Developing a Researchable Topic

Before you can dive in and start looking for information, you need to have a topic. Spending time selecting a topic that works well for your assignment and is interesting to you can make the research process go much more smoothly.

A good topic needs to be “researchable.” It shouldn’t be too broad or too narrow. There may be too much information on a broad topic for you to cover in one research project. It is also okay to start with a broad topic and narrow as you do your research. On the other hand, there may not be credible information out there for every topic. You may need to do some exploring in the databases to find out if there is enough information out there to write your paper.

It’s also important to select a topic that interests you. In some courses, you may be allowed to select any topic you’d like. This can be both exciting and overwhelming!

If you’re having trouble, ask yourself:

• What do I care about?
• What problems do I wish I could solve?
• What do I want to learn more about?

For the rest of our tutorial, our sample topic will be social media and mental health. 

Establishing the Facts Assignment

[Not  enrolled in ENGL 1010? You can skip this mini tutorial.]

If you are taking ENGL 1010, your Establishing the Facts paper might require a slightly different process for developing your topic. Please use this optional mini tutorial on the Establishing the Facts assignment to learn more about the project, finding moments of tension, and developing a research topic.