Research Paper Topic Advice and Suggestions
Choose a topic that peaks your interest, but don’t choose one that you know a lot about because it won’t be interesting to research. Find a subject within a broad area that stirs your curiosity. Use whatever resources that are available to browse or brainstorm topics and make a list of interesting ones. Once a broad topic is chosen, the topic must be focused. For example, “The Great Depression” is too broad of a topic because there is too much information about it. A more focused topic for the paper could be about the possible causes for it. Your topic MUST be unique. There can be NO duplicated topics or papers. Questions to ask yourself after your topic is narrowed: Is this topic consistent with the assignment? Does it match what I intend to research? Will anyone want to read about this? What do I know about the topic? What do I want to know? What do I need to know? When you choose a topic, understand that you need to analyze – to bring your own insight to a problem or question you have formulated. Try to formulate what you want to know as a how, why, or so what questions. After you have narrowed down a topic, the next step is to begin drafting a thesis statement. The thesis statement can, and probably will, be changed several times before the paper is actually turned in.
Choosing a Topic
Your topic needs to come from one of the following realms: educational, societal, or political.
Much exists on the web, in newspapers and magazines, and certainly on radio that lends itself to potential topic ideas. If you need help finding a topic, these are a few websites that might help:
NPR’s Talk of the Nation University Writing Center webpage from the University of Central Florida UMass library webpage from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst Collection of links from the English Department at Maricopa Community College in Arizona O’Keefe Library topics from St. Ambrose University in Davenport, IA
Topics that CANNOT be used:
Abortion Capital Punishment Legalization of any drug Current wars/President/Obama Pornography
Possible Topics:
Child labor Violence in schools Media issues Minimum wage laws Juvenile crime/justice system Urban problems Homelessness People with disabilities Freedom of speech Guns in American society Drug education Voter apathy Rights and responsibilities of citizens Animal rights Ethical issues in research with human subjects Cell biology Global warming Gene therapy Internet issues Testing for Elderly drivers Banning of certain medication National Health Insurance Public Education Family Court decisions Divorce counseling law Casinos and gambling Drug testing Immigration ADD/ADHD – overuse of medication and misdiagnosis Home schooling My Possible Research Topics
For the following headings, write down potential topics. Write down four broad topics for each Roman numeral and then develop three narrowed topics for each broad one.
I. Political Issues:
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Broad topic four:
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Narrowed topic three: II. Societal Issues:
Broad topic one:
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Narrowed topic three: III. Educational Issues:
Broad topic one:
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Narrowed topic three: Research Paper Topic Worksheet
Now that you have had a chance to search for possible topics, you need to narrow down your choices. For this worksheet, you’ll be exploring topics that you might write about. You’ll need to think about topics you are interested in, can ask questions about, will find resources for, and can live with until you finish it a little over a month from now!
Choose your top FOUR topics you might be interested in and fill in the following sheets:
Topic A: ______
How interested are you in this topic? (Scale of one to ten)
Why is it interesting to you? (List at least three reasons)
What kind of sources can you use for this topic?
Will other people find this interesting? (Specifically, will you be able to make it interesting to me, the teacher, to read?) Why?
Write down five questions that you could ask about this topic.
Write down three narrowed topics about this topic that you could write about. Topic B: ______
How interested are you in this topic? (Scale of one to ten)
Why is it interesting to you? (List at least three reasons)
What kind of sources can you use for this topic?
Will other people find this interesting? (Specifically, will you be able to make it interesting to me, the teacher, to read?) Why?
Write down five questions that you could ask about this topic.
Write down three narrowed topics about this topic that you could write about. Topic C: ______
How interested are you in this topic? (Scale of one to ten)
Why is it interesting to you? (List at least three reasons)
What kind of sources can you use for this topic?
Will other people find this interesting? (Specifically, will you be able to make it interesting to me, the teacher, to read?) Why?
Write down five questions that you could ask about this topic.
Write down three narrowed topics about this topic that you could write about. Topic D: ______
How interested are you in this topic? (Scale of one to ten)
Why is it interesting to you? (List at least three reasons)
What kind of sources can you use for this topic?
Will other people find this interesting? (Specifically, will you be able to make it interesting to me, the teacher, to read?) Why?
Write down five questions that you could ask about this topic.
Write down three narrowed topics about this topic that you could write about.