Journal

You now know that you will be engaged in a research project for the rest of this course. Your investment in the outcome of the project often has a good deal of reliance upon the topic about which you choose to write. The more interest you have in your topic, the more you will be driven to learn more about it and to write about it. So, you want to choose a topic that will hold your interest as you learn about the process of writing a research paper.

Use some of the following questions to help shape a reflection upon the topic you are considering for your research paper.

Think about some of your favorite subjects. What interests you the most? What ideas do you have about a topic? You may want to mention and then briefly explain three ideas that you have, pointing out the topic idea that is most appealing to you.

What thoughts do you have about the topic right now (prior to researching it)? What do you expect to find when you research the topic? What do you hope to learn about? What are some of your assumptions right now?