Focussing Your Topic

The Research Process Part 2
(General Guidelines For Building a Good Paper)



Focusing Your Topic

By this point you know a lot about what you will be writing about. You’ve done background research—reading about the history of the topics, discovering who some key players are in this debate and mapping out the various positions held in the controversy. Now, you are ready to add your opinion to the larger academic discussion about this topic.

But why?

Failing to focus a topic is a common mistake students make. When the topic is too broad, there is too much to cover, which results in a paper that feels superficial or shallow. If you topics is too narrow—i.e. “what are the psychological effects of 7 am classes on CCD students with brown, well kept hair…” you won’t be able to find enough evidence to support your points.

What does this mean?

Focusing a research topic (or occasionally broadening it) is narrowing your topic (and choosing to focus on specific parts of it) so that you can demonstrate your expertise on a subject and effectively argue a position in that debate.

Let’s say you like animals. Developing a focus for your paper (and your research) means you start here:
Animals have feelings
And go here:
The use of dogs in the United States Military is useful, but at what cost?

This isn’t necessarily your thesis, but it has narrowed your interests into something you can work with. The point is with the later you have specific research needs; you are working with a specific type of animal in a specific situation—something you can tackle in 10-15 pages.


Note: You will not immediately know what your focus should be. It will come to you, most likely, through trial and error, through reading a lot articles and other literature that you will not ultimately use. Realize, you are shaping your thinking on this topic and as you learn more, your thoughts will change.



Start by defining your terms. How can your terms be broken down?
Example:
War is wrong

Defining the terms:
"War": What type (self-defense, aggressive preemptive strikes, rooted in ideology…)? By whom? What commonalities do you see in the wars you think are wrong?
"Wrong": How so? Results in unnecessary bloodshed? Has a drastic effect on the economy? Fail to foresee and plan for the complexities on the ground?
Focused:
In American history, wars that are rooted in ideology often have dire consequences for the economy.
You can always define again, and again, if need be. Do you see how this is putting the proper restraint on the topic? How you can now find specific examples and evidence to support this idea?



Try focusing on:

A specific location: Colorado’s community colleges have the best students.
Age group: Violence on television begets violence among pre-Kinder kids.
Species: While testing cosmetic products must be done, Chimpanzees should be spared because…
Ethnicity: What are the effects of our current immigration laws on Mexican-American families in the US?

Do Not Merely Restate Terms. War is bad because it’s war. No. Don’t do it.


Most of all, this is the moment to consider your approach to the subject. Are you writing about a specific element of smoking (marketing to children in Third World Countries) or about its more general elements (Smoking is still a big problem among today’s youth). You have to figure out where to go and how to get there.

Test your topic early. The night before a draft is due is a poor time to discover your topic is still too broad. The research process is a recursive one. You will need to come back to your topic time and time again if it isn’t working out. A lot of this is Goldilocks and porridge. You have to try a lot to find what is just right. Remember—Writing takes time.

Don't Forget

Welcome Back. Please bring three copies of your Trend Essay rough drafts tomorrow. To the people that volunteered to serve as the in-class workshopper, be sure you have an extra draft for me.

If you have having trouble, refer to the articles in the Speculating About Causes chapter.

Thanks,

Jeff Becker

Research Process

Start Here:
1. Research to learn more about your topic. Develop background info. Build expertise.
For this paper: Establish the trend
Your topic is broad. Example: Immigration

Use:
*CQ Researcher
*Subject Encyclopedia/Handbooks (IE: Handbook of Immigration)
*Books (introductions/conclusions) / Newspapers
*Google (only to sift through to get to better sources).

Go Here:
2. Focus your topic. Example: There has been an increase in illegal immigration from Mexico the the U.S. (I have defined my terms).
Find specific articles from academics and other credible sources to use as evidence in your paper.
Use:
*Academic Search Premier
*Journal Databases
*Reference Librarians (the reference desk in the library)

For this paper: FOCUS ON CAUSES. CAUSES, NOT EFFECTS.

Causes->Trends
Trend: Economic Collapse in the U.S.
Causes: Unregulated Financial Products; Mortgage crash; greed

For paper find 5-10 academic sources

Thurs. 3/19

REMEMBER: Class will be held in the following locations.

ENGL. 121-05 8:30-9:45 Auraria Library Rm 245
ENGL. 121-17 11:30--12:45 Auraria Library Rm 245
ENGL. 121-13 1:00--2:15 Writing Center (SO rm 142) Room E.

See you there.

Tuesday

DON'T FORGET MEET IN AURARIA LIBRARY

Due: Topic Proposal. Use pages 485 - 488 in the The St. Martin's Guide To Writing to develop some trends you are interested in. Use page 489 for help in establishing some of the causes of those trends.

Pick 3 to 4 of them and propose them to me, listing both the trend you are interested in and several causes of them.

