A topical essay defines, describes and delineates a topic. It does so with specific reference to the project and thesis. OK, fair enough. Pick ONE of those topics of yours and explain it and its significance to your project. Which topic? Since most projects have half a dozen or more candidates, pick the one that will best improve your project, as your work stands today. Think about the context that lends the most significance to your project. Researching it now gives you more time to deepen it and add to it. Thinking much about it now gives you more time to discover connections and use topical contexts to your advantage.

    Or choose a topic/context of your project that you know is important but you just haven't gotten around to it yet. Now is a good time to get into it. Or, you may be on top of your various contexts through all the reading and research you have done. In any case, pick one and research IT, at first, apart from your thesis so that you do it justice. Explain its merits and significance. The connections to your specific inquiry will fly fast and far as your deepen your understanding of that context. Then, in more than one page but (usually) less than two pages, write about it, describe, define, delineate -- and connect it to your thought and work.

    Prepare to make a short, straightforward defense in class concerning this topic:

as crucial to your specific thesis;

as directly-connected to your project; (This is like the first, but 'crucial' can be subjectively exaggerated, while showing 'direct connections' is more objective.)

and as providing wider significance to your work and conclusions.

The best and only and primary way to take on topical essays and understanding: read, read, read Good Secondary Sources. Lots of them. Sort them out. Know the historians (know their history?); Think about them, then read more.