Module 2: Identifying a Topic
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2.0 Objectives
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Module 2: Identifying a Topic
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Module 2: Identifying a Topic
Objectives:
- Select suitable topic
- Broaden and narrow
- Identify key concepts and words
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2.1 Definition of Research
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re·search:
NOUN: 1. a detailed study of a subject, especially in order to discover
(new) information or reach a (new) understanding.
Cambridge Dictionaries Online, © Cambridge University Press 2003.
The word "research" is used to describe a number of similar and often
overlapping activities involving a search for information. For example,
each of the following activities involves such a search; but the
differences are significant and worth examining.
Research type |
Essential characteristics |
- Find the population of each country in Africa or the total
(in dollars) of Japanese investment in the U.S. in 2002.
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A search for individual facts or data. May be part of the
search for a solution to a larger problem or simply the answer to
a friendly, or not so friendly, bar bet! Concerned with facts rather than knowledge or
analysis and answers can normally be found in a single source. |
- Find out what is known generally about a fairly specific
topic. "What is the history of the Internet?"
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A report or review, not designed to create new
information or insight but to collate and synthesize existing
information. A summary of the past. Answers can typically be
found in a selection of books, articles, and Web sites.
[Note: gathering this information may often include
activities like #1 above.] |
- Gather evidence to determine whether gang violence is
directly related to playing violent video games.
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Gathering and analyzing a body of information or data and
extracting new meaning from it or developing unique solutions
to problems or cases. This is "real" research and requires an
open-ended question for which there is no ready answer.
[Note: this will always include #2 above and usually #1. It
may also involve gathering new data through experiments, surveys, or
other techniques.] |
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2.1 Tip - Sources for Finding Topics
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Module 2: Identifying a Topic
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A textbook
Textbooks introduce a topic to non-specialists and generally include
a bibliography of books and articles consulted. A good chapter can
provide an overview and the bibliography can point to more
information.
Encyclopedias
A general encyclopedia covers the entire range of human knowledge in
brief. A search for a basic concept recalls every mention of that
concept in the encyclopedia, indicating different contexts for it
and some of the fields of study that have explored it.
Subject encyclopedias
cover the knowledge base of a single discipline in brief. A search
here can familiarize you with some of the different contexts within
which your topic has been discussed in a discipline.
Periodical indexes
Searching a simple term in a general periodical database like
EBSCO retrieves articles from magazines
and journals that include your topic. This will give you a chance to
see what's being written on your topic in magazines like Time, Ms.,
or Scientific American, and journals like Communication Quarterly,
Nature, or Harvard Law Review.
LiLI Databases
LiLI-D)
http://www.lili.org/portal/ provide full-text articles from
magazines, professional journals, newspapers, and reference books
free to all Idaho residents.
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2.2 Using a Topic
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to Generate Questions
Research requires a question for which no ready answer is available.
What do you want to know about a topic? Asking a topic as a question (or
series of related questions) has several advantages:
- 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.
TOPIC |
QUESTION |
Drugs and Crime |
Could liberalization of drug laws reduce crime in
the U.S.? |
- Questions give you a way of evaluating answers.
A clearly stated
question helps you decide which information will be useful. A broad
topic may tempt you to stash away information that may be helpful,
but you're not sure how. A question also makes it easier to know
when you have enough information to stop your research.
- A clear open-ended question calls for real research and
thinking.
Asking a question with no direct answer makes research and
writing more meaningful. Assuming that your research may solve
significant problems or expand the knowledge base of a discipline
involves you in more meaningful activity of community and
scholarship.
Developing a Question
Developing a question from a broad topic can be done in many
ways. Two such effective ways are brainstorming and concept mapping.
brain·storm·ing noun: 1. A method of shared
problem solving in which all members of a group spontaneously
contribute ideas. 2. A similar process undertaken by a person to
solve a problem by rapidly generating a variety of possible
solutions.
The American
Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000
Brainstorming is a free-association technique of spontaneously
listing all words, concepts, ideas, questions, and knowledge about a
topic. After making a lengthy list, sort the ideas into categories.
This allows you to inventory your current awareness of a topic,
decide what perspectives are most interesting and/or relevant, and
decide in which direction to steer your research.
con·cept map·ping noun phrase: 1. A process, focused on a topic, in
which group or individual brainstorming produces a visual graphic
that represents how the creator(s) thinks about a subject, topic,
etc. It illustrates how knowledge is organized for the group or
individual.
You may create a concept map as a means of brainstorming; or,
following your brainstorm, you may take the content you have
generated and create your map from it . Concept maps may be
elaborate or simple and are designed to help you organize your
thinking about a topic, recognize where you have gaps in your
knowledge, and help to generate specific questions that may guide
your research. Combining brainstorming and concept mapping (brainmapping, if you
will) can be a productive way to begin your thinking about a topic
area. Try to establish as your goal the drafting of a topic
definition statement which outlines the area you will be researching
and about which you will present your findings. |
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2.2 - Brainmapping Exercise
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- Allow yourself at least 30 minutes to complete this activity.
