research topics for undergraduate students

1000+ FREE Research Topics & Title Ideas

If you’re at the start of your research journey and are trying to figure out which research topic you want to focus on, you’ve come to the right place. Select your area of interest below to view a comprehensive collection of potential research ideas.

Research Topic FAQs

What (exactly) is a research topic.

A research topic is the subject of a research project or study – for example, a dissertation or thesis. A research topic typically takes the form of a problem to be solved, or a question to be answered.

A good research topic should be specific enough to allow for focused research and analysis. For example, if you are interested in studying the effects of climate change on agriculture, your research topic could focus on how rising temperatures have impacted crop yields in certain regions over time.

To learn more about the basics of developing a research topic, consider our free research topic ideation webinar.

What constitutes a good research topic?

A strong research topic comprises three important qualities : originality, value and feasibility.

• Originality – a good topic explores an original area or takes a novel angle on an existing area of study.
• Value – a strong research topic provides value and makes a contribution, either academically or practically.
• Feasibility – a good research topic needs to be practical and manageable, given the resource constraints you face.

To learn more about what makes for a high-quality research topic, check out this post .

What's the difference between a research topic and research problem?

A research topic and a research problem are two distinct concepts that are often confused. A research topic is a broader label that indicates the focus of the study , while a research problem is an issue or gap in knowledge within the broader field that needs to be addressed.

To illustrate this distinction, consider a student who has chosen “teenage pregnancy in the United Kingdom” as their research topic. This research topic could encompass any number of issues related to teenage pregnancy such as causes, prevention strategies, health outcomes for mothers and babies, etc.

Within this broad category (the research topic) lies potential areas of inquiry that can be explored further – these become the research problems . For example:

• What factors contribute to higher rates of teenage pregnancy in certain communities?
• How do different types of parenting styles affect teen pregnancy rates?
• What interventions have been successful in reducing teenage pregnancies?

Simply put, a key difference between a research topic and a research problem is scope ; the research topic provides an umbrella under which multiple questions can be asked, while the research problem focuses on one specific question or set of questions within that larger context.

How can I find potential research topics for my project?

There are many steps involved in the process of finding and choosing a high-quality research topic for a dissertation or thesis. We cover these steps in detail in this video (also accessible below).

How can I find quality sources for my research topic?

Finding quality sources is an essential step in the topic ideation process. To do this, you should start by researching scholarly journals, books, and other academic publications related to your topic. These sources can provide reliable information on a wide range of topics. Additionally, they may contain data or statistics that can help support your argument or conclusions.

Identifying Relevant Sources

When searching for relevant sources, it’s important to look beyond just published material; try using online databases such as Google Scholar or JSTOR to find articles from reputable journals that have been peer-reviewed by experts in the field.

You can also use search engines like Google or Bing to locate websites with useful information about your topic. However, be sure to evaluate any website before citing it as a source—look for evidence of authorship (such as an “About Us” page) and make sure the content is up-to-date and accurate before relying on it.

Evaluating Sources

Once you’ve identified potential sources for your research project, take some time to evaluate them thoroughly before deciding which ones will best serve your purpose. Consider factors such as author credibility (are they an expert in their field?), publication date (is the source current?), objectivity (does the author present both sides of an issue?) and relevance (how closely does this source relate to my specific topic?).

By researching the current literature on your topic, you can identify potential sources that will help to provide quality information. Once you’ve identified these sources, it’s time to look for a gap in the research and determine what new knowledge could be gained from further study.

How can I find a good research gap?

Finding a strong gap in the literature is an essential step when looking for potential research topics. We explain what research gaps are and how to find them in this post.

How should I evaluate potential research topics/ideas?

When evaluating potential research topics, it is important to consider the factors that make for a strong topic (we discussed these earlier). Specifically:

• Originality
• Feasibility

So, when you have a list of potential topics or ideas, assess each of them in terms of these three criteria. A good topic should take a unique angle, provide value (either to academia or practitioners), and be practical enough for you to pull off, given your limited resources.

Finally, you should also assess whether this project could lead to potential career opportunities such as internships or job offers down the line. Make sure that you are researching something that is relevant enough so that it can benefit your professional development in some way. Additionally, consider how each research topic aligns with your career goals and interests; researching something that you are passionate about can help keep motivation high throughout the process.

How can I assess the feasibility of a research topic?

When evaluating the feasibility and practicality of a research topic, it is important to consider several factors.

First, you should assess whether or not the research topic is within your area of competence. Of course, when you start out, you are not expected to be the world’s leading expert, but do should at least have some foundational knowledge.

Time commitment

When considering a research topic, you should think about how much time will be required for completion. Depending on your field of study, some topics may require more time than others due to their complexity or scope.

Additionally, if you plan on collaborating with other researchers or institutions in order to complete your project, additional considerations must be taken into account such as coordinating schedules and ensuring that all parties involved have adequate resources available.

Resources needed

It’s also critically important to consider what type of resources are necessary in order to conduct the research successfully. This includes physical materials such as lab equipment and chemicals but can also include intangible items like access to certain databases or software programs which may be necessary depending on the nature of your work. Additionally, if there are costs associated with obtaining these materials then this must also be factored into your evaluation process.

Potential risks

It’s important to consider the inherent potential risks for each potential research topic. These can include ethical risks (challenges getting ethical approval), data risks (not being able to access the data you’ll need), technical risks relating to the equipment you’ll use and funding risks (not securing the necessary financial back to undertake the research).

If you’re looking for more information about how to find, evaluate and select research topics for your dissertation or thesis, check out our free webinar here . Alternatively, if you’d like 1:1 help with the topic ideation process, consider our private coaching services .

Psst... there’s more!

This post was based on one of our popular Research Bootcamps . If you're working on a research project, you'll definitely want to check this out ...

Verify originality of an essay

Get ideas for your paper

Find top study documents

Top 300+ Ideas For Research Paper Topics in 2024

Updated 11 Apr 2024

Some say the most difficult part of writing a text – is to start. But topic selection even precedes this starting point. This activity takes off a lot of time, and sometimes imagination just doesn’t work in your favor. That’s where our list of best research paper topics will come in handy.

We collected the most unhacked and powerful ideas to turn the average piece of writing into a research paper . Discover  what is a research paper and how to choose suitable and interesting research topics with our help. 

Writing a research topic on your own requires either producing one from scratch (based on your interests and goals and potentially, on some brainstorming) or getting inspiration from a number of sources, like preassembled topic lists, course material, teachers, real life, news headlines, published research in the respective field, etc.

What are the 3 Types of Research Questions?

Before formulating your research questions ideas, note that there are 3 important types of research questions:

• descriptive – these employ careful and comprehensive observation of a phenomenon/ event, subject, trait, etc. in order to characterize it in detail and to potentially reveal important/ interesting/ undescribed aspects or patterns.
• causal – these investigate whether altering some variables leads to changes in other variables suggesting a causal relationship.
• comparative – these look into similarities and differences between two or more entities

What is a Good Research Paper Topic?

Features that tend to characterize good research questions are as follows:

• specific and concrete – investigation goals and (expected results) have to be clear and focused
• original – investigating aspects/ entities/ relationships that have not been researched before
• highly important/ impactful for community/ society/ a professional field.
• highly relevant for potential readers/ reviewers
• trending – emerging disciplines/ topics spark more interest due to their novelty and yet unexplored potential

College Research Paper Topics

• The bias in the selection of the college internships and scholarships
• The problems of reverse discrimination in post-college employment
• Should multicultural education concepts be implemented at a greater depth?
• The drug and alcohol abuse on college campuses
• Does social media help students to find appropriate information and learn?
• The psychological disorders and the support groups in modern colleges
• Should people with ADHD and Autism be separated from the other students?
• The art of college political campaigns
• Pros and cons of religious colleges
• Should college athletes be paid and provided with additional advantages?
• The Influence of Social Media on College Students' Academic Performance and Well-being
• Evaluating the Effectiveness of Online Learning Platforms in Higher Education
• The Role of College Education in Fostering Entrepreneurial Skills
• The Impact of Student Loan Debt on Career Choices Among Graduates
• Analyzing the Shift in College Admissions Criteria in the Post-COVID Era

Health Research Paper Topics

• The challenges of deafness and communication difficulties among special needs students
• The concept of global health security
• The ways to decrease household air pollution
• How the information about infectious diseases is distributed online
• Should people be allowed to know more about climate change issues?
• The privacy factor and the personal health issues
• The role of fitness ads in exercising practices
• The healthy food standards are not always unbiased
• The role of social media in the medical care system
• The psychological aspect in the perception of allergies
• The Long-term Effects of COVID-19 on Respiratory Health
• Mental Health Outcomes of Prolonged Social Media Use Among Adolescents
• The Efficacy of Plant-based Diets in Preventing Chronic Diseases
• The Role of Telemedicine in Improving Accessibility to Healthcare
• Analyzing the Impact of Sleep Quality on Daily Cognitive Functioning

Research Paper Topics on Medicine

• Is life-sustaining therapy needed when it’s futile?
• The role of placebo treatment
• How to avoid animal testing?
• Pros and contras of medical marijuana
• Is being a vegetarian useful for child’s health?
• How obesity affects our health?
• Vaccines for kids: their usefulness or damage
• Should prescription drugs be advertised directly to consumers?
• Do doctors turn their patients into drug addicts?
• Advancements in Gene Editing: Ethical Implications and Future Prospects
• The Role of Artificial Intelligence in Diagnostic Medicine
• Personalized Medicine: Tailoring Drug Therapies to Genetic Profiles
• The Impact of Microbiome Diversity on Human Health
• Stem Cell Therapy: Current Applications and Ethical Considerations
• The Challenges and Successes of Vaccine Development in the 21st Century

Need more writing assistance?

Connect with our top writers and receive writing sample crafted to your needs.

