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Prof. Ray; Eng. 101 - FALL 2024: Narrow Your Topic

Questions to Help You Narrow Your Topic

Narrowing a topic requires you to create a specific question about something that interests you. This will focus your research and make your information-gathering process more manageable.

 

Think about the who? what? where? when? and why? about your topic. For example:

 

Who? is the specific person or group on which you will focus? 

What? aspect or theory of the topic is interesting to you?

Where? is the geographic area or region you would like to study?

When? what time period will be your focus?

Why? is it important to study this topic?

Examples of Narrowing Your Topic

Broad topic:  social media

Who?    teenage girls

What?   social or psychological aspects

Where? United States       

When?  within the last four years (2020-2024)

Why?    social media influences people's behavior

 

Related concepts / synonyms:

  • social media OR social networking OR social platforms
  • TikTok OR Instagram OR Facebook  
  • women OR girls OR adolescents
  • self image OR self esteem
  • mental health OR well-being 
  • psychological aspects OR social aspects

Possible research questions:

          How has TikTok negatively affected young women's perception about body image?

          In what ways is social media harmful to girls' self-esteem?

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