Skip to Main Content

FYW: Disaster Literature: Selecting a Topic for Research

A Recommended Path

  • Encounter texts and media with openness

    • Put aside preconceptions and beliefs.

    • Allow the source to tell its story on its own terms.

  • Be aware of your emotional reactions to the course content. Jot down your triggers.

    • What makes you angry, uncomfortable, hopeful, shocked?

    • What comes to mind outside of class and coursework time?

  • Write down important keywords and phrases related to the content that triggered the emotional reaction.

  • Look up synonyms for those words and phrases. 

  • Plug some of those terms into article databases to test the research waters. 

    • Is there enough information to make that topic viable for your paper?

    • Has someone else already said exactly what you're thinking?

  • Think. Let the concepts you're considering coalesce. 

  • Write your topic as a question to be explored and answered.

  • Discuss your research question with Dr. Tevis.

  • CHOOSE SOMETHING YOU FIND PERSONALLY STIMULATING.