The document provides guidance on choosing a research paper topic. It advises selecting a topic you are interested in and have some expertise in. It offers several ways to find topics, such as browsing the library catalog, asking the librarian, or searching online. The document also discusses topics to avoid, such as ones that are too broad, narrow, technical, trivial, overused, or contemporary. It emphasizes narrowing broad topics to make them more manageable for a research paper.
2. How to Choose a Topic
• Choosing a topic – the most important step in
writing a research paper.
• Choose a topic you like, are interested in, are an
expert
• Can be contemporary topic, or historical
• If you can’t decide, browse at library, review books,
magazines, newspapers, online public-access
catalogue (OPAC)
• OPAC - availability of books in library – now
moving to “next generation” catalog systems (more
similar to Google) – See pg. 13-14
3. How to Choose a Topic
• Other ways to find a topic:
• Ask the librarian – CD-Roms, online databases
• Internet search - Google
• Encyclopedias
• Library of Congress Online http://catalog.loc.gov/
• 14 million records representing books, serials, computer files,
manuscripts, cartographic materials, music, sound recordings, and
visual materials
• Encyclopedia Online http://www.encyclopedia.com/
• Free access to nearly 200,000 reference entries from sources you can
cite related pictures, videos, topic summaries, and newspaper and
magazine articles
• Britannica http://www.britannica.com/
4. How to Choose a Topic
• Take your time searching for a topic
• Will you enjoy writing about the topic?
• Keep looking if you have doubts – avoid boredom
• Ask yourself questions about your interests
• What do I really like?
• What do I want to write about?
• If you like literature, what kind of literature?
• Assignment: Think about two possible topics
to present to the class
5. Topics to Avoid
• Topics that are too BIG
• If a lot of books have been written about the topic
• Bibliography is often too big
• Solution is to narrow the topic
• Example: India in the age of Moguls
• Narrowed to:
• “Royal Monuments of India during the Age of Moguls”
6. Topics to Avoid
• Topics based on a single source
• Research paper is intended to expose you to
opinions of different authorities, books, articles, etc.
• Choose a topic that is broad enough to be
researched from multiple sources
• Example: Biography/ life of a person
• If person is not well known
• Or may be “charmed” by compelling biography
• Example: James Monroe Monroe Doctine (use
multiple sources)
7. Topics to Avoid
• Topics that are too technical
• Depends on the class
• “Heisenberg’s Principle of Indeterminacy as it
applies to Subparticle Research”
• Good for Physics class, but not an English class
8. Topics to Avoid
• Topics that are too trivial
• A trivial topic can be obvious, or insignificant, does
not inspire best writing
• Examples:
• History of the Tennis Ball
• How to Diaper an Unruly Baby
• Growing Carrots in my Backyard
9. Topics to Avoid
• Topics that are overused
• Topics that are subject to heated public debate, with
familiar positions:
• U.S. Examples: abortion, legalization of drugs,
capital punishment, global warming, animal
cruelty
• Important topics, BUT, tend to use well-known
arguments/prejudices
• If you do use, try a new angle: Effects of RU-48 on
surgical abortions
10. Topics to Avoid
• Topics that are contemporary
• Avoid topics that are being hotly debated currently
• Should be avoided because:
1. Difficult to find unbiased sources
2. Information usually from newspapers, magazines
with speculative reporting, no scholarly comment
• Try finding an equivalent topic in the past:
• Example: revolutionary war in Cuba (instead of
current war)
11. Narrowing the Topic
• “Python cannot swallow an elephant”
• Experiment with your topic: pursue on train of
thought, where does it lead? An arguable
thesis?
• Consider the length of the paper versus the size
of the topic
• Use trial and error
