Choosing a Topic Using Stasis Theory

Your Topic Should…

• Interest you—see if you can find something personally, academically, or professionally relevant.

• Be an issue of substance that can carry you through a 4-6 page, research-based report.

• Make an impact in the lives of specific communities of people that you can identify (remember that communities aren’t always geographically connected).

• Contain a debatable issue (or debatable issues) that allows you to examine multiple perspectives.

Don’t…

• Choose a topic you have no interest in.

• Choose a topic that has no relevance to people’s lives, and for which it is impossible to find research, different perspectives, or proposed solutions.

• Approach this informative report as an opportunity to make a readymade point. This assignment calls for you to genuinely engage with multiple viewpoints.

Stasis Theory

• Stasis theory is a four-question, pre-writing (invention) process developed in ancient Greece by Aristotle and Hermagoras (Brizee, 2013).

• When considering a potential topic, ask yourself what questions and disagreements might occur in the following four categories. Will it be possible for you to present different viewpoints in stasis?

Fact

• Did something happen?

• What are the facts?

• Is there a problem/issue?

• How did it begin and what are its causes?

• What changed to create the problem/issue?

• Can it be changed?

• Where did we obtain our data and are these sources reliable?

• How do we know they're reliable? (Brizee, 2013).

Definition (The Meaning or Nature of the Issue)

• What is the nature of the problem/issue?

• What exactly is the problem/issue?

• What kind of a problem/issue is it?

• To what larger class of things or events does it belong?

• What are its parts, and how are they related?

• Who/what is influencing our definition of this problem/issue?

• How/why are these sources/beliefs influencing our definition? (Brizee, 2013).

Quality (The Seriousness of the Issue)

• Is it a good thing or a bad thing?

• How serious is the problem/issue?

• Whom might it affect (stakeholders)?

• What happens if we don't do anything?

• What are the costs of solving the problem/issue?

• Who/what is influencing our determination of the seriousness of this problem/issue?

• How/why are these sources/beliefs influencing our determination? (Brizee, 2013).

Policy (The Plan of Action)

• Should action be taken?

• Who should be involved in helping to solve the problem/address the issue?

• What should be done about this problem?

• What needs to happen to solve this problem/address this issue?

• Who/what is influencing our determination of what to do about this problem/issue?

• How/why are these sources/beliefs influencing our determination? (Brizee, 2013).

Six Journalistic Questions

• Who?

• What?

• When?

• Why?

• How?

Achieving Stasis

• “Achieving stasis means that parties involved in a dialogue about a given issue have reached consensus on (or agreed upon) the information and conclusions in one or more of the stases” (Brizee, 2013).

• Consider whether potential topic choices will allow you to place different viewpoints in stasis. If stasis problems exist, that can itself be a source of discussion.

Guide to First-Year Composition Topic Suggestions

• Border health issues, Lowering water tables, Arroyo flooding, Domestic violence, Children’s health, Childhood poverty, Colonias—poverty, Overpopulation of animals, Sports issues, Mental health issues, Education issues, Off-Shore drilling (oil), Marriage Equality, Immigration, Adolescent Cosmetic Surgery, Racism, Separation of Church and State, Internet Addiction, Ageism, Public School System, Access to Technology, Native American Issues (p. 170).