Deciding on a topic

Almost any subject can become the basis for a composition. You may think of such subjects as clothes, sports, music, or movies, but thousands of books have been written on each of these subjects. Each subject is too large for a school composition, so you must decide how to narrow the subject to a topic. A topic is a limited subject that can be discussed with specific details.

Some of your ideas for writing may already be topics for a short paper. Although clothes is too large a subject for your purposes, your feelings about your school’s dress code would not be. You could explain why you feel your school should (or should not) have a dress code. Sports is also too large, but one exciting event in sports is not. You might narrate the story of the frightening moments when the quarterback of the football team lay injured on the field. Likewise, the subject of music could be limited to a description of a jazz concert that you recently attended.

Before deciding on a topic for writing, ask yourself what might interest readers. A good way to begin is to think about your experience or knowledge on a subject.