Topics should use class readings as a starting point. For example, you can choose Cicero’s understanding of fame as the conceptual center of your research. After you read carefully through the Cicero text and your notes, you can pose a number of relevant questions (Can fame be a good thing, too? Have the conditions for fame changed historically? etc.). These questions and your preliminary answers to them can become the introductory part of your paper. The second part of your paper needs to explain how you arrived at these preliminary answers (usually this is where you might need some further readings to use as substantiation). The third part should include analysis on possible objections to your view and demonstration of why these objections are not fatal to your thesis. The fourth part is where you conclude how successful your inquiry has been and what further questions remain unanswered.