...........................................................................................................
WRITIN WRITING & RESEARCH G ANCH
Tricia Leggett
Melissa Jackowski
“Writing & Research” discusses
issues of concern to writers and
researchers and is typically writ-
ten by members of the Editorial
Review Board. Comments and
suggestions should be sent to
communications@asrt.org.
RADIOLOGIC TECHNOLOGY March/April 2012, Vol. 83/No. 4
Developing and Narrowing a Topic
When you decide to do research
writing, preliminary development is
critical for success. First, find ideas for
a research topic. It sounds simple, but
selecting a topic and developing the
problem statement or hypothesis is fun-
damental to the entire research project.
Look around; topic ideas are every-
where. Are you interested in a particular
subject? Was there an issue you expe-
rienced in the clinical setting? Do you
have an intuition about something, but
need specific data to confirm it? Your
colleagues may even have suggestions
for areas of investigation, and collabora-
tive research efforts are always welcome!
Most importantly, because you will be
spending a significant amount of time
exploring a subject, select one that truly
interests you.
Topic Selection
When determining a topic, you can
generate ideas using brainstorming,
free writing, and clustering (or concept
mapping), to name a few approaches.
In addition, you can use many search
engines — besides Google (www.google
.com) — to identify credible sources,
such as books, journals, and websites.
You can ascertain if there is a significant
body of knowledge to work with or if
there is a gap in the literature where
original research is needed (see Box 1).
One search engine is Yippy (www.
yippy.com), a metasearch tool that
clusters search results from a variety of
sources and directories. It is a worthy
tool to use when initially investigating
viable topics for research. Kartoo (www
.kartoo.com) is a bit different, present-
ing search results visually rather than
in text format. Infomine (infomine
.ucr.edu) is a “virtual library of Internet
resources relevant to faculty, students,
and research staff at the university
level.”1 Its databases may include elec-
tronic journals and books, bulletin
boards, mail lists, online library card
catalogs, directories, and published
research. Another search engine to
examine is About.com, which has vari-
ous Web pages that provide topics such
as Best Site of the Day, How to Find
Anything on the Web, and Web Search
101 (websearch.about.com).
Defining the Scope
Once the topic is selected, your scope
will be determined by how much detail
you want to incorporate. It is important
to evaluate the chosen topic to conclude
if it is too broad or too narrow. If too
narrow, it becomes difficult to find
supportive literature or affects only an
extremely small audience. A topic is
broad enough if there is a definite effect
on a specific audience.
One of the most common errors is hav-
ing an overly broad topic with too many
different ideas (eg, thousands of sources
appear in your search). To narrow a topic,
first ask who, what, where, when, why, and
how about the topic. These questions can
guide you to specific points within the
selected topic. From these basic questions,
use more directed, formal rhetorical areas
to develop a specific focus.
■ Analyzing a definition can help
you define the topic.
■ A comparison provides associa-
tions to other topics.
■ Relationships promote examina-
tion of possible causes and effects.
■ Testimony asks the researcher to
determine the current body of
knowledge available on the theme.
Looping is a technique that can limit
or narrow a broad topic. With looping,
the researcher begins with a 5-minute
free write on the topic, which gener-
ates an idea of interest. That idea then
focuses the next round of free writing,
inspiring a more limited idea of interest.
This process repeats until you narrow
the research topic and derive the prob-
lem statement.2
The last method to narrow a topic
is topic cross. This visual strategy helps
bring out common themes. In the
405
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WRITING & RESEARCH

Box 1
Outline for Comprehensive Literature Reviews
Define and Refine Your Topic
■ Choose a research topic of interest, think critically about it, and formulate a title.
■ Start a general review (browse textbooks, encyclopedias, journals, and Web pages).
■ Identify the major ideas, issues, and researchers.
■ Define the time period (ie, how far back do you need to search the literature?).
■ Formulate keywords, main concepts, and related terms; use a thesaurus and subject headings.
■ Craft search statements for indexes, databases, and catalogs; use Boolean operators, truncation, etc;
record your methods.
■ Narrow or broaden your topic as appropriate based on literature search results.

