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Adams State University
Nielsen Library

First Year Seminar (FYS)

This guide supports both instructors and students in the First Year Seminar by offering essential resources, tools, and tips for navigating the library, finding credible sources, and building strong research skills.

Topic Development

Topic Development is the process of turning a broad idea into a focused, researchable question or thesis. It helps you move from “I want to write about something,” to “I have a clear, manageable topic I can explore with evidence.” 

First Steps: 

  • Start broad - choose a general subject area that interests you (ex. hiking)
  • Do some background reading - Use encyclopedias, the internet, wikipedia, but learn about it 
  • Narrow it down - ask questions like - who’s affected? What specific issues or angles are interesting? Where or when is it happening? 
  • Turn that into a research question (ex. How do long distance hikers in North America gather information about their hikes?)
  • Identify keywords - (ex. Long distance hikers; North America; information)

Check out this video from Kansas State Libraries for information on developing a good research topic: 

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