Choosing a Topic
for a Paper or Speech
If you are having
trouble choosing a topic, here's a way to find one:
- Find
an interdisciplinary database such as ProQuest or Ebscohost, or find
one for your subject using the list on the Libraries' home page under Electronic
Resources and Databases.
- Scan or search
casually until you see a topic or topics that interest you or fit the assignment
(preferably both)!
- Choose a subject
that will provide enough material, but not too broad a topic; war, religion
and politics are always "favorites" but would have to be focused to a more specific
aspect. Environmental issues are often well covered, too--for example, endangered
species, like the giant panda, raise sympathy.
- Check InfoLinks
to see if we have the journals or magazines that the references show. You may
also search databases in our Full-text
databases list where many of the journal or magazine articles are available
in electronic fulltext. If in doubt, always check in InfoLinks under Journal
title for a publication. Many databases link back to InfoLinks and show
that information.
- Come in to the
Reference Desk and ask for help. We can probably come up with some suggestions.
Other options: browse
recent newspapers, especially editorials, in the Periodicals Room. Some people
like to scan news web sites such as CNN for something to talk about or write about.
However, the more recent the topic, the less authoritative material is likely
to be available, unless it's a new incident in an ongoing problem.
If you were assigned
a topic, but the general subject that you were assigned isn't of interest, you
may find an aspect within the topic that does. For example, if you are
assigned a paper on business ethics, but you are more interested in organizations
like the American Red Cross, you might write more specifically about ethical
questions that arise for managers of non-profit organizations.
Have
a topic, but
need to develop it? 
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