After conducting your initial search for ideas, if you haven't found enough information on your topic, then you may need to focus your idea more sharply to fulfill the purpose of your assignment (and possibly get that "A" you've dreamed of). With a well-crafted topic, you can focus your research and hunt for relevant facts and information that will flesh out your idea and make your project successful. The following are common tips that will help you more favorably achieve your objective:1. Avoid Being Too General. When developing your topic, try not to be too general in your approach, but be more specific. For example, if you decide to research "alcoholism and teenagers," doing your preliminary research with a topic as general this will result in finding more information than you bargained for. That's because any preliminary research you conduct will be too broad and your findings so widespread that you won't know what information is usable, necessary, or dispensable. Conversely, topics that are too new can be troublesome as well. That's because often few sources exist, making the task of research that much more difficult.2. Make Sure Your Topic Is Well Defined. You'll have an easier time researching your topic if you formulate a well-defined researchable question or well-focused topic to answer what will be the thrust of your essay, paper, or written project. If you rush ahead too quickly with a topic you have not defined, you may fail to develop your topic effectively. Your research question will provide the focus of your research and your paper, so when you are conducting your research, the information you gather will answer and support your paper's point of view or central theme. Your question should be clear, concise, detailed, and focused. By taking this time-tested approach, you will not only know the topic you will be specifically researching but also the point you want to take in your paper.Let's say your topic is television violence. What exactly do you want to know? Are you interested in the effect of violent television content on viewers in general, on adults, or on children? If your interest is children, then you want to frame your question thusly: "What effect does television violence have on children?" Your research—and ultimately your paper—will now focus on answering this important question, and depict how violence in television affects the behavior of children who watch these influential programs.Another example might be secondhand smoke, one of those "hot button" issues. Again, what is the point of view or theme of your paper going to be? Do you want to focus on secondhand smoke and its damaging effect on teenagers? Do you want to argue that it poses no serious health risk at all? Since so much has been written and published about this subject, the latter may be hard to prove. Conclusive evidence may not exist to support this viewpoint. Certainly, an easier topic to research would be "secondhand smoke and its damaging effect on teenagers." Ask yourself what you want to focus on in the form of a question. It could be simply, "What is the long-term effect of secondhand smoke on teenagers?"
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