Paper Topic Ideas

Check out the PCC Library's AI and Information Literacy guide for background on generative AI, information on different AI tools and credibility checking, as well as sources discussing AI bias and equity, and citing generative AI.

Disclaimer: Your instructors may have specific policies around if and how AI can be used in your class. Please adhere to any guidelines or restrictions from your instructor about the use of AI. Follow all policies for Academic Integrity at PCC.

When brainstorming ideas for a research paper topic, it's not uncommon to get stuck -- or even not know where to start! In addition to the topic idea supports found elsewhere on this guide, you might also consider having a dialogue with a generative AI tool (such as Perplexity or Chat GPT). Having a dialogue with an AI tool can help spark ideas and illuminate specific angles and sub-topics of an issue that you might not have thought of, or even been aware of.
 

Before you begin, here are some important considerations

• Generative AI can be good at mapping out potential ideas and concepts, but -- depending on the AI tool -- often not good at searching for information sources. Use generative AI tools as a starting point to brainstorm ideas and inspire your own thinking, then use tools such as library article databases and web search engines (like DuckDuckGo or Google) to find information sources once you've landed on a researchable topic idea
   
• Generative AI tools are trained on a huge amount of information, some of which is inaccurate or biased. Therefore, the text, videos and images generative AI outputs are sometimes inaccurate or biased. Always evaluate any ideas or topics shared by AI.
   
• Remember that generative AI tools can hallucinate information (give false responses, or even make up entire sources). If you use an AI tool to help brainstorm a paper topic, the research you do later for reliable sources related to your topic will help you verify that the topic is factual. If you suspect a conversation with an AI tool is incorrect, trust your gut! Do a web search to investigate.
   
• Acknowledge and cite the use of generative AI in your paper, just as you would with any other source. Refer to this page on citing AI

Step and Strategies

• Begin with a broad topic. For example: "I want to research something related to social media and need help brainstorming ideas"
  
  - OR - 
   
• Begin with information about yourself and the particulars of your assignment. For example: "I'm a college freshman in a biology class and am looking for ideas on current environmental issues impacting Oregon for an informative research paper"
   
• Remember that this is a dialogue -- after you skim through the initial response, ask more questions. You might ask the AI tool to narrow in on one idea it presented, or to give you more ideas, or to go in a different direction.
   
• Try starting over! Ask the initial question again, because each time you query a generative AI tool, you will get a different response. You might also try using a different AI tool entirely, to see how it differs in the response it gives.