If your instructor doesn't give you a topic, you may be faced with the challenge of picking one. Here are some questions to ask about any topic you're considering:
1) Does it interest me?
2) Does it fit the assignment?
3) Is it researchable?
Research involves an investigation. Just as detectives ask questions of witnesses and suspects in order to solve a case, you need to ask questions that can be answered by books and articles in order to better understand your topic. The information you get from these sources becomes the "evidence" that you use to support your thesis.
A topic can inspire many different questions. Take teenage obesity. Here are a few questions you could ask:
1) How have fast-food eating habits contributed to the rise in obesity?
2) How has social media impacted the self-image of overweight teens?
3) Should schools change their school lunch plans or require more PE to combat obesity?
This three-minute video from the ProQuest Research Companion emphasizes the importance of asking good questions:
Our Credo Reference database has a mind map tool that might help you brainstorm topic ideas. On the Credo Reference homepage, enter a word or phrase related to a topic of interest into the search box and run your search. On the right, you'll see a Mind Map for your topic, which can give you suggestions for related concepts and topics. You can click any of the words or phrases on the map, and see a new map about that concept.
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