Photo by Nenyaki, some rights reserved.
Heard the old saying, get a job doing what you love, so you’ll never again have to work a day in your life? Use the same principle when choosing a research topic.
When given the option, select a topic in which you are either very interested or an issue related to your career goals.
Benefits for researching a topic in your field of interest include gaining a mastery of current (or relevant) issues to that particular profession. Every career has discussions of controversy, growth, and discovery. By researching, then writing, about those subjects you become aware of what interests people in those professions, as well as more knowledgeable and conversant. Think of it as prepping for an interview!
You will also become familiar with the language used in that field. Every profession has jargon and acronyms. Getting comfortable articulating those terms and absorbing their meanings acclimates you to a field of interest. While researching your topic, you’ll be reading articles filled with unfamiliar terms and words in journals written for specific areas of interest. View those journals as your code book, which can unlock the doors to sounding more professional when speaking about your desired career area.
For handbooks on writing, try some of the titles at the GPC library compiled on this study guide.
