Topic Selection

Finding a Topic

Picking the right topic for an essay can save any writer time and can help set up the essay for potential success before beginning. A vague, overly broad topic will do the opposite and can lead to a frustrating writing experience. A few tips for choosing topics are:

• Know your audience. Knowing who you are writing for will allow you to choose your topic and explain it in a way that it can be best understood.

• Brainstorm areas of interest. what's going on in your state? Your city? Your school? Where are possible controversies, proposals, amendments, and so on? Are any of interest to you?  What about your identity, your hobbies, your everyday life? Are there any problems that affect you? For example:

  • If you're an artist, perhaps you'd like to see more grants for murals in town.

  • If you're a skater, perhaps you'd like to see more skate parks.

  • A parent may wish that Aims had a free daycare option.

  • A commuter may disagree with the use of toll lanes.

• However, avoid topics you've fully made up your mind about. It's hard to be openminded and to approach a topic from a "just the facts" mindset if you've already picked a side. Keep an open mind and think of this process as exploratory.

• Again, pick a topic that interests you.  If you're bored, your writing will be boring.

• Narrow it down. Many topics are too large to adequately cover in one essay. Avoid something broad like "childhood education". Instead, try asking questions that you can then answer. For example, "how successful is Head Start for non-English speaking children in hitting English-language milestones?" 

• Research it. You want a current, well-researched topic with plenty of sources available for you to incorporate in your paper. If you will cite research in your essay, do some of this research before committing to the topic to save yourself time. Google News or chatbots are a great place to begin research, but a well-blended final paper will use a balance of news articles, scholarly sources, books, and other media that contributes differing viewpoints.

• Make sure the topic fits the guidelines for the essay. When in doubt, discuss the topic with the instructor first. Even if your paper is interesting and well written, if it doesn’t fit the instructor's guidelines, the end result will not be successful. 

Should X do Y?

Don't argue (yet). Your paper should be in exploratory mode. You will create a topic question, not argue a specific side. For example:

• • "Should Greeley's Head Start program implement new procedures for non-English speaking children in hitting English-language milestones?" is a question. 

  • "Greeley's Head Start program should implement new procedures for non-English speaking children in hitting English-language milestones." is a thesis statement. Avoid this for now.

The easiest way to think about a topic question is by starting with Who, What, Where, Why, How, and Should. A simple formula for your topic question is: "Should X do Y?" These could range from simplistic to complex:

• Should Colorado provide more funding for animal shelters?

• Should Weld County create a murals program for downtown beautification?

• Should Colorado strengthen regulations on oil and gas operations in response to the recent Weld County well blowout?

• Should Weld County increase public investment in infrastructure and hazard mitigation planning to keep pace with its rapid population growth?