So far, you may have a very broad topic. The way to narrow it down and find something researchable is to see what the conversation is around your topic.
Here is my broad topic: Why are people nostalgic for old or outdated technology?
Since that is a clunky search, think about specifics - typewriters, rotary telephones, record players, cassettes.
Search in the below resources and pull together any narrower topics and keywords you might want to investigate.
Your next step is to identify experts - who cares about your topic?
For my topic, I think it would be marketers or others concerned with retail - folks looking to sell these technologies. But it could be designers of these products.
When I searched my topic on the library website I am able to see the top disciplines that are discussing my topic and I can narrow the perspective down:
My next steps are to learn how these experts talk about my topic and what specific products I can narrow down to. I took these keywords from titles, abstracts and other article descriptors:
|
Nostalgia (and words used instead of) |
What are people nostalgic about, specifically? |
Why do experts think we are nostalgic about X? |
|---|---|---|
| Memory | records | experiential consumption |
| the past | vinyl | identity |
| youth/childhood | vintage / retro | social space |
| sentiment | analog | sensory experience |
| ritual |
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