The feedback you get from me and the other students in the class should help you focus on these points, which may then be incorporated into your paper. Some professors prefer not to write prompts for their assignments. Other professors prompt some assignments but leave others open for the students to determine for themselves. The pedagogical advantage of the open assignment is that it allows students to learn to develop topics on their own. In the open assignment, students are not only permitted to pursue intellectual questions that are of interest to them, but they also gain some experience in framing a topic that is neither too narrow nor too broad.
Some professors type up a list of topics that have been successful in past courses.
Other professors give explicit instruction in what the paper shouldn't do, and leave it to the students to determine what they want to do within these limitations. Still others ask students to submit their topics so that they can determine, before the students proceed too far, whether or not these topics are appropriate and promising. Many professors believe that assigning journals or personal writing assignments help students to write better, more meaningful academic papers. For a discussion of how and what kinds of personal writing serve a course's academic aims, see Managing the Personal.