Step 1 - Topic

The first step in conducting research is choosing a topic. Remember that you will be spending three to four weeks researching and constructing your project. This means that you had better be interested in the topic you choose! Complete the following steps to formulate a topic and ultimately a controlling statement.

1. General Topic: What general topics interest you? Sports? Medicine? Movies? Frontier history? Brainstorm ideas for a broad topic that you find interesting enough to write an essay about. Choose one or two that suit you. Below is a list of starting points for choosing a general topic:

History	Technology	Transportation
Hobbies	Science	Issues
School	Health	Religion
Family	Substances	Food
Art	Biography	Genealogy
Politics	Ranching	Outdoors
Sports	Legal Topics	Music
Work	Movies	Careers

2. Narrowing Your Topic: There are a number of ways to go about limiting, or narrowing your general topic. "Sports” is far too broad a topic to write an essay about. Even “Basketball” might be too broad. But “The History of Basketball” would be a good starting point. Try one of the following and see where it leads:

Freewriting: Write whatever comes to mind about the general topic. Where do you end up?
Brainstorming: Make a list of subtopics, or more focused topics that fall under the umbrella of your general topic.
Questioning: Write a list of questions about the general topic. Begin each question with the word who, what, when, where, how, why, or what if. . .
Discussion: Discuss the general subject with other students and collect suggestions of how you might narrow your topic to a manageable form.

3. Reading Around: Now that you’ve narrowed your general topic somewhat, you need to continue work on your limited topic. The next step is to begin reading and surfing the Internet. See what you can find regarding your topic. If you can’t find any information, you may need to change or adapt your topic. If you find more information than you can handle, you may need to limit your topic further. If the latter is the case, browse the available resources, looking for some narrow aspect of the general topic that interests you and will be easier to research.

4. Limited Topic Checklist: Hopefully you’ve narrowed your general topic, forming the limited topic that will provide the basis for this essay. Run the limited topic through the following checklist to make sure it will work well as a topic:

Is the limited topic interesting, most importantly, to you, the writer?
Is the limited topic covered in readily available sources, both electronic and on paper?
Is the limited topic significant? Is it worth your time and energy?
Is the topic objective? Can it be supported with hard facts?
Does the topic avoid repeating available material? Have you come up with your own angle or slant?
Is the limited topic narrow enough—or is it too narrow—for a 6 page essay?

5. Controlling Question: A controlling question is a one or two sentence interrogative that gives focus to your research. The question may contain one or two of the following keywords: analyze, classify, explore, compare, contrast, define, describe, determine, establish, explain, identify, prove, support.

SAMPLE CONTROLLING QUESTIONS:

ENGLISH 3

What are the major issues surrounding abortion rights in the US? What are the opinions and beliefs on both sides of the issue? What major legal cases play in?

HUMANITIES

How did the electric guitar transform American music? Who were the most notable guitar pioneers, and which electric guitarists influenced American rock-n-roll most heavily?

ENGLISH 4

What are the implications of the medical marijuana debate here in the United States? Which states are currently exploring the issue? What would legalization of medical marijuana mean for patients and the pharmaceuticals industry?

Goals:

To choose and narrow your topic

To write a controlling question