Education Research Paper Topics

• How can standardized tests improve education?
• Does college graduates make more money?
• Should education be cheaper?
• How will modern technologies change the way of teaching in the future?
• The creation of particular learning methods for blind children
• Social networking and school
• Metal detectors at schools
• The effects of contemporary teaching methods
• The role of technology in lesson planning
• How to manage bullies and take actions against bullying at education institutions?
• The Effects of Bilingual Education on Cognitive Development in Children
• Evaluating the Long-term Impact of Early Childhood Education Programs
• The Role of Technology in Enhancing Special Education
• Standardized Testing: Measuring Intelligence or Memorization?
• The Influence of Teacher-Student Relationships on Academic Achievement

Read also: 150+ Best Sociology Research Topics

Environmental Research Paper Topics

• How to reduce global warming?
• How to stop wasting paper and save trees?
• Can overpopulation be managed?
• Should more films about environmental issues be produced?
• Human impacts on forests
• Underground effects of earthquakes
• How to elaborate the optimal adaptation of buildings threatened by hurricanes?
• Is it possible to predict hurricane impacts?
• Is nuclear power safe for humans?
• How dangerous is GMO food?
• Assessing the Impact of Urban Sprawl on Local Ecosystems
• The Effectiveness of Plastic Ban Policies on Ocean Health
• Carbon Capture Technology: Viability and Potential in Mitigating Climate Change
• The Role of Indigenous Knowledge in Biodiversity Conservation
• Analyzing the Environmental Consequences of Fast Fashion

Research Topics on Entertainment and Sport

• Are social networks good for our society?
• Do violent video games make kids angry and cruel?
• Is it necessary to forbid using animals for entertainment?
• Do beauty contests set the non-achievable beauty standards?
• Are newspapers going to be replaced by online sources of information?
• How gaming consoles influence the youth?
• Should women be allowed to compete against men?
• What television programs should be banned?
• How tv shows impose fake moral standards?
• Can the use of social media, such as Facebook, lower teens’ self-esteem?
• The Psychological Impact of Competitive Sports on Young Athletes
• The Influence of Celebrity Endorsements on Consumer Behavior
• E-Sports: The Rise of Competitive Gaming and Its Recognition as a Legitimate Sport
• The Role of Sports in Promoting Intercultural Dialogue and Understanding
• The Economic Impact of Major Sporting Events on Host Cities

Research Paper Topics on Media and Communication

• Should the media programming of ads aimed at children be made illegal?
• The role of mediation in the media
• Should bloggers be considered as journalists?
• The ethical side of modern news reports
• The freedom of speech online
• The copyright law restrictions and the vague concepts
• The importance of psychology and communicative skills in journalism
• The role of gender in interpersonal communication
• The modern standards of nonverbal communication
• The negative influence of Instagram and body image distortion
• The Evolution of News Consumption: Impact of Social Media on Traditional Media
• The Role of Media in Shaping Public Opinion During Political Campaigns
• The Ethics of Surveillance and Privacy in Digital Communication
• The Effects of Smartphone Usage on Face-to-Face Communication Skills
• Virtual Reality: The Future of Immersive Journalism

Research Paper Topics on Politics

• Should the drinking age be lowered?
• Should adults have the right to carry a concealed handgun?
• More gun control laws should be enacted
• How can the international community prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons?
• How can ethnic killings be stopped?
• Current prospect for peace between Israel and the Palestinians
• What world would be like without wars?
• How to avoid workforce reduction?
• Should the death penalty be allowed?
• Is socialism possible?
• The Influence of Social Media on Political Mobilization and Public Protests
• Campaign Finance Reform: The Effects on Political Representation and Elections
• The Role of Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) in Shaping Global Policy
• The Impact of Populism on Traditional Political Party Systems
• Cybersecurity in Elections: Protecting the Integrity of Democracy

Psychology Research Paper Topics

• Is autism a disease or a development idiosyncrasy?
• How to forecast and shape behavioral patterns?
• How to manage child violence?
• How to deal with a mental breakdown?
• The impact of classical music on the work of the brain
• How insomnia affects our health?
• How bad dreams influence our mood?
• Is stress really harmful?
• How depression impacts the immune system?
• Intellectually gifted people: how is it possible?
• The Psychological Effects of Social Isolation in the Digital Age
• Cognitive Behavioral Therapy vs. Mindfulness: Comparative Outcomes in Treating Anxiety
• The Role of Resilience in Recovery from Trauma
• The Impact of Parenting Styles on Child Personality Development
• Neuroplasticity: How Learning and Experience Shape Brain Function

Get plagiarism-free papers in just 3 hours

• Zero AI - 100% human-crafted content
• Tailored to your writing style
• Sourced from the latest, reliable sources

Guaranteed Turnitin success ✌️

Science & Technology Research Paper Ideas

• How is light being used to treat cancer and other diseases?
• What is the current evidence that Mars has had water and maybe life?
• Can nanomedicine potentially extend the human lifespan?
• What is the future of computing and artificial intelligence?
• The role cryogenics may play in future
• Can alternative energy effectively replace fossil fuels?
• Is it beneficial for wild animals to have interactions with people?
• What evidence do we have that CMB is the result of the big bang?
• How will self-driving cars change the way people live?
• Can using system like bitcoin help protect identity theft?
• The Potential of CRISPR and Gene Therapy in Curing Genetic Diseases
• Nanotechnology in Medicine: The Next Frontier for Drug Delivery Systems
• The Role of Quantum Computing in the Future of Cybersecurity
• The Ethical Implications of Humanoid Robots in Society
• Renewable Energy Technologies: Assessing the Efficiency and Sustainability of Solar Power Solutions

Research Topics Ideas on Culture

• A new comprehension of past events
• The origin of racial discrimination
• The roots of antisemitism
• The impact of advertisements and commercials on modern art
• The most remarkable cultural achievements of the 20th century and their influence on our society
• Cultural revolutions throughout history
• How pop culture trends influence youth?
• Should pregnant celebrities be exposed on magazine’s covers?
• Why was Greek cultural influence so important for the ancient Mediterranean world?
• Why was the Victorian period a time of cultural change?
• Cultural Impact on Climate Change Response: A Comparative Study
• The Preservation of Folklore and Oral Traditions in the Digital Age
• Cross-Cultural Communication: Overcoming Language and Ethical Barriers
• The Influence of Globalization on Indigenous Cultures
• Cultural Diplomacy and Its Role in International Relations

Research Paper Topics on Math

• The influence of algorithms
• Is it possible to build a winning monopoly strategy?
• Why is 'x' the unknown?
• How math changed the world?
• What's the solution to the McDonald's math problem?
• How do math geniuses understand extremely hard math concepts so quickly?
• Should high school math contests be banned?
• What is the relationship between music and math?
• Are math formulas ever used in real life?
• What are some of the most confusing math problems ever?
• The Role of Mathematics in Cryptography and Cybersecurity
• Mathematical Models in Predicting Pandemic Outcomes: A Case Study of COVID-19
• The Application of Game Theory in Economic and Social Decision Making
• Chaos Theory and Its Implications in Weather Forecasting and Climate Science
• The Impact of Big Data on the Evolution of Statistical Methods and Theories

Research Paper Topics on Business

• How do dirty business tactics work?
• Can business be started without money?
• Notorious business leaders
• Entrepreneurship and family business
• Ethical decision making in everyday work situations
• What are the most effective strategies for promoting a small business?
• Is it worth it to expand the business into a new region or country?
• How to build a successful startup
• The role of international business and sustainable development
• The impact of climate change on international business strategies
• Corporate Social Responsibility: Measuring the Impact on Business Performance
• The Gig Economy: Challenges and Opportunities for the Modern Workforce
• Innovative Business Models in the Age of Sustainable Development
• The Influence of Organizational Culture on Employee Productivity and Satisfaction
• The Role of Artificial Intelligence in Shaping Consumer Behavior and Marketing Strategies

Research Paper Topics For Middle School

• Is going vegan the healthiest choice for you?
• Is the greenhouse effect artificial or natural?
• The causes, effects, and consequences of earthquakes
• How much computer games can one play without getting addicted
• Princess Diana and her dynasty
• Why is competition so critical for humans?
• How did poetry evolve?
• Methods used by ancient sailors to navigate the globe
• Gender roles in children’s books and cartoons
• Who is the greatest general who has lived on the planet?
• The Science Behind Video Games: How Gaming Affects Reflexes and Learning
• The History and Cultural Significance of a Popular Holiday
• The Impact of Recycling Programs in Schools
• Animal Habitats: How Urban Development Affects Local Wildlife
• The Role of Social Media in Modern Communication Among Teens

High School Research Paper Ideas

• The ways to address drug addiction cases in high school
• The physical vs digital communications
• The body image and the K-Pop culture
• The importance of school volunteering and social work
• The changes to the academic process due to Covid-19
• The legacy of the Trail of Tears
• The role of motivation in becoming a better student
• The role of books in print and the libraries
• The ways to improve school safety
• The role of parental involvement in school work
• Exploring the Psychological Effects of Social Media on Teen Self-Esteem
• The Physics of Sports: Analyzing the Science Behind Athletic Performance
• Climate Change and Its Effects on Local Ecosystems
• The Evolution of Language in the Digital Age
• The Rise of Cryptocurrency: Economic Education and the Future of Money

History Research Paper Topics

• What were the impacts of World War II on the rights of women?
• What factors initiated the WWII
• Is liberalism the most optimal solution?
• What were the consequences of women suffrage movements
• What was the impact of Martin Luther King’s protest against the Catholic church
• What is the most effective military strategy of all time
• How has Asian art influenced contemporary art
• How have different monetary systems affected the development of humanity
• What is the correlation between the Roman and Greek culture?
• Aztec empire and its architecture
• The Role of Women in World War II and Its Impact on Gender Roles
• The Influence of the Silk Road on the Cultural Exchange between East and West
• The Effects of the Cold War on Space Exploration Competition
• The Historical Accuracy of Popular Historical Films: A Case Study
• The Impact of the Printing Press on the Renaissance and European Society

Art Research Paper Ideas

• The reasons why digital museums must be present and made available
• The peculiarities of the Flemish artists
• Should Japanese anime be considered as a separate art form?
• The role of Photoshop and similar digital solutions in the perception of modern art
• The history of photography and the artistic expression forms
• The challenges of the modern artists during social distancing times
• The Middle Eastern perception of color and the light
• Ancient Rome's role in the creation of the sculptures
• Should the artists be allowed to represent their works in public parks?
• The importance of art education in middle schools
• The Evolution of Street Art and Its Acceptance into Mainstream Art Culture
• The Influence of Digital Media on Traditional Painting Techniques
• The Role of Patronage in the Development of Renaissance Art
• The Psychological Impact of Color in Abstract Art
• Cultural Representation and Diversity in Modern Art Museums

