As you start brainstorming broad topics and using research to narrow those ideas down, there are a few things to keep in mind:
1) Does your topic deal with interpersonal communication? There are two components to this. First, your topic needs to be “interpersonal,” that is it needs to focus on relationships between people. Second, your topic needs to address “communication,” meaning that your topic should in some way include interactions that take place.
2) Is your topic narrow enough? Will you be able to deal with your topic in an 8-10 page paper? This can be a difficult question to answer, but if someone could write an entire book on your topic, then it’s not specific enough.
3) Is your topic broad enough? Will addressing your topic require you to look to multiple scholarly sources? If your topic could be addressed by one research study, then it’s probably too specific. The goal is to choose a topic that you will address using 8 or more sources. Using the example given above, you might find articles on different types of technologies and how they impact different types of long-distance relationships. Then it would be up to you to formulate a specific argument using them as evidence.
4) Is your topic novel and unique? Has your exact research question already been answered by existing research? You probably can’t quite check this one yet, because we’re still working on developing a research question. But for the final paper, you want a research question that addresses a “gap” in the existing literature. That’s why it shouldn’t be a topic that could be (or is) addressed by a single research study. If you find yourself in this situation, though, you can often make your topic novel by shifting a piece of your RIO. Using the long-distance communication example, maybe you shift your focus to a different relationship (parents and far-away high schoolers, grandparents and grandchildren, etc.), a different interaction, or a different outcome.