1. Select a topic on which there has been serious research. Some topics are simply not suitable for academic research, for example, motorcycle riding or bass fishing.

2. Select a topic for which ample reference material is available. A very current topic will not yield reference material beyond newspaper and magazine articles. True research requires an investigation of a variety of sources.

3. Select a topic which is not too technical in nature since technical topics will not usually provide you with a variety of sources.

4. Select a topic of some significance that can be presented objectively. Avoid emotional topics, such as capital punishment, euthanasia, and abortion. Your paper will be written in the third person; avoid the use of the subjective I, me, my.

5. Select a topic which is more than a biographical treatment. Using biographies as sources would result in little more than summary. "Winston Churchill" would not be a suitable topic, but some aspect of Churchill's career would be, such as "Winston Churchill: Landscape Painter."

6. Select a topic which will allow interpretations. A report is merely a summarized account of what is known about the topic; however, a research paper is information plus interpretation.

7. If your paper topic is based on literature, you must, first of all, have a thorough understanding of the poem, play, novel, or short story. Many approaches may be taken in writing this type of research paper: analytical, thematic, critical, or comparative.

8. Students should distinguish between primary and secondary sources. A primary source is the work itself, for example, "Thanatopsis," "The Declaration of Independence," or The Red Badge of Courage. A secondary source is a work written about a primary source, for example, critical commentaries such as Thomas De Quincey's essay "On the Knocking at the Gate in Macbeth," or critical essays in Contemporary Literary Criticism.

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