Choosing a Topic

Hanna Marionne M. Caunda


Are you having trouble looking for a topic to write?
Here are some tips that will help you consider in choosing for a topic.

1. Topics you like or you are comfortable with.
Have you ever experienced staring at your blank laptop screen with absolutely nothing to write because the topic assigned to you is, sort of, out of place? Or have you experienced finding yourself typing into your laptop furiously because your brain is handling too many ideas you're afraid you might forget them?
As much as we, writers, understand our readers' interest and what is appealing to them, we also have to consider what is fascinating to us. It is not easy to write about a subject that is foreign or something that we know nothing about. It is always helpful to have stock knowledge of a certain topic. It's like having a common field of experience with your readers. The writer will be able to adjust to a certain angle of the story where both the writer and the reader will understand. If the source and the receiver do not have a common understanding of the topic, no communication will take place.

2. Know your readers.
Knowing your audience is still the best way to effective relate a message. Understanding the readers means you are giving life to them. When you identify who your audience are, you begin to think what language to use and being sensitive to touchy subjects.
Give demographics to your audience. Demographics is the general characteristics your audience share. For example, age, gender and economic status. Knowing this will greatly affect the way a writer relays his/her message. You're not going to use English language when your intended audience is below the poverty line and you're not going to use informal or street language when you're addressing to rich people. Before writing, always yourself who will read your article and for what purpose will it serve.

3. Find out what topics are already written.
Researching helps in many ways when writing an article. It can help you gain knowledge and information needed in your story. For example, the style, the format and the method. Researching can give ideas to improve and enhance an article or the researched article will serve as a guide. Also, it can help you avoid having the same approach of the same topic. For example, you decide to write an article about a cancer survivor, there are a lot stories about the said topic. Through reading and analyzing the styles of the previous writers, it can give ideas of how to quote or how to write a proper introduction. You can also compare your articles. But be careful not to commit plagiarism. Plagiarism is when you copy the works others and claim it as your own.