1.00 Problem (Topic) Selection

Select a manageable research problem (i.e., "topic") and one for which adequate source materials are available. Your instructor will help you if you are having difficulty. See also section 3.01:1-2.

Prewrite and free write on your problem or topic; that is, put some of your preliminary thoughts down on paper. Ask yourself the questions:

Who?

What?

Where?

How?

When?

Why?

What is the significance?

Then write nonstop for 10-15 minutes on your topic.

From that writing pick out a single word, idea, or example that interests you.

Now write on your word, idea, or example nonstop for one half hour. Before you start, read over everything you have written earlier, get your goal firmly in mind, and then write without stopping. Called "directed free writing," this process produces the raw material you can use in further defining your problem statement (see section 2.00). See Hodges and Whitten, 33d for details on getting started and on "prewriting" and "free writing."

(See also Hodges and Whitten, 33b, 34a.)