You might be the best writer in your class, but unless you can come up with something interesting to write about, you’re still going to have a hard time writing a paper! Choosing a topic can seem confusing: what makes a good subject, and why? Here are the things you should always keep in mind when it comes time to choose a topic for an essay.
Think about what sorts of things you like to read. Even if you hate reading, there are surely some topics that you find more interesting than others. Don’t just pick a topic you think will be easy to write about; you’ll find that papers that bore you when you write them take twice as long, and they bore your reader, too! Instead, pick a subject that you find intriguing, something that you would actually want to think about. Your interest will show in the quality of the paper, and your reader will be sucked into the essay from the get-go!
Is there a question that you keep coming back to when you’re doing your homework or studying? Something that really pops out at you as being something that doesn’t get covered often? Something that you’ve wanted to find out, but haven’t found in the required readings for your class? That question might be an excellent place to start. If it’s not easily available to you in the texts you’ve received from your teacher, they will be impressed by your originality and willingness to think outside the box!
If you need to write a history paper, you can try to think of something in history that is still debated or relevant today. If you’re writing an English paper, think about the bigger theme of the book, story, or poem, and how it can be related to modern day. Anything that can be discussed both as a product of its time and as still being relevant in today’s world would make a great essay topic.
Here are some good examples of essay topics that can help you get an idea of what makes an essay interesting to read:
