Define the Topic

Defining a topic

Sometimes you will be given a specific question to research. For example: How did the successful launch of Sputnik affect the United States space program?

Oftentimes you will be responsible for choosing your own topic. This can be the most difficult and most important step in your research. Use the following considerations as guidelines as you work through this process:

1. Is this interesting to me?

2. Is there adequate information on my topic?

Where can I get ideas?

1. Personal interests – What intrigues you about 20th century American history? For example, you might be interested in movies and women’s rights, the evolution of the movie industry, or how women’s roles change during and after World War II.

2. Background Information - Spend some time searching through different resources to collect some background information so that you can make a more informed decision on your topic. Some places to look include:

Textbooks or class notes –Browse table of contents and index for terms that interest you, then read a little more in the book. For example: You might encounter the term Rosie the Riveter in the index of your history text.

Encyclopedias- Read a brief summary of important events – look for timelines, lists, Hint: Browse the indexes of the encyclopedias. This is also an excellent way to generate keywords for other searches. Browsing is best accomplished in print materials. For example: Look up “Women’s Liberation Movement” in the index of The World Book. You will find entries under this term but also under Feminism, Civil Rights (the struggle for women’s rights, National Organization for Women, Women’s Suffrage, Air Force, and Cochran, Jacqueline among suggested.

Specialized Encyclopedias – See if there are any encyclopedias on specialized subjects in library. For example: Search Alexandria with the key terms: Women OR history OR America AND Encyclopedia.

Subject Directories- Directories such as Yahooligans are made up of a variety of sites organized by topic. Each of these sites has been specifically chosen or evaluated by a human being. While these sites are often excellent, they need to be evaluated like any other web site if you are going to take notes.

Here are some more advanced directories:

• UC Berkeley's recommended directory list - http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/TeachingLib/Guides/Internet/SubjDirectories.html
• BUBL -http://bubl.ac.uk/
• Librarian’s Internet Index - http://www.lii.org/
• Yahoo directory- http://dir.yahoo.com/
• Internet Public Library - http://www.ipl.org/
• Google Directory - http://www.google.com/dirhp
• Search.com - http://www.search.com/search/64/index.html?tag=se.fd.tab.dir
• Clusty – A search engine that clusters information according to subject topics - http://clusty.com/
• Grokker – A search engine that sorts information according to topics also has a visual web display - www.grokker.com
• Directories for kids – These sites will have material at an appropriate reading level for MS and IS students.
• Kidsclick - http://www.kidsclick.org/
• Yahooligans- http://yahooligans.yahoo.com/
• American Library Association's Great Web Sites for Kids - http://www.ala.org/gwstemplate.cfm?section=greatwebsites&template=/cfapps/gws/default.cfm
  

HELPFUL HINT: To find more web directories In Yahoo! and Google directories, try adding the terms web directories to your subject keyword term:  

For example:
civil war  web directories
weddings  web directories

Try to investigate a few different topics

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