Effective Topic Selection for Research Projects
Choosing a research topic is a crucial step that requires careful consideration. This guide provides insights on generating topic lists, pre-searching resources, narrowing down ideas, understanding audience expectations, and crafting a strong thesis statement. By following these steps, you can enhance the quality and impact of your research project.
Download Presentation
Please find below an Image/Link to download the presentation.
The content on the website is provided AS IS for your information and personal use only. It may not be sold, licensed, or shared on other websites without obtaining consent from the author.If you encounter any issues during the download, it is possible that the publisher has removed the file from their server.
You are allowed to download the files provided on this website for personal or commercial use, subject to the condition that they are used lawfully. All files are the property of their respective owners.
The content on the website is provided AS IS for your information and personal use only. It may not be sold, licensed, or shared on other websites without obtaining consent from the author.
E N D
Presentation Transcript
Who Says? Holdstein & Aquiline, Chapter 4 1
Choosing a topic This can be daunting, but it s important Choose something that Interests you Is significant/can have an impact Basic steps: 1. Generate a list (your current assignment) 2. Pre-search try Summon, Academic Search Ultimate, Google, Google Scholar to see if these seem feasible 3. Narrow your topic to get to a Yes/No debatable non-trivial research question and thesis 2
Topic lists We are starting with the Internet You could add topic areas within that as on p. 36 Internet and politics, music, fashion, etc. Your topic/problem is more likely to be conceptual (social science, humanities) than practical (physical sciences) 3
Pre-searching 1. What resources (books, scholarly journals, databases) does the library have access to? 2. What new angle caught your attention as you were doing the search? [It s OK to let your research determine or direct your choice of topic; better to have a topic you like less with resources than one you like more without resources] 4
Narrowing Move from subject (or topic area) e.g. fashion to a topic (the role of fashion industries on the East Coast) Look at catalog/Library of Congress subject areas (books) or get one book and look at chapter titles Narrow by journalistic questions : Who, what, when where, why [also How?] Start thinking about your audience how specific or technical can you get? Specific/narrow generally is better. Remember, you re aiming at 9+ pages, while someone (hopefully) wrote a book about the same topic Again, you should consider following your personal interests [for us, things about the Internet/Web that you already use and wonder about] 5
Audience, tone Imagine that your paper would be read by a wider audience than classmates, and the professor [anticipating the audience is part of the rhetorical turn ] Your tone must reflect what the audience would expect not too colloquial, slang, clich d, but also not too formal/academic. Third-person only. [Write a research- based paper, not a polemic.] 6
Thesis, RQ Express your topic as a research question (RQ) to which the answer is your thesis. Your paper will argue that your thesis is supported by the research you present [note the book says you will prove your thesis I argue that that is impossible] The thesis might/should be a few sentences in the first few paragraphs of your paper. A good thesis will Provide the reader direction Make a claim (point of view, argument) that is supported by evidence [For us we want a Yes/No topic if it is non-trivial e.g. Does TV violence harm children? ] Be narrow Engage your readers Give readers an answer to So what? i.e. lead to a practical purpose [Example on p. 52 is about women's hemlines and the economy.] 7
