Ideas for Research Topics

If you're having difficulty coming up with an idea for your research paper, the resources in this guide may spark some ideas. Remember, these are just suggestions to get your brain unfrozen -- don't limit yourself to these specific topics. Be creative and give the paper you write your own personal spin.

Once you've decided on a specific topic, you may find additional information by searching the UCF Library catalog for books and various databases by subject for articles. Some of the popular general databases for articles include Academic Search Premier, Infotrac OneFile, and OmniFile Full Text.

Contemporary Issues provides some guidance for researching popular topics in the UCF Library's resources.

Research Methods & Data Sources identifies resources for other research.

Browse Titles using the filter in the right column for the subject "Contemporary Issues & Controversies" to retrieve titles such as:

• AllSides RedBlue Dictionary
• The Conversation: An Independent Source of Analysis from Academic Researchers
• Issues & Controversies: Overviews and Pro/Con Arguments
• ProCon and ProCon Headlines
• American Social and Political Movements of the 20th Century:
  • Rethinking the American Antinuclear Movement
  • Rethinking the American Labor Movement
  • Rethinking the American Prison Movement
• Opinions Throughout History:
  • The Death Penalty
  • Diseases & Epidemics
  • The Environment
  • Drug Use & Abuse
  • Gender: Roles & Rights
  • Globalization
  • Guns in America
  • Immigration
  • National Security vs. Civil & Privacy Rights
  • Robotics & Artificial Intelligence
  • Social Media

CQ Researcher Plus Archive (1923+) provides in-depth analysis reporting on the most current and controversial issues of the day.

• General Collection H35.E352 (1991+)

The UCF Library also has the preceding title, Editorial Research Reports

• General Collection H35.E35 (1969-April 1991)
• Microfilm H35.E35 (1955-1968)

"Reports for Congress, analyses or studies on specific issues of congressional legislative interest, are often prepared in response to numerous congressional inquiries. Reports may take many forms: policy analysis, economic studies, statistical reviews, legal analyses, historical studies, chronologies, and two-page fact sheets." (2006 Annual Report)