Essay topics: what makes an excellent college essay topic?

After reading a plethora of unoriginal and redundant college essays, you must realize that your tutors expect you to find the best college essay topics. A college essay topic is a subject that makes your college application shine. An essay topic can also be an element that accompanies a standard university essay. The best way to approach the college essay topic is to brainstorm ideas. 

A college essay topic that is written in accordance with the required university standards will help the readers understand your point and follow your line of reasoning. It will also demonstrate your ability to conduct independent research and bring forth innovative ideas. If finding a relevant essay topic sounds like a boring college obligation, we offer assistance by delivering this brief guide on what an essay topic encompasses. The guide will help you navigate the complicated world of academic requirements and choose an essay topic that will impress your peers and professors alike.

How to understand the college essay assignment 

Your choice of essay ideas will depend on the type of essay that you have been assigned. Here are the main essay types available:

Persuasive essay

• A persuasive essay requires you to choose a subject that you have a strong opinion about;
• A persuasive essay should fulfill its purpose by having a subject that is strong enough to change other people’s minds.

Explanatory essay  

• You should choose an explanatory essay topic that you know on a professional level, as you will be forced to provide an explanation of the idea over the space of the entire essay;
• An explanatory essay topic should not be too complicated, so we advise against writing a guide on constructing a rocket (opt for simpler subjects instead).

Compare and contrast essay

• Choose a subject that has many similarities and differences (you can choose famous people as the subjects for your compare and contrast essay);
• Never choose a topic that will inspire dull, unoriginal comparisons (saying that two actors have a lot in common because they are both performers can feel trivial and boring).

Narrative essay

• Choose an essay topic that allows you to tell a story;
• Select a topic that allows you to describe a transformative event in your life.

When brainstorming topics for your essay, you should also understand the assignment prompt. An assignment prompt is a list of instructions that will guide you through the academic paper and give you a sense of direction. Use the assignment prompt as a starting point for your personal essay topics. 

Anyone reading your college essay topic can be identified as your potential audience. You should estimate their age, social status, gender, expectations, beliefs, values, and assumptions to know what subject they will find the most compelling.  You should also have a clear goal in mind when choosing a specific essay topic. Your opinion essay ideas need to shift the people’s views on the subject and persuade them to support your point. Once you are familiar with the audience that you are writing for, you can construct a clear picture of what your essay theme is going to be focused on.

Ways to brainstorm ideas for your college essay

How to choose a college essay topic when all the good themes have already been taken? Fortunately, there are still tips that you can use to brainstorm ideas:

Use personal experiences

How to choose a college essay topic effectively? Your audience will want to resonate with you on a personal level. We recommend choosing a subject that will make you sound relatable to the general audience. For instance, you can describe a time when someone or something made you question your beliefs. 

Explore relevant context 

If you are writing a compare-and-contrast essay, you can choose a subject that illustrates the similarities and differences between the leaders of two opposing countries or the members of parliament. This will show the audience that you know the state of current affairs.

Use your books and movies

You can find compelling topics for essay with the help of books and films. For instance, a descriptive essay that focuses on the emotional arc of one of the main characters from either a work of fiction or a popular movie can add hidden depths to your academic paper.

Start improvising

If you are not sure whether your college essay topic research is going in the right direction, you can start improvising. One of the best improvisation tactics is free writing. It inspires creativity and encourages positive thinking, so don’t be afraid to write down a few ideas before you finally decide on the central focus of your college essay topic.

Create a mind map

Place the main idea for your essay in the center of the diagram and add supporting ideas as you work on the topic. When we are trying to brainstorm 100 concepts and theories at once, it can take a toll on how we perceive our college essay topic. A mind map, on the other hand, turns broad ideas into succinct definitions that are significantly easier to work with.

Making the topic more specific 

Coming up with decent college essay topics can be hard. You can remedy this by determining the main idea of your college essay topic. The main idea of the essay can be found in the assignment prompt, but if you are given free rein to decide which topic will be a central one, you can start annotating the passages of the text you are working with and summarizing the key points.

In addition, you need to determine the scope of your topic (what limitations can be used to stay within the required word count). A college essay will normally comprise 650-1000 words, so anything beyond that count is considered ill-advised and not relevant to the scope of your essay. You should also ensure the relevance of your college essay ideas. 

If you find it impossible to assess the audience’s motivation in exploring your topic, you can always seek reliable assistance from an essay rewriter. An essay rewriter is well-versed in the art of assessing the topic’s significance and will pick a theme that will ignite deep reflection and introspection.

Conduct essay topic research 

If you are thinking about what to write an essay about, you should start with finding a valid source of information. Once you have located the source, you must assess its credibility. You may ask several questions to determine the source's credibility:

• Who is the authority that explores the topic? 
• What is the evidence of their authority?
• Does the information contradict the one you know?
• Does the information they provide meet your needs?

After you have scanned the list of personal essay topics, you can start taking notes. The best way to take notes is to organize them by putting similar information together. For instance, if you have been taking notes on the similarities and differences between two political leaders, you can make two columns and specify each leader’s traits by category.

