"1. Lack of originality: Do you begin to get that canned feeling? Many of these debates have been rehearsed so many times that it is hard to think anything new on them, much less say anything new. Both you and the person grading your research paper may easily get bored rehashing the same old stuff. Check with your teacher to find out which topics are the ones they are personally sick to death of.
2. Excess and absence of source materials: Some of these topics are so classical and have been discussed so long that there are books and books about them. In that situation it becomes very hard to choose which articles should stand as exemplars for the various sides. You may be overwhelmed by sheer bulk of material. You may have to do a lot of reading and comparing to find out which essays, over the years, have emerged as classics. If you take one of these topics, you are responsible for determining which sources are the best on your topic. This may mean investigating various anthologies to find what essays are frequently reprinted.
Also, as you try to do research in the library, you will find that others have been there before you. It is not uncommon to discover that some asshole has exacto-knifed every article you need out of the bound magazines. When this happens, take your citation of the missing article to the Reference desk and explain the problem.
They will order a xerox of the article and rebind it into the magazine -- probably not in time to help you, but at least you can feel good about doing a service for next year's freshman community. Meanwhile, xeroxes of all articles used for summaries in the research paper must be handed in, so xerox what you need and put the books in the reshelving bin or back on the shelf in the right place so as to make things easier for your fellow students."
2. Excess and absence of source materials: Some of these topics are so classical and have been discussed so long that there are books and books about them. In that situation it becomes very hard to choose which articles should stand as exemplars for the various sides. You may be overwhelmed by sheer bulk of material. You may have to do a lot of reading and comparing to find out which essays, over the years, have emerged as classics. If you take one of these topics, you are responsible for determining which sources are the best on your topic. This may mean investigating various anthologies to find what essays are frequently reprinted.
Also, as you try to do research in the library, you will find that others have been there before you. It is not uncommon to discover that some asshole has exacto-knifed every article you need out of the bound magazines. When this happens, take your citation of the missing article to the Reference desk and explain the problem.
They will order a xerox of the article and rebind it into the magazine -- probably not in time to help you, but at least you can feel good about doing a service for next year's freshman community. Meanwhile, xeroxes of all articles used for summaries in the research paper must be handed in, so xerox what you need and put the books in the reshelving bin or back on the shelf in the right place so as to make things easier for your fellow students."
I absolutely agree with Dr.Sparks as per the difficulties students face selecting good topics for research papers. Many students struggle with finding outstanding research paper topics that can be both interesting to research and easy to be "won".
Unfortunately, the majority of them become victims of obsolete and stale topics, such as abortion, euthanasia, and smoking, simply because there are a lot of materials available on them. Though, choosing such topics can be a total fiasco for research papers.
That's why it is more reasonable to conduct a research and find out topical and relevant issues that will be interesting for the writer to cover and exciting for the reader to learn more about.
One more hindrance on the way to good research papers is a broad research paper topic. The majority of students choose topics that are too general and can't narrow them to more specific ones. Broad research paper ideas are difficult to cover because there is too much information to choose from, hence, it is difficult to focus the research.
However, too specific topics should not be taken into consideration. After all, it can be not enough information to support the ideas developed in the paper.
Unfortunately, the majority of them become victims of obsolete and stale topics, such as abortion, euthanasia, and smoking, simply because there are a lot of materials available on them. Though, choosing such topics can be a total fiasco for research papers.
That's why it is more reasonable to conduct a research and find out topical and relevant issues that will be interesting for the writer to cover and exciting for the reader to learn more about.
One more hindrance on the way to good research papers is a broad research paper topic. The majority of students choose topics that are too general and can't narrow them to more specific ones. Broad research paper ideas are difficult to cover because there is too much information to choose from, hence, it is difficult to focus the research.
However, too specific topics should not be taken into consideration. After all, it can be not enough information to support the ideas developed in the paper.
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