Many people start complaining when they are assigned an essay topic to write a paper, but actually, choosing a topic on your own is much harder.
Choosing an essay topic is the most important part of the writing process, which is usually taken for granted. If you choose the wrong topic, you won’t be able to demonstrate your critical analysis skills or your grasp of the subject. In short, a good topic determines the quality of your essay.
Of course, you can get help from college essay writing service for more ideas and writing help. But if you plan to do it on your own, read on to learn about the top seven tips for picking a topic.
1.Identify the Purpose of Writing
Every piece of writing must have a purpose determined by your goals as well as your main subject. When writing an essay, the first step is asking yourself why you’re writing this. Generally, every essay serves four purposes: to inform, explain, persuade, and entertain. Make sure to choose a topic that perfectly fits these purposes.
2.Stay Consistent with Your Essay Type
To choose an appropriate topic, you need to consider the type of essay you are writing. Some types give you more room for wiggling, while others require you to follow a more strict structure. Here are the main essay types:
Informative essay: an informative essay aims to provide information about a specific subject, often with an academic approach.
Explanatory essay: in these essays, you have to present your point of view on a specific event or situation.
Persuasive essay: you need to include logic and reasons in this type of essay to show that your opinion is more legitimate than others’.
Compare and contrast essay: In these essays, you have to identify the differences and similarities between two concepts.
3.Brainstorm
Brainstorming is all about generating new ideas around a topic, as well as understanding the questions you need to ask and keywords you need to include. One effective form of brainstorming is creating a mind map, which is a visual representation of your thoughts and ideas. Mind maps help you make connections between concepts and focus on your ideas. The only rule of brainstorming is “write down everything” that comes to your mind.
4. Choose a Topic That Interests You
Once you’ve written down your thoughts, take an overall look at the paper and list your ideas in the order at which they come to you. Then, circle the ones that you find most interesting and write more details around them.
Your audience will be more engaged if you are enthusiastic about your writing. In contrast, if the topic is boring to you, it will make the reader bored too. There are also many creative writing services on the internet that offer you free topics for writing.
5. Analyze Each Potential Topic
Before choosing a topic, make sure you have reliable sources. It will be impossible to write anything if the topic you chose is narrow and there is no material on it. Review each topic and consider all aspects, then select a topic on which you can find information and provide sufficient details. On the other hand, if the topic is too broad, try to narrow it down since it doesn’t give you the specific information you need to write about.
6. Change the Topic If Necessary
If the topic doesn’t work out, have no fear of choosing another one if the circumstances allow. Sometimes you think you have the right topic, but after writing a few paragraphs, you realize that you can’t produce a solid essay, and that’s okay.
That said, don’t get obsessed over topic selection. It’s better to spend most of your time working on the actual essay. Instructors give more priority to an essay filled with good material rather than a poorly written essay based on a good topic.
Bottom line
Choosing a specific, interesting, and suitable topic is the first step to writing an essay. By picking a familiar topic and creating a mind map of your ideas, you can set yourself up for a successful essay. However, don’t be obsessive. Sometimes, you have to change your topic so that you can produce a great piece of writing.