Coming up with Ideas

  Keeping a journal

 Keep a journal while you are in the process of choosing and developing your thesis topic, and carry it around with you. Any time you think of, read about, or hear about an idea that you might like to follow up on, record it in your journal. Write down any leads you get, as well as your thoughts as you investigate these topics. Your journal will help you to remember ideas and will serve as a basis for comparison when you are trying to compare the potential of various topics.

  Brainstorming or nonstop writing

• Brainstorming just means writing down any ideas that come to you without judging the ideas until after the brainstorming is over. You can do this by yourself or with friends.
• Nonstop writing involves writing whatever comes into your head, without stopping, for a predetermined length of time -- say 10 minutes.

• friends
• family
• an expert (i.e., your professor, another instructor, a government official)

  Narrowing down from a list of possible topics

• Remember that these ideas are often broad suggestions. They may need to be narrowed in order to make them feasible term paper topics. (See Developing a Research Question and Developing a Thesis Statement )

  Scanning your course outline

• Your course outline gives you an overview of the course content and can be a good source of ideas.
• Don't forget to check any associated lists of required and optional readings. These can offer a good starting point in your research.

 The Library of Congress Subject Headings (big red books in the OPAC area) will

• point you to the official Library of Congress Subject Headings that describe a particular concept. Library of Congress Subject Headings are used in most academic library catalogues, including UNBC's.

eg.

Climate change

  USE Climatic changes

An advantage of using the Library of Congress Subject Headings to help choose a topic is that, once you have chosen your topic, you know the correct Library of Congress Subject Headings with which to search the library catalogue for books.

 

• present you with a list of related (RT), broader (BT) and narrower (NT) terms. These can help you narrow or broaden your topic.

eg.

Climatic Changes        

  NT Global temperature changes    



Global temperature changes  

  NT Global Warming



Global warming

  RT Greenhouse effect, Atmospheric

In the above examples, the narrower terms lead you from your original term to the subject of global warming -- a good starting point for a term paper topic. You would still, of course, need to focus your topic further (see Developing a Research Question and Developing a Thesis Statement). The example also gives a related term (Greenhouse effect, Atmospheric), which may help to find other books related to global warming.

• Radio or TV news
• Documentaries
• Newspaper or magazine articles

  Reference section

 The reference section in the library is a good place to go to find a broad overview of a subject.

• General encyclopedias

A general encyclopedia such as the Encyclopedia Britannica offers many in-depth essays, which are often followed by extensive bibliographies.

 

• Specialized encyclopedias

These are encyclopedias that deal with a specific area of study. They are scattered throughout the reference section according to subject, and they occur as both single volumes and multiple volume sets. Like general encyclopedias, they give a good overview of a topic and usually have a bibliography at the end of an article.

 
 

• Journals

Scanning journals in your discipline is a good way to identify important current research and issues. To find periodicals in your discipline, do a SUBJECT KEYWORD search in the library catalogue using the word "periodicals" and a word describing your discipline.
eg. A SUBJECT KEYWORD SEARCH using the words "periodicals," "telecommunications," and "policy" will lead you to an assortment of different journals.
 
 
 
• Indexes and tables of contents in books

Another good way to identify a term paper topic is to scan the tables of contents and indexes of books.