Bio 300: Selecting a Topic

Before you begin searching for books or journal articles on your topic, you need to narrow your topic by considering these three questions:

1. What is the issue or phenomenon I am searching for (bacterial infection, honey bee colony collapse, global warming, etc.)?
2. What do I want to focus on within this subject (prevalence, causes, impact, etc.)?
3. Who or what is the focus of my research topic (population group, country, specific environment, etc.)?

Why is it important to narrow my topic?

Because there are nearly hundreds of thousands of articles on nearly every topic, you need to be specific in your searches so that you are not overwhelmed with too many results. If you are still finding too much informatin, you may need to narrow your focus even more.

How can these resources help?

News feeds, reputable science web sites, etc. provide topic ideas often relating to current science issues. These sources may seed topic ideas and expand one's general knowledge of a subject and associated terms.