Interesting Ideas For Students: How To Come Up With Excellent Research Paper Topics

Coming up with middle of the road research paper topics is simple. You just keep thinking and acting in ways that don’t rock the boat and a perfectly adequate research paper will just happen to flow from you. If you want to step from adequacy to excellence, that starts with a topic that turns heads. Here are some tips to help you create one:

Watch more TV

Television may seem to be one of the least academic forms of entertainment. It is useful to you because it helps you think outside of your own personal box. Everything you look at online from your own devices is to some extent tailored to make you pay attention or click on something. This excludes many things you might have found disagreeable and helps reinforce your current opinions. If you watch television shows that don’t naturally appeal to you not only will the show shake up your day, you may also be exposed to commercials you wouldn’t normally see.

Be contrary

Do an informal survey of what the people in your class are considering researching. At the end of this survey you will have a fair list of all the topics you need to avoid. Better yet, the topics that are mentioned most frequently will be the ones you shouldn’t even pick similar topics to.

Watch out for reruns

Before you begin brainstorming your own topics, look through the research topics that other students have tried out over the last five years before you. It’s very easy to feel original only to find out that the new exciting topic you have chosen was researched incomparably by a better student than yourself two years prior.

Make a mix

If a topic almost appeals to you but just barely falls short, you can revitalise it by adding elements from another subject area to it. Economics and psychology can be blended quite seamlessly if you know what you’re doing. So can Sociology and Philosophy. When a teacher looks at a topic hybrid like that the effort you put in will be obvious and higher grades are likely to result.

While these tips are useful for making interesting research paper topics, it’s a good idea to remember when to play it safe. If you’re running out of time, don’t worry about playing the hero. Write cautiously and earn at least some marks. You can always be courageous on another task.