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Choosing a Topic 1732 Views


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Description:

Choosing a topic can be extremely difficult—even more difficult than deciding which Ben & Jerry's flavor to try next. No, scratch that. Nothing will ever be harder than that decision.

Language:
English Language

Transcript

00:04

Choosing a Topic, a la Shmoop. Okay, so before you write the Great American

00:09

essay, you’ll need to settle on the…

00:11

…Great American Topic.

00:14

After all, you might be able to pen the most thrilling treatise ever on the properties

00:18

of drying paint…

00:19

…but you’re still probably going to lose a majority of your audience before the third

00:23

paragraph. Once you feel you may have chosen a winning

00:28

topic, you need to ask yourself a few questions.

00:30

No need to ask them out loud. Quietly or in your head is fine. Besides, other people are

00:31

trying to study in here. Question numero uno:

00:33

What is the most interesting element of this topic?

00:36

Going back to our paint drying example, what is the most interesting thing you could say

00:40

about it?

00:41

That some brands dry faster than others?

00:45

That drying it under natural sunlight works better than drying it under a heat lamp?

00:48

That… sorry, we were going to finish this train of thought, but our brain is falling

00:49

asleep, and we don’t want to leave you with half a video.

00:50

UGH. Boring. On the other hand, take a topic like… America’s national pastime of baseball

00:54

being gradually replaced by football.

00:57

Even if you aren’t a sports nut, you have to admit that there’s a deep well to draw

01:01

from there.

01:04

Fans of each sport are fiercely passionate about their respective games…

01:08

…the sports themselves have fascinating and turbulent histories…

01:11

…and hey… who can’t get behind nachos and hot dogs?

01:14

Long story short, it’s clearly a richer topic that would be more interesting than

01:14

watching paint dry, or… God forbid… reading about it.

01:15

Okay, next question… who are your intended readers?

01:19

Why do you want to know who’s going to be reading your opus?

01:23

Well, if for example you’re trying to change your readers’ minds about something, they

01:27

probably don’t all already agree with you.

01:31

You’ll want to have some idea of where they’re coming from, so you know the best way to craft

01:37

your argument.

01:39

You wouldn’t try to sell somebody a vacuum cleaner if they’ve already got one, would

01:44

you? Next, what is your belief about the topic?

01:48

Are you just kind of meh about it? If so… probably not a great topic.

01:54

You need to be able to take a strong stand on one side of the issue or the other.

01:58

There’s no room here for wishy-washiness…

02:00

…unless your topic has something to do with Laundromats.

02:05

How might your beliefs differ from those of your readers?

02:08

To bring everyone else over to the… Dark Side… you’ll need to have the ability

02:13

to play devil’s advocate.

02:19

If you can anticipate what their responses might be to your argument, you can… head

02:23

‘em off at the pass. What evidence or examples can you use to support

02:28

your point of view?

02:29

“Because I said so” doesn’t hold a ton of weight in an essay.

02:35

If you can’t think of at least two or three strong supporting point that lend credence

02:39

to your argument…

02:40

…you might be barking up the wrong tree. Finally, and this goes with the whole devil’s

02:47

advocate thing…

02:48

…what evidence would your readers be able to provide that would counter your argument?

02:53

Yeah, it’s basically like one great big game of chess.

02:57

If you’re able to look four to five moves ahead…

02:59

…you’ve got a pretty good chance of winning the game.

03:04

Does your topic pass the test?

03:05

Or should we start… fluffing our pillows?

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