First, the selection of topics should be closely related to the guide as much as possible.
Don't be too big or too long. Do not chase hot topics and pile up to avoid the formation of a strong research force "big crash". When selecting the topic, it is necessary to consider whether the selected relevant topic data is sufficient, whether the members of the research group have the strength and foundation in the preliminary research, and whether the composition of the research team is in line with the topic selection. It is necessary to seek truth from facts, do what you can, and do not declare topics that are not the director's head. Handle the relationship between "customized" topics and "guide topics". The topic selection does not necessarily copy the topics of the "Guide" in its original form, but can narrow down some of the scope according to the region and the field you are familiar with, and you can resolve the topics of the "Guide" into the topics that the applicant has to do, because the scope is relatively large, and it is generally not good to do big and small questions; Some judges can't understand it, so they can write a sentence or two to indicate which type of topic or scope it evolved from. 
The second is to highlight the characteristics of localities, nationalities, and disciplines.
The topic guide covers 26 disciplines and thousands of topics, how to find a suitable topic for yourself? This requires highlighting our characteristics, what are our characteristics? The so-called characteristics include local characteristics, national characteristics or excellent disciplines. Taking Guangxi as an example, the economy, society, culture, and ethnicity all have their own characteristics, and if we can find a suitable topic from them, the hit rate of the declaration will be higher. Over the years, the highest hit rate of Guangxi's declared projects is ethnic projects. From the point of view of the declared topics, 8 of the 9 national social science projects declared in 1984 and 2007 are related to "nationality", of course, they are not necessarily declared in the discipline of "ethnic issues", and some are declared in the discipline of sociology, such as "Research on Constructing a Harmonious Society in the Reservoir Area and Mining Area of the Southwest Ethnic Region"; Some of them are Chinese history, such as the "South China Sea Silk Road" and China's Southeast Asian National Economic and Cultural Exchange, which was declared for project approval in 2007. Judging from these two topics, the local reservoir mining areas and the South China Sea Silk Road are relatively distinctive in Guangxi and southwest China. Ethnicity The Southwest Ethnic Region has the largest number of ethnic minority species and populations in the country, with a vast geographical area, and the cross-border ethnic economies and cultures of China and ASEAN are rich and colorful. Superior Disciplines The study of national economy, national culture, and the Zhuangtai ethnic group in China and ASEAN are relatively advantageous in the country. The third is to consider the previous achievements of the members of the research group.
Topic selection should consider whether the declared topic has preliminary results, this is also very important, there are preliminary results, the judges are easy to pass, if there are no preliminary results, no matter how good the argumentation is, the judges are worried that you spend too much time, and you can't get the results in one or two years. So this should also be considered. For young people, what if there is no upfront results? Therefore, it is necessary to combine the members of the research group, find some colleagues, teachers, and even teachers from outside the institute who have achieved research results in this area to cooperate, and use their results to enhance the weight of the early results of the project. This kind of application of the project and the combination of the members of the research group itself is also a process of learning from colleagues and teachers. Fourth, the topic selection should have a sense of the times.
The so-called sense of the times is to keep up with the subject guide, keep up with the latest major national deployment, and keep up with the latest international developments to choose topics. In a word, the topic selection should keep pace with the times, keep up with the domestic and foreign situation, and not lag behind the situation. Fifth, it is necessary to stay close to the frontier of theory.
That is, to track the academic frontier, and the topic in this area is more valuable, so it is easy to be shortlisted. For example, in the past two years, the guidelines have highlighted the "South China Sea issue", "urban-rural integration issue", and "ecological civilization" as cutting-edge theoretical issues. Sixth, the topic selection should be of national significance.
It cannot be only of local significance, or of local significance. Of course, it is also possible to have a scope similar to the southwest region, and only those with the whole country and the overall situation are generally easy to set up projects. Seventh, it is closely related to their own research field.
It is best to derive a number of sub-topics from the large field of your research as a topic, so that you can do it in this field for ten or eight years, or even a lifetime, and become an academic leader in this field.