Choosing a Topic
One of the most difficult steps in beginning a research paper can be choosing a topic. Below you will find suggestions for selecting and focusing a topic and lists of possible topics to help jump start the process for you.
Focusing a broad topic
Where to find ideas for topics
Helpful suggestions for current events topics
Helpful suggestions for topic of local interest
A list of topic ideas
Strategies for focusing a broad research topic
- Develop a tentative focus. Make a list of things you already know about the topic and a list of questions you would like to answer about the topic. From the list of questions, choose those you find most interesting.
- Get some background information on your topic. If you know very little about the topic you have chosen, you may
experience difficulty narrowing it.
Having
some background knowledge on the topic will help you decide how to
narrow your focus.
- Do some preliminary background reading of an article in a subject encyclopedia - Ask a Librarian for assistance with this step.
- Look for magazine articles to get a general idea of the key issues or controversies involved in your topic. Academic Search Premier or Expanded Academic ASAP are both good starting places to find magazine articles.
- Browse CQ Researcher. This is a great source for finding background information and overviews of a wide array of topics.
- Narrow your topic by choosing a particular perspective on the issue. Scholars from different subject fields will approach your topic from different angles and will bring different points of view to bear on the subject. A specialist in genetics will approach the topic genetic engineering of plants differently than a nutritionist, an environmentalist, or an economist.
- Narrow your topic by limiting it to a specific time period or geographic area. This will help better focus your search for information. Look for Limit options in the databases you search.
Finding research topic ideas
You can find ideas for research topics by using the following strategies and resources:
- Scan your textbook for topic ideas and suggestions.
- Think of what you have read or seen recently that interested you. You'll be spending a bit of time on your research paper, so be sure to choose a topic that will sustain your interest!
- Draw on your other classes for inspiration. Are there issues, ideas, or materials from other classes that intrigue you? Is there something you’d like to learn more about?
- Pick a topic that is practical. Are you considering a career in politics, hoping to start your own business, or thinking of studying abroad next year? Choose a topic that allows you to learn about something you can apply to your daily life.
- Browse an encyclopedia for ideas.
- General encyclopedias cover all subject areas, and might give you some good ideas. The Undergraduate Library has some located in the Reference Collection, in the 032 call number area. Check the Index volumes for subjects. (Important Note: General encyclopedia articles, while acceptable for high school papers, are generally too superficial in their treatment of a subject for use as sources in a college research assignment. General encyclopedias are a good starting point for your research, but you will need to move on to other types of sources for more detailed treatment of your topic).
- Browsing the Wikipedia can provide some topic ideas. Keep in mind when doing so that anyone can change and edit entries in Wikipedia.
Tips for researching current events topics
- Understanding the role of publication timing and limitations. The publication of current event information follows a timeline that will impact when scholarly information becomes available. Information about current events can first be found via online news sources, such as CNN and MSNBC. They will then appear in newspapers within the next few days, followed by weekly news magazines. Scholarly information about a current event can take up to a year or more to appear in print as scholarly articles take longer to research, write, and publish than do news stories. If you are researching a very current topic, you should not expect to find scholarly sources about that particular event. However, you may find information about similar events that will be useful to your research.
- Suggested strategies if you need scholarly sources: Choose events that have been going on for at least several months, older events, or events that can be placed in historic perspective. By choosing events that meet one or more of these criteria, you should be able to locate sufficient scholarly sources on your topic, which you can then combine with news sources.
- Print sources for current events topics.
Articles in
these sources tend to be brief and to report or describe the facts,
offering little or no analysis. While these may be good sources for
descriptions and facts, most research assignments require academic,
authoritative, and detailed analyses of events.
Browse recent issues of the following for ideas:- Facts on File - Undergraduate Reference Collection, call number Q 070 Ed46
- Editorials on File - Undergraduate Reference Collection, call number 051 FACT
- Newsweek - Undergraduate Library periodicals
- Time - Undergraduate Library periodicals
- CQ Researcher - Undergraduate Reference Collection, call number 300.97305 CQ. Online edition here.
- Online sources for current events topics. Articles in
these sources tend to be brief and to report or describe the facts,
offering little or no analysis. While these may be good sources for
descriptions and facts, most research assignments require academic,
authoritative, and detailed analyses of events.
Search the following for ideas:- Access World News The first place to look for newspaper articles.
- Lexis-Nexis Academic Select the Power Search tab and then select U.S. Newspapers and Wires from the options in Select Source.
- Newspaper Source (EBSCO) - Identifies articles in regional U.S. newspapers, international newspapers, newswires and newspaper columns, as well as TV and radio news transcripts.
Tips for researching topics of local interest
- Finding information: Local
news information may not be of national interest and, thus, will not
appear in national sources. The best sources for local information
include:
- Daily Illini, UIUC student newspaper
- The News Gazette, Champaign-Urbana local newspaper
- Chicago Tribune, regional newspaper
- Other local resources
specifically collect and document campus and local history:
- University Archives - contains records and publications from university offices.
