How to Choose a Research Topic

Research papers are the backbone of many college courses and probably the least favorite assignment for students taking the course. Too often you will find yourself starting a paper a few days or even the night before it is due and many of those times you won't even have a topic for your research paper picked out. If you are one of these people who go this route and aren't too happy with the results you have been getting then perhaps it is time to change your approach. Choosing a paper topic doesn't have to be a painful decision like deciding between a punch to the face and a kick to the stomach. It can be a great learning experience and an assignment you will no longer find difficult once you have figured out how to tackle it in a timely manner. Know what the assignment is When your professor informs you of the research paper take the time to understand right off the bat what it actually entails. I know that I used to not really read the prompt until a few weeks down the line when I was ready to start researching the paper and this was a huge mistake. Knowing what your assignment is helps to give you some defined parameters for the research and let's you focus on what you want to write about instead of what you are supposed to do. If you are unclear at all go and talk to the professor and see if he can explain it better or even suggest some areas that you could explore for your paper. Choose a topic that interests you Not all classes we have to take are all that interesting to us. However, if you really sat and thought about it I bet you could come up with something that would be at least mildly interesting to you. Sometimes when you only have a basic understanding of a topic you might find it terribly boring. For instance, basic chemistry classes are often mind numbing but the applications for chemistry can be on really interesting topics that you haven't ever had a chance to learn about. Information is easily obtainable Choosing to narrow of a topic or one that doesn't have much information about it can really make trying to write an eight to ten page research paper frustrating. When you choose your topic try to make it something that you know has enough sources that you can rely on to help you construct your argument. Come up with a few topic ideas and see which ones would be easy to gather sufficient information on. What do you know about? There is the old adage that you should write what you know and really there is no better replacement than that for writing a long research paper. Having familiarity with a particular topic allows you to organize your thoughts easier and know exactly where you need to start researching. Be careful you don't fall into the trap of thinking you can put off writing the paper simply because you do know a bit about the topic, you still need to buckle down and get it done. Choose something relevant As a political science major I have to write papers for every single class I take and often times up to three or four per class so I constantly have to look for new topics that inspire me. Sometimes the best topics come from things that have been in the news a lot recently or even something that you saw on your favorite show. I remember one time I saw something about world oil supplies and the program talked specifically about Nigeria and the impact the oil production had on some of its citizens. Just by watching that television program it made me want to write the research paper I had coming up on an issue dealing with Nigeria despite knowing nothing about it previously. Go Random If I am at a total loss of what exactly I should write a research paper about I will go to the library and scan the stacks of books related to my course until something catches my attention. Sometimes it will be an interesting title that jumps out at me or just the design of the book itself. I have learned over the years that if I just accept the random choice and it is something that can be easily researched then I should just stick with it. It doesn't always turn out to be as interesting as I may have hoped but other times it is something that I end up becoming really intrigued by. Now I will say that a random choice does require you to have discipline to keep writing even if the topic is boring but just be sure to have a couple of random choices to filter out the bad ones. Writing a research paper is always a pain if you wait until the last minute to start or even to choose the topic but it doesn't have to be that way. Start thinking about your paper right from when it is assigned to you and be quick about choosing a great topic. We have gone over how to choose a paper topic but remember that it is only the beginning and no matter what topic you select there will be plenty of work involved so just gets started now.

