2. Introduction
In the following slides, we will guide you the
steps and strategies to:
develop a research theme
develop a research topic
3. What is meant by “Research”?
Is it what you think about “research”??
4. What is meant by “Research”?
research = “a close and careful study”
to explore the answers for a question, that the
answers are not immediately available
not to answer a closed question; meanwhile, to
answer from different resources and viewpoints
to do a research is to expand the knowledge
base of a certain subject, and even to explore
new knowledge, so as to benefit the society
5. Steps of developing a research topic
1
• Formulate a research theme
2
• Formulate a specific research topic
3
• Narrow down / Expand your
research topic (if necessary)
6. Strategies on formulating a research
theme
You need to consider the followings when you
are developing a research theme:
to choose a theme that is relevant to your
course of study
to think of themes and topics that you feel
interested in. As you will work on the same topic
through-out the coming months
to think of argumentative topics
7. Possible ways to dig-out a research theme:
glance through books and journal articles about your
course
pay much attention to the issues that people are
discussing in the society
read more newspapers and journal articles to get more
inspirations on different viewpoints of issues
glance through a subject guide of your course of study
website: http://libguides.ln.edu.hk/
Strategies on formulating a research
theme (continued)
8. If you are not sure of your research theme,
you can:
discuss with your instructor or teaching assistants
discuss with your peers to get more inspirations
get help from librarians and library resources
use the Research Consultation service offered by
the Library
Helping hands in formulating a
research theme
9. Examples of a research theme
Juvenile delinquency in Hong Kong
The development of QDII
Slavery system in the US in the 19th
century
Up to now, we have just touched on
the research theme,
what you need to do NOW
is to form a research question
10. From a research theme to a research
question
A research question is the real "question" that
you need to find the answer by doing your
research paper or project
11. Strategies of developing a research
topic
• NOT to think of a "closed" question, which means not much
elaboration and explanation can be made
• Try to use the “5W” method to brainstorm about the
topic: Why? What? When? How? Which?
•
12. Note-taking in developing a research
topic
• You should take notes when you read on :
some interesting viewpoints that are related to your
research topic
new developments and new trends of the topic
keywords and subject headings that you found
remarkable for your further research
some quotations that are catchy or memorable
13. How to organize the materials and
develop a research question?
When developing a research question, researchers often
visualize the research concepts
Q: Why visualize?
A: It is an easy way to find the logic and the relationship
among different concepts, so as to dig-out a research
question.
Here are 2 suggestions:
Draw a radial diagram to show the relationships between
an event/incident/phenomenon and the smaller concepts (or causes).
Draw a Venn diagram to show the relationship and different areas of
the main topics you choose. Usually the overlapping area is the area
you can further investigate into
15. More hints on developing a research
question
Ask yourself these questions when developing
a research question:
Is the topic interesting?
Do you want to know more about it?
Would information be too hard to find?
Is the scope of the topic far too difficult for you?
Is the topic too limiting?