Lesson 274 of 1570
Narrowing a Too-Broad Topic
"Climate change" is too broad. "How sea levels affect Miami real estate prices" is just right. Knowing how to narrow saves weeks of wasted research. The wide top is broad ideas ("AI").
Lesson map
What this lesson covers
Learning path
The main moves in order
- 1The funnel technique
- 2scope
- 3narrowing
- 4focus
Concept cluster
Terms to connect while reading
Section 1
The funnel technique
Imagine your topic as a funnel. The wide top is broad ideas ("AI"). The narrow bottom is a specific question ("How GPT-5 changes coding interview prep").
You don't need to start specific — you discover specificity by reading. The first hour of research is mostly about finding the right narrow question.
A real example
- 1"Renewable energy" — too broad
- 2"Solar power" — narrower but still broad
- 3"Solar power for residential homes" — getting there
- 4"Solar power costs for homeowners in 2026 vs 2020" — researchable
- 5"How solar tax credits changed Florida home solar adoption since 2022" — specific and answerable
Signs your topic is too broad
- You can find 1,000+ books on it
- Wikipedia article is more than 30 pages long
- You don't know where to start
- Every search returns thousands of results
Key terms in this lesson
The big idea: broad topics give vague papers. Narrow topics give sharp papers. Spend the first 30 minutes narrowing.
End-of-lesson quiz
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