Search All Relevant Sources Comprehensively and Efficiently

■ Use journal indexes, databases, and e-journals to find citations of articles and full articles.
■ Use bibliographies from relevant journal articles, books, etc.
■ Use citation indexes (eg, Web of Science or Google Scholar) to find the most cited articles on your topic.
■ Identify and browse current issues of journals relevant to your topic.
■ Set up e-mail and RSS alerts to journal tables of contents, indexes, and Web pages.
■ Explore grant databases (eg, National Science Foundation and National Institutes of Health), newspaper
indexes (eg, LexisNexis Academic and Newsbank), and Internet discussion groups, listservs, blogs, etc.
■ Browse library and book catalogs to find books, government documents, media materials, theses, and
dissertations.
■ Use Web search engines.
■ Talk to experts (eg, scientists, scholars, and librarians) at institutions.
■ Reference other literature guides.

Find, Evaluate, and Manage the Information

■ Analyze your database search results (citations) and revise or improve your search statement (balance
comprehensiveness and precision).
■ Understand the scholarly research and peer-review publication processes.
■ Evaluate the type of information found and its relevance to your topic (eg, determine the source, author
credentials, objectivity, accuracy, and currency).
■ Retrieve the information source from the database or library.
■ Critically read and analyze articles.
■ Gather, store, and annotate relevant citations.

Synthesize the Literature and Integrate It Into Your Writing

■ Choose the appropriate type and style of publication and presentation.
■ Move back and forth between writing and further literature research.

Modified with permission from Brown BN. Research methods for comprehensive science literature reviews. Issues in Science and
Technology Librarianship website. www.istl.org/09-spring/experts1.html. Published spring 2009. Accessed January 13, 2012.

first step, brainstorm pertinent words or phrases that
come to mind when thinking of the broad topic. Next,
determine which words and phrases are most appeal-
ing and organize them hierarchically from broad to
specific on a vertical axis. Once you select an accept-
able topic, provide a list of words and phrases relevant
to the identified topic (horizontal axis) to develop a
workable topic.2
Advanced Search Techniques
With some topic awareness, you can begin with a
basic search that is broader and more useful in topic
development. Using an advanced search with limiters
to refine results is the next step. A limiter restricts or
narrows a search based on certain criteria, including
year, article or document type, journal or text name,
full text, or subject (see Figure).

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plural terms or use

of the same stem (eg,
carcinogenesis* would
yield carcinogenesis,
carcinogenetic agents,
etc). A wildcard, often a
question mark, permits
searching for terms
with variant spellings or
plural (eg, col?r would
yield color or colour).3
Proximity operators
help locate 1 word with-
in a certain distance of
another word. The sym-
bols generally used are
“w” for within and “n”
for near. For example,
“television n2 violence”
could produce results
of television violence or
violence on television;
however, searching for
“Franklin w2 Roosevelt”
would produce results
of Franklin Roosevelt,
but not Roosevelt
Franklin.4
Phrase searching
involves enclosing spe-
cific terms or phrases
Figure. Planning a search of science literature databases. Used with permission from Brown BN. Research in quotation marks to
methods for comprehensive science literature reviews. Issues in Science and Technology Librarianship website. ensure the search will
www.istl.org/09-spring/experts1.html. Published spring 2009. Accessed January 13, 2012. keep those words as a
group in the specific
order provided.
Other tools to develop a research topic are Boolean It is important to combine several techniques to
search operators, truncation symbols, proximity opera- narrow your search effectively (see Box 2). Perhaps the
tors, and phrase searching. Boolean operators connect selected topic is osteosarcoma, for example. This topic
and define the relationship between the search words is too broad to research everything, so a specific aspect
and include and, or, and not. A search with and quali- of osteosarcomas would be better. Pediatric osteosarco-
fies that all the terms provided in the search must be mas could be pursued, but this is still widely published
contained in the results; or means that just 1 of the on and the topic can be narrowed even further. A bet-
provided terms needs to be present in the results; ter topic could be the development of osteosarcomas
any words following not will be excluded from search in pediatric patients after radiation exposure. Now ask:
results. These are applicable when using database Is the topic interesting? Is there significant literature
searches such as CINAHL or PubMed and may not be available on this topic? Is there a specific intended
functional in all searches. audience? Is it manageable for the intended research
Truncation symbols permit you to search vari- project? Because the answer to these questions is yes,
ous sources easily. An asterisk allows for searching of the topic is sufficiently narrow.

