With just over a month left in the fall semester, research projects are probably getting assigned in classrooms everywhere. Some teachers force topics upon their students, while others try a more daring approach of letting students choose their own. If you find yourself in an English class in which you have to make an argument, use persuasion, convince your audience or employ some other position-oriented rhetorical strategy, I have one important piece of advice for you: think small.
The more narrowly focused your idea is, the better it probably will be. Too often students think, "I have to fill up eight pages, so I should pick a big topic so I will have enough to write about." Actually, this approach is making the assignment more difficult for yourself. Choosing large, complicated topics--social, racial, sexual, legal, political types of topics--are so complex and have so many different influences and perspectives that it is impossible to adequately present your position in a responsible academic way in only a few pages. Professional writers and researchers spend years writing entire books on those topics--are you really going to offer an argument that can be as thorough as theirs? Of course not!
Instead, choose a topic that is arguable, but keep it specific, and if possible, make it personal so that you actually enjoy writing about it. Instead of writing about complex issues that can never be resolved in a short paper, write about interesting ideas that might actually persuade someone over the course of a few pages.
If I were assigned an argumentative research paper and I could choose any topic, I might argue...
--why Flannery O'Connor is the most interesting American author
--why people should not even think about getting married until they are at least 25 years old
--why Peyton Manning is football's most overrated quarterback
--why you should start planning for retirement when you are 18, not when you start getting old
--why John Donne was a much better poet than William Shakespeare
--why Hakeem Olajuwon was the greatest center in NBA history
--why choosing English as your college major is an excellent choice for your career
and I've got a million more!
You can see that all of these are very specific, they allow for an opposing side, they can be researched with credible sources, and they allow for detail and depth. Choosing topics that are broad don't let you get the most interesting parts of the argument because they are too superficial. These hypothetical topics allow you dig deep into cool statistics, hidden evidence, and interesting perspectives. That is what makes a good research paper and entices people to read your work.
You want to make your readers excited about your essay, that they may learn something new. When they see another large, vague topic, they will roll their eyes. Be interesting, be different, be specific. Your readers (and your teachers) will thank your for it.
The more narrowly focused your idea is, the better it probably will be. Too often students think, "I have to fill up eight pages, so I should pick a big topic so I will have enough to write about." Actually, this approach is making the assignment more difficult for yourself. Choosing large, complicated topics--social, racial, sexual, legal, political types of topics--are so complex and have so many different influences and perspectives that it is impossible to adequately present your position in a responsible academic way in only a few pages. Professional writers and researchers spend years writing entire books on those topics--are you really going to offer an argument that can be as thorough as theirs? Of course not!
Instead, choose a topic that is arguable, but keep it specific, and if possible, make it personal so that you actually enjoy writing about it. Instead of writing about complex issues that can never be resolved in a short paper, write about interesting ideas that might actually persuade someone over the course of a few pages.
If I were assigned an argumentative research paper and I could choose any topic, I might argue...
--why Flannery O'Connor is the most interesting American author
--why people should not even think about getting married until they are at least 25 years old
--why Peyton Manning is football's most overrated quarterback
--why you should start planning for retirement when you are 18, not when you start getting old
--why John Donne was a much better poet than William Shakespeare
--why Hakeem Olajuwon was the greatest center in NBA history
--why choosing English as your college major is an excellent choice for your career
and I've got a million more!
You can see that all of these are very specific, they allow for an opposing side, they can be researched with credible sources, and they allow for detail and depth. Choosing topics that are broad don't let you get the most interesting parts of the argument because they are too superficial. These hypothetical topics allow you dig deep into cool statistics, hidden evidence, and interesting perspectives. That is what makes a good research paper and entices people to read your work.
You want to make your readers excited about your essay, that they may learn something new. When they see another large, vague topic, they will roll their eyes. Be interesting, be different, be specific. Your readers (and your teachers) will thank your for it.