Often your professor will assign you a specific topic or at least an area of concentration. If you need to choose or narrow to a particular topic on your own, the following can help:
- Readings for your class and your notes on these readings
- Your in- and out-of-class writing, where you might touch on ideas or questions you want to explore further
- A research journal, where you write and reflect on your research questions and interests—and how these questions and interests possibly change in the course of your research
- CQ Researcher Online or Opposing Viewpoints: contain information on current social issues and hot to pics
- "Choosing a Research Topic" from the Chronicle of Higher Education
