Selecting a topic

1
Selecting a topic

• Make sure that the topic you pick
• addresses your instructor's assignment.
• is manageable and narrowly defined, one that can
  be effectively presented within the parameters of
  the assignment.
• touches your life in a significant way and that
  you have a natural interest in.
• allows you to bring insight to the situation and
  enlighten others.
• has not been overly written about by countless
  other students.
• lends itself to questions.
• Source http//iws.ohiolink.edu/sg-ysu/topic.html
  

2
Finding a topic in Bilingual EducationUsing an
online database

• STEP 1
• Browse through the titles of articles in an
  online database such as Academic Search Elite
• Type in Bilingual Education
• Result More than 700 articles. Thats too
  many. Narrow it down!

3
Finding a topic in Bilingual EducationUsing an
online database

• STEP 2
• Narrow the all-inclusive term, Bilingual
  Education by typing in the term, Teaching
• Now you have around 120 articles dealing with
  Teaching in the Bilingual school setting from
  which to find a topic
• If that is still too many, narrow by using the
  term, California.
• Now you only have to wade through 20 articles
  dealing with Teaching in a Bilingual School
  setting in California.

4
Finding a topic in Bilingual EducationUsing an
online database

• STEP 3
• Now that youve got a manageable list of articles
  to find a research topic from
• Look through the titles to see if one interests
  you
• Sometimes there are interesting titles mentioned
  in the reference or bibliography section of an
  article. You might just want to hunt these down
  in this database or the printed journals.

5
Finding a topic in Bilingual EducationUsing an
online database

• STEP 4
• Once you find topic you feel an urge to research,
  make sure that
• Youll be able to find other articles or books
  dealing with that subject matter
• Other articles dealing with the topic are in
  scholarly journals
• Other articles dealing with the topic are recent