Library Skills Learning Modules

Choosing and narrowing a topic is a process. The process or steps can vary depending on the parameters of your assignment.

Your Assignment

It is important to read your assignment carefully, so you understand if you are required to pick a topic that relates to the discipline or topic of the course, if your instructor has assigned a topic that you need to narrow down further, or if you’re free to pick any topic you’d like.

Types of Sources

Are you required to use a specific type and number of sources? What topic you choose and how you write about it could be determined by the types of sources you are required to use.

Popular sources: Examples of these are official news sources (newspapers, news websites, social media accounts, or news channels) 

• These usually cover current or recent events.

Professional sources: Examples of these are professional or industry associations (official publications such as magazines or journals, reports, or official websites)

• These could cover current events or long standing or ongoing issues or topics relevant to group

Scholarly sources: Examples of these are peer-reviewed journals or books

• These typically include original or historical research on topics, these types of sources take an extended time to be published and do not cover current events as they happen.

You may need to broaden or narrow your topic depending on the type of source you are required to use.

Topic Ideas

Sit down and do some brainstorming! Think about topic ideas that interest you and make a list of at least three ideas, but the longer the list, the better!

Image from Choosing & Using Sources: A Guide to Academic Research by Teaching & Learning, Ohio State University Libraries.

Once you have a list of topics, evaluate each topic by asking the questions below.

Questions for evaluating topic ideas:

1. Does the topic fit the parameters of your assignment?
   1. • If any of your ideas don’t fit the assignment parameters cross them off your list.
2. How interested are you in the assignment?
   1. • If you are feeling lukewarm about the topic, cross it off your list. You will often need to spend a good amount of time doing research and writing about a topic. If it isn’t something you find interesting, doing your research and writing about it will be a chore.
3. What do you know about the topic?
   1. • If this is a topic you familiar with and have a strong opinion about, you may want to consider a topic you know less about. That way you are open to the information you find and you might learn something new!
4. Do some initial searching on the topic. Does there appear to be enough information to write about it? Do the sources appear to be recent or relevant? Are there different types of sources and viewpoints? Are you finding research being done on the topic or is it mostly factual information you are finding?
   1. • You can do an initial internet search, using the UM Libraries default search box on the homepage, OneSearch, use any of the UM Libraries databases, or a combination of all of them. If the sources that you are finding on topic aren't interesting or don’t appear useful, you can cross that topic off of your list.

Once you’ve made it through your list of questions with each topic, you should have enough information to choose one of the topics from your list, if more than one remains.

Just like choosing and narrowing your topic, crafting research questions is also a process.

Use the narrowed topic you’ve decided on and consider the steps below when crafting your research question.

Steps for crafting research questions:

1. List some potential questions that could logically be asked in relation to the narrow topic. Don't use questions that can be answered with a simple yes or no after one search.
2. Pick the question that you are most interested in.
3. Change the question you’re interested in so that it is more focused and specific.

Now you're ready to get started on that assignment!  

If you find you need additional help, remember you can always Ask A Librarian via the UM Libraries chat or email us at asklib@olemiss.edu.

The steps for crafting research questions were adapted from Choosing & Using Sources: A Guide to Academic Research by Teaching & Learning, Ohio State University Libraries.