The best way to sharpen your own topic is to help your classmates sharpen theirs. For our in-class workshop, I would like you to read two topics of other students, offering advice where necessary, according to the guidelines below. Comment on your classmate's document with elaborate and detailed suggestions. After you have evaluated the topics of two other students, please look at your own topic again and revise it by applying what you have learned.
What to look for in a topic:
1. Based on a complex idea from an article or assignment you read for class
If the topic addresses a general idea, indicate so because a general idea will make for an overly general essay. The topic should be grounded in an idea from a reading assignment but clearly show the writer's intent to take the idea in a new direction according to his or her own concerns.
2. Focuses on ONE particular experience, question, or idea that the writer can base, to some extent, on first-hand experience
If the student seems to want to write about the article as a whole, or several different ideas, help him or her decide which one would work BEST. For instance, if the approach is to analyze an experience, it should be a single incident. If the approach is to point out a consequence, reason, or improvement to a problem, it should be singular and specific, not plural or general.
3. Has stages that develop a central idea in a logical sequence, not a list
The ultimate goal of this paper is to extend an idea from an article with a discussion of your own. Whatever that topic is, and there is a lot of room for different kinds of topics, the discussion has to lead the reader through a sequence of stages. If the topic only tries to summarize the article or give a list of examples, be sure to offer a suggestion for a more complex rhetorical discussion.
4. Indicates a possible thesis and the relevance of the topic
Even if a topic is well-developed, it is not necessarily clear why it is important, so make sure the writer has offered a reason that the paper topic will be worth reading. The relevance of a topic could come from any direction, but it needs to be open stated so that the purpose of writing the essay is well-defined.
