The Online Writing Manual Selecting a Topic

If you are writing on an assigned topic, or you've already chosen a topic, see our online suggestions for starting writing through techniques like brainstorming, freewriting, clustering, drawing, or imagining a scenario.

If you need help with selecting a topic, try these suggestions.

• Find a topic or an angle on your topic that interests you.
  Personal interest gives you more to say about a topic. If you can say a lot about your topic, and you draft early, you can select the best writing you are doing for the final paper. You will be free to delete some of the material from early drafts of your paper to clarify the focus or improve the organization or present only the best evidence for the points that you make.
• Do not select a broad topic so that you can find lots of information about it.
  It’s more important to find a topic that interests you than one about which you can “find enough to say.” You’ll have much more to say after you’ve done some research, and if the topic interests you, you’ll enjoy writing about it, so length will not be a problem.
• Consider your experience and interests in choosing a topic.
  What are your personal interests? What do you read about when you pick up a magazine or newspaper? What do you and your friends talk about? What online discussion communities do you participate in? Has class discussion or a lecture on a particular topic in another class captured your attention? What are your major field and career goals? What are the current issues or topics of discussion on your campus or in your home community?
  Try filling in the blanks in one of these sentences:
  I’ve always wanted to know more about _____________________.
  When I get some free time, I’m going to ____________________.
  I really enjoy talking about ___________________.
• Approach your topic with a series of questions.
  If the topic is new to you, think about the kinds of information you would like to obtain. If you know something about the topic, think about what an interested newcomer to the topic would ask you about it. As you narrow your topic, tighten your focus by refining your questions.
• Browse through relevant periodicals, books, or online sources to find a topic that interests you.
  Alexander Mack Memorial Library publishes an Online Library Research Guide that lists sources of information from which you can get an overview of a topic.

Go on to suggestions for getting started with your writing.

By Alice L. Trupe, posted August 2001