Choosing a Topic
Choosing a topic and your initial research go together. You can't finalize your topic until you know
if you can find enough research to support it and actually write a paper from it. So go to the library
and see what's available on your proposed topic before you finalize it.
Here are some suggestions for choosing a topic.
Use the Web to Find Research Paper Topics (about.com)
http://websearch.about.com/od/referencesearch/a/research_topics.htm
http://homeworktips.about.com/od/researchandreference/a/topic.htm
http://www.svhslibrary.org/Librarywebsite/LibraryTutorials/start.html Tutorials from a HS librarian.
The first is on defining a topic.
http://www.questia.com/popularSearches
6000+topics for research papers (historical, biographical, literary, popular topics)
http://www.csustan.edu/english/reuben/pal/append/axj.html Literary research topics
http://www.questia.com/library/literature/literature-topics.jsp Literary research topics
What’s a Good Topic, and How Do I Write One?
A good topic has the following characteristics:
1. It's the kind your teacher assigned: make sure you understand what the different kinds
of research papers are and which one of these your teacher wants you to write.
2. It's interesting: a good topic interests your readers and interests you enough that you
won't be bored stiff after studying it for many hours.
Potentially boring topic: The history of the paper bag
Potentially interesting topic: Argue that fetal tissue research should be permanently banned for
moral reasons.
3. It's manageable: if you bite off more than you can chew, you'll be in trouble. Choose a
topic, then limit it so that it can adequately be written about in the paper's assigned length.
Unmanageable topic: The Nobel Prize
Manageable topic: Compare and contrast the Nobel Prize acceptance addresses of William
Faulkner, John Steinbeck, and Ernest Hemingway.
4. It's worthwhile: choose something that matters to you and your readers.
Not very worthwhile topic: Traffic rules (don't write a paper on it; get a driver's manual!)
Worthwhile topic: Qualified women should be allowed to serve in combat in the U.S. military.
5. It's Original: good topics don't repeat common knowledge for the zillionth time. What's
the point of that? Choose a topic that gives room for originality and interesting
conclusions.
Unoriginal topic: Ernest Hemingway's life
Original Topic: How Hemingway's family history of suicide darkened his fiction