NarrowTopic REV26

0:05[music]

0:10Hi everyone.

0:12In our last lecture, we learned about

0:15invention and how to come up with

0:16various ideas for your uh argumentative

0:19essay. In this lecture, we're going to

0:21look at how you can narrow your focus.

0:25So, we're going to look at strategies

0:26for narrowing your topic. We're going to

0:28use the internet to help us narrow the

0:30topic to an issue and survey literature

0:32to determine if there's enough

0:34information on the topic.

0:38So students sometimes ask, why do I have

0:40to narrow my topic? Well, let's say

0:43you're looking at the topic of bees.

0:45You're interested in bees for some

0:46reason.

0:48And I type B into Google and notice I

0:51get 944 million results,

0:55which is far too many results for us to

0:58look through and read. So, we need to

0:59narrow the topic.

1:02Again, if I was to type in bees uh into

1:06Google Scholar, I would find things like

1:09the name Martin Bees or Nola Bees or a

1:13book called Bees of the World. So again,

1:16this some of what we'll find is not

1:18going to be what we're looking for. And

1:19so again, narrowing of the topic then

1:22makes research easier. You know what you

1:25need to look for and to read. More time

1:27can be spent examining the nuances of

1:29one aspect or issue. You can cover an

1:32you can cover an issue in more detail

1:34and the issue becomes much more

1:36interesting because it's something that

1:38people probably haven't heard about

1:40before or read about.

1:43So there are many different ways you can

1:44narrow your topic. We'll look at some of

1:46these and you can choose some of these

1:49to help you narrow the topic that you've

1:51come up with.

1:53One thing you can do is you can ask

1:54journalistic questions. So let's say you

1:58have a topic of global warming and its

2:00effects because you're interested in

2:02global warming. So journalists always

2:04ask who, what, where, when, why, how,

2:07right? And these questions help them to

2:08come up with what they call an angle.

2:12So, we might say who. We're interested

2:14in

2:15what population, race, gender, ethnicity

2:18that's affected by global warming. Well,

2:20let's say we're interested in polar

2:22bears. We might say where? What place,

2:24region, country, or state? Well, the

2:26Arctic. We might say, well, when what

2:29historical period are we interested in?

2:31Maybe 2000 to 2021.

2:34Um, and we might say how um how global

2:37warming affects, you know, polar bears.

2:39We could say its effects on habitat and

2:42food. And then we might say why um why

2:45we want to know this or why is it

2:46important to determine how polar bears

2:49um are affected by this global

2:51phenomenon. Okay. So this is one way you

2:53can narrow your topic. Another would be

2:56by subdividing topics. So you can narrow

2:59your topic using aspect, time, event,

3:02problem or region. So generally you're

3:04looking at can you divide it into

3:05smaller issues or concepts. So in the

3:08news now there's a lot about mass

3:10immigrant deportations and if we divided

3:13that into topics we might look at the

3:15effects on families for instance or and

3:18more specifically effects on children's

3:20psychological or emotional stability or

3:22we might look at effects on individuals

3:24who arrived as children and are now

3:26adults and have no ties to their country

3:28of origin.

3:30We might look at cost to the United

3:31States although that might be fairly

3:33narrow. Um, we might also look at

3:35benefits or drawbacks to the farming

3:37industry because many migrants

3:40work in the farming industry. Again,

3:42benefits or drawbacks to the US

3:44construction industry again because many

3:45migrants work in construction. And

3:48another topic that we might narrow it

3:50down to would be what can immigrant

3:51families do to prepare themselves for

3:53these mass deportations.

3:56You might also see if you can subdivide

3:59your topic into geographic areas. When I

4:02left [snorts] when I left El Paso, they

4:05were talking about building border

4:06walls. And so the discussion was on,

4:10okay, what effect is the border wall

4:12going to have on ecology of the area?

4:14Specifically, they were looking at

4:15effects on animal ecology and plant

4:17ecology. And if I had to narrow it

4:19further, I would say in the El Paso,

4:21Texas, what is New Mexico or what is

4:23Mexico and New Mexico border? Right? So

4:25again, different ways of

4:28narrowing your topic. Okay? You could

4:30also say what is you know how does a

4:32border wall affect illegal immigration?

4:35How effective is it in stopping uh

4:36migrants?

4:39You can also narrow your topic by

4:42considering specific problems, issues or

4:43questions. So here one one year a

4:46student was doing something on water

4:48scarcity and in terms of mapping they

4:51looked at solutions to water scarcity,

4:54causes of water scarcity um and then

4:56again they narrowed it down to

4:57agriculture pollution. You wouldn't want

4:59to write about all of these, but you

5:01would choose perhaps one, right? Causes

5:03of pollution, for example.

5:06You could also narrow by using

5:07specificity. So, we might say, "I'm

5:09interested in video games." And then we

5:11might say, "Well, what about video games

5:12are you interested in finding out

5:14about?" So, we might say, "I'm

5:16interested in video games and learning."

