ANALYZING YOUR AREA OF RESEARCH

Once you have selected an area to research, the next step is to figure out where your topic fits into the existing literature.

A. Is your area of research too broad or too narrow?

What specific question or questions do you want to answer as you do your research? (i.e. what is your hypothesis or hypotheses? You may need to modify these as you do your research.)

If your area of research is too broad, you will be overwhelmed with too much information and will have trouble focusing on a topic to write about. Some subjects might be fine if you were writing a full-length book but would be impractical for a 10-page paper. Try limiting your research topic in terms of time period, geography, or noteworthy individuals. You may want to explore a subset of your initial area of research.

If you have trouble locating any information on your topic or find only one or two articles or just a brief mention of your topic in a book, then your area of research may be too narrow or overly focused. If this is the case, try taking a broader view of the topic you are investigating.

EXAMPLE:	Modern art in the United States -- (too broad for a 10 page paper)
	Discuss the interaction of the New York modernists and the American Southwest in the first half of the 20th century. (this research question could be covered in a 10-page paper)

B. What disciplines might cover your area of research?

EXAMPLE:	Discuss the interaction of the New York modernists and the American Southwest in art and photography of the first half of the 20th century.
You might want to look at the literature within the following disciplines: Art Photography American Studies American History Women's Studies Literary Criticism Intellectual History

C. Dissect your topic into pieces or components. Try to think of all the possible areas you will want to explore in order to answer your research question.

EXAMPLE:

American art, modern art, 20th-century art in the United States, painting, sculpture, artistic photography Women artists and photographers, Georgia O'Keeffe, Alfred Stieglitz, Dorothy Norman, D. H. Lawrence, The Eight, Ashcan School, art patronage New York in art, New Southwest, New Mexico in art, Taos Primitivism in art, Native American art, Latin American influence on art, cultural context of art, cultural criticism, artistic influence Avant-garde, modernism, radicalism, realism, aesthetic liberation, antimaterialism, American counterculture, social commentary

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This page was last modified on: Apr 10, 2007