If you're having trouble coming up with a good topic for a research paper or a persuasive essay, you're not alone. For many college students, one of the hardest parts about learning how to write a term paper is simply coming up with good term paper topics! One of the biggest college paper writing mistakes that students make is not spending enough time thinking about the topic.
Fortunately, this part of college essay writing gets easier with practice. Here are some paper writing shortcuts to help you choose a grade topic.
What is a Great College Essay Topic?
A good topic for a term paper needs to do the following things:
- It needs to be appropriate for the assignment.
- It needs to be fairly easy to research and write about.
- It needs to be something you know enough about to write about comfortably.
- It needs to not be too broad (i.e. too large of a topic to cover in detail within the page length limits).
- It needs to not be too narrow (i.e. too small of a topic to fill up enough pages for the assignment).
- It needs to be interesting and important to you (or else you're going to get very bored).
- It needs to be creative. Professors hate tired topics that everybody writes and speaks about.
So, how do you come up with a good term paper topic that meets all these criteria? Here are some steps to help you get started.
How to Choose a College Essay Topic
1) Be sure that you understand the assignment. Read the assignment sheet carefully, and ask the professor if you have any questions.
2) Brainstorm topic ideas. If you have trouble thinking up creative topics to write about (and most people do), start simple. Take out a piece of paper or open a new document on your computer, and start writing down whatever ideas come into your head. Here are some questions you might ask yourself.
- What am I interested in?
- What do I like to do for fun that might translate into an interesting paper topic?
- What do I feel strongly about?
- What do I know a lot about?
- What would I like to know more about?
- What are some issues or topics that are in the news right now that I find interesting and important?
- What are some issues or topics on my college campus that I find interesting and important?
- Can my friends or family members offer me suggestions for topics that I find interesting and important?
3) Evaluate each possible topic for appropriateness. Look at your list and look at the assignment sheet. Which topics match, or could be made to match? Eliminate topics that aren't appropriate.
4) Evaluate each appropriate topic for ease and quality. How difficult will this topic be to research and write about? Is the topic too broad? Is the topic too narrow? Is the topic creative enough? This might be a good time to go to your professor for input about the topics you are considering. You also might need to do some library and computer research to find out how much information is available about your proposed topic.
5) Pick the topic on your list that you find most interesting and important. Remember, it's much easier to write a paper that you find interesting than one you do not, so take the time to pick out a topic you truly care about.
Best of luck, students! Here are some related articles you might find helpful:
- How to write a great college paper introductions
- Fun persuasive topics for essays and speeches
- Great persuasive speech topics
Naomi Rockler-Gladen - Instructional designer and freelance writer, Naomi Rockler-Gladen writes some of Suite101's most read work.