5:18That makes it more specific. And then we

5:20might try to make that even more

5:21specific. What is it about video games

5:23and learning that you're interested in?

5:25Well, you take the first concept and the

5:27second concept and again narrow them

5:28down to be more specific. Well, I'm

5:31interested in first-person shooter video

5:32games and effects on learning behaviors.

5:35And then again, we could narrow that

5:36down further. Um, I'm interested in Call

5:40of Dut Call of Duty World War II and its

5:42effects on the ability of adolescence to

5:44learn how to socialize with peers. So,

5:45now this is much narrower. Okay.

5:49The thing is when you're doing this kind

5:51of narrowing and um broadening research,

5:55sometimes something like this might be

5:56too narrow and if you can't find any

5:58information, you'll have to go back to

6:00that next more general u map idea. You

6:05can also narrow your topic with lists,

6:07pairs, and focus statements. So, you

6:10might have a list of um something that

6:12you're interested in. You might say,

6:13"I'm interested in poverty." And then

6:15you might list key terms that are often

6:17related to poverty such as kids, food,

6:19shelter, money, healthcare, education,

6:22gender, mental health, work, violence,

6:24religion, US, clothes. And you might

6:26pick two terms that are related to

6:28poverty that you're interested in or

6:30perhaps even one. Okay? So in this case,

6:33I chose two and I might say, I'm

6:34interested in poverty as it relates to

6:37children and their mental health.

6:40Okay? And then we might want to state

6:41our interest, right? I want to know how

6:44poverty affects children's mental

6:45health.

6:47The term mental health though can be

6:50quite broad because when we think about

6:51mental health, it can be things like

6:54anxiety, depression, bipolar disorder,

6:57multiple personality disorder, etc. So,

7:00we need to know exactly what kind of

7:02mental health issue you're concerned

7:04about learning more about. Sometimes it

7:06helps if you write focused statements

7:08like I want to know more about X topic

7:11because I want to find out about X issue

7:13or question in order to do whatever it

7:16is you're trying to do argue for or

7:18against something. Once you begin doing

7:21that, it might also help if you are

7:24having trouble narrowing your topic, it

7:25might help you to uh do some exploration

7:28online to find issues. Okay. So, when

7:32I'm talking about an issue, I'm talking

7:33about a specific point of disagreement,

7:35uncertainty, concern, curiosity. I'm

7:38talking about a conversation about a

7:41specific aspect of your topic, okay,

7:43that people are having. So, how do you

7:46identify these con uh conversations?

7:49Well, you conduct initial research on

7:51the web and you look for patterns,

7:52categories of information, ideas,

7:54arguments, disagreements,

7:57etc.

7:58So, I typed in Google um

8:02controversial issues with bees

8:05and what comes up here are a list of

8:08various narrowed issues that people have

8:10written about before like the effects of

8:12insecticides on bees. Okay. Um again

8:16sometimes

8:18again sometimes you can also look at

8:21questions that people have asked on

8:22Google like why is B issue why is B why

8:26is B decline at issue again narrowed

8:28issue causes of B population declines in

8:31North America or

8:34another narrowed issue B viruses and

8:36their effects on population etc. Okay.

8:40So again, sometimes by looking at these

8:46discussions online that other people are

8:48having, you can narrow your topic to an

8:50issue.

8:52So when you're look when you're

8:54exploring online, you want to see

8:56whether you can find arguments for both

8:57sides to see if the topic is

8:59controversial.

9:01You should at least have two sides of an

9:03issue. Aim for at least two sides. And

9:05you want to look to see if you can find

9:06enough research on both sides of the

9:08issue. You might ask, well, can an issue

9:10be too narrow? And I would say yes, it

9:11can be. If it can be answered by simply

9:14checking a single source online, it's

9:15too narrow. If it can be answered with a

9:18single or several facts, it's too

9:20narrow. If it can be answered with a yes

9:22or no question, it's going to be too

9:23narrow. And if you already know the

9:25answer, it's probably too narrow.

9:27Examples of narrow questions are things

9:29like, "Do bees make honey?" Well, of

9:30course they do. That's not

9:31controversial. It's a fact that they do.

9:34What do bees live on? Again, it's a

9:35fact. What is the life cycle of bees?

9:37Again, these are facts. They don't make

9:39good argumentative research questions.

9:43You also want to look to see if there's

9:44a variety of sources, perhaps scholarly

9:47sources from books or book chapters. Um,

9:50look at popular news or magazine

9:52articles. You might also look at

9:53organizational websites.

9:56Really, you should be able to find

9:58different parts of answers from

10:00different sources. And just keep in mind

10:02that research is kind of like a puzzle.

10:04You fit together one complete answer by

10:06reviewing many different sources.

10:09So again, your task will be to use

10:12several of the strategies provided to

10:14try and narrow your topic. You should be

10:16prepared to share these ideas online in

10:18the discussion. And in our next lecture

10:22then I will talk about how to develop

10:24research questions.

10:30>> [music]