ALSO...if you forgot to hand in your Analyzing Writing Strategies questions from the Goode and Saporito articles, please turn them in on Tues. (For those of you that are still confused about this: After each article is a section entitled "Analyzing Writing Strategies." This section asks you to engage the text and answer two or three questions about it. When I write on the board that I want you to answer these questions, what I am looking for you to do is ANSWER THEM. I don't see what is confusing about this, so if you are still having trouble please come talk to me).

Good Trend Links

From the St. Martin's Guide Website.

Check it out.

The Trend Paper

ENG 121: Essay 3—Speculating About Causes
Write an essay exploring the causes behind a current trend in American society. The essay should contain an opening paragraph which introduces this trend to the readers and offers a thesis forecasting the direction of your essay. The body of the paper should develop two or three main causes, or categories of causes, which examine both "surface" (obvious/practical/necessary) causes for the trend and "underlying" (less obvious/sociological/psychological) causes. When exploring causes, you must take into account a reason for the increase in whatever issue you’re looking into. For example, sexually transmitted diseases (STD’s) among teens may be caused by teens having unprotected sex. However, this does not explain why more teens have STD’s now than 10 years ago. A look at changing attitudes about casual sex or a decline in parental supervision, though, might help explain why more teens are engaging in unsafe sex
Each of the main causes you give should be developed in a paragraph using evidence in the form of examples, facts & figures, anecdotes, etc. While it will be important to discuss a variety of possible causes, it will also be important to finally focus on a particular cause which you would like to explore in some depth. You may choose this primary focus because you think it is the most important cause or simply because it is of particular interest to you.
Your analysis of this trend must be supported by limited research. You must include a minimum of two researched sources in your paper that should come from the Auraria library databases. We will go to the library as a class and learn about research, so use those techniques to develop your paper. Researched sources may include books, magazines, newspapers, personal interviews, and reference materials (i.e., encyclopedias, statistical abstracts, etc.). Online sources are only acceptable if they come from a credible source (ie it must end in .gov, etc). Other online sources WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED. All sources must be documented. Format for in-text citations and Works Cited page will be based upon MLA style, as discussed in Ch. 22 of The St. Martin's Guide to Writing and the MLA section of A Writer’s Reference.
The final draft must be accompanied by an outline
Your essay will be evaluated upon the following criteria:
• Appropriate introduction which sufficiently establishes the topic and ends with a clear, strong thesis
• A clearly established trend, either in the introduction or in a body paragraph, depending on the topic
• Body section exploring a variety of possible causes
• Body section exploring one particular cause in some depth
• Proper and effective use of researched information
• A complex discussion of the topic appropriate for an academic paper
• Correctly formatted Works Cited page
• Effective use of transitions between paragraphs
• Careful editing for mechanical errors
• Appropriate conclusion

Requirements: 3-5 pages, typed, MLA format including Works Cited page. Keep all brainstorming materials, drafts, peer comments, outline and other materials, including print outs of your research.

Example Outline Format:
I. Intro
A. Background establishing (naming/describing) the trend
B. Thesis: “X is a trend because of A, B & C” or
“We are seeing more and more of X because of...”

II. First Possible Cause (summarize in topic sentence)
(e.g., “One reason for the increase in X is...”)
A. Supporting details/evidence/examples
III. Second Possible Cause (summarize in topic sentence)
A. Supporting details/evidence/examples
IV. Third Possible Cause/Primary Cause (summarize in topic sentence)
A. Supporting details/evidence/examples
V. Brief Conclusion

Trend Topic Ideas (these are just ideas to get you thinking, not fully developed topics):
• Spots: Increased in doping in sports; Increased technology; Increased pay
• Well being: Increased speed in everything we do. Multitasking, instant gratification,
• Food: Global and local. We live in a global world, but more and more people are calling for local food; Fast food culture; Famous food personalities;
• Global politics: China’s emergence as a superpower; Shipping jobs overseas; terrorism
• Money: Failing economies (overpaid CEOs, Fed. Bailouts, housing foreclosures, failing banks, food stamps); the growth of the income gap; struggling to stay in the middle class
• Green living: (and the Green movement in general), alternative fuels, lifestyles, etc.
• Education: Rising tuition; alternative high schools, charter schools, community colleges
• Fashion: Fast fashion; “low-riding”???; hip vs. classic
• Rights: Gay marriage, more gays on television sit-coms;
• Youth: technology; STDs and drug use; financial independence; stress
• Family and Relationships: Divorce; working parents
• Technology: Octomom and in-vitro, Ipods and cell phones, social networking
• “Reality” television; Failing newspapers, more blogs.
• Music: Hick hop, Mp3 and the dying major record labels, MySpace,
Use the Pew Research Center to find ideas: www.pewtrusts.org