TOPIC: Psychology

Focus Your Topic

Once you have a topic that you like, it's likely that you'll need to focus it, or narrow it down. Most students start out with topics that are way too broad for their assignments. If your topic is too broad, your research will be much more difficult, and you'll waste a lot of time looking for information that you won't use.

For example, if you try searching for information on global warming, you will quickly be overwhelmed. Global warming is a large subject, covering a variety of disciplines, topics and issues. How can you narrow this topic?

Brainstorm!  (or use a mindmap)

Jot down all the ideas and questions you might already have about the topic:

• What do you know about global warming? What don't you know?
• Is there a geographical area you want to focus on?
• Are there individuals or organizations involved in this issue?
• What are some areas impacted by global warming?
  • Environmental
  • Political
  • Economic
  • Human element

It may help to set up a table or chart moving from the general topic to narrower topics:

If the chart is too formal for you, you might like making a mindmap or concept map. A whiteboard or a big piece of paper are all you need to make a mindmap. Here's the same idea as above, but in a mindmap:

The secret to mindmapping is to free yourself from rules. Don't worry about grammar, spelling, or formatting. Just jot down ideas until you can't think of anymore, then go back and make connections between the ideas. If an idea appeals to you, make it the center idea on a new piece of paper and brainstorm more details.

If your topic is too broad or vague, you will find too much information and will need to narrow the focus.

Example:   "I am thinking of doing a paper on health.”

Define your topic by asking the following questions:

• When you think of this broad topic, what specific issues interest you – careers in health care, specific mental disorders or diseases, the state of health care in the United States? All of these subtopics are facets of the much broader topic – health.
• What aspects of your topic interest you: business, history, legal, physical, psychological, social etc.?
• What time period do you want to cover?
• Do you want to focus on a geographic region or population?
• What kind of information do you need? (e.g., a brief summary or a lengthy explanation; periodical articles or books; statistics)

Sample Topic Narrowing Chart:

Some additional Mind Mapping tools:

• https://www.mindmup.com/
• https://tobloef.com/text2mindmap/
• https://venngage.com/features/mind-map-maker

How does this work?  Example from Clark College:  https://clark.libguides.com/brainstorming

Use a mind mapping tool to help you sort out your ideas about a topic.  Here is a web page with information about mind mapping:  http://www.mindmapping.com/

While doing your background reading, think about ways of restricting your topic and formulate a preliminary thesis or topic statement, a 1-2 sentence summary on the main point of your paper.  This will constitute an "introduction" to your paper to be followed by whatever evidence you collected to develop, clarify, and defend this statement.

While working on the thesis of your paper, think about various questions that can be asked about your topic and consider possible controversies, influences, trends, problems, or effects.  To facilitate the planning of your research, as well as to avoid unnecessary research and reading, be as specific as possible in formulating your thesis or topic statement.  You can take certain steps in narrowing your topic such as, (1) do some preliminary reading to become familiar with many facets of the topic, or (2) decide on one aspect of the topic or one focus within the topic.

 The following list describes some of the ways topics can be limited.

• Time span:  the 1970's, not the 20th century
• Place:  Egypt, not Middle East
• Discipline:  the psychological, theological, or economic viewpoint
• Specific event:   Woodstock, not rock concerts
• Specific group:  American Indians, not minorities
• Specific individuals:  Betty Friedan and Gloria Steinem, not feminists
• Specific category:  noise pollution, not pollution

When formulating a research question, consider the following:

• Controversies:  arguments for or against capital punishment
• Trends:  trend toward mergers and takeovers beneficial to the economy
• Problems:  problems resulting from one-parent families
• Effects:  effects of TV on the reading levels of children
• Influences:  influence of advertising on language in society
• Causes:  cultural causes of obesity in America

The video explains how to refine a topic using four aspects.   From Broad to Narrow.

Turn Your Topic into a Research Question

Once you've narrowed your topic to something workable, you need to restate it as a question.  A question requires an answer, and research is all about the search for answers.

Try the Research Question Generator from U of MI Libraries:  https://apps.lib.umich.edu/rq/ 

Here's an example:

Broad Topic

global warming

Focused Topic

global warming and world health

Possible Research Questions

• How will changes in climate increase health risks for people worldwide?
• What should the U.S. government do to prepare for an increase in climate-related diseases?
• What is the role of the World Health Organization in response to increasing diseases?

Specific Questions

Once you have a research question, break it into even smaller questions:

How will changes in the world climate increase health risks for people worldwide?

• What climate changes are expected?
• What diseases are most sensitive to climate change?
• What areas of the world are most at risk?
• What statistics are there to prove that health risks are increasing?
• ... and so forth

You can see that research is basically a quest to find answers to the questions you are asking!