Choosing a Topic

When you write, keep in mind that you have two separate but related problems.  You have "subject-matter problems (for example, Should the homeless mentally ill be placed involuntarily in mental hospitals?) and rhetorical problems (for example, How much background about the homeless population does my audience need?  What is their current attitude about mental institutions?  What form and style should I use?)

It's important to resist letting your enthusiasm for your subject overwhelm your sensitivity to the related rhetorical problem.

Subject Matter Problems:

To discover a good subject-matter problem consider the following:

• "Discover holes in your knowledge of something

• Note gaps or inconsistencies in the evidence for something, or realize that you and someone else are drawing different conclusions from the same set of facts

• Think about contradictions among different perspectives and different points of view

• Consider why you are dissatisfied with someone else's explanation of a phenomenon, analysis of an event, or solution to a problem

• Feel curious about the cause, consequence, purpose, function, or value of something

• Note discrepancies between the ideal and the real, between what someone values and what he or she does, between the current state of something and your desired state of something."

A good subject-matter question is "problematic," "significant," and "interesting."

Rhetorical Problems

1.  Consider your reader and your writing situation.  Your reader will determine most of your writing choices, including the level of formality of your prose.

Getting Started

Your first step should probably be to read and respond (in complete sentences).

• Consider using a scratch outline early in the writing process.

• Use a "nutshell"

a.  What puzzle or problem initiated your thinking about x?

b.  Before reading my paper, my readers will think this about my topic:

But after reading my paper, my readers will think this new way about my topic:

c.  The purpose of my paper is:

d.  My paper addresses the following question:

e.  A tentative title for my paper is:

• Articulate a working thesis and main points

• Sketch your structure using an outline, tree diagram, or flowchart

• Brainstorm.  Cluster.  Loop. List. 

Let your structure generate ideas for you!

Source: Allyn & Bacon Guide to Writing (Chapter 1 and Chapter 18, Lesson 3). Fourth Edition.  Brief Edition.  2006