Narrow your topic. Narrowing Your Topic 2023-01-01
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Narrowing your topic is an important step in the research and writing process. It allows you to focus on a specific aspect of a larger subject and to delve deeper into it, rather than trying to cover too much ground and ending up with a shallow or broad treatment of the topic.
There are several ways to narrow your topic. One approach is to start with a broad topic and then ask yourself questions about it. For example, if your topic is "environmentalism," you might ask yourself: "What specific aspect of environmentalism do I want to focus on? Do I want to explore the history of the environmental movement? Do I want to examine a particular environmental policy? Do I want to look at the impact of environmentalism on a specific community or industry?" Asking these types of questions can help you narrow your focus and choose a specific angle to approach your topic.
Another way to narrow your topic is to consider the purpose of your essay or research. What do you want to accomplish with your writing? Do you want to inform, persuade, or analyze? Each of these purposes requires a different focus and approach, and narrowing your topic can help you tailor your writing to achieve your specific goals.
For example, if your purpose is to inform, you might narrow your topic to something like "the effects of climate change on coastal communities." This allows you to provide specific information about a specific aspect of the broader topic of climate change. If your purpose is to persuade, you might narrow your topic to something like "the benefits of implementing a carbon tax in the United States." This allows you to make a specific argument about a specific policy related to the broader topic of environmentalism.
Narrowing your topic can also help you choose an appropriate scope for your writing. If you try to cover too much ground, you may end up with a paper that is too broad or shallow. By narrowing your focus, you can ensure that you have enough information and depth to properly explore your topic.
In summary, narrowing your topic is an important step in the research and writing process. It allows you to focus on a specific aspect of a larger subject, tailor your writing to your specific purpose, and choose an appropriate scope for your work. By taking the time to narrow your topic, you can produce a more focused and thorough treatment of your subject.
Finding and Narrowing Your Topic
Speeches in future classes will likely be organized around the content being covered in the class. Remember your assignment requirements and consider what you've read so far. Keywords Keywords for your search will primarily be different forms or variations of the name of the issue you chose. A Presbyterian Women — View having a captive classroom audience as a challenge, and use this space as a public speaking testing laboratory. For example: government and "net neutrality" some other search terms for government might include: regulation, legislation, etc.
As you cluster, you will start to identify more focused topics that interest you and your audience. In summary, the You can see various topics that may fit into the three general purposes for speaking in Choosing a Topic Once you have determined or been assigned your general purpose, you can begin the process of choosing a topic. Using the topic of yoga, your research might include a conversation with your yoga instructor to find out what aspects of the practice might be most interesting and relevant for your audience. Your narrowed speech topic might be what you end up with at the bottom of your inverted pyramid, or part-way down. Our beliefs change if we encounter new information or experiences that counter previous ones. This way, you don't attempt to do too much in one paper.
Good speaking skills can help you stand out from the crowd in increasingly competitive environments. A topic is too broad to be manageable when a review of the literature reveals too many different, and oftentimes conflicting or only remotely related, ideas about how to investigate the research problem. Although you will want to start the writing process by considering a variety of different approaches to studying the research problem, you will need to narrow the focus of your investigation at some point early in the writing process. University of Kansas; Narrowing Topics. Institute for Writing Rhetoric. The shorter the paper, the narrower the topic should be. Before you start writing, turn your narrowed topic into an effective A thesis statement about one-hit wonders might look like this: From the 1980s through the 2000s, one-hit wonders in pop music have managed to solidify their places in music history through one key musical component: a catchy hook.
Have you ever thought about these before? You might need to return to your narrowed topic and research it again to learn more about that topic. This tells the database to search for that specific phrase in articles. Some keywords will work better than others, and some keywords may lead you to different articles than you found in your first search. Will you focus on current hits, music from the 1960s, or music from another era? Just Right: Because of the economic and regional challenges many citizens face, the United States government must subsidize the infrastructure needed to provide all Americans with free, high-speed internet access, eliminating the digital divide. Thesis statement: Biomass is a renewable resource that releases gases that can be used for fuel. If your opinion is something that your intended audience is naturally going to agree with unanimously, you may want to reconsider the direction you take the paper. Last, we may speak to entertain or amuse our audience.
Identify some potential benefits of public speaking in academic, professional, personal, and civic contexts that might make people see public speaking in a different light. Virginia Tech University; The Process of Writing a Research Paper. Asking these questions will help you focus your ideas and help you consider new angles to your topic. It is important to pick a topic that is relevant to you personally, not just one that you think you will be able to find a lot of information on. Thesis Statement Your The thesis statement is different from the specific purpose in two main ways.
Many beginning public speakers start with a topic that is much too broad and become overwhelmed. A good thesis statement is declarative, agrees with the general and specific purposes, and focuses and narrows your topic. Finally, use Internet search engines to read some articles and discover more about your topic. You have four pages to write a convincing essay about your topic, but what should you write about? Start broad and brainstorm. So, how do you narrow your topic? As always, focus on areas of your topic that interest and relate to you and your audience.
Three Strategies for How to Narrow a Topic Not all strategies work best for all topics, so try a combination of all of these to see which works best for your topic. Speeches delivered at work will usually be directed toward a specific goal such as welcoming new employees, informing about changes in workplace policies, or presenting quarterly sales figures. The Craft of Research. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson, 2006 , 10—11. Space Exploration of Planets" or even to a specific planet and mission like " 1997s Pathfinder Mission". Will you focus on music from the United States, or will you write about music from another country? As you research, look for specifics about a subject and check to If, for example, you were still trying to find a way to narrow your skateboarding topic, a quick Google search might lead you to information about skateparks.
Coffey, and Gregory Livingston, The Great Tween Buying Machine Chicago, IL: Dearborn Trade, 2004. Notice how the thesis statement is specific and narrowed to explain to readers exactly the focus of your paper. See what I mean? Learning Objectives Describe strategies for narrowing a topic. Second, the thesis statement is incorporated into the spoken portion of your speech, while the specific purpose serves as a guide for your research and writing and an objective that you can measure. One method to consider is formulating a consequence-based question, such as "What are the consequences of X on Y? You might write about the origins of skateboarding, skateboarding at the X Games, or skateboard clothing, jargon, tricks, or culture. Then, look through the library databases for articles on these topics. When delivering a speech in a college classroom, you can rightfully assume that everyone in your audience is currently living in the general area of the school, is enrolled at the school, and is currently taking the same speech class.
