Writing an effective focus
1. Introduction: Describe your preliminary topic, the reasons why you selected it
and your initial perspective on it.
2. Literature Review (answer the following sorts of questions in this section):
• What were the results of your research?
• What did you find—and what didn’t you?
• How did you find it?
• What problems did you encounter while searching for sources?
• How will your findings contribute to your final research project?
• What were your most valuable sources?
• What resources i.e. online catalog, databases, were most useful to you and
why?
• How did specific resources make you rethink your topic?
• Where there sources that you ended up not using? Why not?
3. Conclusion: Clear description of your newly defined research topic and/or
question and the working hypothesis/thesis that will guide your research.
4. Working Bibliography: 15-20 key sources that may be useful for your final
research project.