- Formulating your research questionFrom the Vanderbilt Writing Studio
Choosing a Topic
Choosing a topic can be a daunting task. Use the resources below to help you narrow your focus. Explore, watch, and practice as you choose. If you complete all the tasks on this page you should be able to:
- Utilize library and news resources for exploring potential topics for research.
- Use a mind map to narrow the focus of a broad topic.
- Construct a research question of appropriate scope and complexity.
Sometimes it helps to do a bit of exploring. Browsing news sites or a database like Opposing View Points can be helpful for piquing your research interests.
- Opposing Viewpoints in Context (OV or OVIC) This link opens in a new window Pro and con articles on important social, political, and economic issues. Reference articles that provide context, magazines, newspapers, primary source documents, government and organizational statistics, and links.