Literature Research Paper Topics

• The American dream literature
• How does harry potter reflects the ideal of the time
• Can you show a new aspect of prose based on the independent investigation
• The prose of women suffrage movements
• The dawn of literature on modern society
• Why do authors use metaphors and similes
• Evaluate and discuss the allegory of 2 random novels
• What factors are helpful in allowing you to identify the genre of a novel you are reading
• Is fanfiction considered an independent literature
• Romance and sex in Renaissance
• Fiction as an instrument of propaganda
• The Representation of Gender Roles in Victorian Literature
• Postcolonial Voices: How Literature Has Shaped National Identity
• The Journey Motif in Classic American Road Novels
• Dystopian Visions: What Modern Dystopian Literature Tells Us About Today's Society

Law Research Paper Topics

• How is the Islamic law perceived around the globe
• Is ECOLEX a pathway to environmental law
• Why is it critical to learn the GATT documents?
• What does the European patent office do?
• Mass communication law
• Impact of women’s authority in different countries on the planet
• Evaluate the effectiveness of the international criminal law court tools
• Detailed analysis and report of the comparative criminal procedure
• Exciting outtakes from the inter-American human rights library
• Does the US copyright office really help writers defend their businesses?
• The Impact of International Law on Human Rights Practices in Developing Countries
• Cyber Law: The Challenges of Regulating Online Behavior and Privacy
• Intellectual Property Rights in the Digital Age: Balancing Innovation and Protection
• The Effectiveness of Rehabilitation in Juvenile Justice Systems
• Comparative Analysis of Gun Control Legislation and Its Impact on Violent Crime Rates

Religion Research Paper Topics

• The Role of Religion in Modern Secular Societies
• Interfaith Dialogue: Benefits and Challenges in a Pluralistic Society
• The Influence of Religious Beliefs on Ethical Decision-Making in Business
• Religion and Politics: An Analysis of Their Intersections in Contemporary World Affairs
• The Impact of Religious Education on Tolerance and Cultural Understanding
• The Evolution of Religious Practices and Their Adaptation in the Digital Age
• The Psychological Effects of Religious Rituals and Traditions
• Comparative Study of Creation Myths Across Different Cultures
• The Role of Women in Organized Religions: A Historical Perspective
• Secularization: The Decline of Religious Influence in Western Societies
• Religious Extremism: Understanding the Causes and Seeking Solutions
• The Impact of Pilgrimage on Religious and Spiritual Life
• Religious Symbols in Public Spaces: Freedom of Expression or a Call for Regulation?
• The Relationship Between Religion and Morality in Contemporary Ethical Debates
• The Effects of Globalization on Indigenous Religions and Spiritual Practices

Argumentative Research Paper Topics

• Should education be made free for everyone?
• The influencers and bloggers cannot be considered as a job
• The role of military service is the way towards maturity
• Should Internet access be limited during college lectures?
• The death penalty service is not an ethical solution
• Fashion industry creates a bad influence on young people
• The Fairplay concept should be rewarded financially
• Should tobacco be made illegal indoors?
• Religious differences often become the cause of wars
• The majority of mobile applications represent the invasion of privacy
• Universal Basic Income: Economic Savior or Road to Dependency?
• Mandatory Vaccinations: Public Health Requirement or Personal Choice Infringement?
• The Death Penalty: A Necessary Deterrent or a Violation of Human Rights?
• Climate Change Policies: Economic Hindrance or Long-term Investment?
• Animal Testing in Medical Research: Ethical Consideration or Scientific Necessity?

These are the 200+ topics on various subjects, which you might find useful when creating your own. In case you need help aside from creating topics, you can also order the original research on Politics, Media & Communication, to do my Math homework , Law, and even Nursing papers for sale on Edubirdie.

Get professional fact-checking and editing!

Ensure accuracy and enhance quality in your papers. Our experts provide thorough fact-checking and editing for just $7/page.

How to Choose a Good Research Paper Topic?

While it may seem challenging to come up with a good research paper topic as you try your best to narrow things down, the trick is to choose something that influences you because you know it well and can support your arguments with relevant evidence. The subject should be well-structured and relevant to your thesis statement. Always take time to research the list of sources to compose your topic sentences as well to make them relate to your thesis part. It’s always best to check a good research paper introduction example before you start working on the paper and choosing your topic, or contact our essay writing service for help. Here are the steps to consider:

• Start With Observing Your Interests.

If you are confused with a variety of interesting topics for writing a creative essay, it’s better to decide what interests you the most. Don’t stick to easy research paper topics just to complete the task fast. If you are allowed to freely choose what to write an essay about, use the opportunity to create something unique. Write down the list of your interests and break down every idea into small certain topics. When you have a list in front of your eyes, it will be easier to make up your mind and start considering a particular issue.

Then you should examine what aspect of the topic is preferable for you to outline in your research paper . A list will save you here again. Use pros/cons template to include all the arguments and objections to the issues.

• Come Up With an Argumentative Research Question.

The most challenging part of choosing a competitive research paper topic is finding an aspect that poses some importance for your course and the subject per se. While it may seem that it is sufficient to make a general statement, your argumentation should include a clear research question. Consider asking yourself why you have chosen a particular topic and how your research will make it clearer or provide innovative solutions.

• Study Available Research Topic Ideas.

Since we have already mentioned the dangers of choosing something too broad, it is vital to narrow things down and brainstorm the list of possible research paper ideas that deal with the same subject. In other words, you can write down at least five different subjects and see whether you can find sufficient information to support them with the sources or statistical data. Remember the importance of your topic’s wording!

• Compose Strong Thesis Statement.

It must be done at the same time as you choose your research paper topic because these two concepts must be interconnected. Your subject must reflect your main idea of the thesis statement. Make sure that you have the list of sources prepared in advance to incorporate relevant information in your body paragraphs. As always, they must be the supporting evidence for your thesis statement’s idea and the research purpose.

Was this helpful?

Thanks for your feedback.

Written by David Kidwell

David is one of those experienced content creators from the United Kingdom who has a high interest in social issues, culture, and entrepreneurship. He always says that reading, blogging, and staying aware of what happens in the world is what makes a person responsible. He likes to learn and share what he knows by making things inspiring and creative enough even for those students who dislike reading.

Related Blog Posts

Learn how to write an introduction for a research paper.

Though introduction to any writing is frequently associated with beginning, it's not that simple for an introduction to a research paper. Here you ...

200+ Fascinating Biology Research Topics for Students in 2024

Table of contents A List of Researchable Topics for Biology Abortion, Human cloning, Genetic Researches Biology Topics Behaviour and ...

How to conduct research: best tips from experienced EduBirdie writers

Have you ever got your scholarly task and been unsure how to start research? Are you a first-year student beginning your project? Whatever the case...

Join our 150K of happy users

• Get original papers written according to your instructions
• Save time for what matters most

Ultimate List of 265 Research Topics for College Students

How often do you freeze up after receiving an assignment to write a research paper? We know how tough it can be, particularly in a flood of possible research topics for students. Choosing that one idea from plenty of research proposal topics for college students is the foremost step in any academic project.

Lack of inspiration? We made an ultimate list of research topics for college students. You will find art, biology, social science, education, and even more fun research topics for college students. Don’t scour the tons of outdated or dull topics anymore. A much better alternative would be to look at essay examples instead. 

What’s more, we prepared three main steps to start converting the chosen topic into a successful research paper. Besides, we will dispel any uncertainty in research importance. 

Is Research Important?

• Art Research Topics
• Biology Research Topics
• Educational Topics
• Environmental Topics

Gender Research Topics

• Law Research Topics

Literature Research Topics

• Music Research Topics
• Psychology Topics
• Religion Research Topics
• Science Research Topics
• Social Science Topics

Sports Research Paper Topics

How to start a research paper, top 10 research topics for college students:.

• Human impact on biodiversity loss
• Internet’s effect on freedom of speech
• Is isolation a cause of child abuse?
• Negative effect of pop culture trends on youth
• Pros and cons of free education
• Is AI a threat to humans?
• The impact of modern technology on ecology
• Can nuclear power be safe?
• Economic impact of GMO food
• Negative effect of climate change on economy

Before getting into the importance of research, let’s understand what kind of work it is.

Research is an analysis aimed at discovering of new facts or revising existing theories. It consists of several steps. The most common are:

• Research methodology setting
• Research problem statement
• Data extraction and gathering
• Assessment of the gathered data
• Conclusions summarizing

What Are the Purposes of Research?

The intentions are countless, but here are the general ones:

✨ to accept or reject a hypothesis; ✨ to gather information on a phenomenon or subject; ✨ to initiate further research or to “dig deeper.”

Why Is It important?

Research makes our life easier. The underlying cause of new discoveries is to understand how things work. If we acquire that data, we’ll know how to get practical value out of it.

Think of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. As we meet our deficiency needs, its level grows. At the same time, the demand for new knowledge increases. That is why discovering new is a never-ending process.

That is all clear. But you may ask: why do I need research skills in my day-to-day life?

After graduation, you will most likely still need research skills at work. No matter what the industry is. Either you decided to excel in science or form a hi-tech startup. If you want to achieve success, you should have strong research skills.

All in all, having research skills is one of the core elements of personal and social growth. It helps to generate additional findings or set new questions around existing knowledge.

Now let’s move on to the list of research topics.

Art Research Paper Topics

We’ll start from the study area, which is difficult to measure. We talk about art. For some, it may seem easier to study than exact sciences. But still, the number of questions about various genres, forms, and art styles is beyond imagination.

Why should we not overestimate the importance of studying art ?

Art is not just something for connoisseurs. It has always been and still is vital for the whole of society. What affected humanity’s development? Of course, the way people express their everyday life or feelings through art.

Besides, thanks to art, we can see things from different perspectives. It makes us open-minded and helps to develop critical thinking. And, most apparently, art fills our lives with beauty and elegance.

Art is so diverse that students may struggle to choose from a myriad of research areas. Here are some of the hottest art research paper topics for you:

• The influence of the internet and social networks on art.
• Researching of Greek mythological painting.
• The comparison of modern art in the United States and Europe.
• The representation of art in Lars von Trier’s films.
• The influence of African-American cultural heritage on modern American art.
• What are the features of contemporary art ?
• Frida Khalo and her sources of inspiration.
• The role of Kazimir Malevich in abstract art development.
• Art in the early renaissance and today’s European society .
• Art therapy techniques: what are they and are they effective?
• The difference of women’s representation in ancient and modern art .
• Comparative analysis of modern and classic cubism .
• The history and main features of abstract expressionism .
• The relationship between art and globalization .
• The influence of art on the fashion industry in Japan.