How to create a thesis statement 

Now that you have decided on the essay topics that suit you best, you can finally concentrate all of your efforts on a thesis statement. A thesis statement is a perfect summary of all the central points of your text. So, how can you choose a thesis statement that will make your content memorable?

• If you have no idea what to write an essay about. You should research essay topics for college and pick a subject that is considered controversial.
• Present the subject as the main focus of your college essay;
• Express one main idea based on the nature of the subject;
• State your conclusions about the subject.

Make sure that your thesis statement, just like your opinion essay ideas, is specific to keep the readers interested. You can do this in a number of ways, including the use of the counterargument technique. The counterargument will help the audience see both sides of the issue and follow the supporting ideas in your essay.

How to outline the essay

Outlining your essay is meaningful on a number of levels. The outline helps you organize different parts of the essay and compose information in a more orderly fashion. Moreover, the essay outline helps you stay on track with your findings. When you see all of your notes on paper, you realize that finding logical connections between paragraphs has never been easier. The outline features four key components:

• Defining the main objective of the essay;
• Eliminating unnecessary data;
• Determining the key arguments of your essay;
• Creating an outline using a template.

To identify the main points of the essay, you can use the research paper guidelines provided by a professional writing service. This will make the task easier and save you time. Analyzing an essay topic will also require you to provide supporting evidence in favor of your statements. 

For example, if you are writing about the importance of preserving natural resources as one of your research essay topics for college, you might mention the three main benefits of being an environmental change advocate (make sure your evidence is provided using credible sources). 

Writing the essay: what you need to know

Introduction

Your introduction should emphasize your key ideas in a creative manner. You should also deliver any background information that the readers might not be aware of (think of your reader as someone who has a vague understanding of the topic). This will help you adhere to a more minimalistic approach when writing an introduction, including the absence of formal language and specific terms and definitions.

Body paragraphs

Body paragraphs comprise the center of your essay and should be logically connected to the paragraphs going before them or after them. Each of the paragraphs should have a succinct topic sentence that will summarize the purpose of the paragraph. After you have explained the topic sentence to your audience, you need to explore the evidence. Each body paragraph should be concluded with a sentence that reiterates its main purpose.

Conclusion

Some scholars repeatedly refer to the essay conclusion as the restatement of the thesis. However, a conclusion never mindlessly repeats the points that you have expressed earlier. It serves as a final component to tie up the pieces of your essay together. The last sentence of the essay conclusion should end with a thought-provoking idea. You need to provide your audience with something they can reflect on based on the research that you’ve conducted.

The process of editing and revision

Here is what you can do to ensure a smooth flow and an effective essay revision:

• Review the overall message of the essay for coherence. Check if the essay has logical, uninterrupted transitions between paragraphs. You can pretend you are a university professor as you start the proofreading process. If your assignment has an unclear general message (what the writer is trying to say with the essay topic), you need to reassess your sentence structure.

• Check the text for grammar and punctuation mistakes. No one wants to read a paper that is full of typos, and your college tutor is no exception. You can run the essay through the spell checker or use free online grammar checkers to identify the source of the problem (commas, wrong verb tenses, punctuation).

• Ask your peers and instructors for feedback. In order to receive an objective assessment of your essay topic, you should ask your peers to evaluate your essay. You can also request unbiased feedback from your university instructor. They will have no reason to withhold the truth and will point out the most challenging aspects that need to be addressed.

FAQ 

How long should my essay be?

The essay length will depend on the type of academic level that you are currently at. A standard college application essay should not be more than 650 words, while high school and undergraduate essays may feature 1,000-1,500 words.

Can I choose a topic that I'm not interested in?

Unless you have received specific instructions from your college counselor asking you to focus on an essay topic that you don’t find engaging, you can choose any subject for your academic assignment, regardless of its current popularity.

How do I know if my topic is too broad or too narrow?

Your essay topic is too broad if you are overwhelmed by information when trying to search for credible sources. You can think of your topic as too narrow if there is hardly any data available on the selected topic.

Can I change my essay topic after I've started writing?

You are allowed to change your essay topics after you have started writing. Still, you are obliged to inform the university counselor about your decision so that they can find you a new instructor to supervise your task.

How do I cite sources in my essay?

You can cite the sources using the APA, MLA, or Chicago citation styles. Each of these styles will help you use the in-text citations and include the author’s name in the bibliography list at the end of the essay.

Conclusion

Choosing topics for essay can be a challenging part of a student’s academic life. You are stuck with a myriad of choices, but none of them seem to fit the criteria. Luckily, we have some of the best strategies to help you select a topic. You should start with the assignment prompt and brainstorm ideas on paper to have a visual aid while writing. Creating a mind map is another strategy to pick a theme that will resonate with the audience. After you have selected your essay topics, you can finally start with the essay outline and adhere to the proper essay structure for a well-rounded, engaging task.