Choosing a research paper topic doesn't have to be difficult. In many cases, an instructor will choose a topic for you. Some instructors allow you to choose your own topic, but request that you get approval from them before beginning your paper. If you're left completely alone to choose a topic and start writing, consider the following questions as you're thinking about topic ideas: • What is the class about? • What are some of the main points or themes addressed by the instructor? • What about the class specifically interests you? • What ideas or themes from the class naturally lend themselves to research? • Is your topic idea one that you can find enough information on? Without considering these kinds of questions, you can easily lose sight of what you really need to address in order to come up with a good topic for your paper. The topic you choose should fit the overall theme of the class, and should relate to at least one of the main points the instructor has discussed. These main points are important, or they wouldn't have been brought up in the classroom setting. Of course, you also need to focus on things that interest you. If you're writing about something that matters to you, you'll be more likely to do a good job, research the topic thoroughly, and provide a lot of insight into what you're writing about. When you don't care about a topic, it's harder to do a good job with it. Some of the themes that are a big part of the class and that you care about will be more easily researched than others. By selecting something that lends itself to being researched, you can get information on your topic in a number of places. You want to have ample options for collecting information. It's very frustrating to start researching something, only to find that it's extremely hard to get any kind of good information on it. Not only is it frustrating, it can also lend itself to a paper that's not well researched due to a lack of good information about the topic. Since most instructors won't accept Wikipedia as a source, and often won't let you use blogs or other non-authoritative websites in your paper, it's vital that you can find good, reliable sources that provide information on your chosen topic. When you consider all those points carefully, you'll be able to come up with a topic you can use to write a great paper.
