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This chart shows how one writer started with a broad research topic—the American Civil War—and identified subtopics to find a more specific focus.
Model chart
Try narrowing your own research topic, using this chart as a model.

Identifying subcategories
Note that the writer breaks their original topic down by:
- focusing on . . .
one genre or form
a given time period
a geographic area
one population
a cause or effect
- identifying . . .
the primary texts to be analyzed
the major event or case study - analyzing . . .
the way specific groups responded

This resource from the Baruch College Writing Center is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. You are free to share, adapt, transform, or otherwise use this material in any medium, with attribution.