How to Pick a Good Research Topic, Part 1

Photo by Mylene Bressan.
Available through the Open Photo Project here.

Need help picking a good research topic? Ben is offering some tips.

As an undergraduate, I once set out to write a paper for a Colonial American Economic History course. I intended to show that political positions are always a reflection of economic interests. And I intended to demonstrate this for every period in American history. It was a complete failure.

What did I do wrong? I picked a bad topic. Specifically, my topic and my sources were poorly defined.

A lot of advice on how to compose a research paper begins by instructing you to select a topic, but there’s not much advice on how to successfully do that. The thing is, if you pick a bad topic, you’re doomed.

What are some of the hallmarks of bad research topics? Bad research topics are too vague, too ambitious, or have poorly defined sources (the documents the researcher will be writing about). Simply put, bad topics are too big.

Professors also frown upon unoriginal topics. This is especially true in graduate courses. Unoriginal topics are topics that have already been thoroughly researched, such as “Who caused the First World War?” Other unoriginal topics include the causes of the American Revolution or contrasting Fascism and Communism. It’s not that these topics aren’t important. It’s just that lots of people have already researched them. If topics like these interest you, just make sure to make a new argument (i.e., don’t blame Germany for the First World War).

Research and writing are messy activities. There’s no simple protocol to which you can or should commit yourself. Nonetheless, the following advice will help you pick a good research topic.

BROWSE. Step one is not to pick a topic. For your paper to be good, it’ll have to be on something you love. Step one is to find out what you love. To do that, you need to forget about the paper and let your mind wander. Play on Google. Stroll the library.

Themes will emerge. Maybe you keep typing in variations of, What did the international community know about the Holocaust?, or, How did no-fault divorce laws change the American family? Whatever it is, run with it. It’s not quite your topic. It’s more like a little voice saying, “Head in this direction.”