{"id":249,"date":"2014-07-25T20:09:55","date_gmt":"2014-07-25T20:09:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/courses.candelalearning.com\/writershandbook\/?post_type=chapter&p=249"},"modified":"2014-07-25T21:02:44","modified_gmt":"2014-07-25T21:02:44","slug":"5-1-choosing-a-topic","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-mcc-styleguide\/chapter\/5-1-choosing-a-topic\/","title":{"raw":"5.1 Choosing a Topic","rendered":"5.1 Choosing a Topic"},"content":{"raw":" \r\n
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5.1<\/span> Choosing a Topic<\/h2>\r\n
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Learning Objectives<\/h3>\r\n
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  1. Recognize general topics that are too broad for a single writing assignment.<\/li>\r\n\t
  2. Realize that you can and should massage a writing topic so that it interests you.<\/li>\r\n\t
  3. Understand how to narrow a topic down to match your needs.<\/li>\r\n<\/ol>\r\n<\/div>\r\nLife is simply too short not to write about topics that interest you. You don\u2019t have to be an expert in a topic already, but you should be sufficiently interested in exploring it for a sustained period. Your readers will quickly pick up on your enthusiasm (or lack thereof) for a topic. Following up on personal interest can, at best, make a writing project fun, and at the very least, keep you (and your readers) from being miserable.\r\n\r\nMost college writing instructors will not dictate too narrow a topic area, in part because they don\u2019t have any interest in being bored and in part because they believe that topic generation is an important piece of the student writer\u2019s job. But let\u2019s explore a worst-case scenario, just to show how you can make practically any topic your own. Let\u2019s say you are given an assignment to explore the history of South Dakota within a ten-page essay. Clearly, you can\u2019t cover the whole state in ten pages. Rather, you would think about\u2014and maybe research a little bit\u2014aspects of South Dakota that might be interesting to you and your readers. Let\u2019s say that you are a motorcycle enthusiast, and you are interested in Sturgis, South Dakota. Or perhaps your great-great-grandmother was a Dakota Indian, and you are interested in the Dakota Indian tribe. Or maybe you are an artist and you are interested in the corn mosaics on the Corn Palace in Mitchell, South Dakota. The point is that, if you think about South Dakota enough, you can find some direction of personal interest.\r\n
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    Example<\/h3>\r\nAssigned Topic\r\n\r\nThe History of South Dakota\r\n\r\nPersonal Interest Direction\r\n\r\nThe Motorcycle Rallies in Sturgis, South Dakota\r\n\r\nFirst Narrowing of Topic\r\n\r\nThe Acceptance by Locals of the Mass Influx of Motorcycles over the Years\r\n\r\nFinal Topic\r\n\r\nThe Sturgis Motorcycle Rally as Part of the Identity of Sturgis and the Surrounding Area\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n \r\n\r\nOnce you choose a direction of interest, such as the motorcycle rallies in Sturgis, you still have to narrow this secondary topic into a topic that you can cover in ten pages and that has an interesting point. A method of moving from your general topic of interest to your final topic is to ask questions and let your answers guide you along. The following questions and answers show how this self-discussion<\/span><\/span> could go.\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nQuestion #1:<\/strong> How do the Sturgis Rallies connect to the history of South Dakota?\r\n\r\nAnswer:<\/strong> The Sturgis Rallies have been going on for over seventy years, so they are part of the history of South Dakota.\r\n\r\nQuestion #2:<\/strong> Over the years, how have the people of Sturgis felt about all those bikes invading their peaceful little city?\r\n\r\nAnswer:<\/strong> I bet there are people on both sides of the issue. On the other hand, a lot of people there make a great deal of money on the event.\r\n\r\nQuestion #3:<\/strong> After over seventy years, has the event become such a part of the city that the bikes aren\u2019t really seen as an invasion but rather more like a season that will naturally come?\r\n\r\nAnswer:<\/strong> It probably has become a natural part of the city and the whole surrounding area. That would be a good topic: The Sturgis Motorcycle Rally as Part of the Identity of Sturgis and the Surrounding Area.\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nYou have begun to narrow your general topic down to a more manageable and interesting set of questions. Now it\u2019s time to bring in the other elements of the rhetorical situation.\r\n
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    Key Takeaways<\/h3>\r\n