Browsing through the Idea Bank topics, you might lots of topics that you don't know a whole lot about.

Not to worry. You don't have to have your doctorate in the topic to write a great Hub.

However, you might have to do some searching...

Think of it as a little research project. How much can you learn about this topic and teach someone else in the form of a Hub? Try following these steps:

1. Google the topic. What kinds of pages are coming up? Some pages will include certain information, others will include different information. Collect the full breadth of information for assembly into your Hub that will have it all.
2. Do a better job. Take notes from the other sites you've seen. Paraphrase them, find a better way of explaining the topic. (But do not just copy the text into your Hub.) Format your own text in an easier-to-read way.
3. Add multimedia. Check YouTube and Google Video for relevant videos (they have videos on everything nowadays). Check Google Image Search for a photo or graphic that helps "anchor" what you're talking about. Both are easily inserted using Video and Photo capsules, respectively.
4. Poke around the blogosphere. Find other blogs on the same topic using Technorati. Post a well-informed comment about what you've found in the blog's comments, with a link to your Hub. If you suggest to that blog's readers that you know what you're talking about, then they might follow your link to your Hub.

Pick a topic from the Idea Bank »

2007 is almost upon us, so we'd like to take this opportunity to spread a little new year cheer:

HubNugget 1: Traditions around the world

"In Spain and Portugal, it is customary to eat twelve grapes or raisins at each stroke of the clock at midnight (a similar practice takes place in the Philippines following the New Year's Eve fiesta meal, but only 7 grapes are eaten). In Poland, jelly doughnuts (paczki) are traditional of New Year's Eve. In Russia, children receive gifts and ginger cakes are eaten. In Japan, New Year's is a 7-day festival, starting on January 1st (unlike many Asian cultures which use a lunar calendar-see below-Japan converted to a solar calendar in 1868)..." Read more »

HubNugget 2: Where we'll be living in 76 years

"The buildings are vertical cities. People live and work in the same buildings. When you compare the energy and pollution costs of commuting in the horizontal cities and comparing that to the equivalent activity in our green houses, you end up with at least a 75% reduction in energy consumption and a 90% decrease in smog causing pollutants..." Read more »

HubNugget 3: Not just Auld Lang Syne

""First footing" (or the "first person" to visit the house after midnight) is still common across Scotland. To ensure good luck for the house the first foot should be a dark haired male, and should bring with him symbolic pieces of coal, shortbread, salt, black bun and a wee dram of whisky..." Read more »

HubNugget 4: No Luddite: Embrace technology

"One of the reasons I started this hub was to promote an upbeat view of the future. It seems like people have been living half-asleep, doing the things they do just because that's what they always do. Technology has become so common that innovation just sneaks in unappreciated. So here, I point out the little things gone right. The cool, interesting and new keeps life from going stale..." Read more »

HubNugget 5: The future can be daunting

"How much is too much future? I always wonder if I think too much about what's to come. Should I be focusing on what's going on now? Or is it just a matter of the way people are, how they think, what's on their mind. It seems like everything I do is for the future but it feels like maybe I need to keep my spirit in the present. Maybe it's like an equation in which I have to take into consideration the number of years of the average life, the money I have and/or will have, the resources I have access to, and so on..." Read more »

Have an idea for a HubNugget-worthy Hub? Show us what you got:

Did you know?

1. What are the 3 most popular flavors of ice cream in Japan (in order)?

a) vanilla, chocolate, green tea

b) green tea, red bean, rice

c) caramel, vanilla, ginger

d) strawberry, vanilla, cherry

2. How much coffee can a typical coffee tree yield in one year (1 kg = 2.2 lbs)?

a) 1-3 lbs

b) 5-8 lbs

c) 10-13 lbs

d) 20-22 lbs

3. What's unusual about expensive Indonesian kopi luwak coffee beans?

a) the trees grow underwater

b) the beans are sun-dried and don't need roasting

c) they are illegal in the U.S. because they have small amounts of cocaine

d) they are harvested from the feces of a marsupial

4. About how many peanuts are required to make an 18 oz. jar of peanut butter ?

a) 350

b) 850

c) 1,200

d) 3,000

5. How long does a typical olive tree live?

a) 15 years

b) 100 years

c) 500 years

d) 2,500 years

Answers: 1 a, 2 a, 3 d, 4 b, 5 c