Criminal Justice

One of the very first steps you need to take is to have a topic of interest. If you don't find your topic interesting, more than likely, neither will your instructor.  Having a topic that holds your interest actually makes your paper fun to write! You don't put it off until the last minute. You are engaged in the writing. Trust me...this is a good thing.

So how do you find your interests?

Ask yourself these questions:

• What do you feel strongly about?
• What is something you’d like to know more about?
• What current international, national, local or campus issue do you find interesting and important?
• Do you have something to say on a topic?
• What information do you want to possess after you complete the research?
• What are you passionate about?
• What will draw you into a discussion on social media?
• What inspires your activism?
• What topics will make you stop and read an article, blog post, or news item?

Answer them honestly. Take 10 minutes and write the answers down on a sheet of paper. Don't worry about spelling or grammar...just let the thoughts flow. 

I even found you a timer... now you don't have to fiddle with your phone. Ready? Set? GO!

Resources

Research Skills for College Students by Florida College System, Council on Instructional Affairs, Learning Resources Standing Committee is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License Last revised January 2018 by the LIS 2004 Course Revision CommitteeL