Refining / Improving your topic

You have completed the "3 topics" assignment. Most of you have completed your annotated bibliography.

As you read further on your topic and find out more, you will also be continuously refining & focussing your topic.

Refining your topic

In her "Pocket Style Manual", Diana Hacker identifies 3 ways to refine your topic: [I'll be quoting from her examples, adding some of my own...]

Choosing a narrow question

Almost everyone will need to narrow their topics to fit the length of the research paper, which is 9 pages (plus references).

(Your first draft should be 5-9 pages.)

Too broad
  • What are the hazards of fad diets?
  • Is the United States seriously addressing the problem of prisoner abuse?
  • Solar Power

Narrower

  • What are the hazards of low-carbohydrate diets?
  • Is the U.S. military doing an adequate job of protecting the prisoners in Guantanamo, Cuba, from abuse?
  • What kinds of federal and state financial incentives are there for homeowners to put up solar panels? (Possible case study, Feed-In-Tariffs (FIT) in Germany.)
  • What ways can developing countries finance renewable energy projects? (Possible case study: "Pay as you go" solar energy in Bangladesh".)

Choosing a challenging question

Choose a topic that you would like to find out more about, and that may not have a cut and dried answer.

Avoid bland questions that fail to provoke thought or engage readers in a debate.

Too bland

  • What is obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)?
  • How does DNA testing work?

Challenging

  • What treatments for OCD show the most promise?
  • How reliable is DNA testing?

Choosing a grounded question

The central argument of a research paper should be grounded in facts. It should not be based entirely on beliefs.

Too speculative

  • Is it wrong to pirate software via the Internet?
  • Will nuclear fusion provide unlimited energy someday?

Grounded

  • What effect has software piracy had on the price and availability of software?
  • How have the French benefitted from nuclear fission reactors, and what have they figured out to do with the waste?

Today...

4 minutes(individually)

  • Write a 2 or 3 sentence description of your topic.
  • In bullet points, list off some of the sub-topics you would like to pursue related to your topic. At least one of them should be the case study you want to look into for your solution. In 3-4 sentences describe your topic. Do revise: Write down an initial description without judgement. Then write down at least one *improved* description of your topic.

In groups of 3 take turns:

  • Read out your improved description of your topic.
  • Feedback from the others.
    • Each person listening should come up with one question they wonder about in relation to the topic
    • Other questions of clarification or about the subtopics that might be of most interest