Training modules/dashboard/slides/12211-narrowing-the-focus-of-your-theme

Narrowing the focus of your theme

A video about the Afrocrowd initiative which appeals to different communities of African descent in the broader New York City area, by running differently focused narrow events about different subtopics in African descent history and culture.

Narrowing your broad theme and limiting the potential scope of the contributions can help with topic identification (see subsequent slides). Common ways to narrow topics include:

• Limiting the geographic scope of the topic to the local region. Instead of “women artists”, you may want to focus on "women artists from Mexico City", if you are running an event in Mexico City.
• Limiting the sub-discipline of the theme. Instead of the “history of Washington, D.C.”, you might focus on the “economic history of Washington, D.C.” or the “history of the neighborhoods of Washington, D.C.”
• Focusing on a particular event or point in time that reflects the broader theme. Instead of “French labor history”, you might focus on the “May 1968 events in France.”

Once you have refined the theme, the next step is identifying articles that are appropriate for the topic. If you find that you cannot develop a list of topics based on the narrowed theme, consider modifying it.