FINDING A TOPIC The Topic: One of the major problems confronting undergraduates is what to research. If it is at all possible, the student should choose a topic in which he is interested – at least one which seems to hold the promise of being beneficial to him. This is not to say, of course, that he should shy away from anything which is not in the immediate realm of his knowledge or experience. On the contrary, the research paper will offer him the opportunity to explore new areas. But there must be at least some glimmer of interest on his part, for nothing can be as dull and deadening, for both him and his reader, as spending months on a subject with which he is actually bored.

FINDING A TOPIC (2) There must also be some purpose and use for the research. Research for its own sake cannot be justified under any conditions. It seems that much that passes for research today serves no other function than to fill up pages. The research must make a definite contribution, if not to the general body of knowledge, at least to the knowledge of the researches.

TOPIC LIMITATION Once the topic has been selected – that is, the general area of interest that the student hopes to explore further – it must be limited so that it can be treated thoroughly and in depth. Before being able to limit, however, the student must be aware of several factors which will affect the limitation: word limitation, preparation time, audience. Let us look at each of these individually. (One final word on topic limitations. Until such time as a library search has been completed, any limitation is tentative and subject to change.)

AUDIENCE The audience – the readers for whom the paper is being written – plays an important role in the limitation and treatment of the topic. Idealistically, the writer should not assume that the paper is being done for the sole benefit of the examiners and simply to ‘pass’ the course. He must know something about his potential audience: How knowledgeable are they is this field? What is their age level? Their educational level? Answers to these and other questions will certainly affect not only the topic limitation but the writer’s treatment of his material in general.

WORD LIMITATION Perhaps even of greater importance is the word limitation that may have been placed by the instructor, the examiner, or the mentor. Certainly justice cannot be done to a treatment of Mark Twain’s cynicism or the development of the short story in America within the confines of a 2000 to 3000 word paper. The student must remember that research demands more than a cursory, superficial treatment of a subject; the treatment must be thorough and in depth. As such, a 4-credit course of Academic Writing requires the student to write his research paper of 10,000 words (40 pages) in length. Likewise, a 15,000 words (60 pages) for the 6-credit thesis.

TIME PREPARATION Amount of time for the preparation and submission of the final draft is another important factor for the student to consider. The student who has one semester to prepare a paper is expected to do an intensive and extensive job. Certainly the longer the period of time to be spent in the preparation, the more wide-ranging the search can be. Here the opportunity exists for utilizing library facilities outside of the immediate area, for possible communication with potential sources, and for wider reading.

TIME PREPARATION (2) There is another factor, in terms of time preparation, to be considered before the student make an intelligent choice and limit his topic appropriately. He must have some general, overall knowledge of the broad topic he has chosen. To gain this knowledge, he must do some background reading. He should browse in the library, and in the Internet.