Choosing & Defining a Topic

Where to begin?

Step 1: Come up with an idea

What is on your mind? What is in the news? Has your instructor provided a topic or

guidelines?

What is on your mind?

Why is plagiarizing an increasing concern among educators?

What questions emerge?

Do students understand what plagiarism is? Do students care if they are cheating? Do students really plagiarize more than they

used to? How can students avoid plagiarism? Why do students plagiarize?

What is in the news?

What questions emerge?

What is khat? What are its effects on the human body? How do you pronounce khat? What is the history of khat? Where in Africa is khat used? Why is khat illegal in the United States?

Has your instructor provided topics?

? What are the possible effects of global warming on world hunger?? Should immigration policy be changed to reduce the number of undocumented immigrants to the United States?? Would the reinstatement of the draft infringe on a citizen's right to individual liberty?? What are the effects of the No Child Left Behind Act on education in the United States?

Step 2: Get background information

Ask a librarian for help Consult a reference book – for

instance, an encyclopedia Look at pathfinder pages prepared by

librarians Search Google (it’s a start) And then there’s Wikipedia (caveat

lector!)

Use Wikipedia appropriately

“Mine” the references and notes

Next week: more on Wikipedia

Step 3: Test your idea

Before you commit to a topic ask yourself: Does it meet the requirements of the

assignment? Can you get enough good information on

your topic to do the assignment within the time you have?

Are you interested in the topic?

Step 4: Focus your topic

It is important to make sure your topic isn’t too broad:What is khat? (wide coverage)

Or too narrow:How do you pronounce khat? (narrow coverage)

Aim for the middle:Should khat be illegal in the United States?What are the effects of khat on the human body?(focused coverage)

Step 5: Identify concepts & keywords

Identifying your main concepts and adding related terms (keywords) is the final step to creating a topic and beginning your research.

Find the main concepts in:

Should khat be illegal in the United States?

Concepts are your main ideas

Concept:

khat Concept:

illegal Concept:

United States

Why take this step?

Identifying concepts and keywords during the research process will help you – organize your research– gather more relevant information

Your turn:

Cesar: http://www.cesar.umd.edu/cesar/drugs/khat.asp

DEA: http://www.usdoj.gov/dea/concern/khat.html World Health Organization:

http://www.who.int/entity/medicines/areas/quality_safety/4.4KhatCritReview.pdf

Look through these links & identify more keywords for the topic.

Tip: consider related terms