How Can You Narrow the Topic?
Once you have selected a broad topic, such as Global Warming or Drug Abuse, you should try to narrow your focus. Here are some ways to narrow the topic:
Now you can put your narrower topic into a research question. Here are some examples:
What are the causes of global warming?
How can we prevent child abuse?
What are the effects of steroid use on athletes?
Why do college students use illegal drugs?
Now you need to identify the keywords for your research.
Taking a few minutes to think about and identify some keywords before starting your search will help you search more efficiently, which will save you time (and probably a little frustration).
You probably already use keyword searching in your own life. For instance, if you're using Google (another search engine), and you need to find information about a movie theater in your town, what words might you use to search?
Why would you use those words?
Here's what I'd put into the search bar: "Windham Movie Theater." Like your search, I've tried to get the most important concepts in: I want to find a movie theater, but not just any movie theater. I want the one in my town, so I add the word Windham.
Whether through a search engine like Google, or through a library database, keywords help you find information.
