Focus Your Topic

 

 

 

 

Topics (choose one)

 

·        Teenage drinking

·        Sex, violence and the media

·        Gay rights

·        Eating disorders

·        Hate crimes

·        Women and employment

·        Regulating the Internet

·        Distopias/utopias

·        Athletes and drugs

·        Housing discrimination

 

 

 

 

A. Create a research strategy for your topic. Specify the particular aspects of the topic you wish to focus on, (e.g., ethical/religious, social, political, scientific, etc.). Write down your research strategy and the particular aspects of the topic upon which you wish to focus.

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B. Write down the main questions that you'll want to answer about your topic. Stating your topic in the form of questions will help you focus your research.

 

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C. Write a thesis sentence that summarizes the main points of your paper. Writing a thesis statement helps you to further focus your research.

 

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D. Write down the keywords and subject headings that you think will help you best locate information on your topic. These keywords and subject headings will be helpful to you when you search databases. (Hint: The Library of Congress Subject Headings books, print magazine indexes and encyclopedias can be very helpful in providing you with keywords and subject headings).

 

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E. Now that you have your keywords and subject headings written down, consider whether you need to combine some of the keywords or subject headings to broaden or narrow your search. Think about how you could combine keywords to broaden or narrow your search.

 

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