Choose Research Topic

Writing a Research Paper, Choosing a Topic

​This week and next, we will be learning various aspects of writing a research paper. You've written research papers in the past, so some of this you may already know! So today we will focus on some new topics and work on refining your skills.

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​The first step to writing a paper is choosing a topic.

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​Sometimes a topic will be assigned to you, but often you will have to choose a topic.

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​Usually you will have limitations of some type. For example, you might have to choose a topic related to the American Revolution or choose a reptile to write a report on.

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​This week you have to choose a country other than your own to report on.

​How do you go about choosing a topic?

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​The most important consideration is to choose a topic that is interesting to you. Why is this important? This is important because you will have a lot of work to do on the report--planning it, researching, writing, rewriting--and you might as well spend that time enjoying what you're learning.

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​Other things to consider include making sure the topic you choose fits the limits you've been given. If you are supposed to write a report on something about the American Revolution, you can't choose to report on something about the Civil War or the French Revolution. You might think this is obvious but always be sure that the topic you choose is in line with the assignment you have been given.

Thirdly, ​make sure that your topic is one that you can find enough information on. If you have access to the internet, you probably don't have to worry much about this. You will be swimming in information. But if you don't, you'll have to think about what books you can use to find the information you need (just think, some of us didn't have the internet to use when writing reports in school..).

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​For example, if you want to report on what George Washington did during the Revolutionary War, you can probably find more than enough information for your report at the library, even without access to the internet. But if you want to report on a general so obscure that most people don't know his name, it might be difficult to find enough information about that specific person in order to write a whole report about him. Therefore, you would probably need to pick a different topic.

To recap

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​Important things to consider when choosing a topic for a research paper include;

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​Am I interested in it?

​Is it appropriate to the assignment?

​Will I be able to find enough information on it?

​The best way to choose your topic is to brainstorm, something you've done many times before. Brainstorming is just throwing out ideas. I recommend writing them all down as they come to you. Don't worry if some of them aren't appropriate to the assignment.

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​For example, if you're supposed to write a paper on reptiles, but you think of frogs (an amphibian) because you like them, go ahead and write it down. The idea of brainstorming is to let the ideas flow, because you never know where they might lead you.

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​After you're done brainstorming is when you look at all the ideas you've written down and cross out the ones that won't work. Once you have your topic, the real work can begin!