1. TOPIC DEVELOPME NT
Your professor may do a certain amount of 'topic finding' for
you. You may receive a listing of required topics, in a class.
This often happens in beginning '101' classes, where your
instructor will provide a list of approved topics, for example.

2. Often topics are very broad, two-three words or a phrase.
Even if you begin with a ‘good’ topic, part of your
assignment is to narrow the topic down, finding a specific
aspect to work with

3. Narrowing Your Topics
You've found a broad topic you'd like to research, but how
can you develop the topic, and make it a manageable size?
DRUGS
Searching under very broad topics like 'drugs' will not
provide a manageable topic for research
Drugs
Society
Medicine and Health
other
subtopics?

4. Developing Subtopics
Begin by creating a list of specific subtopics
---society
---medicine and health
---psychological conditions
---crime
---addiction
And many more!

5. Narrowing a Topic
General –
begin with
one-two
words or
phrases
Specific – add
keywords to
make topic
specific

6. Using Questions
Investigate your Topic with Journalistic Questions
What subject area or discipline does my topic fit into?
What do I know about it? What don't I know?
When. What time period do I want to cover?
Where. On what geographic region do I want to focus?
How do events happen in my topic [through legal/personal
motivations?]

7. Why would we use questions to develop a topic?
 1. Questions require answers.
A topic is hard to cover completely because it typically encompasses too
many related issues; but a question has an answer, even if it is ambiguous
or controversial.
 2. Questions give you a way of evaluating the evidence.
A clearly stated question helps you decide which information will be
useful.
 3. A clear open-ended question calls for real research and
thinking.
Asking a question with no direct answer makes research and writing
more meaningful to both you and your audience.