J. Kelly Robison
Choosing a topic involves some thought. You need to come up with a topic for your research paper, explain what that topic is, why you want to do it.
Choosing a topic is perhaps the single most important part of writing a good paper. If the subject is of no interest to you, you will have trouble writing an interesting paper about it. Think of choosing a topic as a process. As you work on the paper, the topic will become more and more narrow, more and more focused.
Begin choosing a topic by looking into some general area of interest. For example, you might be especially interested in political movements or women's history. Look through a general work on the subject to get some sense of the possibilities in that area. You may even wish to read a survey history of the field, just to get a sense of the possibilities.
Once you are sure that sources exist, start narrowing the subject. Focus on a particular individual, period, genre event or document. You should not choose too broad a topic. You only have a semester and relatively few pages to write this paper, so a paper on "The Civil War" would not be a good idea. At the same time, avoid a topic which is too narrow. A paper on "What Hitler had for breakfast March 7, 1937" would also not be a good idea.
While you are narrowing the topic of the paper, one tip that might help do so is to ask a question about your topic. If the answer looks to be too long, then ask a question that would lead to answer that does not take as long to formulate. Asking the question will also help when you begin to write your paper. The answer to the question will be your thesis.