Designing a Research Project

Undertaking a research project can be a bit daunting if you’ve never done one before or if you are embarking on an entirely new subject or research method. Where should you start, and what are the proper steps involved? This article will help guide you through the process. Not all research projects follow a cut and dry step-by-step process. While the steps outlined here are an idealized overview of the process, actual practice is not always so straightforward. Defining The Purpose Of Your Study Before you design your study, you must define the purpose of your project. For example, what kind of study will you undertake – exploratory, descriptive, explanatory? Are you writing a research paper for a course or thesis requirement, or are you writing an article for an academic journal, or something else? You need to define why you are conducting the study and what your purpose is. This will help you choose an appropriate research design and think through what exactly you hope to examine. Conceptualization Once you have a well-defined purpose and a clear description of what you want to achieve, you can proceed to the next step: conceptualization. Conceptualization is the process of producing specific, agreed-upon meanings for concepts for the purposes of research. This involves describing the indicators you will be using to measure your concepts as well as the different aspects to the concepts. For example, if you are looking at whether women are more compassionate than men, you can’t meaningfully study the question or agree on the answer without first defining and agreeing on the meaning of the concept of compassion. Choosing A Research Method Once you define the purpose of your study and the concepts that you wish to research, you need to choose a research method to use. For some studies, a survey might be the most appropriate method while in other studies, field research, content analysis, or interviews would be the most appropriate. Operationalization Operationalization involves deciding on which measurement techniques you are going to use in your research. It is the development of specific research procedures that will result in empirical observations. For example, what is the exact wording you are going to use in a questionnaire, and what are the answer choices you are going to provide to respondents for each question? Operationalization involves specifying exactly how you are going to measure your research concepts. Population And Sampling You must now decide whom or what you are going to study. The population for a study is the group (usually people) about whom you want to draw conclusions. We are rarely ever able to study all the members of a population, however, so instead we choose a sample from the population of interest. Here you must define your population and then decide how you are going to sample them and how many you are going to sample. Collecting Data You are now ready to collect data and make observations. You will have already determined which research method you are going to use, so now is the time to implement that choice. For example, if you are conducting a survey, you might print questionnaires and mail them to your sample, or you might have a team of interviewers conduct the survey over the telephone. Processing Data Once all of your data is collected, you are ready to process it. During the data processing step, you transform the collected data into a form that is appropriate to manipulate and analyze. Raw data, after it is first collected, will need to be cleaned. For example, incorrect responses will need to be removed, corrected, or set to missing. It will also need to be coded, or transformed into a standardized form. For example, responses to survey questions will need to be given numbers (such as 0 for “no” and 1 for “yes”) so that they can be entered into a computer program for analysis. Analysis Once the data is in suitable form, you are ready to interpret them for the purpose of drawing conclusions. The analysis done will be determined by what kind of study you are doing (exploratory, descriptive, explanatory) and what questions you are looking to answer. Analysis could come in the form of frequencies and crosstabs, regression analyses, correlations, or ANOVA, to name a few. Application The final stage of the research process involves using the research you’ve conducted and the conclusions you’ve reached. You’ll likely want to communicate your findings so that others know what you found. You may also want to prepare and publish a written report or make an oral presentation at a conference or to a class. Beyond simply reporting your findings, you should also report about the implications of your findings. For example, are there any policy implications that have come from your findings? Finally, you should consider what your research suggests in regard to further research on the subject. What mistakes did you make that could be corrected in the future or what other avenues could be explored in later investigations? References Babbie, E. (2001). The Practice of Social Research: 9th Edition. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Thomson.

Tips for Writing Great Observation Essays

What separates an average writer from a good writer? What separates a good writer from a great writer? While the nature of writing is so complex that there cannot be just one answer to these questions, there is one quality that plays a significant role in a writer's overall ability. Observation. Great writers are often lauded for their keen observation. What these writers are able to do, what makes their work so great, is present material on a subject that allows the reader to see things in their mind as clearly as if they were seeing it with their own eyes. In fact, a great writer will present a subject so well that a reader may be shown certain details that he or she had never noticed before. But how can a writer develop such talent? One tried and true method is through the writing of observation essays. The following is a grouping of hints and tips to help budding writers put together excellent observation essays. CHOOSING A TOPIC Considering the observation essay requires actual observation of a subject, it is a good idea to choose a topic that you can actually see, including people, places, and things. This can include your grandmother, a rock concert, or a banana tree. The possibilities are literally endless. WRITE IN THE PRESENT TENSE Virtually all observation essays are written in the present tense. That is to say, the writer will be providing description of what he or she is seeing at the moment. In other words, observation essays are not written from memory (past tense) or from conjecture of an object's potential qualities (future tense.) DETAILS, DETAILS The strength of an observation essay depends upon the level of detail the writer provides. Details allow the reader to see in his or her mind what you are writing about. For example, if an artist did not provide details in a painting, or a sculpture, you wouldn't know what he was trying to portray. The same principle applies for observation essay writing. USE YOUR SENSES Sight, hearing, touch, taste, and smell; these are your primary weapons when creating an observation essay. Writing using the five senses to interpret detail is a common practice among writers of all types. However, this technique is absolutely crucial to the writer of an observation essay. While all five of the senses might not be used in the observation essay (it probably wouldn't be a good idea to describe how your grandmother tastes), use as many as possible to create a vivid image in the reader's mind. USE COMPARATIVE TECHNIQUES There is a natural tendency for people to use comparison in order to better understand something. One thing is related to another in order to quantify its characteristics. For the writer, the techniques of similes and metaphors allow for these comparisons. Don't be afraid of using these techniques in your observation essay. CHOOSE RELEVANT DETAILS In the search for details to strengthen the overall level of description, writers of observation essays often fall into the "over-description" trap. They will describe every detail imaginable in hopes of painting a clear picture in the reader's mind. Unfortunately, adding in details that has no relevance to your subject only serves to clutter up the essay. Make sure that every detail you choose to include is relevant to your topic. SEARCH FOR PRECISE LANGUAGE As we have stated throughout this article, the goal of an observation essay is to be as descriptive as possible. In order to accomplish this, writers should choose the most precise words when constructing sentences. For example, describing something as "small" can lead to a wide range of images, but calling something "microscopic" is much more precise.