Biology Research Topics for College Students

Let’s move on to biology. This science deals with vital processes of living organisms. We’ve gathered a list of topics from different biology fields. You’ll find essay ideas from the fields of botany and zoology to genetics.

Research in biology has one distinctive feature. It is the use of research lab equipment. If you don’t use it and base your research on other sources — make sure they are credible.

What are the attributes of a research paper in biology?

Molecular biology, cellular, and other categories of biology imply accurate measurements. There is no place for mistakes here. Otherwise, the relevance of research results would be insignificant. A researcher should be scrupulous in calculations and statements.

So, feel free to pick up any topics from the list below. Study them thoroughly!

• The impact of global warming on marine life.
• Extensive research of photosynthesis aspects and functions.
• Thyroid hormones and their impact on the female body.

• DNA structure, modifications, and genetic disorders .
• Is it ethical to test cosmetics on animals ?
• The ability of living organisms to adapt to changing environments.
• The need for the protection of rare and endangered species .
• The role of sustainability in biology.
• Advantages and disadvantages of organic farming .
• The role of neurobiology in artificial intelligence development.
• The discovery and impact of Darwin’s theory .
• The discovery, history, and importance of vaccination .
• The role of microbes and microbiology in health .
• Neurobiology and its association with emotional trauma .
• Biology: mechanical signals regulating development .
• Cultural variations in environment and biology: AIDS .
• A review of the ecology and biology of the whale shark.
• Performance and quality assessment of methods for detection of point mutations.
• Optical imaging techniques in cell biology .
• Computational methods in molecular biology .

Educational Research Topics for Students

What can be trickier than studying how to study? Education research papers evolve at a rapid pace as the world changes every day. That is why new techniques and approaches are in demand.

No other discipline will answer the milestone questions as well as education. And the most important is about human nature.

What can make a precious contribution to society? The definite answer is — driving innovations in studying .

Want to remain in history as an author of a revolutionary breakthrough? Explore educational research paper topics for college students:

• Language distribution issues in bilingual schooling .
• Critical thinking as the primary goal of the educational process.
• Role-playing games as a learning tool .
• Pay-for-performance scheme for teachers .
• Moving from compliance to performance-based schools .
• Bilingual learning: advantages and disadvantages.
• Educational approaches in retrospective.
• Aspects of multicultural educational practices.
• The importance of inclusivity in teaching .
• Popular modern educational techniques: a comparison.
• Arithmetical problem-solving difficulties .
• Learning methods for blind children.
• The role of technology in lesson planning .
• Role-playing as an educational practice.
• The need for parents’ involvement in the educational process.
• Tools to develop the best teaching strategy .
• The efficiency of gamification .
• Individual approach to students.
• Popular educational mobile apps.
• Peculiarities of teaching disabled children .
• Same-gender and mixed-gender schools: a comparative analysis.
• Understanding the causes of school violence and bullying.
• The importance of sex education at schools.
• The educational system in America : problems and prospects.
• Cloud computing in educational institutions: an impact on the educational environment.
• Ethical behavior in  higher educational institutions.
• Cooperation of educational institutions and businesses: successful cases.
• Information technology as a means of educational process improvement.
• Homeschooling and its influence on communication skills.
• Comparative analysis of distance learning and face-to-face education efficiency.
• Individualized versus group learning.
• The necessity of higher education for all students.
• Best practices of top higher education establishments.
• Peculiarities of teacher’s education in America.
• Preschool education versus tertiary education .
• Teacher as a researcher. Cross-age peer tutoring .
• Multicultural and monocultural education programs: a comparison.
• Comparison of advantages and disadvantages of tablets and printed textbooks .
• Should education be free?
• Education unification: reasons to apply in high schools.

Environmental Research Topics

Our day-to-day comfort is an inherent cause of environmental problems. We may drive a car and have no idea how we harm nature.

Eco activism is a growing trend. Ecology issues acquired a more frequent and lucid coverage. Regardless, people tend to overlook the environment. They got the idea that we should protect our planet, but not all of them are ready to act.

That is why we need to be aware of more facts and measures. This can’t be obtained without decent environmental science research papers.

Do you want to be a part of it? Use our list of environmental research topics for college students:

• Risks of climate change and global warming .
• Aspects and perspectives of Kyoto protocol .
• Green hydrogen in automotive industry : is it a great alternative?
• The origin of the carbon tax .
• Amazonian deforestation , its causes, and trends.
• The greenhouse effect : process, components, and risks.
• Types of pollution : air, water, and soil.
• Alternative energy in Europe.
• Water scarcity in the Middle East .

• Wind energy as an alternative source .
• Benefits of sustainable technology and living .
• Vulnerability of hazardville to flooding disasters .
• Environment protection authority and chemical waste .
• Population control in China.
• Geoengineering principles.
• Acid rains : the cause and current measures.
• Radioactive waste disposal.
• The protection of wildlife .
• E-mobility as an environmental protection measure.
• Ecological conservation.

Gender roles and aspects are one of the central social questions nowadays. Studies in this field are as relevant and necessary as never before. It pushes our society forward, eliminating gender inequality and discrimination.

Do you want to contribute to gender knowledge but don’t know where to start? Here is the list of most relevant gender studies essay topics:

• Public policy analysis on gender inequality in education in South Sudan.
• The history of gender concept.
• Gender imbalance in the developing countries.
• Sex reassignment in treating gender dysphoria : a way to psychological well-being.
• Employee issues: gender discrimination, sexual harassment , discrimination.
• Gender roles in couples and sex stereotypes in society.
• The diversity of gender and sexual orientation identities of transgender individuals.
• MeToo movement as sexual harassment fight measure.
• Feminism : the contraception movement in Canada.
• Maternity and paternity leaves .
• The correlation between gender and cognitive abilities .
• Transgender people and healthcare barriers .
• Race and gender in public relations .
• Gender stereotyping in American media .
• The health and well-being of LGBTQA+ young people in Australia.
• Cancel culture in America.
• Transgender healthcare issues.
• Transgender person in professional sports.
• Female genital mutilation.
• Gender roles in media.

Law Research Paper Topics

We cannot imagine a civilized society without law. Even though the fundamental rights and obligations in different countries are mostly similar, there is still a great scope of differences to research.

We gathered the list of law research paper topics to explore:

• Human rights violations in CIS countries.
• A self-enforcing model of corporate law .
• Corporate strategies and environmental regulations : organizing framework.
• The benefits of decriminalization .
• International criminal law and measures .
• Discrimination in the workplace in legal practice.
• Welfare legislation for families .
• Intellectual property law: copyright law, trademark law, patent law.
• Enforcement of civil rights law in private workplaces.
• The establishment of foreign and international law in American courts. A procedural overview.
• Family law : spousal support after a divorce in Canada.
• Employment law and workplace relations in Saudi Arabia.
• Applicable real estate laws and policies for sustainable development in South Africa.
• Retrospective of the immigration crisis in Europe.
• The need for a domestic violence law in Russian Federation.
• Religious crimes and religious laws.
• Terrorism in different countries’ law systems.
• Grievance procedure in the European court of human rights.
• Cybercrimes in legal practice.
• Human trafficking and slavery in the modern world.

When it comes to literature, there is a vast ocean of ideas to research. The topics can be classified into a large number of categories. Those can be literature genres, awards, trends in literature, different social aspects of literature, etc.

To make finding the best fit easier, we conducted a list of the world literature research topics:

• Golden Age writers and their impact on literature.
• Feminist literature authors.
• Y. Zamyatin’s “We” as the origin of dystopian literature.
• Trends of modern literature .
• Ancient Greece literature.
• Is best seller always good literature?
• Tricksters in literature.
• Post-modernism in literature .
• Sexual violence in the “Handmaid’s Tale” by Atwood .
• Children literature.
• The works of J. D. Salinger .
• Social perception of modern literature .
• Philosophy, literature, and religion in society: a comparative analysis of the impact on human life.
• The portrayal of racism in the literature of the 21st century.
• Censorship in literature.
• Professional literature trends.
• Central themes in American literature .
• The impact of digitalization on literature.
• The role of the main character in literature.
• Literature: print versus digitalized?

Music Research Paper Topics

Research is something we can do not only in astronomy or molecular biology. We need it in the music too. Music shapes our life in a way we can’t even imagine. It’s a tremendous social and cultural phenomenon to explore.

These are 20 potential topics for your research in the music industry :

• The effect of music on a human brain .
• The evolution of rap music .
• TikTok as the most efficient promotional channel for new music.
• The origin of music theory.
• The music industry and information technology .
• The influence of Kanye West performances on the music industry.
• Music journalism : the most influential music media.
• Feminism and sex in hip-hop music .
• Opera and instrumental music .
• The origin of music festivals .
• Reggae music and its aspects .
• Latin American women and trap music .
• Streaming services prospects.
• Music as the way of promoting new trends.
• Features of punk music.

Psychology Research Paper Topics

Psychology is a multidisciplinary kind of field. That means there’s a wide range of potential research questions.

Do you need to write a psychology paper? Explore the list of possible topics:

• Cross-cultural psychology: research and application.
• The psychology of self-esteem .
• Aspects of industrial and organizational psychology .
• The psychology of learning and motivation : skill and strategy in memory use.
• Description of remarkable experiments and their results in psychology.
• The influence of meditation on people’s health .
• Analyzing psychological disorders: disorders treatment and research .
• Personality psychology and zen Buddhism .
• Perception of psychology in society .
• Organizational behavior. Emotion and personality .
• Children’s emotional development .
• Predictors of postpartum depression.

• Symptoms, causes, and treatment of schizophrenia.
• The social, political, and religious reasons of homophobia .
• Eating disorders in males: current progress and challenges.
• The side effects of antidepressants .
• Cognitive psychology : best cognitive scientists’ practices.
• Social anxiety as a constraint in learning.
• Alzheimer’s disease : working strategies for disease modification.
• The relation between the aging process and psychology.

Religion Research Paper Topics

Religious institutions, beliefs, and customs also get explored in papers quite often. That is rather a controversial sphere of education, so we gathered the most relevant religion paper topics below to help you.

