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--- the_quest:choosing_a_topic [2015/01/24 23:13] – [What’s a good topic?] Ryan Schram (admin)
+++ the_quest:choosing_a_topic [2020/08/09 20:41] – Ryan Schram (admin)
@@ Line 6: / Line 6: @@
 ===== A topic is a place =====
-We embark on research because we want to know more. Any research project can potentially go on forever, and we only have 13 weeks. So, it’s important to set limits, and to specify what you want to examine as clearly as possible, and stick to it.
+We embark on research because we want to know more. Any research project can potentially go on forever, and but any project must come to an end, so you have to set limits on what you will study. The topic of a research project is like the setting of a story. It has people, a place, and a time. In fact, that is sort of where the word //topic// comes from. //Topos// in Greek means ‘place’. What place will you be going to in your reading of ethnographic writing on your interests?
-This is anthropology, so we are looking at people. In [[:2667:start|ANTH 2667]], you will be looking at issues arising from the relation of religion to culture and society. The topic of a research project in anthropology is like the setting of a story. It has people, a place, and a time. In fact, that is sort of where the word //topic// comes from. //Topos// in Greek means ‘place’. What place will you be going to in your reading of ethnographic writing on your interests?
 Finding a topic is a process. We start with something we care about, usually. Issues and interests become topics when we think about who, what, where and when.:
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 And remember, this is about setting limits. A clear topic tells you what facts you will be seeking, and what you are not researching too. [[Brainstorming]] topics helps here.
-In order to make your topics specific, you may actually have to do some preliminary reading on your own in the library (see Booth, Colomb and Williams 2008: 35-40). The [[:2667:Starting points for your research|bibliography in the ANTH 2667]] outline gives you several starting points.
+In order to make your topics specific, you may actually have to do some preliminary reading on your own in the library (see Booth, Colomb and Williams 2008: 35-40). Look over the reading lists from your classes, especially those that you thought were the most interesting and exciting. These assigned readings can lead you to other, related work on the same topics.
 Also, be aware that many things are not topics at all. Academic literature is littered with buzzwords and empty phrases. Phrases like 'Phenomenology of religion' or 'ritual symbols' or 'language ideology' are shorthand terms that scholars use to characterize their analyses. They are used by academics whose work may be very useful for your own research, but these phrases are not topics of research. If you have encountered ideas and concepts you want to learn more about, and you think they are relevant, you need to think about the factual stuff that people apply these ideas and interpretations to. What are the examples that these scholars use? Can you derive a topic from these factual examples?