1. Finding a Topic Area.

Successful research begins with finding a general topic area which is suited to your interests and abilities, and then defining a question of the right scope and depth within that area.

Here are some hints on finding a topic area:

• choose an area which is related to your course of study, it might be directly inspired by work you have done on your course (or which you are about to do) - or it might be prompted by an unanswered question at the boundary of your studies;
• choose an area in which you have a proven interest - do not choose a topic because it simply sounds interesting, but rather because you have experience of studying that kind of topic;
• the topic must be one that is amenable to well-structured investigation of an academic sort, not one which largely lends itself to a 'journalistic' investigation and description;
• the topic you choose should lend itself to an extended practical involvement on your part - on practical courses such as ours, you are going to feel aimless unless you are doing some sort of concrete fieldwork, experimentation, construction, etc.

And some hints on delineating a topic area:

• broad areas of study have well-established names (human-computer interaction, character animation, e-marketing, etc.) - make that name the centre of a map;
• specific techniques and theories are used to identify more precise parts of such topics (task modelling, consumer decision models, etc.) - make such techniques and theories the names of sub-regions of your map;
• famous people and texts identify approaches to topics - make such people and text precise places on your map.

Now put yourself on the map: draw a (fairly small) circle around the area in which you would like to work.

If you were to write up this process in 250 words (and don't forget to add your map), then section 1 of your workbook would be finished.