From UBC:
Don’t you hate it when the prof says you can “write about anything”? So do I.
So maybe this will help:
1. Begin with a Big Idea
2. Imagine many different questions. What would these people ask about the Big Idea?
3. Presearch a few of the most interesting questions. Look them up in Google, and Wikipedia and see what general data you can uncover. Try an easy search in Articles Plus.
4. Narrow the possibilities according to
5. Now, you probably have a topic!
Here are some places to go browsing for starter ideas:
Another way into subtopics: Visuwords creates a mindmap of related terms related to the one you type in.