Tips for Choosing a Topic
Choosing a Winner!
Sometimes instructors assign the precise focus of a research paper. More often, students select a relevant topic from a suggested list or come up with their own, within certain parameters.
Choosing a topic that interests you rather than one you find dull often allows you to be more engaged in your work and to do a better job. Make sure the topic you choose is not too broad or too narrow for the length and scope of your paper.
Some tips for choosing a topic
Interest. Choose a topic of interest to you and your reader(s); a boring topic translates into a boring paper.
Knowledge. You can be interested in a topic without knowing much about it at the beginning, but it's a good idea to learn a little about it before you begin your research. Read about the issue in a good encyclopedia or a short article to learn more, then go at it in depth. The research process mines new knowledge – you’ll learn as you go!
Breadth of Topic. How broad is the scope of your topic? Too broad a topic is unmanageable -- for example, "The Education of Children" or "The History of Books" or "Computers in Business." A topic that is too narrow and/or trivial, such as "My Favorite Pastime," is uninteresting and extremely difficult to research.
Guidelines. Carefully follow the instructor's guidelines. If none are provided in writing, ask your professor about his or her expectations. Tell your professor what you might write about and ask for feedback and advice. This should help prevent you from selecting an inappropriate topic.
Other Considerations
Enough Time Available. Surveying all of the students at St. Kate’s on their opinions of the food on campus with only two weeks to research and write the paper is probably unrealistic. Pick a smaller sample or a narrower topic.
Resources Available. Do you have enough resources readily available? Traveling, for example, to the University of Minnesota - Duluth library to study unpublished archival material on shipwrecks can present time and/or financial problems.
Length of Paper. Your professor will usually specify how many pages you should write (this number of written pages does not include the reference list). Try to stick to this number within a page or half page. The rule of thumb is to use one reference fro each page of text (a ten page paper, therefore, will have ten references).
Schedule. Use the Assignment Calculator to draft a schedule, then try to follow it. Leaving the research process and the writing until the last day will mean handing in a hurried draft instead of a high quality piece of work of which you can be proud.
Reusing a topic. It is not acceptable for you to submit the exact same paper in two courses – even though you wrote the paper. Some professors may allow a student to rework on a paper she wrote earlier, for example, to expand its scope or to bring it up-to-date, etc. The product of this rewrite should be essentially a different paper. If you wish to revise a paper written for another course, discuss this first with your instructor.
Part of this content from Boston College:
http://www.bc.edu/libraries/research/howdoi/s-edupaper/