- Student Life and Culture Archival Program - contains information documenting student life.
Topic Ideas
The list that follows is based on topics that the Undergraduate Library has noted of interest to students in the past few years. The broader categories are in bold, with suggested topics listed below.
Business
- Cybersecurity
- E-business
- Ethics
- Glass ceiling
- Online retail
- Outsourcing
- Sweatshops
- White collar crime
- Acquaintance rape
- Animal rights
- Assisted suicide
- Campus violence
- Capital punishment
- Civil rights
- Drinking age, legal
- Drug legalization
- Gun control
- Hate crimes
- Insanity defense
- Mandatory Minimum sentencing
- Patriot Act
- Police brutality
- Prisons and prisoners
- Roe vs. Wade
- Serial killers
- Sex crimes
- Sexual harassment
- Three Strikes Law
Drugs and Drug Abuse
- Alcohol
- Cocaine
- Doping in sports
- Drug testing
- Drunk driving
- Heroin
- Marijuana
- Nicotine
Education
- Attention deficit disorder
- Charter schools
- College admission policies
- College athletes
- College tuition planning
- Distance education
- Diploma mills
- Education and funding
- Grade inflation
- Greek letter societies
- Hazing
- Home schooling
- Intelligence tests
- Learning disabilities
- Literacy in America
- Mascots (Illiniwek)
- No Child Left Behind
- Plagiarism
- Prayer in schools
- Sex education
- School vouchers
- Standardized tests
Environmental
- Acid rain
- Alternative fuel/hybrid vehicles
- Conservation
- Deforestation
- Endangered species
- Energy
- Global warming
- Greenhouse effect
- Landfills
- Marine pollution
- Nuclear energy
- Oil spills
- Pesticides
- Pollution
- Population control
- Radioactive waste disposal
- Recycling
- Smog
- Soil pollution
- Wildlife conservation
Family issues
- Battered woman syndrome
- Child abuse
- Divorce rates
- Domestic abuse
- Family relationships
- Family values
Health
- Abortion
- AIDS
- Attention deficit disorder
- Alternative medicine
- Alzheimer’s Disease
- Anorexia Nervosa
- Artificial insemination
- Autism
- Birth control
- Bulimia
- Cancer
- Depression
- Dietary supplements
- Drug abuse
- Dyslexia
- Exercise and fitness
- Fad diets
- Fast food
- Heart disease
- HIV infection
- In vitro fertilization
- Medicaid/Medicare reform
- Obesity
- Organic foods
- Prescription drugs
- Plastic surgery
- Sleep
- Smoking
- Stem cell research
- Teen pregnancy
- Vegetarianism
- Weight loss surgery
Media and Communications
- Body image
- Censorship
- Children’s programming and advertising
- Copyright Law
- Freedom of speech
- Materialism
- Media bias
- Media conglomerates/ownership
- Minorities in mass media
- Political correctness
- Portrayal of women
- Reality television
- Stereotypes
- Talk radio
- Television violence
Political Issues
- Affirmative Action
- Budget deficit
- Electoral College
- Election reform
- Emigration
- Genocide
- Illegal aliens
- Immigration
- Impeachment
- International relations
- Medicaid/Medicare reform
- Operation Enduring Iraqi Freedom
- Partisan politics
- Prescription drugs
- Social Security Reform
- Third parties
- Taxes
Psychology
- Child abuse
- Criminal psychology
- Depression
- Dreams
- Intelligence tests
- Learning disabilities
- Memory
- Physical attraction
- Schizophrenia
Religion
- Cults
- Freedom of religion
- Occultism
- Prayer in schools
Social Issues
- Abortion
- Adoption
- Airline safety/security
- Affirmative Action programs
- AIDS
- Apartheid
- Birth control
- Child abuse
- Child rearing
- Discrimination in education
- Employee rights
- Gambling/online gaming
- Gang identity
- Gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender
- Gay parenting
- Gender discrimination
- Genetic screening
- Homelessness
- Identity theft
- Interracial marriage
- Poverty
- Race relations
- Reverse discrimination
- Suffrage
- Suicide
- Test biases
- Textbook biases
- Welfare
Terrorism
- Bioterrorism
- Homeland Security
- September 11
Women and Gender
- Abortion
- Birth control and Pregnancy
- Body image
- Cultural expectations and practices
- Discrimination
- Eating disorders
- Education
- Feminism
- Gay pride
- Female genital mutilation
- Health
- Marriage and Divorce
- Media portrayals
- Menstruation and Menopause
- Parenting
- Prostitution
- Queer issues (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender)
- Sex and Sexuality
- Sports
- Stereotypes
- Substance abuse
- Violence and Rape
- Work
Updated: 11/12/2007
SKA
