topic

Examples of topic in the following topics:

• Deciphering the Conversation

  • Once you've chosen a topic, you must research that topic deeply in order to develop and inform your own point of view.
  • Once you've chosen a topic and an academic conversation with which to engage, the next step is to research that conversation more deeply in order to develop and inform your own point of view.
  • It allows you to gain additional knowledge on a topic, assemble outside support and provide credibility for your assertions.
  • When entering the conversation that surrounds your topic, it is easy to feel lost in a sea of voices.
  • Explain the value of research and its relation to the academic conversation on your topic

• Turning Your Topic Into a Question

  • Once you've found a topic that you're interested in — Humbert Humbert's unreliable narration and its effects on the moral classification of his character — and you've read up on other scholars' views on that topic, you're ready to develop a question about your topic to investigate.
  • You may think that once you choose a topic, you're ready to start writing.
  • These are all possible topics.
  • It is a summary of what you hope to find out about your topic.
  • To rephrase your topic as a question, think what you want to say about your topic.

• Topic Sentences

  • Each paragraph will begin by making a claim (your topic sentence) that connects back to your thesis.
  • Topic sentences should always connect back to and support your thesis statement.
  • Keep it clear by stating the topic and the main idea.
  • The topic may relate to your thesis statement, but you'll need to be more specific here.
  • It just shouldn't be the topic sentence.)

• Brainstorming and Choosing Your Topic

  • One of the most basic yet valuable skills you can have as a writer is knowing how to choose the right topic.
  • A good topic is two things: creative and precise.
  • This is where the first requirement of a good topic comes into play.
  • A good topic also has to be precise.
  • Entire books have been written on the topic of "revenge in Hamlet," meaning it's probably not a good topic for a ten-page paper.

• Brainstorming

  • Brainstorming is a prewriting technique used to help generate lots of potential ideas about a topic.
  • You can create one of those conversations about the topic of your paper. 
  • Just start a chat with a friend or a group about the topic and have your pen and notebook handy.
  • Find a whiteboard, pick someone to write, and record ideas, topics, and notes as they come up.
  • It's about considering your topic on many levels until you find an approach you're excited about.

• Conducting Research

  • How you conduct research depends upon the topic you are researching.
  • Different topics will require accessing different types of materials.
  • If you are starting a new paper whose topic is manufacturing changes in the United States from the 1960s to 1980s, you will likely want to use books, essays, periodicals, government sources, and possibly photographic essays.
  • Researching with the most appropriate methodology will allow you to collect information that is highly applicable to your topic.

• Understanding the Academic Context of Your Topic

  • Good arguments convince a reader to reconsider previously accepted knowledge or opinions about a topic, also known as the status quo.
  • "Status quo" refers to the existing and accepted body of academic research and discourse on a given topic.
  • Before you begin writing on any topic, it is important to understand the dominant conversation, or the status quo, associated with the topic.
  • Examining the status quo is a good way of figuring out where to situate your specific insight on a topic.

• Organizing Your Research Plan

  • It is simply not possible to include every topic in your research.
  • For example, in step one, you might decide that your topic will be 19th-century literature.
  • In addition, books or essays on the topic, both contemporary and older, could be sources.
  • It is likely that someone has researched your topic before, and even possibly a question similar to yours.
  • Books written since your time period on your specific topic could be a great source for further references.

• Clustering and Concept Mapping

  • If you are having trouble breaking a big topic down into smaller ones, you might want to try clustering.
  • This is a tactic in which you write down a very broad topic or idea and then make a concept map, in which you diagram smaller ideas or categories (clusters) that relate to the central topic.
  • In this way, you can break your general topic down from "explaining gardening" to something like "explaining how to purchase a sunflower plant."
  • Make sure that you don't censor yourself when you're making a concept map: add anything you feel is related to your topic and let it flow!

• Introduction and Thesis

  • Then, when you've organized the main ideas in the body, you can work "backward" to explain your topic and thesis clearly in the first paragraph.
  • After you engage your reader's attention with the opening, make a case for the importance of your topic and question.
  • Here are some questions that may help at this stage: Why did you choose this topic?
  • The statement without a thesis: A statement of a fact, opinion, or topic is not a thesis.
  • Push the thesis statement beyond the level of a topic statement, and make an argument.