• The religious significance of the Bible .
• The place of women in Islam .
• The history of Christianity in Indonesia .
• Assessing a crisis of faith and making a pastoral crisis intervention.
• Forced religion: cause and effect on children.
• The problem of creation mythology in the study of Indian religion.
• Existence of God : a philosophical introduction.
• Religion and mythology: concepts, differences.
• The role of religion in attitudes toward LGBT individuals.
• Issues and traditions in western religion .
• Theology in the concepts of nature, time, and the future.
• Religion and government interaction in the US.
• The history of the Christian church in East Europe.
• Religion freedom and its limitation .
• Hinduism and Buddhism: similarities and differences .
• Baptism in Christianity .
• The impact of religion on terrorism .
• The God of Israel and Christian theology .
• Culture and religion: how they interact.
• Religion and social morality.

Science Research Topics for College Students

What is a better way to uncover the mysteries of our universe than through science? As it comprises multiple types and directions, there is a vast number of questions to answer.

We suggest you the following science research paper topics:

• Paris climate agreement perspectives.
• Ethical aspects of cloning .
• Political science in the US: past and present issues.
• Genetic engineering and cloning controversy .
• The development of life on Earth .
• The current state of nuclear energetics in America.
• Nuclear weapon -free zones: a history and assessment.
• Solid earth dynamics and the evolution of the Antarctic ice sheet.
• Natural hazards : local, national, global.
• Geophysical fluid dynamics: atmospheric dynamics, dynamo theory, and climate dynamics.
• Data science as a key element of data-driven decision-making.
• Robotics & mobility systems in agriculture: successful cases.
• Legal models of space resources exploration and utilization.
• The social context of recycling : factors influencing household recycling behavior.
• Trends in consumer attitudes about agricultural biotechnology .
• Theory of turbulence: a mathematical model that illustrates it.
• Dual-mode infrared and radar hardware-in-the-loop test equipment.
• Essentials of computational chemistry: theories and models.
• Genetic algorithms in astronomy and astrophysics.
• A fundamental relation between supermassive black holes and their host galaxies.

Social Science Research Topics

Sociology is an umbrella term that covers dozens of branches. It studies family, social movements, mass media, class theory, race, ethnicity, levels of income. We could go on and on.

As you can see, the options for research are endless. Don’t waste your time trying to understand the peculiarities of each social or cultural branch. Use our list of social science research paper topics for college students.

• Social movements of 21 st century.
• Strauss–howe generational theory in marketing.
• Social media as a “hotbed” of narcissism .
• The nutritional status of vegans and vegetarians .
• Gender identity and community among three transgender groups in the United States: MTFs, FTMs, and genderqueers.
• Social causes of anorexia in young women.
• The civil rights in South America.
• #BlackLivesMatter movement and its influence on society.
• Gay marriage in America : current debates.
• Dependency of the children mortality level on the anti-vaccination movement development.
• Judaism in the first centuries of the Christian era.
• School choice and segregation by race, class, and achievement.
• The correlation between race and wealth.
• Freedom and social status of blacks in America .
• The problem of abortion .
• Causes and effects of drug addiction .
• Horizontal and vertical gender segregation in employment .
• Effects of domestic violence on children.
• The poverty level in the US: a retrospective analysis.
• Women leadership and community development.

We are approaching the end of our ultimate research paper topics list. To wrap it up, let’s take a look at sports research ideas.

It has been present in our lives for a long time and is still developing. That’s why we need to answer new questions and build new knowledge. Explore the list below:

• How does globalization affect sports?
• History of doping scandals in the Olympics .
• Team sports as a socialization tool for children.
• The origin and history of ice hockey.
• Organizational aspects of Paralympic games.
• Aspects of independent Olympians at the Olympic games .
• The unique history of Pelé.
• Risk factors for injuries in football.
• Short interval versus long interval training.
• Sport as a communication medium .
• Nutritional support of young athletes .
• Mental training during competition preparation.
• Philosophical conflicts between the practices of sport and cybersport.
• Running as a treatment for heart diseases .
• Typical traumas of soccer players.

After getting familiar with the list of topics, let’s discuss the essential steps before beginning research.

Narrow Your Topic

Let’s say you selected that one topic from the list. What’s next? It’s time to outline the boundaries of the research. It should not be too broad or narrow . Its scope must strictly correspond to the problem’s scope under exploration.

What is the difference between a narrow and a broad topic?

Let’s look at three research topic examples:

• Eating Disorders. The topic is too general and comprehensive. If your research paper requires to be short, then there is no sense in choosing this topic. You better narrow it down.
• Eating Disorders in Young Females. In this topic, we try to segment the subjected populations to specify the research question. It is still rather broad but more focused.
• Anorexia in Young Females and Its Impact on Society. Here, we distinguish a particular type of eating disorder and leave a population segmentation. That is a perfect example of a narrowed topic. Now, it’s easier to ask specific questions, uncover insights and contribute to further research.

Focus on your narrowed topic and form a central research question. After that, research the existing data and find supporting facts. Don’t let your exploration be one-sided: explore different points of view. Compare and analyze counterpoints and draw conclusions.

After a profound studying, create a thesis statement to support your narrowed topic in a specific way.

To make things clear, use this step-by-step guide on finding and narrowing your topic.

Evaluate Sources

It takes a second to get access to billions of search results on any topic in Google. Most of the time, we jump through the first two or three links, and that’s it. If you seek quality, then it’s not the proper approach. You should acquire the skill of processing the sources.

What are the tips for source evaluation?

• Forget about Wikipedia as a scientific source. Wikipedia is a free platform where any user can make edits. Extracting information from wiki without fact-checking isn’t a good academic practice. Great alternatives to Wikipedia are College e-libraries, scholarly databases, Google Scholar, etc.
• Explore well-respected professional research journals. They contain up-to-date research data and conclusions which shape the most relevant views and understanding of what is going on in the modern world.
• Visit libraries. We tend to overlook them in our digital era. But you can find super valuable sources for research there.
• Avoid personal blogs, opinion articles, and self-published books . There can be heavy use of bias.

3 Main Tips on Writing a Thesis Statement

After you decide on a research topic and sources, it’s time to write a thesis statement.

• Ask a question. Here are two options. In the first one, your professor can assign you a concrete question. If it’s not your case, then ask what interests you. What would you like to explore?
• Give an initial answer. Try to answer the question before in-depth topic exploration. Work out some hypotheses.
• Enrich the initial answer. Prove the initial hypothesis by detailing the research. Use the calculations and quantitative data to make your thesis credible.

To back up these tips, let’s look at a couple of example thesis statements from the StudyCorgi essay database:

You’ve just explored an ultimate list of research paper topic ideas and important steps to turn those topics into excellent research papers.

Did you find our topics compilation helpful? Save it for a future reference or share with friends!

• What Is Research? — Hampshire College
• Definition of Research — Western Sydney University
• The Importance of Research to Students — Cleveland University Kansas City
• Guidelines for Writing Art History Research Papers — UA Little Rock University
• Areas of Research in Biology — Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• Environmental Science: Current Research — Herald Scholarly Open Access
• Thesis Statements — University of North Carolina
• Thesis Statement Tips — Purdue University
• What Is Education Research — National Center for Education Research
• Research in the Faculty of Music — University of Cambridge
• Research: Religion and Society Specialism — University of Birmingham
• Sociology Research Areas — Cornell University
• Narrowing a Topic Idea — UCS Libraries
• Developing a Research Question — The University of Arizona
• Organizing Academic Research Paper — Sacred Heart University
• How to Write a Conclusion for a Research Paper: Indeed
• Share to Facebook
• Share to Twitter X
• Share to LinkedIn

500 Good Research Paper Topics

Bonus Material: Essential essay checklist

Writing a research paper for a class and not sure how to start?

One of the most important steps to creating a great paper is finding a good topic! 

Here’s a hand-drafted list from a Princeton grad who has helped professors at Harvard and Yale edit their papers for publication and taught college writing at the University of Notre Dame and .

What’s more, we give you some foolproof formulas for creating your own paper topic to fit the requirements of your class.

Using these simple formulas, we’ve helped hundreds of students turn a B- paper topic into an A+ paper topic.

Keep reading for our list of 500 vetted research paper topics and our magic formulas for creating your own topic!

Of course, if you want help learning to write research papers tailored to your individual needs, check out our one-on-one writing coaching or academic writing workshop . Set up a free consultation to see how we can help you learn to write A+ papers!

Jump to paper topics in:

European & Mediterranean History

African history, asian history, history of the pre-columbian americas.

• Latin American History

History of Science

Politics & public policy, education & education policy, political theory, science policy.

• Health Sciences & Psychology

What is a research paper?

In order to write a good research paper, it’s important to know what it is! 

In general, we can divide academic writing into three broad categories:

• Analytical: analyze the tools an author uses to make their point
• Research: delve deeply into a research topic and share your findings
• Persuasive : argue a specific and nuanced position backed by evidence

What’s the difference between an analytical paper and a research paper? For an analytical paper, it’s okay to just use one or two sources (a book, poem, work of art, piece of music, etc.) and examine them in detail. For a research paper, however, the expectation is that you do, well . . . research .

The depth of research that you’re expected to do will depend on your age and the type of class you’re taking.

In elementary or middle school, a “research paper” might mean finding information from a few general books or encyclopedias in your school library. 

In high school, your teachers might expect you to start using information from academic articles and more specific books. You might use encyclopedias and general works as a starting point, but you’ll be expected to go beyond them and do more work to synthesize information from different perspectives or different types of sources. You may also be expected to do “primary research,” where you study the source material yourself, instead of synthesizing what other people have written about the source material.

In college, you’ll be required to use academic journals and scholarly books, and your professors will now expect that you be more critical of these secondary sources, noticing the methodology and perspectives of whatever articles and books you’re using. 

In more advanced college courses, you’ll be expected to do more exhaustive surveys of the existing literature on a topic. You’ll need to conduct primary research that makes an original contribution to the field—the kind that could be published in a journal article itself.

For a walkthrough of the 12 essential steps to writing a good paper, check out our step-by-step guide .

Working on a research paper? Grab our free checklist to make sure your essay has everything it needs to earn an A grade.

Get the essential essay checklist

What makes a good research paper topic?

One of the most important features of a research paper topic is that it has a clear, narrow focus. 

For example, your teacher may assign you to write a research paper related to the US Revolutionary War. Does that mean that your topic should be “the US Revolutionary War”? 

Definitely not! There’s no way to craft a good paper with in-depth research with such a broad topic. (Unless you’re in elementary or middle school, in which case it’s okay to have a more general topic for your research paper.)