- Get several clean sheets of paper and several markers of
different colors.
- In the center of a page, draw a small picture of your topic.
This can be either abstract or representational and the purpose is
to jump-start creative thinking.
- To generate ideas about your topic, start writing key words on
spokes radiating out from the central picture. Write only single
words (not phrases), and keep the lines connected to the central
picture.
- Free-associate rapidly and DO NOT CENSOR any idea. Keep writing
constantly, and try to fill the page as quickly as possible. (Start
another page if necessary.)
- Use different colors whenever possible.
- When you run out of ideas about your central picture, start
associating ideas from the words you've generated.
- After you run out of words, look at the results and try to find
patterns and associations between ideas. Draw arrows and use colors
and pictures to connect related ideas.
- Redraw your map. Eliminate any extraneous ideas and group
related ideas into some kind of organization. You should now have
several important concepts related to your topic. You might also
have a rudimentary structure for how to present these ideas. You may
be able to generate a series of questions that will need to be
answered during your investigations.
If your results don't provide a suitable topic, then walk away for a
while. Return later and select one of your new ideas/concepts and repeat
the exercise. |
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2.3 Broadening Your Research
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Question
A question that is too narrow or specific may not retrieve enough
information. If this happens, broaden the question. Most questions have
multiple contexts and varying levels of specificity.
The underlined terms below represent broader ways of asking without
changing the basic meaning. If you find sources that treat a subject
broadly, use the index or table of contents to locate useful sections or
chapters. Or ask yourself, "How might the arguments made here support my
argument?"
INSTEAD OF:
Should Makah whaling rituals be permitted despite endangered
species laws?
TRY:
Should Native Americans practice religious and social customs
that violate local and Federal laws?
INSTEAD OF:
What are the economic impacts of sweat shops on development in
South Asia?
TRY:
What are the impacts of U.S. labor practices on developing
countries?
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2.4 Narrowing the Topic
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A question that is too broad may retrieve too much information. Here
are some strategies for narrowing the scope of a question. They may be used individually or in combinations.
Strategy
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Explanation
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EXAMPLE TOPIC:
"Internet Security"
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Time
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Since 1990? This year? In the future?
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Current Internet security initiatives.
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Place
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Local social norms & values, economic & political
systems, or languages.
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Internet security initiatives in the U.S
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Population
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Gender, age, occupation, ethnicity, nationality, educational attainment,
species, etc.
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Filtering software and childrens'
access to Internet pornography
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Viewpoint
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Social, legal, medical, ethical, biological, psychological,
economic, political, philosophical? A viewpoint allows you to focus
on a single aspect.
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The constitutionality of Internet
filtering technology
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2.5 Choosing Keywords
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Prepare for searching by identifying the central concepts in your
research question.
Computers are programmed to match strings of characters and spaces
and do not often understand the natural language we use with each other.
They can't guess what you mean, don't "read" subtexts, and are easily
confused by ambiguity, so clarify for them what you will be looking for.
Focus only on essential concepts.
example |
explanation |
"media coverage of 9/11" |
Media cover events. Unless the media caused
the event, this term is unnecessary. |
advantages of home
schooling over public schools |
Value words like
"favorite," "advantage," or "better" are not useful if you need to
gather evidence to help you make a decision or develop a solution. Don't
just grab an opinion or the "right" answer off someone else's shelf. |
dissertations about
bioethics |
Many databases and search engines are
programmed to ignore common words that don't impact a search. These are
called "stopwords" and typically include terms like "the," "from,"
"about," "when," etc.
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Vocabulary
Earlier we discussed narrowing and broadening a research question.
Vocabulary can also be broadened or narrowed to find different types of
sources. This chart suggests some alternative vocabulary for the
following research question:
"Should Native Americans practice religious and social customs that
violate local and Federal laws?"
Key words |
Broader
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Related
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Narrower |
Native Americans |
Indigenous peoples, North American history |
Indians, Amerinds, North American Indians |
Makah, Nez Perce, Cherokee, Kwakiutl, etc. |
Customs |
Social systems, anthropology, |
Marriage, social relations, spirituality, rites and
ceremonies,
religion, culture |
Lodge house(s), hunting, whaling, potlatch, etc. |
Law |
Criminal justice,
U.S. Constitution,
constitutional law |
Legislation,
crimes, treaty rights |
Bureau of Indian Affairs,
NAGPRA (Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act ),
cases (e.g. Kennewick Man, Neah Bay whaling) |
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