SOCI 4385: Research Methods

To identify major areas of study within the discipline, see:

Once you have a potential topic of interest to you:

• try some searches in OneSearch and a relevant subject database
• consider whether you should revise your topic:
  • if you're not finding enough, broaden your topic
  • if you're finding way too much, narrow your topic to something more specific

The Subject Terms feature in SocINDEX with Full Text database may be helpful with its identification of broader, narrower, and related terms as shown in the example below for the term income distribution:

If needed, see also:

(3:12) Identifying an area of interest and turning it into a workable topic that's not too broad or too narrow is part of the research process. Think of it as the "pre-search" phase. North Carolina State Univ. Libraries