Instead, you need to find a more specific topic within this broader one. There are endless ways that you can make this narrower! Some ideas generated from this one broader topic might be:

• Causes of the US Revolutionary War
• Changes in military strategy during the Revolutionary War
• The experiences of Loyalists to England who remained in the American colonies during the Revolutionary War
• How the Revolutionary War was pivotal for the career of Alexander Hamilton
• The role of alliances with France during the US Revolutionary War
• The experiences of people of color during the Revolutionary War
• How George Washington’s previous military career paved the way for his leadership in the Revolutionary War
• The main types of weaponry during the Revolutionary War
• Changes in clothing and fashion over the courses of the Revolutionary War
• How Valley Forge was a key moment in the Revolutionary War
• How women contributed to the Revolutionary War
• What happened in Amherst, Massachusetts during the Revolutionary War
• Field medicine during the Revolutionary War
• How the Battle of Saratoga was a turning point in the Revolutionary War
• How different opinions about the Revolutionary War were reflected in poetry written during that time
• Debates over abolition during the Revolutionary War
• The importance of supply chains during the Revolutionary War
• Reactions to the US Revolutionary war in Europe
• How the US Revolutionary war impacted political theory in England and France
• Similarities and differences between the US Revolutionary War and the French Revolution
• Famous paintings inspired by the US Revolutionary War
• Different ways that the US Revolutionary War has been depicted in modern contemporary culture
• The appropriation of the “Boston Tea Party” by US politicians in the 2010s

This list could go on forever!

In fact, any of these topics could become even more specific. For example, check out the evolution of this topic:

• Economic causes of the Revolutionary war
• The way that tax policies helped lead to the Revolutionary War
• How tax laws enacted 1763–1775 helped lead to the Revolutionary War
• How the tax-free status of the British East India Company helped lead to the Revolutionary War
• How the 1773 tax-free status of the British East India Company helped lead to the Revolutionary War, as reflected in letters written 1767–1775
• How the 1773 tax-free status of the British East India Company helped lead to the Revolutionary War, as reflected in letters written by members of the Sons of Liberty 1767–1775

As you advance in your educational career, you’ll need to make your topic more and more specific. Steps 1–3 of this topic might be okay in high school, but for a college research paper steps 4–7 would be more appropriate!

As you craft your research paper topic, you should also keep in mind the availability of research materials on your subject. There are millions of topics that would make interesting research papers, but for which you yourself might not be able to investigate with the primary and secondary sources to which you have access.

Access to research materials might look like:

• To the best of our knowledge, the sources exist somewhere
• The source isn’t behind a paywall (or you or your school can pay for it)
• Your school or local library has a copy of the source
• Your school or local library can order a copy of the source for you
• The source is in a language that you speak
• The source has been published already (there’s tons of amazing research that hasn’t been published yet, a frustrating problem!)
• You can access the archive, museum, or database where the primary source is held—this might mean online access or travel! To access a source in an archive or museum you’ll often need permission, which often requires a letter of support from your school.

If you’re not sure about access to source materials, talk to a librarian! They’re professionals for this question.

Finally, pick a research topic that interests you! Given that there are unlimited research topics in the world and many ways to adapt a broad topic, there should absolutely be a way to modify a research topic to fit your interests.

Want help learning to write an amazing research paper? Work one-on-one with an experienced Ivy-League tutor to improve your writing skills or sign up for our bestselling academic writing workshop .

Insider tips to generate your own research paper topic

Use these formulas to generate your own research paper topics:

• How did X change over a period of time (year, decade, century)?
• What is the impact (or consequences) of X?
• What led to X?
• What is the role of X in Y?
• How did X influence Y?
• How did X become Y?
• How was X different from Y?
• How is X an example of Y?
• How did X affect Y?
• What were some reactions to X?
• What are the most effective policies to produce X result?
• What are some risks of X?
• How is our current understanding of X incorrect? (advanced)
• What happens if we look at X through the lens of Y theory or perspective? (advanced)

A good research paper topic often starts with the question words—why, how, what, who, and where. Remember to make it as specific as possible!

Good research paper topics

These research paper topics have been vetted by a Princeton grad and academic book editor!

• How did European rivalries (British vs French) impact North American history?
• What was the role of British and French alliances with indigneous tribes during the Seven Years’ War?
• Reactions to the 1754 Albany Congress among North American intellectual figures
• How the Albany Plan served as a model for future attempts at union among the North American colonies
• How did different religious identities (Calvinist, Catholic, etc.) play a role in the aftermath of the Seven Years’ War?
• What were the consequences of the 1763 Treaty of Paris?
• How did the Seven Years’ War impact British debt and colonial economics?
• What were some causes of the US Revolutionary War?
• How did military strategy change during the Revolutionary War?
• What were the experiences of Loyalists to England who remained in the American colonies during the Revolutionary War?
• How was the Revolutionary War pivotal for the career of Alexander Hamilton?
• What was the role of alliances with France during the US Revolutionary War?
• What were the experiences of people of color during the Revolutionary War?
• How did George Washington’s previous military career pave the way for his leadership in the Revolutionary War?
• What were the main types of weaponry during the Revolutionary War? How did that affect the options for military strategies?
• How did clothing and fashion change over the courses of the Revolutionary War?
• How was Valley Forge a key moment in the Revolutionary War?
• How did women contribute to the Revolutionary War?
• What happened in Amherst, Massachusetts (or any other specific location) during the Revolutionary War?
• What was field medicine like during the Revolutionary War? 
• How was the Battle of Saratoga a turning point in the Revolutionary War?
• How were different opinions about the Revolutionary War reflected in poetry written during that time?
• What were the debates over abolition during the Revolutionary War?
• What was the role of supply chains during the Revolutionary War?
• What were reactions to the US Revolutionary war like in Europe? What does that tell us about politics in England, France, the Netherlands, etc?
• How did the US Revolutionary war impact political theory in England and France?
• What are similarities and differences between the US Revolutionary War and the French Revolution?
• What are some famous paintings inspired by the US Revolutionary War? What do differences between these paintings tell us about how the artists who created them saw the war?
• What are some different ways that the US Revolutionary War has been depicted in modern contemporary culture? What does that tell us?
• How was the story of the “Boston Tea Party” appropriated by US politicians in the 2010s, and why?
• What was the difference between the Federalists and the Jeffersonians?
• How did the 1797 XYZ Affair lead to the Quasi-War with France?
• How were loans from European countries and companies (France, Spain, Dutch bankers) key to the early US?
• What were reactions to the Constitutional Convention of 1787?
• Why did the US remain neutral during the French Revolution?
• How did the Alien and Sedition acts contribute to the election of Thomas Jefferson as president?
• What was the US’s reaction to the Haitian revolution? Why did the US not recognize Haitian independence until 1862?
• What were the reactions to John Jay’s Treaty of 1794?
• How have the remarks made by George Washington in his Farewell Address inspired isolationist policies?
• How did interpretations of the Monroe Doctrine change over the decades since its creation? 
• How did the Roosevelt Corollary and Lodge Corollary change and expand the Monroe Doctrine?
• How did the presence of US companies like the United Fruit Company affect US military interventions in Latin America? 
• How was the Monroe Doctrine invoked in the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962? 
• How was US culture shaped by the Cold War?
• How did ecology play a role in the rise of Ancient Egypt?
• How did water management technologies impact Ancient Egypt?
• How did bureaucracies function in Ancient Egypt?
• How did Egyptian art influence Ancient Greek art?
• Who could be a citizen in Athens in the 5th century BCE? What does this tell us about classical Athenian society?
• What was the impact of the Peloponnesian War?
• What was the impact of Alexander the Great’s attempt to create an empire?
• How does the way that Alexander the Great is represented in art demonstrate conceptions about the relationship between the human and the divine?
• Was there a conception of race in the ancient world? How were these ideas different from our own modern conceptions of race?
• What was the role of debt slavery in the Roman republic? How were these policies ended, and what is the significance of the end of debt slavery? What kinds of slavery remained?
• To what degree does the movie Gladiator accurately the Roman Empire in 176–192 CE?
• What was the role of slavery in managing the large latifundia ?
• How and why did the emperor Constantine I adopt Christianity?
• How did patterns of urbanism in the latter Roman empire change? What does this tell us about challenges being faced at that time?
• What do reactions to the Byzantine empress Theodora tell us about ideas of gender in 6th-century Byzantium?
• How did scientific advancements in Islamic Spain influence the rest of Europe?
• What was the relationship between Muslim, Christian, and Jewish populations in Islamic Spain? How does this compare to the experience of Muslim and Jewish populations in Christian Spain?
• How did medieval troubadour poetry represent a new idea of romantic relationships?
• What are similarities and differences between medieval troubadour poetry and lyric poetry in Ancient Greece? 
• What do letters between women and popes tell us about gender, power, and religion in medieval Europe?
• In what ways was Hildegard of Bingen groundbreaking for her time?
• Who produced beer in medieval England, and what does this tell us about society?
• How did the adoption of hops affect the production and distribution of beer?
• How did beer production allow some women a way to be financially independent?
• How was clothing used to mark religious and cultural identities in 15th- and 16th-century Spain?
• How did print culture change relationships and courting in Georgian England?
• How did churches function as social gathering spaces in Georgian England?
• To what degree is Netflix’s Bridgerton series historically accurate?
• How did ideas of love change in the 18th century? How did philosophy play a role in this?
• When were Valentine cards first commercially available? What does that show us about cultural ideas of love and courtship?
• What were the consequences of the desertification of the Sahara?
• How did trade links on the Red Sea influence Nubian culture?
• How did Carthage build power in Northern Africa around 600–500 BCE?
• What was the impact of the Mercenary War (241–238 BCE) in Carthage?
• How did the Roman province of Africa play a key role in financing the Roman Empire?
• What were the consequences of the Donatist division in the 300s in Northern Africa?
• What was the impact of the large-scale movement of Bedouins from the Arabian peninsula into the Maghreb?
• How was Mande society organized in the Mali Empire? 
• What was the role of the book trade in Timbuktu? What does this tell us about culture and learning in the Mali Empire?
• How did Aksum use trade to build wealth and power? 
• What do Nok terracotta sculptures tell us about Nok culture?
• How did the Luba Empire create a centralized political system? How did the idea of spiritual kins ( balopwe ) play a role in this system?
• How did tax collection work in the Lunda empire?
• What does it mean to say that the Ajuran Empire was a hydraulic empire? How did control over water resources allow the Ajuran Empire to build and consolidate power?
• What is the significance of diplomatic ties between the Somai Ajuran Empire and Ming dynasty China? 
• How did the tribute system in the Kingdom of Kongo help to stimulate interregional trade?
• What was the impact of the introduction of maize and cassava to the Kingdom of Kongo?
• How did women wield influence in the Kingdom of Benin?
• How did the Industrial Revolution in Europe help lead to the Scramble for Africa 1878–1898?
• What were the consequences of the Second Boer War?
• What happened in the Year of Africa (1960)?
• How did the Han dynasty consolidate power in frontier regions? 
• How and why did the Han dynasty nationalize the private salt and iron industries in 117 BCE?
• What are the earliest records of papermaking, and what is the significance of this invention?
• What was the role of Daoist religious societies in rebellions at the end of the Han dynasty (Yellow Turban Rebellion, Five Pecks of Rice Rebellion)?
• What do tomb paintings tell us about ancient Chinese society?
• What was the impact of the Sui dynasty’s standardization and re-unification of the coinage?
• What was the role of standardized testing in Sui dynasty and Tang dynasty China?
• Why is the Tang dynasty often regarded as a golden age of cosmopolitan culture in Chinese history?
• What was the role of slavery in imperial China? 
• How did the rise of jiedushi (regional military governments) undermine the civil-service system? What were the consequences of this?
• How did Tang dynasty China exert power over Japan and Korea?
• What was the Three Departments and Six Ministries system in imperial China and how did it work?
• What does the appearance of Inca, Maya, and Aztec goods in North America (Utah, Canada) and the appearance of goods from the Great Lakes region in Maya and Aztec ruins tell us about trade in the Pre-Columbian Americas?
• How did celebration of maize play a central role in Mesoamerican cultures?
• How did the Aztec empire use relationships with client city-states to establish power? How did the Aztec empire use taxation to exert power?
• How did the luxury good trade impact Aztec political power? 
• How did the building of roads play a key role in the Aztec empire?
• How and why has archaeology played a pivotal role in expanding our understanding of the pre-Columbian Americas?
• What are some common misconceptions about the Americas in the year 1491? Why do these misconceptions exist?

