Chapter Two - Exploring & Focusing

In this chapter of the Bedford Reader it answers the question of how to explore your topic. To explain this the first part of the chapter is set up in to multiple parts or steps to help you focus in on your topic. Step 1: Create a Plan. Step 2: Discuss your Topic. Step 3: Conduct Preliminary Observations. Step 4: Find and Review Sources. While all these steps are important and talked about in the book the book spends a lot of time discussing step: 4. It is important to find good scholarly sources that reflect your ideas and that you use all types of resources you can. It is also important to take note of your searches and your search results. Later in the chapter the book discusses how to focus on your topic in order to start finding your thesis and main supporting arguments and points. This chapter was helpful because it helped me to start to understand what it means to explore topics and ideas when writing a paper. Even if you have a topic it with all the different opinions in the world your paper could go alot of different directions.