Picking a Topic and Keywords to Research your Topic
Whether you are writing a literature review as a standalone work or as part of a paper, choosing a topic is an important part of the process. If you haven't select a topic yet for your literature view or you feel that your topic is too broad, this page is for you!
The key to successfully choosing a topic is to find one that is not too broad (impossible to adequately cover) but also not too narrow (not enough has been written about it). Use the tools below to help you brainstorm a topic and keywords that then you can use to search our many databases. Feel free to explore these different options or contact a Subject Specialist if you need more help!
Concept Mapping
- [REMOVE] Mind Mapping (also known as Concept Mapping)A helpful handout to show step by step how to create a concept map to map out a topic.
Picking a topic and search terms
Below are some useful links and handouts that help you develop your topic. Check the handouts in this page. They are useful to help you develop keywords/search terms or to learn the best way to search databases to find articles and books for your research.
- UVA Thinking Tool: Choosing a Topic and Search TermsProvides a template for focusing a research assignment through the brainstorming of ideas, keywords, and other terminology related to a topic.
- UW How to Improve Database Search ResultsSuggested strategies for retrieving relevant search results
- UCLA: Narrowing a TopicUseful tips on how to narrow a topic when you are getting too many results in your search. From the librarians at UCLA.
- UCLA: Broadering a TopicUseful tips on how to broaden your topic when you are getting few results in your search. From the librarians at UCLA.
