For most topics, it's a good idea to use and cite scholarly works rather than Wikipedia.
Visit McQuade's "Wikipedia: Researchers Beware" page for more information.
Deciding on a paper topic that interests you can sometimes be challenging. Here are some ideas to help you find an appropriate research topic:
1) Pick a topic from a newspaper or magazine article;
2) Pick a topic from a news story you saw on television, heard on the radio, or read online;
3) Find a topic in an online resource, such as:
Use Browse Issues and Topics, Country Finder and Search to find international viewpoints, articles, statistics, multimedia and primary source material on global issues and current events.
Find information on hot social topics from opinion articles, topic overviews, full-text magazines, academic journals, news articles, primary source documents, statistics, images, videos, audio files and websites.
4) Take a look at the following website for some good ideas:
5) Look through some reference sources, either in print in the library or online.
Reference sources are available in general or subject specifics contexts and in print or online formats. You need to evaluate each source and determine which are helpful to you and appropriate for you to use.
Examples:
Reference materials are good starting points for research projects because they can provide:
Pull out the most important aspects of your research question
Use different keywords / synonyms / alternate terms
Brainstorm a list or create a word web
Use a thesaurus to help you think of alternate words
Example:
Have social media sites led to an increase in bullying among young adults?
Social Media: social network, social platform
Bullying: tormenting, hectoring, harassing
Young Adults: adolescent, juvenile, teenager, emerging adult
Parts of a Research Study
1. Question(s) the researcher is trying to answer
2. Reasons why it is important to answer the question(s)
3. Literature Review that explains what is already understood or has already been studied on the topic
4. Research Method used in this study
5. Results of this study
6. Conclusions that can be made based on this study
7. Limitation(s) of this study
8. Recommendation of areas for additional study
9. References of works consulted for this study
Even after a thorough search, you may not be able to find many sources on your specific topic. Possibly, your exact topic has not yet been studied. In that case, you can use other studies related to your topic to help in designing your study.
