Research PaperChoosing a Topic

Choosing a good topic

• You have a good topic if:• You are able to find enough material• You find it interesting• Your topic is objective• Your topic is limited, not too broad

Finding enough material

• Your topic is workable if you can find at least 5 reliable resources

• If you a lot more than 5 resources, your topic may be too broad

You are interested in it

• You should find your topic interesting.

• You should also find a topic that will be interesting to others!

Your topic is objective

• Objective-not biased or based on judgments. Subjective topics are based on opinions and judgments.

• Here are some examples of objective and subjective topics:

• Subj: my uncle’s car accident• Obj: evidence for and against side airbags• Subj: my voting experiences• Obj: the evolution of voting rights in the U.S.

My topic is limited

• Your topic should be focused…too broad a topic will be hard to write about due to too much to cover and too much info.

• For example it would be impossible to choose the history of China because you would be writing for hundreds of pages. A better choice might be the causes of the Communist takeover in China or the building of the great wall.

Limiting your topic

• AntsToo

Broad

• Fire Ant invasion of U.S.

Just right

• What fire ants look like

Too Narro

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• Which topic is the most appropriate topic?

1. A. The population of the United States

B. Information from the latest U.S. census

C. Some problems in collecting accurate census info

D. The number of Vietnamese people livning in San Francisco

• Which topic is the most appropriate topic?

1. A. The population of the United States

B. Information from the latest U.S. census

C. Some problems in collecting accurate census info

D. The number of Vietnamese people livning in San Francisco

A and D would just be numbers, you can’t write a whole paper on that. B would be way too broad!

• Which topic is the most appropriate topic? A. Symbolism in Frost’s poem “Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening” B. Robert Frost’s poetry C. Symbolism in contemporary poetry D. the origin of the word wall

• Which topic is the most appropriate topic?

A. Symbolism in Frost’s poem “Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening”

B. Robert Frost’s poetry

C. Symbolism in contemporary poetry

D. the origin of the word wall

B. Frost has written hundreds of poems, way too much to analyze. C. You can’t cover all contemporary poetry, too broad. D. This would only take about a paragraph or two, too narrow!

• Which topic is the most appropriate topic?

A. Harriet Tubman’s accomplishments on the Underground Railroad

B. History of slavery in the Americas

C. Fugitive slave laws

D. Roots by Alex Haley---tracing the writer’s origins back to Africa

• Which topic is the most appropriate topic?

A. Harriet Tubman’s accomplishments on the Underground Railroad

B. History of slavery in the Americas

C. Fugitive slave laws

D. Roots by Alex Haley---tracing the writer’s origins back to Africa

Both topics are good, D is a little vague.

• Which topic is the most appropriate topic?

A. Careers in medicine

B. Pros and cons of being a nurse in an ER

C. The history of medicine in Europe in the 20th Century

D. Medical research today

• Which topic is the most appropriate topic?

A. Careers in medicine

B. Pros and cons of being a nurse in an ER

C. The history of medicine in Europe in the 20th Century

D. Medical research today

A, C and D are all too broad. There are so many medical careers and so much research going on, your paper could be thousands of pages. The history of medicine dates back to the beginnings of history; way too much to cover!

• Why are these topics inappropriate for a research paper? How could we alter them to make them more appropriate?

1) My favorite Mexican foods

2) Space exploration in 2050

3) Airport security

4) Native American art

5) Hurricanes

6) William Shakespeare's plays

• Why are these topics inappropriate for a research paper? How could we alter them to make them more appropriate?

1)My favorite Mexican foods not objective

2)Space exploration in 2050 no sources since it is future

3)Airport security too broad

4)Native American art too broad

5)Hurricanes too broad

6)William Shakespeare's plays too broad