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Research Guide: Refine Your Topic

NLC's step-by-step guide to the research process

Make sure your topic is not too narrow/too broad

Make sure your question is not too narrow. If your question...

  • can be answered with yes/no
  • can be answered with a quick google search
  • is very hard to find information for

...it is probably too narrow. Try widening your terms.

Tips to help Widen Your Search

Synonyms

Currency

Generalize

Related

Expand/ Remove

Sources

Find additional keywords

Very new topics may have few resources

Include a larger group or area

Explore related issues

Location, time, aspect, event, population, person, group

Try a different source with wider coverage of the topic

Make sure your question is also not too broad. If your question...

  • is yielding way too many results
  • is large enough to write an entire book about

...it is probably too broad. Try narrowing your terms.

Tips to help Narrow Your Search

Time

Location

Population

Event/Aspect

Group/ Individual

Limit your search to a specific date.

Ex: 1920’s

18th century

Limit your search to one area.

Ex: Alberta

Boreal Forest

A community

Limit your search to relevant populations.

Ex: Age, Race, Gender, Nationality

Focus your search on a very specific aspect or event.

Ex: Laws related to fracking

or

A single battle in a war

Limit your search to a specific group or an individual.

Ex: College students, Infants, one residential school victim

Develop a research question

Here are a few ways to structure a research question:

Write down keywords

As you choose a topic and develop your research question, look for keywords that can help you in your research later on.

This is especially important if you need to search for academic journal articles in a database. Databases rely on keywords to sort through the millions of articles available.

Here is an example of a list of keywords for the research question: What is the effect of parental involvement in homework on academic achievement among elementary school students?

  • parental, parent, guardian, adult
  • involvement, help, aid, guidance
  • homework, schoolwork, school, project
  • achievement, success, grades, scores, result
  • elementary students, primary school, grade school, children, kids

In the next research step, you will try out different keywords from this list and see how the search results change depending on which keyword combinations you use.

Brainstorming Worksheet