BBG: Exploring Topics

Mariah McCurry

                In this chapter of Bedford Book of Genres, I read about exploring topics for research papers.  Writing a research paper can be stressful and overwhelming throughout the whole process; however, this chapter identified some ways in which we can start our paper and put together ideas. One of the reasons writing a research paper is so overwhelming is because there are almost unlimited amounts of research and even more resources; BUT, it is important to pick the right topic and the right resources. Some topics may be to vague or maybe some topics are extremely subjective and it is difficult to find true and enough information about that topic. In addition, Since the internet is open to everyone to post and share whatever they think or feel, it is important that a writer picks appropriate sources that are true and accurate. But before one goes onto the research and composing the final paper, they must go through a couple steps.

                It is important to brainstorm ideas and even talk to your peers about the topic or look online for a little bit more information. Like I mentioned before, it is important that you are looking for facts and not opinions. Through preliminary research, you will look up information written by non-experts. After the preliminary research, one should have their topic picked out if it is a viable topic that fits with the assignments. I will definitely use the forming research questions more often because it helps outline what parts of the topic I will research and write about.