Get Topic Ideas
When selecting an academic topic to explore, follow your curiosity. What do you want to learn more about? Something in the area of politics? culture? science? technology? human relationships? Here are some resources that will help you browse for an academic topic:
- CQ Researcher This link opens in a new windowTopical, full text reports on controversial issues. Each report features a summary, chronology, and bibliography. Updated weekly.
- Opposing Viewpoints (Gale In Context) This link opens in a new windowA one-stop source for information on current social issues. Includes viewpoint articles on both sides of an issue, topic overviews, statistics, primary documents, links to websites, and full text magazine and newspaper articles. View the Opposing Viewpoints handout [pdf]
- SIRS Issues Researcher This link opens in a new windowFull text information on social issues, science, health, history, government, business, and the arts and humanities. Citations include Lexile reading levels. View the SIRS Knowledge Source handout [pdf].
- ProCon.orgWebsite that lists and describes controversial issues and keeps you informed about them with up-to-date information.
Other sources:
- Social trends - Pew Research Center
- Politics - New York Times political coverage
- Science developments - Science Daily
- Technology developments - Popular Mechanics
- International news -BBC
Questions to Ask About Your Topic
As you start doing general reading to get an overview of your topic, here are some questions you may want to answer in your note-taking:
- What interests me about this topic?
- What questions do I have about this topic?
- Who is affected by this? Who cares about this?
- What are the major issues involved in this topic? Are there particular controversies or viewpoints of note?
- What key terms describe this topic or are there organizations or people should I be aware of?
Turning an Interest into a Research Question
In this video, you’ll learn how to turn something you find interesting into a researchable question for a college research project.
Sources for Background Research
- Gale Ebooks (formerly GVRL) This link opens in a new windowGale eBooks has over 200 encyclopedias and specialized reference sources for multidisciplinary research. Look here for biology, chemistry, nursing and medicine, sociology, history, education, law, and more.
- Credo Reference This link opens in a new windowProvides online versions of 500 published reference works, including general and specialized dictionaries and encyclopedias. Try the Concept Map to search for terms and topics that are interconnected and displayed in a visual form.
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WikipediaAn encyclopedia that anyone can edit. Because of this, it can be a good source of basic information and additional resources (in the bibliography), but you want to make sure the information is backed up in other sources.
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Google NewsA news search may net you articles that provide a good overview of your topic as well as the various viewpoints, issues, and public opinion surrounding it. For a really recent issue, this is particularly valuable, as there may not be anything in encyclopedias.