The article “How to choose the best essay topic for your paper” explores the process of choosing an essay topic. You can review it once again as it relates to this article. An understanding of the article will also enable you to have a more holistic overview of settling on a perfect research paper topic.
This article details the method of assessing whether your chosen term paper topic is relevant and applicable to your course. These are the steps of determining if the chosen research paper topic is relevant to your course.
‘Let’s get those fine details into focus!’
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Relevance to Course
The first process of determining whether your research topic is excellent is ensuring that it falls within the objectives of your course. There are various ways of achieving this process. The most important one is ensuring that your chosen topic meets the requirements of your assignment. As a rule of thumb, a research topic that meets assignment requirements meets the course objectives. In other words, your instructor gave you the assignment instructions, making it mandatory for you to fulfill them as part of the course! Get it?
You can also ensure that your chosen research paper topic is excellent by skimming through your course materials. For instance, does your chosen term paper topic seek to evaluate a phenomenon, answer a problem, or improve a process that you have studied in class? Without a doubt, such a research topic would fall within your course objectives.
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Specificity and Subjectivity of Chosen Topic
It is essential to ensure that your research topic explores a specific issue. A specific research paper topic enables you to avoid cases when you experience difficulties formulating an effective methodology suitable to your course and acceptable to the concerned professional communities. You want a research topic for which data collection, analysis, and discussion are clear and focused.
One of the mechanisms that ensure that your research paper topic is specific is a mind map. A mind map can be used to refine a topic into specific areas of study. Of course, you do not need a complex mind map. You can use any format to identify subtopics and their relative subtopics. You can also try to make connections of those subtopics as with the example below.
An example of a simple mind map
Apart from specificity, you definitely want to ensure that your topic is objective. In most cases, students choose a topic that is specific but not subjective. As a result, they collect and analyze data but cannot make valid arguments because the observations made are based on facts.
Example: How many hours do college students sleep per day?
As much as this is a specific topic, its results do not allow for the creation of a valid argument. Unless directed otherwise in the instructions, it would be important to ensure that your chosen topic is subjective. The results of a research topic that is subjective allow for the establishment of a valid argument.
Example: What is the relationship between sleeping hours of college students and their academic performance?
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Ensure the Chosen Research Paper Topic is Backed by Literature
When writing a college essay or research paper, you do not want to be stranded halfway. This is mainly caused lack of literature to back up and offer a foundation for your work.
As such, once you choose a research paper topic, you need to undertake preliminary research. Students can use resources in their school library or online databases, such as EBSCOhost and ProQuest, to find credible sources relevant to their chosen essay topic. Google Scholar is also an indispensable platform that can give you an overview of the availability of resources within your area of focus.
Need Help Perfecting Your Research Topic?
Evaluating your essay topic using these steps ensures that you have an excellent research topic for your paper. However, in case you are still facing challenges in perfecting your research topic, you can always contact us.
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