A concept map can help plan out your research by getting all your ideas out of your head and on paper. Connecting different concepts together organizes your thoughts into groups of similar ideas so you can communicate your ideas as connected parts of a whole instead of a disconnected list.
Start by thinking of main characters, objects/symbols, and major events. How are they connected? Are there any overarching themes? What about the social, political, or economic context of the book or author? Could they be analyzed or interpreted differently depending on a literary theory* being applied?
*A literary theory is a school of thought or type of literary analysis. Some examples are: feminist theory, ecocriticism, and post-colonial theory.
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Once you have some broad ideas, try to narrow it down to something more specific. For example, if you are interested in researching Simon's kindness:
You may discover that your initial thesis is not quite right or needs to change to something that can be argued with the evidence you have found.
If you're having trouble coming up with a topic, do simple searches in Google, Library Search, and Google Scholar for the book you are researching. Are you finding anything different or more specific about a certain aspect of your topic?
Encyclopedias and dictionaries are a great place to get a quick definition or brief overview of a topic.
