Research Topic Refinement Strategies

The video tutorial provides guidance on selecting a research topic that is neither too broad nor too narrow. It explains how to focus a broad topic by adding specific elements like geographic regions or demographics and how to broaden a narrow topic by removing excessive qualifiers. The tutorial emphasizes the importance of experimenting with keywords and understanding that research is an iterative process. It encourages students to seek help from librarians if needed.

What is a common challenge students face when selecting a research topic?

• Writing a thesis statement

• Finding enough sources

• Choosing a topic that is neither too broad nor too narrow

• Understanding the research process

What happens if a research topic is too broad?

• You find very few sources

• You have a clear focus for your paper

• You get thousands of results covering various aspects

• You cannot find any relevant information

Why is 'homelessness' considered a broad topic?

• It is easy to research

• It is a global problem with many causes and effects

• It is a local issue

• It has a limited number of causes

How can you narrow down a broad topic like 'homelessness'?

• Focus on a specific geographic region

• Choose a different topic

• Add more general keywords

• Ignore the topic

What is the first step in dealing with a broad research topic?

• Add more keywords

• Focus on a specific aspect

• Abandon the topic

• Search in a different database

What should you do if adding one focus to your topic still results in too many search results?

• Search in a different database

• Add more specific focuses

• Abandon the topic

• Use fewer keywords

What is a useful tool for finding synonyms when searching for research topics?

• A grammar checker

• A drop-down menu with search word suggestions

• A thesaurus

• A dictionary

How can you further limit your search results after narrowing down your topic?

• By adding more keywords

• By changing the publication date range

• By ignoring irrelevant results

• By using a different search engine

What should you do if you get thousands of results for your research topic?

• Use a different search engine

• Ignore the results

• Choose a different topic

• Narrow down the topic further

What is the problem with having too many qualifiers in a research topic?

• It results in no research available on the topic

• It makes the topic too broad

• It simplifies the research process

• It provides too many results