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.
For example, if you want to write about sleep deprivation you will need to narrow your topic to a specific question so that you are not overwhelmed with information.
Broad topic: Sleep deprivation (too large) Narrower Topic: Sleep deprivation in college students
Think about the who? what? where? when? and why? about your topic. For example:
Who? college students
What? academic achievement
Where? United States
When? within the last 10 years
Why? sleep deprivation can have serious consequences
Possible research question:
In what ways can sleep deprivation negatively impact college students' academic success?
Search Strategies: using keywords, synonyms / related concepts and truncation:
Relevant keywords are necessary for effective research. Try taking keywords from your thesis statement or research question.
Possible keywords:
sleep deprivation, negative impact, college students, academic success
Use synonyms and related concepts to develop additional keywords
Use truncation:
You can broaden your search results by typing an asterisk symbol * at end of the root of a word. When you do this, the database will search for alternative endings of that word.
For example typing depriv* will yield results for
deprive deprived depriving deprivation
Use subject terms from articles in your search results:
When you find an article, look at the subject terms that appear under the title. Can you use any of those terms?