Latin American History (post-1492)

• How and why did the Spanish appropriate Aztec sites of significance (e.g. Mexico City at the site of Tenochtitlan)?
• What were reactions among Latin American intellectuals (e.g. Luis María Drago, Alejandro Álvarez and Baltasar Brum) to the Monroe Doctrine?
• How was the US’s involvement in the Venezuela Crisis of 1902–1903 a pivotal turning point in the relationship between the US and Latin American countries?
• What were the effects of the US’s involvement in the Cuban War for Independence?
• How did the Roosevelt Corollary of 1904 benefit the US?
• How did Simon Bolivar’s time in Europe affect his ideas about Latin American independence?
• How did 19th century academic societies play a role in the advancement of scientific discoveries? Who was excluded from these societies?
• How was music connected to the sciences in medieval thinking?
• When was the concept of zero first used, and how was it instrumental for advancements in math?
• What role did Islamic Spain play in the spread of scientific advancements in medieval Europe?
• What role has translation between languages played in the development of sciences?
• Why were Galileo’s ideas about astronomy controversial at the time?
• What was the connection between art and advancements in human anatomy?
• Why were Darwin’s ideas about natural selection controversial at the time?
• To what degree does the film Master and Commander accurately depict the voyages of Charles Darwin?
• How did the discovery of quinine and other medical innovations help to facilitate the European colonization of Africa?
• How and why was the internet invented?
• Does Virgil’s Aeneid celebrate the new Roman Empire or subvert it?
• Why was the poet Ovid exiled from Rome?
• What are the pagan influences in Beowulf ? What are the Christian elements in Beowulf ? What does that tell us about late Anglo-Saxon England?
• How does Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales reflect gender roles in late medieval England?
• How does Dante’s Inferno draw on book IV of Virgil’s Aeneid ? 
• How are gender roles presented and subverted in Shakespeare’s plays?
• To what degree did Henry David Thoreau live out the ideals he described in Walden in his own life?
• How did the serialized publication of novels affect the way that they were written?
• Does Dickens’ novel A Tale of Two Cities accurately portray the French Revolution?
• How did 18th-century novels propagate the idea of marrying for love?
• What did contemporary readers think about Jane Austen and her novels?
• To what degree do Jane Austen’s novels reflect economic realities for women in Regency England? What do they leave out?
• How did Lord Byron’s personal life affect his poetry?
• What do we know about the romantic life of Emily Dickinson?
• What were the religious movements that influenced the writer George Eliot, and how do those influences appear in her novels?
• In what ways were Walt Whitman’s writings new or different?
• How did British poets react to the horrors of Word War I?
• What do Tolkien’s letters reveal about the ways in which the two world wars influenced his writings?
• How did the friendship between CS Lewis and Tolkien affect their respective writings?
• What are the arguments for and against Catalonian independence from Spain?
• What are the arguments for and against Scottish independence from the United Kingdom?
• What are some risks of contact sports, especially for children?
• What are the most effective policies for combating childhood obesity?
• What are the most effective policies for reducing gun violence?
• Which countries have the longest life expectancy and why?
• What are some differences between the healthcare system in the US and in European countries? Which country has the most similar system to the US?
• What policies for parental leave exist in different countries? What are some effects of these policies?
• Has the drinking age in the US always been 21? What have been some different policies, and what were some consequences of them?
• What is the debate around museum artifacts like the Elgin Marbles in London or the Benin Bronzes in Berlin?
• How have politicians attempted to control population growth in different countries, either directly or indirectly? What have been some effects of these policies?
• Which countries have the most gender parity reflected in national governments? How have they accomplished this?
• How has public funding of K-12 education changed since the 1930s in the US? 
• How has public funding of higher education changed in the US?
• What is early childhood education like in different countries?
• What are some effects of free or reduced-cost meals in schools?
• How does access to menstrual products affect education outcomes for girls in different countries?
• What was the impact of Rousseau’s writings on education?
• How did Plato’s ideal forms of government reflect contemporary Athenian concerns about the unruly masses ( demos )?
• How did Aristotle justify slavery?
• How has wealth inequality increased in recent decades?
• How is inflation calculated, and what are the implications of this methodology?
• How have genetically-engineered crops changed the way that the planet feeds itself?
• How has animal testing changed since 2000?
• How is animal testing regulated differently in different countries?

Health Sciences and Psychology

• How do different societies reflect the natural circadian rhythms of the human body?
• How does secondhand smoke affect the human body?
• How does lack of sleep affect the body?
• How does stress affect the body?
• What are some ways to reduce stress?
• How have cancer treatments changed in the past 30 years?
• Why is it hard to find a “cure” for cancer?
• How has the Human Genome Project changed medical science?
• How were the Covid vaccines developed so quickly? What is the difference between the various Covid vaccines that have been developed?

Ready to start working on your research paper?

Our Ivy-League tutors can provide one-on-one writing coaching . Get expert help in selecting a topic that fits your assignment, finding research sources, creating an outline, drafting your paper, and revising for clarity.

Our writing coaches have helped students turn B- papers to A+ papers with just a few sessions together. We have experience working with students of all ages and writing abilities, from middle school students to college students at the nation’s top universities. What’s more, we’ll teach you how to write so that it’s easier the next time around!

A few times per year we also offer our bestselling academic writing workshop . Save your spot here !

Related posts

99 Great Handpicked Ideas for Argumentative Essays 12 Essential Steps for Writing an Argumentative Essay The 13 SAT and ACT Grammar Rules to Know 16 Essential Literary Devices to Know

Emily graduated  summa cum laude  from Princeton University and holds an MA from the University of Notre Dame. She was a National Merit Scholar and has won numerous academic prizes and fellowships. A veteran of the publishing industry, she has helped professors at Harvard, Yale, and Princeton revise their books and articles. Over the last decade, Emily has successfully mentored hundreds of students in all aspects of the college admissions process, including the SAT, ACT, and college application essay. 

CHECK OUT THESE RELATED POSTS

Your Guide to the SSAT’s Format

June 3, 2024

Wondering about SSAT format, length, or content? In this post, we cover everything you need to know about the structure of this high stakes test so that you can prepare for …

6 SSAT Reading Strategies From the Experts

May 29, 2024

With these 6 SSAT Reading strategies, you'll be prepared to maximize your raw score on this difficult section.

15 College Essays That Worked

May 13, 2024

In this regularly updated post, we share the college essays that helped students get into their dream schools -- including Ivy Leagues.

SSAT Score Release Dates – When You’ll Get That Score Report

May 2, 2024

You've studied hard. You've taken the SSAT. Now when will you get that score report? Find SSAT score release dates and more in this regularly updated post.

SSAT Prep Resources: Your Guide

Preparing to take the SSAT? What SSAT prep resources should you be utilizing? We weigh in on the best SSAT test prep tools in this post.

Scoring on the SSAT: Your 2024 Guide

Understanding your SSAT score report can be challenging. With this detailed breakdown of SSAT scores, you'll have a firm grasp on what to expect in no time!

What is a Good SSAT Score for 2024?

What is a good SSAT score? What percentile ranking do you need to get into the school of your dreams? Find out more in this comprehensive post.

Princeton Review vs Kaplan: Which SAT Prep Service is Better?

April 29, 2024

Princeton Review and Kaplan are two of the biggest test prep services, but which one is better? Detailed review of pricing, course materials, instructor qualifications, and customer service. Choose the best SAT prep to help you raise your score…

Kaplan SAT Prep Review: Rating All of Kaplan’s SAT Prep Options

Comprehensive review of Kaplan's SAT prep services: pricing, instructor qualifications, online platform, customer service, and educational quality.

Princeton Review vs Kaplan: Which ACT Prep Service is Better?

Princeton Review and Kaplan are two of the biggest test prep services, but which one is better? Detailed review of pricing, course materials, instructor qualifications, and customer service. Choose the best ACT prep to help you raise your score…

Privacy Preference Center

Privacy preferences.

