ABSTRACT

Successful research begins with choosing an area of study of interest to the researcher. The idea is that if the researcher is interested in a particular topic, he or she will remain motivated throughout the project. This is an important quality because research can take

considerable time and may become tedious or even burdensome. For the beginning researcher, the choice of a research topic is typically based on previous knowledge he or she brings to a project. This is particularly true if that knowledge is the result of an original interest in the subject. It is not unusual to find that a researcher’s mastery of a certain area of study originated in part due to a keen interest in that area.