It’s crucial for every student to know how to choose a good research topic. Sometimes, you get a specific topic for research. But more often you have to come up with your own. It’s much better to write about something you chose for yourself. The research needs to be inspiring and challenging enough.
You won’t be passionate about writing, if you’re not interested in the assigned topic. You might get a writer’s block, when it takes hours for you to write even one paragraph.
If you need to find our own topic, you can follow some simple rules:
- Think about something you’re excited about, brainstorm and write down some keywords.
- Search for some information about the topic, make sure you understand academic literature.
- Check for sources, there has to be enough available information.
- Narrow down your topic after research.
- Create a thesis statement.
- Start writing.
The most important thing is to follow this small check-box:
- The topic is not too expansive to be a research question.
- Your topic isn’t too narrow and there are sources available online.
- There’s plenty of information to write the requested amount of pages.
- You’re engaged into the research.
- You have an original thesis statement.
You can use the certain steps to understand the process of selecting a good topic:
Start brainstorming
You can start by reading your class textbook and look for some ideas there. Maybe some things are not researched enough? Are there some gaps in the academic literature? Or you can find a problem, that’s been developing faster than others.
You might have an opinion that is different from the one you’ve read in the textbook. Choose a broad topic, for now you don’t have to narrow it down. Also, if you’re stuck with finding a right topic and can’t come up with anything, ask someone from your college for help. You can brainstorm together with your friends and other students.
Find more general information about the topic
Wikipedia cannot be a source to cite from, because it’s not reliable. But you can use it to learn some general information about the chosen topic. Also, you can follow the references used in the article and check the original sources where you can find out more. There are online encyclopedias you can use, for example Britannica.
Check the related articles and the main concepts discussed in it. Reading some recent publications and news on the Internet will definitely help as well. You’ll get some general understanding of this field and the problems to address. It’s important to stay updated and not to miss the most recent discoveries.
Research for academic literature
You may find the best topic, but you should make sure there’s enough research in the field. Try to use only up-to-date publications (you can use search filter). Always check the requirements for the sources. Find out if you can use Internet pages or not. In some cases you should only include books or scientific journals.
It’s always great to include some statistics and analyze the data. You can find such information at the following websites:
- Google Public Data
You can use it for current trends and charts. - USA.gov Reference Center
Useful for government statistics about American economy. - Gallup
Provides daily updates on poll results.
Access your college library and try searching some keywords. Usually such libraries have a great database of academic publications.
Did you find all the needed sources? If yes, narrow down your topic and formulate a specific research question. Don’t make it too specific, so you won’t be able to write the requested amount of pages.
Write down your thesis statement
After in-depth research you’ve done, you can finally develop the thesis. Your thesis will be an answer for the research question. Remember that you can always be flexible and change your mind about the research question, it is fine to adjust it.
Once you have your thesis statement, you can look for new sources. They should support your idea and answer the question you consider. Selecting a topic is a complicated process. But once you learn all our tips, you’ll see that it’s getting much easier! Just remember all the steps:
- Brainstorming.
- General information.
- In-depth research.
- Finding the sources.
- Narrow research question.
- Thesis statement.
Once you have your thesis statement, you can start writing your rough draft.