Often the hardest part of writing a research paper is selecting the right topic. A good topic should sustain your interest over the time that it will take to do your research and write your paper. It should be meaningful to you personally, raise questions that have no simple answers, and provide you with an opportunity to expand your knowledge through critical assessment of various points of view. Determining if your topic is too broad or too narrow No matter what topic you choose, it must have a focus.
Many topics are too broad or too loosely defined at first.
Decide which aspect of a topic interests you most and identify the keywords used to describe your topic before you start to look for background information. Most research topics can be approached from different angles. For example, if you were writing a paper on animal rights you would probably want to focus your paper on a specific aspect of animal rights. The aspect you choose will lead you to different sources. For instance, focusing on the moral and ethical issues raised by large corporate farms would take you in a different direction than if you chose to write about the ethical use of animals in medical research.