RADIOLOGIC TECHNOLOGY March/April 2012, Vol. 83/No. 4 407

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WRITING & RESEARCH

Box 2
Improving Bibliographic Database Search Results
If Your Database Search Produces No Citations
■ Check for misspellings.
■ Check for terms that are too specific or unlikely to be used by an author.
■ Check for incorrect or missing field terms or limiters.
■ Ask yourself: Can I expect to find articles with these terms in the title, abstract, or subject headings?
■ Check assumptions (eg, Are you in the right database?)

If Your Database Search Produces Too Few Citations

■ Drop multiword phrases and use and between words instead.
■ Decrease the use of the and operator or the number of concepts searched.
■ Increase the number of synonyms or alternative terms (combined with or).
■ Use the scientific name and the common name (eg, “wolves or canis lupus”).
■ Use a search term appropriate to the database (subject headings/descriptors).
■ Use a broader search term; use a thesaurus.
■ Search earlier or more years of the database.
■ Search a different database.

If Your Database Search Produces Too Many Citations

■ Decrease the number of synonyms by choosing the most specific subject headings or the most relevant
keyword.
■ Increase the number of search concepts with and.
■ Do not search by full text (ie, change the field limiter to keyword).
■ Limit search by field (eg, restrict search to terms found only in the article title).
■ Limit search to peer-reviewed articles, articles in English, etc.
■ Limit search by time period to the past 5 years.
■ Exclude less relevant concepts with not.

Modified with permission from Brown BN. Research methods for comprehensive science literature reviews. Issues in Science and
Technology Librarianship website. www.istl.org/09-spring/experts1.html. Published spring 2009. Accessed January 13, 2012.

Additional Considerations comprehensively to become an expert on what has been

Writing and research is a continual refinement pro-
cess. Typically, the researcher performs searches on
the selected topic, evaluates the results, adapts search
strategies, narrows or broadens the topic, reviews and
synthesizes the literature, and integrates the informa-
tion into a research manuscript. Knowing when to stop
the search process can be as challenging as initiating
it. When you discover credible resources repeatedly in
a variety of sources, be assured the topic has been well
searched and developed. And who knows, your manu-
script could spawn new or additional research.
Research submitted for publication must fill a gap
and add to the existing body of knowledge to be consid-
ered significant. When determining a new researchable
problem, consider whether the research question or
methods of answering it are original and not published
previously. When narrowing the topic, you must make
every effort to search, analyze, and map the literature
published on your topic. Then you can articulate how
your new research will fill a gap in the literature.
Comprehensively Search the Literature
To be sure you search your topic thoroughly, con-
sider all of the search strategies discussed previously.
Once you have developed the topic, write down a spe-
cific topic statement and determine keywords associat-
ed with it. They will become the search terms for your
formal database search.
It is important to consider synonyms of each key-
word so you do not miss any important articles written
on your topic. For example, if 1 of your key terms is
“radiographer”, you must remember that this job title
has changed throughout the years and older articles
published about radiographers may have used the
terms “radiologic technologist,” “x-ray technologist,”
“radiology technician,” or “x-ray tech.” In this case, it

