Paper Topic Ideas

Research Inspiration from a Novel: The Lincoln Highway

I'm reading the novel The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles right now. It's set in 1954 and features an historic American highway (you guessed it, the Lincoln Highway!). I didn't know anything about this highway and I wanted to know more. As I started to look into it, I realized you could take a lot of "side trips" to create many different research topics off of this one American landmark.

First Stop: Wikipedia 

The novel mentioned a little about the history of the actual Lincoln Highway, but I wanted to know more. So I went to the Wikipedia entry for the Lincoln Highway, which is a great jumping off point for research. While you wouldn't want to use Wikipedia as a source, and you'd want to check on what you find there since anyone can edit it, it's a great place to get ideas for where to look next and go deeper for more information. For instance, Wikipedia cites a piece on the Lincoln Highway posted on the U.S. Department of Transportation's Federal Highway Administration website. This article and website come from a trusted authority who knows a lot about U.S. Highways, and could be a great source of further information about American highways and transportation if I want to take this subject further. 

Next Stop: Brainstorm

There were several things in the Wikipedia article that sparked my interest, so I brainstormed about some research topics and questions I could follow up on by doing deeper research with articles and books on the subject: 

• Railroads vs. Highways in the U.S.: I noticed that the Lincoln Highway was first planned and built between 1912 and 1913, which was a time when the railroads were the main form of transcontinental travel in the U.S. In 1913, the Lincoln Highway became the first transcontinental highway and one of the first designed for cars. So what did this mean for the railroads? How did things change when it was easier for cars to travel long distances?
• U.S. Road transportation and the economy: There would have been big changes in the economies of the towns the Lincoln highway, or any highway, passed through (or routed around). This could be an interesting topic to explore.
• U.S. Car travel and leisure: As car travel became easier and roads became better, how did that change the way Americans spent their leisure time? How has that changed from the time of the Lincoln Highway to today?
• U.S. Highway travel and the environment: What effect did a change from primarily railroad travel and local travel to more transcontinental car travel have on the environment?
• Evolution of the U.S. Highway system: It seems like roads in the U.S. went from mostly local roads, to bigger roads like the Lincoln Highway, and then to what we know as our current numbered U.S. Highway system. How did this evolution happen? What were the political and economic forces behind this evolution?

Final Destination: Who Knows? 

As you can see, there are so many places you can go with any topic. There may not be a clear map, and you may have to chart your own course, or double back and try a new research path, but that's okay! It's all part of the research journey. If you need help coming up with a topic or finding good resources on your topic, remember you can always contact a librarian via chat, email, phone, or make a research help appointment. We'd be happy to help!