Getting Started and Choosing a Topic

How do I Narrow or Broaden My Topic?

One way to narrow down a very broad topic is to do some brainstorming. Here's what you do:

1. Write your broad topic on a piece of paper.
2. Think of as many related words, ideas, and issues as you can that have to do with your topic. Write them down on a piece of paper. Don't worry about organizing them or making neat lists at this point -- just brainstorm.
3. Look at all of the terms and try to group them into categories. For example, classic rock, rap, country, and heavy metal are all types of music, so you would group them together.
4. You should have several narrower and related topics to work with. If any of your narrow topics prove to be too narrow, you can always broaden it using your chart.

Here's an example of brainstorming using the topic "music".

Another of our favorite techniques for fine-tuning a topic is to use the formula traditionally employed by newspaper reporters--Who?-What?-Where?-When?-Why?

What if you find that your topic seems too narrow? You can use the same technique as discussed above to find ways to broaden your scope. For example, an issue facing workers in a steel mill may be similar to issues in other manufacturing sectors of the economy. A current issue may have parallels to historical events. A problem confronting children in south Texas could be compared or contrasted with the experience of children in Mexico. To broaden a topic, think of "analogous" or similar elements that could be added to your discussion.