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would be important to use all of these terms separated
by the Boolean operator or to find all articles written
about this group of professionals.
Choose the Correct Databases
When conducting a scholarly search, search the cor-
rect databases. In health care research, take your key-
words and search a minimum of PubMed (www.ncbi.
nlm.nih.gov/pubmed), CINAHL (www.cinahl.com),
and Google Scholar (scholar.google.com). Also, work
with a reference librarian to assist in choosing other
databases that may hold articles related to your subject.
Document All Searches
Searching a topic comprehensively takes time. To
avoid wasting time by duplicating your efforts, record
every search you do and include date of search, data-
base searched, keywords and search strategies used,
and the number of results. By analyzing your records,
you can see which keywords and strategies are helping
narrow or broaden your search. A reference librarian
can be of more help if you share your logs so he or she
can see how you have searched previously.
Evaluate Articles for Topic Relevance
Once you have the best search strategy in place,
determine which articles are relevant to your topic
statement. You may find that your best search strat-
egy produces 200 articles. To further narrow that list,
simply look at the titles. Many of the articles likely are
not related to your intended topic. Once you have nar-
rowed that list, read the abstracts of the articles still in
your list. From the abstracts, you can determine which
articles relate to your topic and then you have your
final reference list.
Analyzing and Mapping the Literature
Now that you have your comprehensive list of
articles related to your topic, read them all, looking
for themes and evaluating the findings of each article.
It is important to create a summary of each article,
including the full citation, key findings, information
about the methods used, and any flaws you find in that
specific study. As you do that for each article, common
themes may emerge; note them on each summary as
well. Then group articles into common themes as you
create your outline. It is also a good idea to include
page numbers next to each theme so you can find that
information easily when you begin writing. You can
even create a map in the form of a flowchart or table to
RADIOLOGIC TECHNOLOGY March/April 2012, Vol. 83/No. 4
Box 3
Common Questions to Test Proposed
Research Topic
■ Does this topic really interest me?
■ Do I know enough about it now to plan and write
the research manuscript? Have I researched the
subject matter comprehensively?
■ Is the topic manageable? Is it sufficiently nar-
rowed?
■ Is it pertinent to a specific audience? Does it
answer the question “Who cares?”
■ Does it answer the “So what” question? Is the topic
new, relevant, and significant?
list each article and key findings. The purpose of this
documentation, analysis, and mapping is to determine
similarities and differences in the published literature.
You must become an expert on the gaps and discrepan-
cies in what has been published so you can explore a
new significant research problem.
Conclusion
Once you have gone through the steps described
previously, you will be able to make a case for how your
research topic will add to the existing body of litera-
ture. An original research topic must answer the ques-
tion, “So what?” The audience should recognize your
topic as significant, new, and relevant. It should also
answer the “Who cares?” question. As an author, you
must know who your audience is and consider what is
important to them throughout the topic development,
original research, and writing process.
Developing and narrowing a topic is a process (see
Box 3). It takes much work but yields great reward and
satisfaction when you see the process to completion.
References
1. Boswell W. Use the Web to find research paper topics.
About.com website. http://websearch.about.com/od
/referencesearch/a/research_topics.htm Accessed January
13, 2012.
2. Research considerations. Colorado State University web-
site. http://writing.colostate.edu/guides/processes/topic
/pop15d.cfm. Accessed January 13, 2012.
3. Choosing the right database. Oceanside Library website.
www.oceansidelibrary.com/how_to_use_databases.htm.
Accessed January 12, 2012.
4. Proximity operators. University System of Georgia Online
Library Learning Center website. www.usg.edu/galileo
409
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WRITING & RESEARCH

/skills/unit04/primer04_10.phtml. Accessed January 15,

2012.

Tricia Leggett, DHEd, R.T.(R)(QM), is the radiography

program director and an associate professor at Zane State
College in Zanesville, Ohio.
Melissa Jackowski, EdD, R.T.(R)(M), is an assistant
professor in the radiologic science division at the University of
North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Both authors are members of the Radiologic Technology
Editorial Review Board.

410 March/April 2012, Vol. 83/No. 4 RADIOLOGIC TECHNOLOGY

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