Online Writing Lab at Purdue University
Purdue University Owl: Choosing a Topic
This Purdue University OWL (Online Writing Lab) provides information related to writing a research paper. This guide explains to choose an appropriate research paper topic.
Sophia Learning
Sophia: I've Been Assigned a Paper, Now What?
This tutorial focuses on selecting and narrowing a topic for a literary paper. It offers a flow chart of the writing process and two videos brainstorming topics using a web-style graphic organizer for each of two novels: "To Kill a...
Sophia Learning
Sophia: I Just Got Assigned a Paper, Now What?
This lesson focuses on what to do after being assigned a paper; it provides the basic steps to writing a paper: brainstorm topics, organize your thoughts (Venn diagrams, tree diagram examples), conduct preliminary research, create a...
Texas Education Agency
Texas Gateway: Generating Ideas and Questions About a Research Topic
This lesson focuses on creating a research question including determining the purpose and audience, brainstorming a topic, researching the question for information, and refining and narrowing the question. W.9-10.7 Research....
Lumen Learning
Lumen: Boundless Communications: Finding and Selecting a Topic
This lesson focuses on selecting a speech topic including the importance of choosing a good topic by considering your areas of expertise and areas of interest, brainstorming, tips for choosing a topic, and narrowing the topic to fit the...
Lumen Learning
Lumen: Writing Process: Selecting a Topic
This lesson plan focuses on selecting a writing topic including your approach to the assignment, understanding the assignment, purpose of the assignment, strategies for finding a topic, and how to narrow a topic to fit the scope and...
Lumen Learning
Lumen: Boundless Communications: Finding and Selecting a Topic
This site provides five links to help students select a topic: The importance of choosing a good topic, your areas of expertise, your areas of interest, brainstorming, and scoping your topic.
Can Teach
Can Teach: Writing Prompts and Journal Topics
This site has hundreds of writing prompts/journal topics to get students started writing. Topics like "what is" and "what if" will get students thinking about what they could write.
Cambridge Rindge & Latin School
Cambridge Rindge & Latin School: Creating Subtopic Headings
An excellent tip sheet on how to group information after brainstorming and prewriting.
ReadWriteThink
Read Write Think: Collaborative Prewriting and Drafting
A very useful lesson that incorporates the process of collaboration to elementary students. Students brainstorm and use prewriting strategies to write a group story.
Writing Fix
Writing Fix: Starting & Stopping With Strong Imagery: Revision Strategy
In this lesson, students will engage in revising their writings to incorporate sensory images. Students will brainstorm topics of places, away from their home, that are special. Then students will choose and then write a descriptive...
Better Lesson
Better Lesson: A Storm of Ideas
The first step in writing an informational text on the topic of students' choice is helping the student choose a topic of interest. Students will brainstorm ideas that will be possible final topics.
Texas Education Agency
Texas Gateway: The Writing Process: Generate Ideas and Questions
[Accessible by TX Educators. Free Registration/Login Required] Learn strategies to help you generate questions and ideas about a topic.
Other
Brain dance.com: Three Step Creative Writing Process
This process seems very involved, but there are good ideas for getting started on your creative writing if you're stuck at the brainstorming stage.
BioEd Online
Bio Ed Online: Design and Engineering Process
In this series of lessons learners employ an engineer's approach to solve problems and conduct a variety of hands-on activities. They use this strategy to identify the problem, brainstorm a solution, design a plan, build an object and...
ClassFlow
Class Flow: Research Questions
[Free Registration/Login Required] This lesson explores the steps of the research process - selecting an appropriate research topic, and delving more into the topic.CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.W.8
ClassFlow
Class Flow: Writing With Pizazz
[Free Registration/Login Required] This flipchart helps the students with the first step in the Six Traits Writing Process-- gathering ideas. Students are encouraged to analyze writing samples and brainstorm possible personal writing...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Live Like an Animal
In this activity, students design an innovative human shelter that is inspired and informed by an animal structure. Each group is assigned an animal class, and they gather information about shelters used by the animals in that class....
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Creative Engineering Design
Students are introduced to the world of creative engineering product design. Through six activities, teams work through the steps of the engineering design process (or loop) by completing an actual design challenge presented in six...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Environment
Through 10 lessons and more than 20 hands-on activities, students are introduced to the concept of an environment and the many interactions within it. As they learn about natural and human-made environments, as well as renewable and...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Intro to Engineering
Students are introduced to the basic principles behind engineering and the types of engineering while learning about a popular topic - the Olympics. The involvement of engineering in modern sports is amazing and pervasive. Students learn...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: All Caught Up: Bycatching and Design
Bycatch, the unintended capture of animals in commercial fishing gear, is one of the hottest topics in marine conservation today. About 25% of the entire global catch is bycatch. This surprisingly high level of bycatch is responsible for...
ReadWriteThink
Read Write Think: Color Poems: Using the Five Senses to Guide Prewriting
Contains plans for four 50-minute lessons that ask students to use their five senses for poetry prewriting. In addition to student objectives and standards, this instructional plan contains links to PDF handouts and sites used in the...
Writing Fix
Writing Fix: Great Lists Inspire Great Writing
A writer's workshop idea where students work together to brainstorm a list a possible writing topics to use throughout the year. Idea lists for primary and intermediate students are provided.