What's your topic?

For most research students, the question - "What is your topic" can easily be the most common question you are asked. Especially for students who have just embarked on their research journey, this can also be a question that evokes the most anxiety and confusion. In our session yesterday participants tried to unravel this confusion in a bid to become more confident and clear in expressing their research topic.

Guided by the suggestions offered in the Bloome et al book - Craft of Research participants undertook a few brainstorming tasks with the aim of identifying their research topic, and also to ensure that their topic wasn't too broad, un-researchable, would be of interest and significance to a wider readership. An important part of the session was sharing these brainstorming ideas with a partner and getting feedback on how to narrow the scope of the topic or align it more clearly to the ICT field.

A simply task to try to help identify and refine your topic is this three-step activity (see Bloome et al for more guidance). These skeleton sentences can help you start to think and articulate your topic focus and ensure it has significance to the wider ICT field.

STEP 1: Name your topic

I am trying to learn about /working on/ studying…

STEP 2: Add an indirect Question

(an indirect question indicates what you do not know or  do not understand about your topic)

I am trying to learn about /working on/ studying....(from step 1) because I want to find out ...who/what/when/where/whether/why/ how...

STEP 3: Answer the 'So WHAT?' question by motivating your question

(add a second indirect question that explains why you asked your first question in Step 2)

I am trying to learn about /working on/ studying...(from step 1) because I want to find out who/what/when/where/whether/why/ how...(from step 2)... in order to help my reader understand how, why, or whether...