One of the writing tasks students have to deal with frequently is review paper. Even though it’s a common task of any studying program, still some students actually struggle with it. The problem why it’s so hard sometimes to create a decent review is the lack of a correct topic. Here you can get some tips on how to find an ideal topic for a review paper yet. But before starting, it’s necessary to understand the essence of the task in order to pick up a proper subject.
What Is Review Itself
Practically speaking, the review is a writing task about 3000-5000 words on a topic which a student has chosen independently. And like any other writing assignment, it has its own list of criteria and notions of how the right review paper must look like. Here are few comments on the essence of the work.
- Its purpose:
A student doesn’t create a new research. The purpose is to find, read, and analyse existing materials and/or published literature concerning the topic a student has chosen. Finally, he or she summarizes all the obtained literature and writes the assignment.
- Its base:
The paper is based on articles composed and written by different people. It’s a processing of information a student has found.
Now, as you have an overall image of what a review paper is, you can finally move to select a topic.
Top Tips on Choosing a Fine Topic
There are several hints which would help you to come up with a decent topic for your perfect review writing.
1. Brainstorming
One of the best ways to create something worthy is to take a separate piece of paper and write down everything that comes to your mind. Don’t overthink, just put down every single thought. Sometimes those ideas which seem to be silly or too simple later appear to be worth trying. Your purpose now is simply to spend some time creating different topics. You can also inspire yourself by various articles on the Internet. But you mustn’t steal somebody else’s ideas. Just notice good ideas, but in the end, you have to dilute it with your own thoughts. That’s how new ideas appear.
2. The topic should be of current interest
Don’t choose too narrow ideas. Otherwise, you wouldn’t find enough information and the proper amount of articles in order to create a review. It’s better to look for some currently popular topics or the ones which are topical at all times, but it has to also correlate to the literature you’ve chosen. If on any stage of a topic development you realize you found out an original idea – excellent! But don’t forget: you still have to find the articles which you are going to reference in your essay.
3. Distinguish between main ideas
After you’ve come up with several topics, leave only 3-5 of them (those which you consider to be the best ones and correlating to the key criteria). Then, try to make a research on each topic. Look through the information you’ve found and define one the most potential topic. Remember, there must be enough amount of articles, so you could have an appropriate base for your future paper.
Final Recommendations
All in all, take the research on a topic for paper reviews seriously. If you make everything right, then you have great chances to score high points. Choosing a convincing topic is the first and probably the most essential step. It defines how qualitative your final paper will be. It would be even better if you take time to decide the final choice of the topic. You better spend more time and make sure the topic is strong enough, then trying to compose something worthy at the very last moment. And of course, follow all the advice above and no doubt you will handle the task with the flying colours.