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Some tips to get you started with your essay - how to choose a topic

There are a number of ways you can look for ideas and inspirations about a topic for your next essay. A number of these ways will be explained in more detail later in this article. But it is very important to understand that how you choose your topic is one thing and the value or quality of the topic is something else again.

Any teacher asking you to write an essay will give you sound advice as far as research, structure, a plan or blueprint for your essay as well as additional things like sticking to the topic, the correct number of words and of course the all-important proofreading. But the one additional fact they will always mention is the suitability of your choice of topic. It's not so much that it has to be a good topic to write about but rather that it is a good topic to write about for you.

What really works as a topic for one student may not work at all for another. That's why getting started involves choosing the right topic, the right topic for you. Here are some sources for ideas for topics. And remember, it might be a great topic by itself but it needs to be a great topic for your needs and interests.

  • Talk to your teachers.
  • Talk to your fellow students.
  • Talk to your school or college librarian.
  • Talk to your search engine and have it do the hard work for you.

The right way to choose a topic is to talk to people who know about the importance of the choice of topic and that is your teacher or teachers. They know the topics which lend themselves to excellent research. They will also know your capabilities and interests and what will suit you.

You will be surprised to learn that many of your fellow students are in the same boat as you. They're being given an essay with a set number of words and the deadline date and the choice of topic has been left up to the student. What have they chosen and why? How did they reach that conclusion?

Many outstanding essays are collected by schools and colleges and housed in their local library. Your school or college librarian may well be able to show you examples of excellent essays and from viewing this writing you may be inspired to come up with a topic for your exercise.

Without doubt the greatest number of essay topics can be found online. Using your search engine, you are able to open up a variety of websites wish list many sometimes a huge number of potential essay topics for you. Again it's not finding interesting topics which is important, but rather finding something which is both good and interesting and relevant for your needs.