Choosing+a+topic

=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) [] []

[] Tutorials from a HS librarian. The first is on defining a topic.

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6000+topics for research papers (historical, biographical, literary, popular topics)

[| http://www.csustan.edu/english/reuben/pal/append/axj.html] Literary research topics

[] 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

Sample 1** Too broad: Write a character sketch of (character's name) in (literary work). Better: Compare and contrast (character's name) in (literary work) and (character's name) in (a different literary work) as *_. =: Christ figures, tragic heroes, American dreamers, liberated women, nefarious villains, other archetypes Example: Compare and contrast Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird and Simon in Lord of the Flies as Christ figures.
 * Sample Literary Topics-Idea Generator

Too broad: Research and report on the biography of (author's name). Better: Discuss how (author's name)'s life experiences directly influence his or her perspective on (subject matter) in (literary work). Example: Discuss how Ernest Hemingway's life experiences directly influence his perspective on war in A Farewell to Arms.
 * Sample 2**

Too broad: Discuss the offensiveness of the material in (literary work). Better: Defend or argue against the teaching of (literary work) in a high school classroom. Example: Defend or argue against the teaching of The Chocolate War in a high school classroom.
 * Sample 3**

Too broad: Research and report on (an era). Better: Criticize or defend (literary work) as an historical representation of the lives of (a group of people) during (an era). Example: Criticize or defend The Importance of Being Earnest as an historical representation of the upper class during England's Victorian period.
 * Sample 4**

Too broad: Discuss a variety of critical interpretations of (literary work). Better: Critic (name of critic) said the following about _*_:(supply quotation). Argue in agreement or disagreement with this critic's assertion. =: A writer, an artist, a literary work, a literary character, a literary element, an historical context, other Example: Critic Babette Deutsch said the following about John Crowe Ransom: "[W]hatever his subject . . . his tone is right. The glint of irony is there, deepened as well as softened by a sensitiveness without a grain of sentimentality." Argue in agreement or disagreement with this critic's assertion, considering particularly the appropriateness of Ransom's tone in the poem "Bells for John Whiteside's Daughter."
 * Sample 5**

//**What Must I Avoid in Choosing a Topic?**//
//**1. Topic is too broad**// "The Ice Age" is too broad for a brief research paper. "The role of the Ice Age in the formation of the Great Lakes" may work.

//**2. Topic is too narrow**// "Metric cooking conversions" could be summarized in a few sentences. "Why the United States should convert completely to the metric system" may work.

//**3. Topic is trivial**// A general audience won't care much about careful descriptions of fossilized pollen.

//**4. Topic is overdone**// Forget papers on abortion, satanism, witchcraft, and rock bands. You'll be boring your teacher silly.

//**5. Topic is too technical**// Even if you master some technical field, you'll spend your whole paper just trying to explain what your paper is about.

//**6. Topic is almost all factual**// A research paper is not a compiled list of facts. It must have lots of analysis - your analysis - to fly.

//**7. Topic is too contemporary**// Unless you are allowed to use all Internet sources and/or all periodicals, some topics are too recent to have anything written about them in book form. Be certain that you have enough sources to adequately support your paper.

//**8. Topic is not the kind the 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.