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.Many of the guides, indexes, and online databases contain not only lists ofsources but also a useful directory of subtopics.As you ll see later in this chapter,descriptors and keywords can suggest possibilities for the direction of your essay.Yet another way to narrow your perspective is to apply different strategiesto possible topics.Suppose that food is your broad topic.Your approach mightbe descriptive, analyzing causes and effects: you could discuss recommendationsabout what we ought to eat and the way in which our nutritional needs are bestsatisfied.Or you could deal with the production and distribution of food or,more likely, a specific kind of food and use process description as your ap-proach.Or you could analyze a different set of causes: Why don t we eat whatwe ought to? Why do so many people have to diet, and why aren t diets effec-tive? Or you could plan a problem-solution essay: What would be the best way toeducate the public about proper nutrition?Within the narrower focus of food additives, there are numerous ways to de-velop the topic: % To what degree are additives dangerous? % What was the original purpose of the Food and Drug Act of 1906? % What policies does the Food and Drug Administration carry out today? % Would individual rights be threatened if additives like artificial sweet-eners were banned? % Can the dangers of food additives be compared with the dangers ofalcohol?On the other hand, your starting point could be a concrete object, ratherthan an abstract idea: you might decide to write about the Big Mac.You coulddescribe its contents and nutritional value, or recount its origins and first ap-pearance on the food scene, or compare it to best-selling foods of past eras, orevaluate its relative popularity in different parts of the world.All of these top-ics require research.If you have a few approaches in mind before you begin intensive reading,you can distinguish between sources that are potentially useful and sourcesthat probably will be irrelevant.You probably will start to develop a hypothesis,a theory that may or may not be true, depending on what you find in yourresearch.What you cannot do at this stage is formulate a definite thesis.Yourthesis will probably answer the question that you asked at the beginning of TOPIC NARROWING 295your research.Although, from the first, you may have your own theories aboutthe answer, you cannot be sure that your research will confirm your hypothe-ses.Your thesis should remain tentative until your reading has given your es-say content and direction.Topic Narrowing: Issues for ArgumentMost people want to argue about an issue that has significance for them.Ifno issue immediately occurs to you, try brainstorming jotting down possibleideas in a list.Recall conversations, news broadcasts, class discussions thathave made you feel interested, even argumentative.Keep reviewing the list,looking for one that satisfies the following criteria: % Your topic should allow you to be objective.Your reader expects you to pre-sent a well-balanced account of both sides of the argument.Too muchemotional involvement with a highly charged issue can be a handicap.If, for example, someone close to you was killed in an incident involvinga handgun, you are likely to lose your objectivity in an essay on guncontrol. % Your topic should have appropriate depth.Don t choose an issue that is tootrivial: Disney World is better than Disneyland. Similarly, don t choosean issue that is too broad or too abstract: Technology has been thebane of the modern world or A life without God is not worth living. Your topic should lend itself to a clear, manageable path of research.Using the keywords god and life in a database search will producea seemingly unending list of books and articles.Where will you begin? % Your topic should have appropriate scope.Consider the terms of your in-structor s assignment.Some topics can be explored in ten pages; othersrequire more lengthy development.Some require extensive research;others can be written using only a few selected sources.Stay within theassigned guidelines. % Your topic should have two sides.Some topics are nonissues: it would behard to get anyone to disagree about them. Everyone should have theexperience of work or Good health is important are topics that aren tworth arguing.(Notice that they are also far too abstract.) Whatever theissue, the opposition must have a credible case. % Your topic can be historical.There are many issues rooted in the past thatare still arguable.Should President Truman have authorized droppingthe atomic bomb on Japan? Were there better alternatives to endingslavery than the Civil War? Should Timothy McVeigh have been exe-cuted, or the Rosenbergs, or Sacco and Vanzetti? % Your topic should be practical.It may be tempting to argue that tuitionshould be free for all college students, but, in the process, you would have 296 7 / FINDING SOURCESto recommend an alternative way to pay for the cost of education something that state and federal governments have yet to figure out. % Your topic should have sufficient evidence available to support it.You may notknow for sure whether you can adequately defend your argument untilyou have done some research.A local issue Should a new airport bebuilt near our town? might not have attracted a substantial enoughbody of evidence. % Your topic should be within your range of understanding.Don t plan an es-say on the consequences of global warming unless you are preparedto present scientific evidence, much of which is written in highly techni-cal language.Evidence for topics in the social sciences can be equallydifficult to comprehend, for many depend on surveys that are hard for anonprofessional to evaluate.Research on literacy and teaching methods,for example, often includes data (such as reading scores on standard-ized tests) that require training in statistics.Many of these criteria also apply to choosing a historical narrative or a con-temporary subject.What s important in writing any essay especially one in-volving a commitment to research is that the topic interest you.If you arebored while writing your essay, your reader will probably be just as boredwhile reading it.EXERCISE 24: Narrowing a TopicHere are ten different ways of approaching the broad topic of poverty in America.A.Decide which questions would make good starting points for an eight-to-ten-page research essay.Consider the practicality and the clarity of eachquestion, the probable availability of research materials, and the likelihoodof being able to answer the question in approximately nine pages.B.Try rewriting two of the questions that seem too broad, narrowing the focus.1.How should the nation deal with poverty in its communities?2
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