Who Says?Holdstein & Aquiline, Chapter 4

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Choosing a topic• This can be daunting, but it’s important• Choose something that • Interests you• Is significant/can have an impact

• Basic steps:1. Generate a list (your current assignment)2. Pre-search—try Summon, ProQuest, Google, Google Scholar

to see if these seem feasible3. Narrow your topic to get to a Yes/No debatable non-trivial

research question and thesis

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Topic lists• We are starting with the Internet• You could add topic areas within that as on p. 32—Internet

and politics, music, fashion, etc.• Your topic/problem is more likely to be conceptual (social

science, humanities) than practical (physical sciences)

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Pre-searching

1. What resources (books, scholarly journals, databases) does the library have access to?

2. What new angle caught your attention as you were doing the search? [It’s OK to let your research “determine” or direct your choice of topic; better to have a topic you like less with resources than one you like more without resources]

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Narrowing• Move from subject (or topic area) e.g. fashion to a topic (the

role of fashion industries on the East Coast)• Look at catalog/Library of Congress subject areas (books) or

get one book and look at chapter titles• Narrow by “journalistic questions”: Who, what, when where,

why• Start thinking about your audience—how specific or technical

can you get? • Specific/narrow generally is better. Remember, you’re aiming

at 10+ pages, while someone (hopefully) wrote a book about the same topic

• Again, you should consider following your personal interests [for us, things about the Internet/Web that you already use and wonder about]

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Audience, tone• Imagine that your paper would be read by a wider audience

than classmates, and the professor [anticipating the audience is part of the “rhetorical turn”]

• Your tone must reflect what the audience would expect—not too colloquial, slang, clichéd, but also not too formal/academic. Third-person only.

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Thesis, RQ• Express your topic as a research question (RQ) to which the

answer is your thesis. Your paper will “argue” that your thesis is supported by the research you present [note the book says you will “prove” your thesis—I argue that that is impossible]

• The thesis might/should be a few sentences in the first few paragraphs of your paper.

• A good thesis will• Provide the reader direction• Make a claim (point of view, argument) that is supported by

evidence [For us we want a Yes/No topic if it is non-trivial e.g. “Does TV violence harm children?”]

• Be narrow• Engage your readers• Give readers an answer to “So what?” i.e. lead to a practical

purpose

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