Your Capstone will be the culmination of your academic journey at CSP, and will also be a springboard into the next chapter of your professional life. Make sure your Capstone is a topic you find interesting! To get the most out of your Capstone experience, consider a couple of options for your topic:
Your topic should also be of a manageable scale. You have a limited time frame to complete your Capstone, but your instructors also expect a certain level of academic rigor. If your topic is too specific, you probably won't find enough academic research about it. If it is too broad, you will have a hard time focusing your Capstone. See the next section for tips on narrowing your topic and write your research question.
Choosing the right topic is the key to research. If your topic is too big, or too broad, you'll find too many articles. If your topic is too narrow, you won't find enough information for your assignment.
Watch this video to learn more about how to brainstorm and create a research question and topic:
Your research question should be specific, answerable, and clear. By the end of your Capstone process, you should have an answer to the question based on the research you've done. When developing the research question, ask yourself, Is this something I could explain the answer to in my paper? If not, you will probably need to tweak your question to be answerable.
Some programs at CSP require your research question to be written in a certain format. Make sure you look through your program's handbook or your course's syllabus to see if your instructor requires you to follow a specific format for your question. Reach out to your instructor or program leadership if you have questions about whether your research question fits the program's requirements.
