The following are links to documents and sites that provide useful guidance on how to choose a research topic. Readers will gradually realize (on reading through the contents) that the process boils down to a few common steps:

Links to websites:

http://www.umflint.edu/library/research/selecttopic.htm

http://www.sophia.org/tutorials/choosing-and-narrowing-a-topic-to-write-about-for

Link to WHO Publication “A Practical Guide For Health Researchers”

http://applications.emro.who.int/dsaf/dsa237.pdf

Link to book sections:

http://www.sagepub.com/upm-data/15490_03_Evans(Psychology)_ch_03.pdf

http://www.sagepub.in/upm-data/14648_Chapter2.pdf

http://mcgraw-hill.co.uk/openup/chapters/0335209033.pdf

Links to other documents:

http://pod.nku.edu/pdfs/library/chooseResearchTopic.pdf

http://ebeit.nmmu.ac.za/ebeit/media/Store/documents/Research%20Guidelines/FAQ/Choosing-a-Research-Topic.pdf

http://www.texashste.com/documents/curriculum/scientific_research_design/choosing_a_research_topic.pdf

http://kanagawa.lti.cs.cmu.edu/11780/sites/default/files/InformalReadingsCollection.pdf

http://www.morgan.edu/Documents/ADMINISTRATION/Soper%20Library/Choose%20a%20Research%20Topic.pdf

http://www.stanford.edu/~niederle/ResearchTopic.pdf

http://raider.mountunion.edu/organizations/scienceday/pdf/Choose%20a%20Topic%20Worksheet.pdf