SELECTING A TOPIC
Choose a subject that you
1. know something about; do not try to research a completely new area.
2. are interested in: you should want to know moew about the subject.
3. want to communicate to a specific audience.
Choose your audience (e.g., your writing-course classmates? A major professor?
Classmates in your major field?)
1. What does your audience know about your subject?
2. What will the audience be interested in learning about the subject?
Narraow your subject to a topic.
EXERCISE:
Read the information sheet for the research paper below. Then construct a similar
information sheet; use information about your research topic to answer each question.
INFORMATION SHEET
Subject of Research Paper: Mountaineering Equipment
Topic of Research Paper: The Best Footwear for Summer and Winter Mountaineering
Audience for Research Paper: Beginning Mountaineers
Objective of the paper: to conclude what kind of footwear is best for mountaineering in
the summer and in the winter
Questions to be answered in the research paper:
1. Why is it important to choose good footwear?
2. What kind of footwear is the best for mountaineering I the summer? In the
winter?
3. How can we choose the best footwear?
What I need to learn about in the library:
1. How to get information about mountaineering footwear
2. How to find books and journals
3. How to borrow and return bboks and journals
What I need to learn about writing a research apper:
1. How to use other people’s words and ideas
2. How to do references
Yoko Fukada (Japan)