3.4 (p.46) Details for finding a topic with search engines.

The hierarchical nature of Web browsers makes looking for a topic for a research paper both simple and interesting.

1. Use your Internet browser to access a search engine, such as Yahoo!, that has hierarchical subject categories.

2. On the subject tree, look for categories that interest you or that are related to the assignment you are working on. For example, if you know you’re interested in education, but you’re not sure what topic you want to write about, you can just click on EDUCATION and the search engine will narrow the topic for you. The illustration below shows several categories that are narrower than those listed on the main search page, but that are still too broad to write about.

3. Within each category, search for possible topics. For example, after looking through the different subject headings, you decide that THEORY AND METHODS looks the most interesting. Click on that heading and your topic is narrowed even further into categories of educational theory and methods and some Web sites about that topic.

4. At this point you could look at the Web sites, or you could narrow your topic even further by clicking on the subcategory of SERVICE LEARNING.

5. The service learning topic is so narrow that there are no other category headings at the top of the page. Instead there are only Web sites listed. You can browse through these various sites to get specific information about Service Learning. One of the sites listed is the Service Learning site, which not only includes definitions of Service Learning, but also about different Service Learning courses, a discussion page about the topic, and a bibliography of sources about Service Learning.