your topic if it's too big:

Avoid topics that are too broad. For instance, the Civil War is a very broad topic and will leave you looking through thousands of periodicals, books, and websites.

Quick fix?

Limit your topic. Do this by focusing on a particular:

• timeframe (the first year of the war)
• category of people (plantation owners, slaves, factory workers, etc.
• specific event (Battles at Appomatox, Antietam, etc.)
• place (Memphis, the South, Appalachia, etc.)

Another solution is to add another topic that interests you to your original topic. For instance:

     music and the Civil War
     religion and the Civil War

your topic if it's too small:

You need enough background information and scholarly research on your topic for your paper to be comprehensive and factual. For instance, you might have trouble finding information about hazing in Southern fraternities - there just isn't enough research on the topic.

Quick fix?

Expand your topic. Do this by:

• looking for parallels and wider categories (peer pressure among college students)
• choosing an alternate focus (drug and alcohol use instead of hazing)
• choosing an alternate place (the entire United States instead of the South)
• choosing an alternate person or group (fraternities and sororities, young adults, etc.)