Choosing Topics to Write a Research Paper: A Friendly Guide

Any kind of research is a very important task which requires a lot of attention to every single detail. This is why you must be sure that the topic you are about to choose will be easy for you to deal with, will bring you new knowledge, and will also be fruitful for the world around you if the results of the research itself are positive. 

Today we will explain all the differences between the best topics and the rest, will explain what to consider necessary for the research work, and will provide you with research topic examples.

Defining The Worthwhile Research Paper Topic 

In the world of modern science, the success of research sometimes relies completely on its theme. For example, if someone wants to discover a new geographical continent, or the insecticide properties of H₂O, or try to teach a cat to speak any of human languages, such activities would end up literally nowhere, and it’s only due to the wrong topic choice. Seriously speaking, if you need the results of your research work to be positive you have to be very careful when it comes to choosing the subject.

Before making a choice, you should thoroughly review the scientifically related literature, and check the theoretical and statistical data to be sure that the topic you like is scientifically supported by earlier works, or at least by theoretical suggestions made after similar studies. 

Aside from objective factors the research theme should also be interesting and rewarding for you. Such work always requires incredible amounts of brainwork. It is, as a rule, very time-consuming, and also can interfere with your life to the point of sacrificing your own health and funds to complete it properly. 

This is why the results should benefit you, should encourage others to use them for discovering even more, and, of course, should bring you good fame and possible wealth in the future.

Hence, the following principles will let you make the right choice. Let’s take a closer look at how to find a research topic that will suit your needs.

Availability of the research materials 📚

Introducing a concept not supported by any at least semi-related scientific data might be a bold decision, and yet it would probably turn into an ordeal during even the beginning stages of research work. It only works if you are more than a hundred percent sure of your success, and when it works out your name appears in schoolbooks a couple of decades later. 

Let’s not forget that behind every scientific discovery, there are hundreds of unsuccessful attempts to prove it real in the past, hundreds of names that we do not even know. Scientific work is not a game: if the task is challenging, it doesn’t mean that it will just take more time to deal with, strengthening your nerves, mind, and spirit in the process. A difficult research can make one scientist an international hero, and can also ruin the careers of a dozen others.

This is why the topic you need is the one that is supported by theoretical data, similar-themed research works of others, both statistical and practical results, and also by the scientists whose achievements are widely acclaimed and commonly accepted in the international scientific community. 

It’s easier to understand how to select a research topic that won’t turn out to be extremely difficult when you know what modern science thinks of your choice.

The materials you would need for the experiments should be easily available in your country, otherwise your work will be less and less efficient day by day, and eventually, you won’t be able to submit it at all. Check the availability of everything that you will need for your studies to make sure there will be no shortages of any necessary materials and equipment.

The amount of knowledge already gathered on the topic ❗

It’s hard to say something new about a thing everyone else is familiar with. When a particular subject is studied completely, it doesn’t require any attention anymore. This is why it probably won’t attract any positive attention, and spending your precious time on researching it will be an obvious mistake.

Thus, the research topic should not be over-exploited, yet should be backed by at least some trustworthy scientific studies, or theoretical data. It may be dangerous to work with concepts that are a mystery to others, but working with something that is already widely known is an outright waste of time.

Examples of ambiguous topics: 

• “The Ways Gun Control Affects The Society”
• “Legal Aspects Of Capital Punishment”
• “Negative Effects Of Excessive Nicotine Exposure Due To Consumption Of Tobacco Products”
• “Modern Industrial Acetylene Production Increasing Methods”.

Such topics are very easy to find online, in public libraries, in science and law magazines. No one would want to read about things they already know well enough.

Examples of noteworthy topics: 

• “Differences Between Crime Rates Of The Countries That Have Strict Gun Control Legislation Enabled, And Crime Rates of The Countries With No Significant Gun Control Restrictions”
• “The Overall Efficiency Of Implementing Capital Punishment In Modern Legal Systems: Moral, Psychological, Economical, And Political Aspects Review”
• “The Revolutionary Methods Of Decreasing The Negative Effects Tobacco Consumption Poses To Human Health”
• “Ecological And Economical Efficiency Of Implementing Experimental Acetylene Production Methods”. 

