Los Angeles Mission Library: Database Guide : Narrow Your Topic

How to Pick and Narrow Your Topic

Define your topic by asking the following questions:

When you think of this broad topic, what specific issues interest you – careers in health care, specific disorders or diseases, the state of health care in the United States? All of these subtopics are facets of the much broader topic – health.
What aspects of your topic interest you: business, history, legal, physical, psychological, social etc.?
What time period do you want to cover?
Do you want to focus on a geographic region or population?
What kind of information do you need? (e.g., a brief summary or a lengthy explanation; periodical articles or books; statistics)

Broad topic and narrow topic.
General Topic	Affordable Housing
Facets of Topic (Subtopic):	Evictions, gentrification, rent, the housing market, homelessness, displacement, etc.
Aspect of Event:	Law, political, social, natural disaster
Time Span:	2010-Present
Population (Demographics)	Latino, Latinx, Hispanic, Black, African American, Single Parents, College Students, Corporations, etc.
Place of Location:	Los Angeles, California, USA
Examples of Narrowed Research Question:	How have state government housing regulations in California affected affordable housing? Can Los Angeles County provide funding and expand its housing program to include college students? Do corporations need more regulations when they purchase mass amounts of homes in the USA?