Chapter 5 of the Bedford Book of Genre’s has a lot of good tips on narrowing down your topic and creating a research proposal. I found that out after I read the chapter, but I was kind of suspicious when I read the title, “Exploring Topics and Creating a Research Proposal.” Anyway, the chapter starts out with giving you advice on how to choose a topic and stick with it. Some of the things it mentions are talking to people, making a list, freewriting to get your ideas out there, and even using a mind map. An easy way to do it is through brainstorming. If you brainstorm a few times and keep narrowing down your desired topic, start to ask yourself how you could produce a question with each of the topics left.
When you finally think of a good topic, you can begin to research that topic. Depending on your familiarity, it might not hurt to start with a basic search in Google per say, but once you can idea its better to look at more reliable sources such as academic journals or news articles. It is important to notice the facts as well as the opinions of others during this process.