Mission: Im possible! Topic selection

1. Mission: Impossible!Topic selection Adapted from Arnaudet, M.L. & Barrett, M.E. (1984). Approaches to Academic Reading & Writing. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc. Adapted from Mica Swyers Adapted from: Nyssa Bulkes

2. Your Mission: • Brainstorm a list of 5 focused research-paper topics • Select, limit, and propose a topic for your final research paper • Generate appropriate questions to guide your research

3. Rules of Engagement • ESL 501 paper is for general audience. • Provide the reader with background information about the topic • Explain key terms. • Make sure it doesn’t require in-depth knowledge of topic. • 8-10 pages.

4. Pick a General Subject Area • If not specified, your subject can be almost anything! • Not specifying your subject can make writing a comprehensive paper in 8-12 pages nearly an impossible task.

5. Preliminary Research • Conduct preliminary research to familiarize yourself with the subject before choosing a specific aspect on which to focus. • What’s the current state of the research? • What has already been answered about your topic? • What questions still remain about your topic?

6. Really? Anything? • Some topics to avoid: • Very new, extremely current theories may lack sufficient information of your paper. • Controversial subjects: It may be difficult to find objective sources and to separate opinion from fact.

7. Pick something that interests you. • If you aren’t interested in the topic, why should your reader be? • Selecting a topic that interests you will motivate you to be as comprehensive and diligent as possible in researching.

8. Focus the topic • A topic that is too broad is uninteresting. • Consider length, purpose, and audience of the paper. • Is your topic: • Too Broad? • Too familiar/obvious? • Too subjective? • Too Technical?

9. Focus the topic, cont’d. • Restrict the scope of the subject. Be specific! • Good questions for limiting the subject: • Place? (The US, China, New York City, etc) • Type: (In a certain field? Professional vs. Non-professional?) • Time? (Current? Within the last decade? In the 18th century?) • Aspect?:(Origins? Causes? Consequences?)

10. Example: • Subject: Leadership • Place: …in the United States • Type: in the business community • Time: over the last decade • Aspect: …factors determining effective leaders. • …Aha! A topic! A great start to your thesis statement!

11. Exercise 1: Narrowing the topic • Pick FIVE of the following general subjects. • For each subject, write THREE narrowed paper topics. • Clichés • TV violence • Music • Ethnic identity • Daydreaming • Valentine’s Day • The Internet • Self-improvement • Cost of Textbooks • Humor

12. Exercise: Narrow the topic • Write a list of 5 potential research topics • For each, what’s the question you’d like to answer? • Narrow each of the 5 topics down to a specific facet of that area you’d like to look into. • Be specific!

13. Generate research questions • What’s my thesis statement? • Generate a tentative thesis statement. Revise it as your continue your research. • You should be able to write an arguable thesis when you select a topic. If you can’t, you need to keep thinking. • How will I support my thesis statement? • Does the information I find support my thesis statement? How can I revise it? • Is the information available? • What are possible sub-topics that this information will develop in my paper? • What are 2-3 sub-areas of your topic to focus on in the paper? • How will these fit into the meaningful organization of my paper?

14. Research questions • Don’t forget the journalist’s questions! • Who? • What? • When? • Where? • Why? • How?

15. Conclusion • Brainstorm list of 5 research topics that interest you. • Be specific! What aspects of those topics will you focus on? • Pick the topic that most interests you • Write a tentative thesis statement for your topic