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ENGL B1A: Quality of Life, Innovations, Sustainability & Justice: Getting Started

This guide was created for Professor Bench's class researching topics related to quality of life, innovations, sustainability, or justice.

Getting Started

Any topic of your choice can be overwhelming!  You will need to narrow down all the possibilities to one specific topic.  

Start by brainstorming what interests you.  What are you passionate about?  What would you like to learn more about?                                                                                          

Narrowing Your Topics

Developing Search Terms

Developing a Thesis Statement

Thesis Statement=your answer to your research question; your position on the topic; the main idea of the paper

A well-written thesis statement has two parts:

1.The answer to your research question (your position).
2.Your reasons. 

EXAMPLE:

My research question=  Should smoking be banned in public places?

Picking Your Topic IS Research

Narrowing Your Topic

Examples of Narrowing Down Your Topic

Use the last column to help you develop your research question.  

Research Question=the question your paper is trying to answer

Further Topic Narrowing Help