Ways to select your topic:

Brainstorming: Write down as many ideas for your assignment as you can- look through your textbook or other sources for ideas.

Current event survey: Check a couple reputable open web sources, such as AllSides or ProCon. You can also look through OC news resources for topics of interest suitable for your assignment.

Check library resources: Use CQ Researcher to browse current topics suitable for your assignment.

Ways to refine your topic:

Free associate: Write down ideas that come to you. Don't worry about grammar or punctuation at this point. If you are better at speaking than writing, try recording your ideas. You could sketch a drawing to capture any ideas you have about your topic.

Clustering/Mind mapping: Write your main idea in the center of a page, then write information about that idea around the topic. Draw lines to connect the ideas that belong together to help you refine your topic (example video).

Browse sources: Do a keyword search in the library catalog or article databases like Academic Search Complete to see how others have treated the topic, then browse those sources for ideas.