Topic Development Tips

Defining Your Topic

The research process can appear to be daunting, but by breaking it down into manageable parts, you will find the process will flow along smoothly.

The first step in the process is to have a topic for your research. You may have been assigned a general topic, or thought of one on your own, but need some help narrowing or broadening the focus and scope.

Background Reading

Preliminary exploration of your topic will provide you with key ideas, terminology, and dates necessary to help you in the narrowing or broadening process:

Preliminary exploration of your topic will provide you with key ideas, terminology, and dates necessary to help you in the narrowing or broadening process. The following are sources to consider to gain a better understanding of your topic:

• Specialized sources written by experts in that field and serve as excellent sources to gain a better understanding of your research topic.
• Often include bibliographies and references, which will point you in the direction of other related research.
• While subject encyclopedias are excellent sources of background information, for your research in this class they should not be used as a reference source.
• Because books take longer to publish, there may not be many titles available if your topic is fairly current.

Encyclopedia of Activism and Social Justice
Encyclopedia of Behavioral Modification and Cognitive Behavior
Encyclopedia of Communication and Information
Encyclopedia of Gender and Society
Encyclopedia of Human Relationships
Encyclopedia of Interpersonal Violence
Encyclopedia of Multicultural Psychology
Encyclopedia of Sex and Gender
Encyclopedia of Social Problems
Encyclopedia of Social Psychology
Encyclopedia of Sociology
The Gale Encyclopedia of Psychology
International Encyclopedia of Marriage and Family
21st Century Sociology

Each subject guide includes a list of subject encyclopedias listed under Background Reading. Please see Search by Subject to locate a guide relevant to your research needs.

• Full text of books available online on a wide variety of topics.

• Locate print books on your topic, which you can have sent to a nearby library in Maryland or to your home if outside of Maryland (see Book Borrowing and Delivery).

• UMUC Library's guide Search the Web and Evaluate Web Resources provides listings of various search engines.
• Depending on your topic, a subject-specific search engine may provide more relevant research than a general purpose search engine such as Google or Yahoo!.
• Make sure you evaluate the Web sites you find for reliability and credibility. See UMUC Library's guide Search the Web and Evaluate Web Resources.

• Click on Search by Subject to access these guides. For example, there are guides for Communication and Journalism, Psychology, and Sociology.

Once you have decided on a topic, try to express it as a research question. Your research question should be more specific and focused than your initial topic.