Lesson 1: Choosing a Topic

1. Lesson 1: Choosing a Topic Topics Building an Interest Inventory Additional Ways to Select a Topic Evaluating the Quality of Your Topic Developing a Working Knowledge of Your Topic Narrowing the Focus Developing the Initial Inquiry Question

2. Building an Interest Inventory • An Interest Inventory is a collection of topics for which you have varying degrees of interest. To create an interest inventory: • Step 1: Start with a blank journal page or word document divided into columns. • Title each column with one of the following (choose at least three to work with): places, trends, things, technologies, people, controversies, history, jobs, habits, and hobbies. • Write whatever comes to mind under each of your headings. • Step 2: Review a few items in each column that interest you the most. • Do any of the listed ideas overlap? • Circle the one item that interests you more than all the others. • Step 3: Generate a list of questions for the circled item from step 2—as many as you can—that you can use to explore the subject.

3. Additional Ways to Select a Topic • To make your research paper interesting, you have to be interested in your research topic. If you’ve created an Interest Inventory and are still having trouble coming up with a topic that interests you, consider the following: • Surf the Internet • Search an index • Browse an encyclopedia • Consider essays you’ve already written • Consider current events

4. Surf the Net • Sample Research Sites • World Wide Web Virtual Library: http://vlib.org/ •  Google Scholar: http://scholar.google.com/ • Fields of Knowledge: http://www.fieldsofknowledge.com/fieldsofknowledge.html • Academic Index: http://www.academicindex.net/ • Librarian’s Index: http://lii.org/ • The Internet Public Library: http://www.ipl.org/

5. Browsing Encyclopedias • Any encyclopedia can be a great starting point for topic ideas. • Did you hear something in class that you disagree with? • Check it in an encyclopedia. That may be the start of a great research topic. • Most encyclopedias enable browsing by topic. • Start with a broad subject, read the entry, and look for an interesting angle. • Can’t find it? Keep checking! You may have to browse multiple topics to find something that sparks your interest.

6. Exploring a Topic that You’ve Already Written About • Already Familiar with a Topic? • Perhaps you wrote a paper for another class. • Maybe someone in your class wrote a paper about something that you are interested in. • Is there an essay you really liked with a topic you promised yourself to research further? Why did the topic interest you? • If you find area topic you are already are knowledgeable with or interested in, your research will go much faster and smoother.

7. Current Events • Are you passionate about a topic or current event? • Current hot topics might include: Politics • How has the Patriot Act affected my civil liberties? • Are politics preventing real solutions to global warming? Cell Phones • Should talking on a cell phone while driving (TWD) be a punishable crime like driving under the influence (DUI)? • What are the dangers of storing personal information on a cell phone? Crime and punishment • Is racial or ethnic profiling necessary or fair? • Is white collar crime becoming an acceptable way to earn a living?

8. Current Events (continued) Education • Whatever happened to recess? • Is fast food in the cafeteria putting kids on the fast track to obesity? • Are we teaching content or how to test-taking skills? Use of instant replay in sports • Why use the refs when replay does it all? • Do replays add excitement or take it away?

9. Evaluating the Quality of Your Topic • Once the potential topics list is narrowed, determine the research question and evaluate its quality. • A question is considered “researchable” if it meets the following criteria: • It is not too big or too small. • The question focuses on some aspect of the topic about which something has been said. • It interests the researcher. • It potentially matters. The question has something to do with what we care about or what might be important to other people. • It implies an approach, or various means of answering the question. • It raises more questions… the answer might not be simple.

10. Developing a Working Knowledge of Your Topic • Reading is key for developing a working knowledge of your topic. Suggestions for reading include: • Read for Research • Read articles with the express purpose of acquiring information • Read Like an Outsider • Develop a Working Knowledge before diving in to scholarly works filled with jargon and specialized conventions

11. Thinking about How You Read • Do you really need to spend time thinking about how you read? • The answer is yes! The theory is that if you spend time becoming aware of how you do things, they become habits. You can exercise more control over habits, which leads to more effective researching. • College research usually requires students to read about topics they’re not completely familiar with or interested in. • This forces the reader to struggle to understand the reading. • Keep in mind, the purpose of any research paper is not to report, but to explore, argue, or analyze.

12. Tips for Reading Like an Outsider • To be a successful at reading like an outsider: • Before tackling more scholarly readings, develop a working knowledge of your topic. • Research suggests subject knowledge impacts comprehension and recollection. • While reading, keep your purpose in mind. • What do you want from the reading? • Acknowledge that you may find the reading boring. • It’s only boring because you haven’t cracked the code. When you are no longer reading like an outsider, the reading will become more interesting. • In scholarly writing, learn the organizing principles of the article. • Each section contains a particular type of information, which may or may not be relevant. • Read with a pen in your hand.

13. Narrowing the Focus Writing a research paper requires you to have a curiosity about a topic and the willingness to search for answers. Becoming a successful researcher and writer is not always easy. Discovering your subject is the first step to getting started, but it can be a tricky one. Most topics are so broad that there is no way to write about them. Narrowing down the topic into a focusing question is a vital part of getting started. With this, you now have a purpose for researching.

14. Developing and Organizing Your Ideas To ensure your topic is not too general, use these guidelines: • Examine one significant issue, not a broad subject. • Address a knowledgeable reader and carry that reader to another plateau of knowledge. • Have a serious purpose that demands analysis of the issues, argues from a position, and explains complex details. • Meet the expectations of the instructor and conform to the course requirements.

15. Strategies for Narrowing the Focus • To narrow the focus: • Go from general to specific • Limit the time frame • Anchor the subject to a specific place • Call out a specific person from a group • Find a story within a story

16. Develop Your Initial Inquiry Question • When you’ve completed your list of questions, ask yourself, “Which questions on the list am I most interested in, and which could be the focus of my paper?” • Remember, you’re not committing yourself to a topic yet! • By connecting your topic to something else, you have successfully narrowed your focus.