Our experts at Nerdify always persuade people that the most important part of writing a successful essay or coming up with a perfect research paper is the time taken to choose a good topic. Of course, it does make sense because if the topic does not inspire you and you do not know much about it, you will end up with a weak paper that does not sound poignant or inspiring. Unless you have been given a topic by your strict college professor, you have enough freedom to write about what motivates you. Take your time to review these simple seven tips that will help you to feel better as you select a topic for your next college assignment.
- Narrow things down. Let us think of an example where you must write about The Problems of Juvenile Justice. It does sound like a broad topic, which poses a question about what is wrong with it or why it must be discussed. If an average student thinks about narrowing the topic a little bit, we may receive something like “The challenges of juvenile justice in Southern Florida” or “The problems of Juvenile Justice through the lens of middle school education norms”. As you can see, it makes the topic more on-point and helps readers see what is expected. If the topic is too broad, you will end up with a list of ideas that are scattered all over the paper!
- Choose what motivates you. Our experts at Nerdify often sound harsh as they discuss the papers they have to look through, yet one thing is for certain — when the paper is weak, it often happens because they see that an author does not understand the topic or has no confidence in terms of tone and the attitude. The topic that you choose for your assignment must inspire you in the first place. It must be something that you know well or want to find out about. Even if something is completely new to you, you can take time to examine the subject and show passion for it, motivating your audience to do the same.
- Look for reliable sources. The selection of a good topic is closely related to your thesis statement. It is one of the reasons why you must look for reliable sources since your topic is already a claim or a statement that you make. You must support it with due evidence. Start with the sources you seek before you do anything else because it will make it possible to adjust your topic to what you can discover. Sometimes even our geeky types at Nerdify have good topic ideas, yet cannot find enough evidence to make the paper reliable. When you have enough references, your reliability is always there!
- Avoid those topics that can be misread. It is a complex matter because your topic can be easily misunderstood or approached wrong. Therefore, always think about readability and the clarity of your ideas. It should not be about something that you are not planning to write about. Nerdify recommends asking yourself a question about what you would like to include or read your topic as a question in your mind to determine what it sounds like. If it speaks about Amazon forests, yet you write about ocean pollution among other things, it must be included in your topic, so it does make sense as to why it is there.
- Controversial matters. If you plan to write about some controversial issues that are relevant, try to stay neutral if it is required or keep your tone within the rules of being polite and respectful. Writing about religion or preferences in terms of politics, try to make your topic interesting and good enough. It does not have to represent just another debate but pose sufficient research with good sources and ideas that people may find inspiring.
- The trick of different wording. Another good tip for your assignment topic selection is playing with the word order. If something does not sound right to you, try to read your topic’s wording aloud and change the words to make it sound clear. Ask your friends and the people you trust about how they understand your topic and how would they rephrase it to make it better. Imagine that your topic title is like a book.
- Think about the keywords. If you do not know how to make your assignment topic good enough, treat it as a list of keywords. For example, APA style often requires an abstract with the keywords. These are usually taken from the title, which is why make a list of things that relate to your essay or research. It will help you to form a reliable sentence that represents your topic.
