If you are allowed to choose your own topic, it can helpful to first browse some "popular" or non-academic sources for inspiration and background information. This technique is useful even in cases where you can't ultimately use them as sources in your paper. Good sources of general information in specific subject areas or areas of professional practice are the websites of the various professional associations or societies, for example the APA, IEEE, or AIA. Other generalist popular sources include:
Most of the research databases in our A-Z list have features to help filter results by topic or subject, usually located to the left of the search results. These filters can also be used to explore different facets of a broader topic. Expanding the list (usually by clicking "show all" or "show more") provides a list of all sub-topics related to your original search. This technique can also be very helpful in narrowing an overly broad topic to specific areas of interest to you.
A good topic (sometimes called a "research question") is neither too broad nor too narrow, and it shouldn't be a straightforward factual question. Below are some poor topics/research questions and how to improve them.
Don't worry too much about nailing down the perfect topic or research question right away. Chances are, once you start searching, you'll need to modify your topic or research question.
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