Steps 1 & 2: Consider and Choose
Topic Options
In some cases, your teacher will assign your topic. In others, she will
assign a general area of study, but you will have the freedom to pick
a specific topic.
There are some pitfalls you must avoid. Let’s say you need to write
a 15-page paper for your history class and decide your topic will be
“The Presidency of Franklin Delano Roosevelt.”
Can you really cover a topic that broad—fourterms— in 15 pages?
No, you can’t. You could write volumes on the subject (people have)
and still have plenty left to say!
Instead, you need to focus on a particular, limited aspect of such
a broad subject or attack it from a specific angle. How about
“Why FDR Tried to Pack the Supreme Court”? That would work
for a middle school or high school paper.
Remember, your job is to prepare an in-depthreport about your
subject. Be sure you can do that in the number of pages your teacher
has requested.
Choose a subject that’s too limited, and you might run out of things
to say on the second page of your paper. You might be able to write
a couple of pages on “How FDR Contracted Polio,” but you won’t fill
10 or 15 pages...even with reallywide margins.
If you can’t find a single bookon your supposed topic, rethink it! While
there’s nothing wrong with choosing a topic that can be researched
via magazine articles, the newspaper, the Internet, and the like, why
make your research so difficult if you don’t have to?
140 How to Study