TOPIC: Early Childhood Care & Education

Selecting a topic

In making your choice of a topic, make sure you select a topic:

a)  that really interests you
b)  that you can cover adequately within the time and limits assigned
c)  about which you can find an appropriate amount of information

An excellent source for topic selection is CQ Researcher.  In addition, you may want to consult with a Librarian on the choice of a good topic.  A Librarian can discuss the parameters of your assignment and suggest approaches that will work best.

A great idea can come from many places. Here are some suggested places to start:

• Class discussions
• Assigned readings
• Topics in the news
• Browse journals in the field
• Personal interests

Find Background Information

Before you develop your research topic or question, you'll need to do some background research first.

Some good places to find background information:

• Your textbook or class readings
• Encyclopedias and reference books
• Credible websites
• Library databases

Try the library databases below to explore your topic. When you're ready, move on to refining your topic.

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[Please delete this text and add links to two databases, websites, or other resources your students can use to explore topics.]

Ways to refine a topic

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 research process is not a linear process.  The Research Process is more of a cycle. There are steps involved, but they can be repeated as you learn more about your topic and perhaps change the focus of your research.  For that reason, the following image represents some possible steps to follow as your work through this process.  

You can (and should!) revisit the steps as many times as needed to create a finished product. Once you select your topic, you should at least touch every step in the process, but you do not have to exactly follow the sequence of the steps.  This basic library research strategy is to help you make the best use of your time in the library.   Most often, a quality result will be produced by being as complete and thorough as possible, and by making use of all the resources and services that are available to you.

Librarians can be especially helpful in two aspects of the information-gathering portion of the research process:

1. WHERE to search:  recommending appropriate databases and other research tools for your particular topic
2. HOW to search:  coming up with good terms to use when you use these research tools, and arranging those terms in ways that will give you the best results