Subject Librarian for the Social Sciences
Choosing a topic
What makes a good speech topic?
Your speech topic should:
- meet the assignment requirements
- be something that interests you
- be not so broad or so narrow that you can't find relevant resources. In my experience, students tend to have lots of good ideas for topics, but they are initially too big; the kind of topic you could write a whole book about. For a short speech, you need a topic you can address in your limited time.
Example topics
| Broad Topic | Focused Topic |
|---|---|
| Immigration |
DACA should be renewed as part of an immigration overhaul |
| Gun control | People with domestic violence charges should not be allowed access to guns |
| Obesity | Funding for school lunch programs should be increased to enable schools to offer more healthful food choices |
| Therapy animals | Describe how a specific type of therapy animal supports those with a specific health concern |
| Health care for veterans | Funding for PTSD programs should be increased |
How a focused research topic influences your search process
This video from a library in Canada demonstrates how narrowing your research topic can change your research process and make it eaiser to find sources that are relevant to what you want to discuss.