Focusing & Narrowing Topics

Pollution

a type	acid rain
a location	Canada
an additional topic	fish populations
a population	residents of coastal communities

Consider whether the topic you have in mind is appropriate for the length of the paper you are writing.

A topic such as pollution is too broad. You would find too much information on this subject--enough to write several books!

You could narrow the topic of Pollution by using one or more sub-topics.

It is helpful to write out your topic as a sentence or a question. Let's say the question that most interests you is:

How is acid rain affecting the fishing industry in Canada?

Understanding Your Topic

To synthesize information or support an argument in your paper, you will need background and context on your topic. Create a list of questions that you can try to answer with your research.

acid rain	What is it? What are the causes? What affects does it have? What are the current trends?
fishing	What are industry trends worldwide? Who are the major players? Are other countries experiencing similar problems?
Canada	What are the pollution sources? What government actions are underway? How important is fishing in the Canadian economy?

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Last modified: Aug 01, 2008, 15:38 EDT