Example that is too broad: Charter Schools.
Example that is too narrow: Charter school attendance by the children of Pennsylvania state senators.
Example that is just right: The differences between how republican and democratic state senators vote on charter school laws.
What particular aspect(s) of your topic do you want to focus on? For example, if you're writing about police reform, you could focus on training, laws, or the use of technologies like body cameras.
Who or what group of people do you want to focus on, specifically? Think of certain populations such as college students, Hispanic women, Millenials, people with disabilities, U.S. veterans, etc.
Is there a specific time period you want to cover such as the past 5 years, the year 2020, the 1970s, or the 1800s? Keep in mind that it will be difficult to cover the entire history of a topic in a single research paper.
Think about locations, settings, or environments that you might want to focus on such as Pennsylvania, the Middle East, urban high schools, or nursing homes (note that your topic may involve more than one place).
By identifying key concepts and what other words or phrases describe those concepts you will get more meaningful results. With the question "In what ways do humans contribute to the destruction and conservation of the Caribbean coral reef?" the keywords/phrases are human, destruction, conservation, and Caribbean coral reef. Here is an example of what words could be used instead:
| Original Phrase | Related words or ideas |
|---|---|
| humans | human-caused, anthropogenic, people |
| destruction | threats, damage, degradation, kill, decline |
| conservation | preservation, protection, recovery, restoration |
| Caribbean coral reef | West Indies, Caribbean Sea, Antilles, Mesoamerican Barrier Reef System |
