA and see if there’s a particular subtopic that catches your eye. Instead of trying to cover the entire subject, limit your scope to focus on the discovery of a gene related to a specific trait or disease or on a particular application, like the regulation of gene therapy for unborn fetuses.
Kim Gillingham, MA
Use your interests to narrow your focus. Retired librarian, Kim Gillingham, adds: "You can start with a general topic such as Outer Space. Then ask yourself specific questions such as 'What am I interested in about Outer Space?' It could be the history of space exploration, the technology of space exploration, or 'Is Pluto a planet or not?' As always, librarians can be of immense help in narrowing down a topic through a technique called the Reference Interview — try asking your librarian about it!"
- When you meet with or email them, explain the research that you’ve already conducted to show them that you’ve done your homework. Then, ask something like, “I’m most interested in looking into coming of age rituals in contemporary indigenous cultures, and I was wondering if you think that’s a good topic to pursue and if you had any suggestions for specific case studies or other resources related to it.”
- Remember: they may be able to point you in a more specific direction based on your general interests, but don’t expect them to do the whole selection process for you.
- If you’re doing independent research to earn a degree (rather than to fulfill the requirements of a particular class), you should also ask them about the potential marketability of your subject since your topic will be setting the direction for your future career.
Developing Your Research Question
- After you conduct your preliminary research, think about the gaps that you noticed in the information available on the subject that you’ve been investigating. Devise a question that could address that missing information.
- One concrete way to do this is to explore the relationship between two ideas, concepts, phenomena, or events that came up in your research but whose relationship has not been fully investigated. For example, “how did political radicals influence popular representations of sexuality in the 1920s United States?”
- Another concrete way to formulate your question is to consider how an existing methodology or concept applies to a new, specific context or case study. For instance, you could think of how Sigmund Freud’s idea of the “appendage” applies to a specific virtual reality game.
- For example, if your question requires conducting a study that’s not feasible given your timeframe or the resources available to you, then you need to find a way to revise your question so that you can answer it.
- Sometimes if your topic is too new, there won’t be a substantial enough body of research available for you to do a comprehensive analysis of it. In that case, you may need to revise or broaden your question so that you can actually answer it. [5] X Research source
- If your question is not narrow enough, refine your focus further by limiting your topic according to a given historical era, theoretical approach, geographical region, demographic or culture, industry or field. For example, if you’re interested in refugees, you might limit your scope by honing in on a particular event (World War II) and/or time period (the 1940s), a specific location (England) and/or population (Jewish people from Austria). [6] X Research source
Making Sure that You’re on the Right Track
- You might have a brilliant research question, but, if it’s about genetic disorders and the grant you’re applying for only funds research on communicable diseases, you’ll need to go back to the drawing board.
- Also be sure to take the required length of the project into consideration. For instance, if your question is too narrow or specific, you might not be able to hit the 250-page requirement for a doctoral thesis.
- Start by listing the various research methods that you’ll use, such as a literature review, interviews, and qualitative analysis. Then, create a timeline for when you’ll be doing each kind of research, being sure to leave enough time for yourself to complete the writing.
- You can order topics chronologically (for instance, if you’re studying a historical event). Most often, you’ll order them according to the progression of your argument, with one idea building on the last.
- Your research may change the structure or content of your outline, but it’s still useful to have a well-developed starting point.
Community Q&A
- If you have no idea of where to begin, consider going through old notes and textbooks or speaking to classmates to get some inspiration. Or, browse through the most recently published journals in your field to see what the latest trends in research are. Thanks Helpful 1 Not Helpful 0
- Since research is a demanding process, the most important thing is that you choose a topic that will sustain your enthusiasm and curiosity. Thanks Helpful 5 Not Helpful 1
You Might Also Like
- ↑ https://writingcenter.unc.edu/tips-and-tools/brainstorming/
- ↑ http://libguides.mit.edu/select-topic
- ↑ https://bowvalleycollege.libguides.com/research-help/topics
- ↑ https://libraries.indiana.edu/sites/default/files/Develop_a_Research_Question.pdf
- ↑ http://libguides.mit.edu/c.php?g=175961&p=1160160#s-lg-box-wrapper-4114979
- ↑ http://libguides.mit.edu/c.php?g=175961&p=1160160#791450
- ↑ https://files.bucknell.edu/Documents/ISR/topic.pdf
- ↑ Alexander Ruiz, M.Ed.. Educational Consultant. Expert Interview. 18 June 2020.
- ↑ http://libguides.usc.edu/writingguide/outline
About This Article
- Send fan mail to authors
Reader Success Stories
Aelita Zholchieva
Apr 7, 2020
Did this article help you?
Priya Mariyappan
Feb 2, 2017
Sep 29, 2017
Featured Articles
Trending Articles
Watch Articles
- Terms of Use
- Privacy Policy
- Do Not Sell or Share My Info
- Not Selling Info
Don’t miss out! Sign up for
wikiHow’s newsletter
IMAGES
VIDEO