ShmoopTube

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Choosing a Topic, a la Shmoop. Okay, so before you write the Great American

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essay, you’ll need to settle on the…

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…Great American Topic.

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After all, you might be able to pen the most thrilling treatise ever on the properties

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of drying paint…

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…but you’re still probably going to lose a majority of your audience before the third

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paragraph. Once you feel you may have chosen a winning

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topic, you need to ask yourself a few questions.

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No need to ask them out loud. Quietly or in your head is fine. Besides, other people are

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trying to study in here. Question numero uno:

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What is the most interesting element of this topic?

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Going back to our paint drying example, what is the most interesting thing you could say

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about it?

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That some brands dry faster than others?

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That drying it under natural sunlight works better than drying it under a heat lamp?

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That… sorry, we were going to finish this train of thought, but our brain is falling

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asleep, and we don’t want to leave you with half a video.

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UGH. Boring. On the other hand, take a topic like… America’s national pastime of baseball

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being gradually replaced by football.

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Even if you aren’t a sports nut, you have to admit that there’s a deep well to draw

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from there.

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Fans of each sport are fiercely passionate about their respective games…

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…the sports themselves have fascinating and turbulent histories…

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…and hey… who can’t get behind nachos and hot dogs?

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Long story short, it’s clearly a richer topic that would be more interesting than

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watching paint dry, or… God forbid… reading about it.

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Okay, next question… who are your intended readers?

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Why do you want to know who’s going to be reading your opus?

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Well, if for example you’re trying to change your readers’ minds about something, they

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probably don’t all already agree with you.

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You’ll want to have some idea of where they’re coming from, so you know the best way to craft

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your argument.

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You wouldn’t try to sell somebody a vacuum cleaner if they’ve already got one, would

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you? Next, what is your belief about the topic?

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Are you just kind of meh about it? If so… probably not a great topic.

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You need to be able to take a strong stand on one side of the issue or the other.

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There’s no room here for wishy-washiness…

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…unless your topic has something to do with Laundromats.

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How might your beliefs differ from those of your readers?

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To bring everyone else over to the… Dark Side… you’ll need to have the ability

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to play devil’s advocate.

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If you can anticipate what their responses might be to your argument, you can… head

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‘em off at the pass. What evidence or examples can you use to support

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your point of view?

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“Because I said so” doesn’t hold a ton of weight in an essay.

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If you can’t think of at least two or three strong supporting point that lend credence

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to your argument…

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…you might be barking up the wrong tree. Finally, and this goes with the whole devil’s

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advocate thing…

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…what evidence would your readers be able to provide that would counter your argument?

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Yeah, it’s basically like one great big game of chess.

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If you’re able to look four to five moves ahead…

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…you’ve got a pretty good chance of winning the game.

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Does your topic pass the test?

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Or should we start… fluffing our pillows?

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