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 SwyersAdapted from: Nyssa Bulkes

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 SwyersAdapted from: Nyssa Bulkes

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

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.

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.

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?

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.

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.

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?

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?)

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!•

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

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!

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?

Research questions

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

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