Should we be answering questions about what to write about?

Question

This question asks for guidelines on what to write about. In the realm of fiction we have already declared questions asking generically for plot ideas off-topic. In the linked meta question HedgeMage shows how questions asking more specific, focused questions can be on-topic.

Questions asking for what to write about in an essay seem to be a non-fiction version of asking for a plot idea. Are they also off-topic if they are not the tightly focused type of question that HedgeMage proposed?

I would propose that questions about what to write about, in any genre, are off-topic. A question that tries to hone an author's existing idea, on the other hand, should be on-topic. What do you think?

Answer 1

I would propose that questions about what to write about, in any genre, are off-topic. A question that tries to hone an author's existing idea, on the other hand, should be on-topic.

Agreed. If he does not know what to write about, we cannot help him anyway. Neither can we help if he is too timid to ask his advisor.

Answer 2

I felt bad for the poster because it seemed clear that this is a person who is not a native English speaker, and possibly not familiar with how Western universities work. However, those questions probably should have been addressed to the person's advisor, or the university itself.

I don't feel strongly that they should be closed, particularly if the person is asking because s/he doesn't even know what s/he doesn't know. But I see why they'd be considered off-topic.