Kutztown University of Pennsylvania Identifying a Research Topic Discussion

it is important to first identify your research topic. As you think about potential topics, remember that 1) your research topic should have multiple perspectives or ideas, and 2) your research topic should be interesting to you. As we discussed in the Information Literacy Within and Beyond assignment, choosing a topic you are actually interested in, and choosing a topic that reflects an important conversation going on in society, are both key to practicing information literacy. 

This assignment is meant to help you pick a topic for the rest of the semester. If you aren’t sure why you need a topic for the whole semester, please revisit the Researching Rhetorically in the 21st C. assignment sheet. 

Importantly, “in real life,” whether at work or in our personal life, we don’t pick topics off the top of our head. We usually come to them one of two ways: 

We encounter information about the topic (for example, in news headlines) and decide that it’s personally relevant to us or intriguing to us, so we decide to look into the topic further. 

For example, as a South Floridian, I learn that my county is considering major changes to the bus routes and that I will be asked to vote on these changes, so I look into the current routes, the proposed changes, and what the differences would mean. The situation may cause me to consider a puzzle (“why do we need new bus routes?; “how should we pay for these changes?) or a problem (“traffic in this area is so bad–is this the best solution?”)

Or, I learn from a friend that the COVID vaccine scientific discoveries are leading to breakthroughs that will lead to a better flu vaccine. Curious, I decide to look into why the new vaccine would be better and what its relationship to the COVID vaccine is; this leads me to consider the relative pros and cons of this new vaccine. 

We encounter a problem in our own lives that needs solving. 

For example, after being unemployed for a while, I decide I either need to move back in with my parents or find a way to get assistance until I can get back on my feet. I decide to look into unemployment benefits and the process for claiming other kinds of benefits, such as food assistance, as well as the cost of moving back home. 

• Or, I learn that Broward schools is going back to face-to-face instruction; since I’m a parent, I decide to look up what that would mean for kids who are currently learning virtually and to find more details of the plan, so that I can better understand if I should support it or oppose it.
• In short, the best research topics start from a real problem or question. As the examples above also illustrate, a good research question is one that you do not already know the answer to. If I already knew all the whether I was going to move home or try to get government assistance, why would I spend time looking up information? This assignment is an opportunity to look into something you do not understand and spend the semester learning about it.

Task: 

For this assignment, you will pick a topic for the rest of the semester. In order to test out whether your topic is actually interesting to you, and whether or not you can find research about it, this discussion asks you to find a couple of sources to share. Looking up and reading these sources should also give you more specific language to talk about your topic.

• Step 1: Free Write
• Read “Freewriting Download Freewriting” by Peter Elbow, then follow Guidelines for Brainstorming by Freewriting to complete at least 15  Minutes of Targeted Freewriting.

Reflect on the free-writing experience and answer the following questions:

To what extent was freewriting a new strategy for you?  Have you done this before either formally or informally?

Do you feel that this was a useful strategy to help you come up with good ideas? Why or why not?

Do you think that you will use free writing in your future?  If so when/in what way?  If not, why not?

To what extent was this an effective strategy? Do you feel that you zeroed in on the puzzle or problem that you want to focus on this semester?

Step 2: Share your chosen topic. 

Review Guidelines for Choosing a Topic to pick a topic that will work for this semester, then do the following:

State the problem/puzzle that you want to focus your research on this semester. 

Describe any concerns that you have about whether it will work for you or not

State any questions that you have about the problem/puzzle.

1. Explain how you plan to find answers to your questions (i.e. email me, look at the FAQs module, Google, etc)

Present your topic:

Why are you interested in this puzzle or problem? In what specific ways does this topic connect to your personal, academic, professional, or cultural life?

Why is this issue/topic important beyond your own life? Who is impacted by this problem?  In what way? Why is it important for society to solve this problem or understand this issue? 

A strong research topic will have multiple perspectives/ideas to explore. What are some of the potential perspectives related to your research topic?

Find one source related to your chosen problem/puzzle. This can be a news article, journal article, book chapter, opinion piece, etc. However, it should be a reliable and credible source–because you want to show that it was easy for you to find a reliable and credible source about your topic. This source should be related to your topic and of interest to you. 

Share the hyperlink for the source. 

Introduce the source (title, author) and explain in a few sentences the rhetorical context for the source (who was it written for, where was it published, what is it responding to, etc). 

Explain in a few sentences the overall argument of the source. 

1. Explain how this source is related to your chosen topic and explain what questions it generates for you. What are you interested in looking into next? What questions do you have after reading it? 

Step 3: Comment

• After you’ve posted your response, you should read over other students’ posts and comment on 2 other posts. In your peer responses, make comments and ask questions that aim to help your peers more fully think about their potential research topic.
• Some questions to guide you: Has you peer clearly described a puzzle or problem rather than just a single word or phrase?  If not, can you think of a puzzle or problem related to their topic that they might find interesting? Can you think of any additional perspectives that your peer hasn’t considered?  Who else might be impacted by this issue?  Why might another group or individual see it differently? What are your thoughts about your peer’s research questions?  Can you think of any additional questions that they should ask?  What questions would you want answers to?  Can you think of any additional advice that you can give your peer to help them learn more about the facts and opinions related to this puzzle or problem?