The Art of the Audio Essay
PWR 2 Winter Quarter 2008
Jonah G. Willihnganz
Stanford University

Choosing Topics for Your Research Project

Choosing a compelling, researchable topic is the first and most important step in creating an accessible, provacative audio essay. The first thing to keep in mind is that your topic must be arguable and researchable—that is, you want to choose an issue or question that can be answered (at least to some dgree) by research. In order to discover your topic and develop your point of view on the topic, you will need to do a substantial amount of digging well before writing your pitches or scripts. Use the skills you learned in PWR 1 to do some of this digging. I would suggest especially looking at secondary sources on the topic that interests you and talking with a reference librarian. Remember too that to produce your the research and audio essays this term you will need to do all of the following in some form and at some point:

• find a variety of recent and older print sources, as well as reliable Internet sources
• define, explain, and take a position on your topic (even if that position will not be foregrounded in your audio essay)
• explore and temporarily adopt credible views in opposition to your original stance
• explain the history of the controversy and its place within a larger cultural debate
• gather audio, be it interviews, music, ambient sound, sound bites

Some students find choosing a topic difficult. The best advice I can give you at the outset is the following. First, choose a topic that genuinely interests you and that you want to investigate. If you research something that just seems topical, then you will produce lackluster scripts and "flat" audio. Go for the fire. Second, choose something that seems well suited to audio. The best pieces are often those whose object of analysis can be relayed via audio.

One way to spark ideas (especially when choosing the topic of your first commentary/perspective audio piece) is to browse through the editorials or letters section of your favorite newspaper or magazine, and to look for opinions that intrigue or enrage you. If you feel at a loss, make a list of your own interests and affiliations, your major, your hobbies, your pet peeves, or your most recent quarrels. For public policy topics in particular, think about what it is that might get you angry or interested enough to sign a petition, boycott a product, write a Congressperson, attend a rally, or just raise your voice a bit.

When brainstorming topics for the second audio essay, think about the best true stories you know—be they your own or those of friends, family, and ask: does this story offer my audience something unusual, particular? Consider what Ira Glass says in Radio: An Illustrated Guide: the stories that stick with us are those that teach us something, whose "reflection" produces reflection. Even if you produce a documentary without a narrator (like the "WASPS: Women Pilots of WWII") you will want to identify some message, some lesson or provocation that lifts the piece above simply capturing a slice of life and encourages reflection.