When selecting a topic for research, begin with a general topic and work toward a specific topic:
Select a general topic or research question that interests you and fits your writing assignment.
Significance: Make sure the topic matters to people today. Here are a few reasons why a topic might be significant:
Increased tension or resolved a conflict
Led to a tremendous loss of life
Changed daily life for a large number of people
Created something new or unique
Exposed a new issue or idea
Symbolized some greater truth or idea
Contradicted a previous assumption
Identify a more specific topic focused on a single idea related to the general topic.
Select a topic that has another “side” to it, meaning that there is someone in your reading audience who could legitimately disagree with what you are arguing.
Throughout your research, maintain a list of keywords and phrases associated with your topic.
Make sure a variety of high-quality sources exist that represent multiple points-of-view on the same topic. High-quality sources can be checked and verified. Multiple sources provide for greater variety of opinions and allow for cross-checking information.
Choose a topic that is limited in scope. To create a compelling argument, it is important to get the “big picture;” so start general and get more specific as research progresses.
General Intrest:
The Arab Spring
Specific Research Topics
The overthrow of Gaddafi in Libya
Russia’s support for President al-Assad and the Syrian regime
The ongoing Egyptian revolution
General Intrest:
Chinese Politics
Specific Research Topics
The rights of the Tibetan people
Corruption within the Communist Party
Working conditions for the poor in manufacturing positions
General Intrest:
Pollution
Specific Research Topics
The consequences from the failure of the Fukushima nuclear power plant
The continuing effects of the 2009 tsunami on Southeast Asia
Water pollution in India
For more information consult the MLA Handbook available at the CEHS Library
To write a good thesis, you must begin with a subject that is neither too broad nor too narrow. Thus, you must start with a general subject, limit that general subject down to a more specific topic, and finally develop an even more specific argument about that limited subject. Suppose your teacher asks you to write a paper on some aspect of marriage. Such a topic is obviously too broad to cover in a typical essay. You would have to write a book to adequately support all aspects of the general subject of marriage. What you need to do, then, is to limit your subject. Narrow it down until you have a thesis that you can deal with specifically in an essay. In the box that follows are examples of narrowed subjects.
General Subject
Marriage
Limited Subject
Honeymoon
Thesis
A honeymoon is perhaps the worst way to begin a marriage.
Family
Older sister
My older sister has helped me overcome my shyness.
Television
Televangelists
Televangelists use sales techniques to promote their messages
Children
Disciplining of children
My husband and I have several effective ways of disciplining our children.
Sports
Players’ salaries
High player salaries are bad for the game, for the fan and for the values our children are developing.
Developed from College Writing Skills with Readings by John Langan
The following guidelines can help you develop good essential questions:
Essential questions provide a framework for the outline. An essential question is a meaty or weighty question--a question that causes genuine and authentic inquiry.
An essential question:
Often includes the words “how” or “why.”
Has the ability to be broken down into smaller questions in order to arrive at an answer.
Has more than one reasonable answer; and discussing it often leads to even more questions.
Is timeless; it shows the link between the past and the present. Examples: When is violence justified? Can we have both liberty and security? Should there be limits on personal freedom?