Chapter 1 covered the general issues of choosing an appropriate topic, and one that would appeal to an audience, specifically one that they would have some general knowledge on or something that was meaningful to them. If it did any of those, then they would be more likely to read your writing. And the other part of the chapter went over on how you can write and research a topic with confidence. Learning how to research a topic properly and start to form a side on the topic is important to do early on. If you're trying to learn about a topic but don't know what to look for or what is a trustworthy, unbiased source of information, it can make your job a lot harder then it should be. And when you do find a reliable source, you should put it somewhere where you can remember and come back to it. Then you must be able to figure out the different positions that are being taken within the source. From there you got to find out how you are going to take certain information and correctly use it or place it into your paper. Overall the first chapter just helps you figure out how to get a start on your topic and manage in a timely and ordered fashion.