Selecting a research topic can be difficult. This first step to ensure you have a good topic to meet your assignment requirements is by ensuring you understand your assignment completely.
Read through your assignment, making sure you understand all the requirements, from the topic coverage, to resources needed, as well as the length, format, and citation style. Many instructors have very specific expectations and knowing what your instructor expects will ensure you aren't wasting anytime later on.
Define Your Topic
Before you start in-depth research you need to make sure your topic is:
Often this is hard to do if you know very little about the subject area. To help refine your topic you can do some background reading using sources like encyclopedias, handbooks, even Wikipedia!
Watch the video to help you identify a topic you are curious about.
A finely tuned research topic will usually read as a multi-concept, open-ended question. This is different from a brief factual question. A brief, factual question can usually be answered in a single sentence, and will have a right or wrong answer. An open ended question will require more research, can have many answers, and is subject to debate.
What is globalization?
What year was the Euro currency implemented?
Who wrote the book The Tipping Point?
How does globalization affect women in developing countries?
How does Facebook use impact college students' academic achievement?
One way to develop your research question is by creating a concept map. A concept map is used to map out our ideas and identify key concepts associated with the idea. In the center of the concept map you have your main idea. Your main idea then branches off to more specific or narrower ideas related to that topic.