Such topics look informative and catchy, even though they require a lot of actual research work to be done.

The amount of resources needed for the research 🤓

Different interesting topics for research papers require different amounts of time and other resources to be completed correctly. Don’t forget about this fact since even the best theme can actually turn out to be completely useless if it isn’t submitted in time. One task can be steadily completed in a few years, while the other will require only a couple of weeks for your research work. 

Also, the budget of your research should be strictly followed, with no chaotic overspending and no extra materials required. This will guarantee the maximum efficiency of the research process. 

Careful planning is always a harbinger of successful and productive labor, no matter how difficult the paper itself can appear to be. That’s an easy answer to the question “What is a good research paper topic?”: the one that requires no overspending, and ensures maximum efficiency.

Personal interest 🤩

The topic of your research should be interesting for you, should benefit your life, and be overall entertaining to deal with. Such a principle can also be applied to any other kind of labor. 

When you are about to dedicate lots of your time and effort to succeed in something, it should be a pleasure to reach your noble goal through any obstacles that can appear in your way. When you do something you don’t like you’re turning yourself into a slave, and that’s definitely not a good thing. That’s a key answer to the question “How to write a research topic easily?”

Do not expect a scientific task to be a hard workout for your personal skills: there are, of course, difficulties to overcome in any kind of research, but you have to be completely prepared to complete your work in time.

Choose a topic you truly like and are familiar with, don’t spend your time working with the information that is a complete mystery to you, and use all data you have already gathered on the subject in the past — this is the way to maximum efficiency of your research endeavors.

Rules Of Success 💪🏻

When you have chosen a research project theme you like there are even more rules to follow if you want everything to be perfect. Even the best topics require additional effort to earn the acclaim they deserve. Here is the list of essential objectives that should be completed during your research operations.

The sources 📖

Use only internationally trusted sources of scientific information: books written by respected authors, trustworthy articles and reviews, statistical and analytical data officially proven to be true, and theoretical data that is widely supported by the international scientific community.

Avoid using information obtained from sources that lack credibility, since everything that is objectively wrong can ruin your whole research. Check everything thoroughly to make sure you get only reliable data that is proven to be true.

The borrowings ❌

The borrowings should be present, but they should be properly formatted and shouldn’t be too numerous. Otherwise, the whole text will turn into plagiarism-ridden copy work. 

Use the quotation marks, reference links, point out the titles of every written work you have used to get the scientific results, and name every person who provided you with help and assistance. The more detailed this information will be, the more trustworthy your work will look.

Books, magazines, articles, monographs, reports, reviews — every source should be easily identifiable to the readers, in case they would need to use your research as a base for their own. Lots of people look for relevant research topics when they plan to begin their own studies.

The grammar ✍🏻

Always remember to spellcheck your text before submitting it: read it from the first word to the last, and look for the sentences that are either too long and require splitting, or too difficult to comprehend and require complete rephrasing. Your text should be clean of any mistakes and should also be easy to read.

Check the additional images, graphs, and other media — they should be entertaining to behold, and also easy to comprehend. Add more media if you feel the text is too bleak, add more statistical data in graphs and tables if the situation requires: The brighter your work looks, the more positive attention it gets, and also becomes more memorable.

It is recommended to use AI-powered online services that are able to find every flaw and correct it at once to avoid wasting too much time on such sorts of checks.

On a Final Note ✨

When it comes to choosing good topics for research papers, people tend to rely on their experience, or, if they are on their way to getting one, on the knowledge they already have. And yet, sometimes it can be really hard to understand how difficult the whole work may become in the process. 

What sounds frighteningly hard to understand may turn out to be an easy and entertaining thing to study; on the contrary, some things that look simple are actually intimidatingly challenging to even describe in simple words. Selecting a topic for research endeavors requires a lot of attention to every detail.

This is why you need to concentrate on the topic you are about to choose for your scientific research since it can decide at the very beginning what the course of your scientific work will be, what results you will get, and what are the chances of success. Keep your mind alert and luck will be on your side!