I can speak from personal experience that when a student is asked to write a paper and the prompt or topic range is very broad, it can be extremely stressful to come up with a topic that fits. One that is easy for the writer to communicate and relate to and that also meets all of the assignments requirements. The excerpt from chapter 11 of Bedford Book or Genres, “Commit to a Single Topic,” is extremely useful when attempting to narrow down possible topics by starting each guiding point with a question to ask yourself. Many times several ideas pop into my head but finding the right one to commit to can be agonizing. One topic could have lots to talk about but you have more personal experience with a different topic but wether or not each are compatible with the assignment is still up for questioning. Wether the topic is compatible is the first, and most important question the section asks. If a topic isn’t compatible, you could still write something amazing and personal to you but at the cost of an iffy grade. So then you go to your next topic and ask if it is something you still enjoy enough to stick with and so on. This excerpt brings out so many important points to consider when picking a topic from compatibility, to the amount of time it would take to gain the information needed to write about a topic. In the end however, a passionate paper is a great paper.
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