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>> JEN THE LIBRARIAN: What makes a good topic for a paper? Where do I find a good topic?
>> SEAN THE LIBRARIAN: First, let’s throw out the whole idea of ‘topic.’ After all,
most dictionaries define the word ‘topic’ as "the subject of a speech, essay, thesis,
or discourse."
>> JEN THE LIBRARIAN: Is this really what you’re looking for? This sounds more like
a report or an encyclopedia entry.
>> SEAN THE LIBRARIAN: Don’t you want to produce more than this when writing your first
psychology or English composition paper? Don’t you want to create something that is interesting
to both your professor and to yourself?
>> JEN THE LIBRARIAN: Don’t you want to learn something you didn’t know before?
Let’s replace the word ‘topic’ with the word ‘question’ or ‘research question.’
This implies a ‘quest’ for something, a search, an active pursuit. Knights in shining
armor. It’s more than just a subject or a topic. This implies that you may or may
not find a precise answer. This implies investigation, weighing evidence. Go for it!
>> SEAN THE LIBRARIAN: So what makes a really good research question? Let’s start with
a regular old question and see if we can figure this out.
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>> SEAN THE LIBRARIAN: As far as I can tell this question has only 2 possible answers
– yes, or no. I might be able to construct some pretty good arguments for one side or
the other, but there are still basically only 2 sides to this coin. Not a lot of active
pursuit going on with this question. So let’s try again.
>> JEN THE LIBRARIAN: Well, this seems a little better but I have a feeling that you either
already know the answer or have selected what you believe to be the best answer. You are
‘leading’ me in one particular direction, even though I may not want to go there.
>> SEAN THE LIBRARIAN: And there’s another problem with this question – are you likely
to find valid evidence that directly supports this generalization? Let’s press on.
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>> JEN THE LIBRARIAN: This question certainly does not have a yes or no answer. It’s very
open-ended, and it doesn’t try to lead me to an answer. It’s also engaging, and likely
relevant to a college population where many students choose to smoke/drink or begin smoking/drinking.
In addition, finding an answer to this question could be significant/consequential for myself,
my classmates etc. I see possibilities here for investigating the nature of will power,
nature vs. nurture, genetics.
>> SEAN THE LIBRARIAN: But the word ‘people’ is problematic. Are you talking about ALL
the people in the world? Old people, young people, all nationalities? And do you really
have the energy to cover both smoking habits and drinking habits/alcohol consumption? That’s
a lot of territory to cover in a single paper.
>> JEN THE LIBRARIAN: Personally I feel more comfortable with this question and here’s
why: A. It’s not over-simplified, there is no
yes or no answer. B. I believe I can locate some evidence (social,
psychological, physiological, statistical) that will help me to either find an answer
to this question. C. This is an interesting & relevant question
since I am a college student, or a person who works with college students.
D. This question is manageable – I believe I can answer it within the confines of my
assignment. E. I might learn something new in the process
of answering this question. My investigation has positive consequences.
Good research questions are generally not black & white, but rather have at least 51
shades of grey and maybe more.
>> SEAN THE LIBRARIAN: Some research topics can be more difficult than others.
Very LOCAL topics might be only covered in local newspapers and might be hard to find
in the general press. Very RECENT topics can be challenging since
it takes time for articles to be written and published.
Very POPULAR topics, including sports figures, rock music and musicians, and pop culture
personalities will often only be covered in entertainment and sports magazines with very
little depth.
>> JEN THE LIBRARIAN: Very BROAD or very NARROW topics can be equally tough to research. Make
a list of the important concepts related to your topic – and now ask yourself some questions.
>> SEAN THE LIBRARIAN: Can I discuss all of these concepts adequately in X amount of pages?
Will I have to leave something out? Will I run out of things to say?
Make your topic manageable but at the same time make sure it fulfills the requirements
of the assignment.
>> JEN THE LIBRARIAN: Always remember: you engage in research to FIND answers, not to
reinforce opinions or ideas that you already have!
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