KYVL: Information Skills Tutorial, Unit 2: Developing a Topic

Writing a thesis statement	Information Skills Tutorial Unit 2: Basic Searching
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Introduction

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Unit 2 Contents

Topic: Developing a Topic

Lesson

Coming up with a research topic is your first step out of the information abyss. Sometimes you will be assigned a topic and must address specific aspects of that topic. Other times you will have the luxury of choosing your own topic — let your imagination run wild. Consider things you are curious about or things that interest you — a hobby, an event, or a personality.

Suppose you are interested in the topic: gun control. Your next step would be to do a little brainstorming. What do you want to know about gun control? Are you interested in —

gun control and the Brady Bill?
gun control and school violence?
gun control and crime?
gun control and domestic violence?
gun control laws?
gun control and …?

Let’s say you are interested in gun control and the crime rate. A good way to begin thinking about the topic is to write it as a statement or as a question.

In statement form we could say:
"I plan to research how gun control affects the crime rate."

Or in the form of a question:
"Does gun control impact the crime rate?"

Unit 2: 4 of 17

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Last Updated: 03/01/2000
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