• Advisers & Contacts
• Bachelor of Arts & Bachelor of Science in Engineering
• Prerequisites
• Declaring Computer Science for AB Students
• Declaring Computer Science for BSE Students
• Class of '25, '26 & '27 - Departmental Requirements
• Class of 2024 - Departmental Requirements
• COS126 Information
• Important Steps and Deadlines
• Independent Work Seminars
• Guidelines and Useful Information

Undergraduate Research Topics

• AB Junior Research Workshops
• Undergraduate Program FAQ
• How to Enroll
• Requirements
• Certificate Program FAQ
• Interdepartmental Committee
• Minor Program
• Funding for Student Group Activities
• Mailing Lists and Policies
• Study Abroad
• Jobs & Careers
• Admissions Requirements
• Breadth Requirements
• Pre-FPO Checklist
• FPO Checklist
• M.S.E. Track
• M.Eng. Track
• Departmental Internship Policy (for Master's students)
• General Examination
• Fellowship Opportunities
• Travel Reimbursement Policy
• Communication Skills
• Course Schedule
• Course Catalog
• Research Areas
• Interdisciplinary Programs
• Technical Reports
• Computing Facilities
• Researchers
• Technical Staff
• Administrative Staff
• Graduate Students
• Undergraduate Students
• Graduate Alumni
• Climate and Inclusion Committee
• Resources for Undergraduate & Graduate Students
• Outreach Initiatives
• Resources for Faculty & Staff
• Spotlight Stories
• Job Openings
• Undergraduate Program
• Independent Work & Theses

Suggested Undergraduate Research Topics

How to Contact Faculty for IW/Thesis Advising

Send the professor an e-mail. When you write a professor, be clear that you want a meeting regarding a senior thesis or one-on-one IW project, and briefly describe the topic or idea that you want to work on. Check the faculty listing for email addresses.

Parastoo Abtahi, Room 419

Available for single-semester IW and senior thesis advising, 2024-2025

• Research Areas: Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), Augmented Reality (AR), and Spatial Computing
• Input techniques for on-the-go interaction (e.g., eye-gaze, microgestures, voice) with a focus on uncertainty, disambiguation, and privacy.
• Minimal and timely multisensory output (e.g., spatial audio, haptics) that enables users to attend to their physical environment and the people around them, instead of a 2D screen.
• Interaction with intelligent systems (e.g., IoT, robots) situated in physical spaces with a focus on updating users’ mental model despite the complexity and dynamicity of these systems.

Ryan Adams, Room 411

Research areas:

• Machine learning driven design
• Generative models for structured discrete objects
• Approximate inference in probabilistic models
• Accelerating solutions to partial differential equations
• Innovative uses of automatic differentiation
• Modeling and optimizing 3d printing and CNC machining

Andrew Appel, Room 209

Available for Fall 2024 IW advising, only

• Research Areas: Formal methods, programming languages, compilers, computer security.
• Software verification (for which taking COS 326 / COS 510 is helpful preparation)
• Game theory of poker or other games (for which COS 217 / 226 are helpful)
• Computer game-playing programs (for which COS 217 / 226)
•  Risk-limiting audits of elections (for which ORF 245 or other knowledge of probability is useful)

Sanjeev Arora, Room 407

• Theoretical machine learning, deep learning and its analysis, natural language processing. My advisees would typically have taken a course in algorithms (COS423 or COS 521 or equivalent) and a course in machine learning.
• Show that finding approximate solutions to NP-complete problems is also NP-complete (i.e., come up with NP-completeness reductions a la COS 487). 
• Experimental Algorithms: Implementing and Evaluating Algorithms using existing software packages. 
• Studying/designing provable algorithms for machine learning and implementions using packages like scipy and MATLAB, including applications in Natural language processing and deep learning.
• Any topic in theoretical computer science.

David August, Room 221

Not available for IW or thesis advising, 2024-2025

• Research Areas: Computer Architecture, Compilers, Parallelism
• Containment-based approaches to security:  We have designed and tested a simple hardware+software containment mechanism that stops incorrect communication resulting from faults, bugs, or exploits from leaving the system.   Let's explore ways to use containment to solve real problems.  Expect to work with corporate security and technology decision-makers.
• Parallelism: Studies show much more parallelism than is currently realized in compilers and architectures.  Let's find ways to realize this parallelism.
• Any other interesting topic in computer architecture or compilers. 

Mark Braverman, 194 Nassau St., Room 231

• Research Areas: computational complexity, algorithms, applied probability, computability over the real numbers, game theory and mechanism design, information theory.
• Topics in computational and communication complexity.
• Applications of information theory in complexity theory.
• Algorithms for problems under real-life assumptions.
• Game theory, network effects
• Mechanism design (could be on a problem proposed by the student)

Sebastian Caldas, 221 Nassau Street, Room 105

• Research Areas: collaborative learning, machine learning for healthcare. Typically, I will work with students that have taken COS324.
• Methods for collaborative and continual learning.
• Machine learning for healthcare applications.

Bernard Chazelle, 194 Nassau St., Room 301

• Research Areas: Natural Algorithms, Computational Geometry, Sublinear Algorithms. 
• Natural algorithms (flocking, swarming, social networks, etc).
• Sublinear algorithms
• Self-improving algorithms
• Markov data structures

Danqi Chen, Room 412

• My advisees would be expected to have taken a course in machine learning and ideally have taken COS484 or an NLP graduate seminar.
• Representation learning for text and knowledge bases
• Pre-training and transfer learning
• Question answering and reading comprehension
• Information extraction
• Text summarization
• Any other interesting topics related to natural language understanding/generation

Marcel Dall'Agnol, Corwin 034

• Research Areas: Theoretical computer science. (Specifically, quantum computation, sublinear algorithms, complexity theory, interactive proofs and cryptography)
• Research Areas: Machine learning

Jia Deng, Room 423

•  Research Areas: Computer Vision, Machine Learning.
• Object recognition and action recognition
• Deep Learning, autoML, meta-learning
• Geometric reasoning, logical reasoning

Adji Bousso Dieng, Room 406

• Research areas: Vertaix is a research lab at Princeton University led by Professor Adji Bousso Dieng. We work at the intersection of artificial intelligence (AI) and the natural sciences. The models and algorithms we develop are motivated by problems in those domains and contribute to advancing methodological research in AI. We leverage tools in statistical machine learning and deep learning in developing methods for learning with the data, of various modalities, arising from the natural sciences.

Robert Dondero, Corwin Hall, Room 038

• Research Areas:  Software engineering; software engineering education.
• Develop or evaluate tools to facilitate student learning in undergraduate computer science courses at Princeton, and beyond.
• In particular, can code critiquing tools help students learn about software quality?

Zeev Dvir, 194 Nassau St., Room 250

• Research Areas: computational complexity, pseudo-randomness, coding theory and discrete mathematics.
• Independent Research: I have various research problems related to Pseudorandomness, Coding theory, Complexity and Discrete mathematics - all of which require strong mathematical background. A project could also be based on writing a survey paper describing results from a few theory papers revolving around some particular subject.

Benjamin Eysenbach, Room 416

• Research areas: reinforcement learning, machine learning. My advisees would typically have taken COS324.
• Using RL algorithms to applications in science and engineering.
• Emergent behavior of RL algorithms on high-fidelity robotic simulators.
• Studying how architectures and representations can facilitate generalization.

Christiane Fellbaum, 1-S-14 Green

• Research Areas: theoretical and computational linguistics, word sense disambiguation, lexical resource construction, English and multilingual WordNet(s), ontology
• Anything having to do with natural language--come and see me with/for ideas suitable to your background and interests. Some topics students have worked on in the past:
• Developing parsers, part-of-speech taggers, morphological analyzers for underrepresented languages (you don't have to know the language to develop such tools!)
• Quantitative approaches to theoretical linguistics questions
• Extensions and interfaces for WordNet (English and WN in other languages),
• Applications of WordNet(s), including:
• Foreign language tutoring systems,
• Spelling correction software,
• Word-finding/suggestion software for ordinary users and people with memory problems,
• Machine Translation 
• Sentiment and Opinion detection
• Automatic reasoning and inferencing
• Collaboration with professors in the social sciences and humanities ("Digital Humanities")

Adam Finkelstein, Room 424 

• Research Areas: computer graphics, audio.

Robert S. Fish, Corwin Hall, Room 037

• Networking and telecommunications
• Learning, perception, and intelligence, artificial and otherwise;
• Human-computer interaction and computer-supported cooperative work
• Online education, especially in Computer Science Education
• Topics in research and development innovation methodologies including standards, open-source, and entrepreneurship
• Distributed autonomous organizations and related blockchain technologies

Michael Freedman, Room 308 

• Research Areas: Distributed systems, security, networking
• Projects related to streaming data analysis, datacenter systems and networks, untrusted cloud storage and applications. Please see my group website at http://sns.cs.princeton.edu/ for current research projects.

Ruth Fong, Room 032

• Research Areas: computer vision, machine learning, deep learning, interpretability, explainable AI, fairness and bias in AI
• Develop a technique for understanding AI models
• Design a AI model that is interpretable by design
• Build a paradigm for detecting and/or correcting failure points in an AI model
• Analyze an existing AI model and/or dataset to better understand its failure points
• Build a computer vision system for another domain (e.g., medical imaging, satellite data, etc.)
• Develop a software package for explainable AI
• Adapt explainable AI research to a consumer-facing problem

Note: I am happy to advise any project if there's a sufficient overlap in interest and/or expertise; please reach out via email to chat about project ideas.

Tom Griffiths, Room 405

Available for Fall 2024 single-semester IW advising, only

Research areas: computational cognitive science, computational social science, machine learning and artificial intelligence

Note: I am open to projects that apply ideas from computer science to understanding aspects of human cognition in a wide range of areas, from decision-making to cultural evolution and everything in between. For example, we have current projects analyzing chess game data and magic tricks, both of which give us clues about how human minds work. Students who have expertise or access to data related to games, magic, strategic sports like fencing, or other quantifiable domains of human behavior feel free to get in touch.

Aarti Gupta, Room 220

• Research Areas: Formal methods, program analysis, logic decision procedures
• Finding bugs in open source software using automatic verification tools
• Software verification (program analysis, model checking, test generation)
• Decision procedures for logical reasoning (SAT solvers, SMT solvers)

Elad Hazan, Room 409  

• Research interests: machine learning methods and algorithms, efficient methods for mathematical optimization, regret minimization in games, reinforcement learning, control theory and practice
• Machine learning, efficient methods for mathematical optimization, statistical and computational learning theory, regret minimization in games.
• Implementation and algorithm engineering for control, reinforcement learning and robotics
• Implementation and algorithm engineering for time series prediction

Felix Heide, Room 410

• Research Areas: Computational Imaging, Computer Vision, Machine Learning (focus on Optimization and Approximate Inference).
• Optical Neural Networks
• Hardware-in-the-loop Holography
• Zero-shot and Simulation-only Learning
• Object recognition in extreme conditions
• 3D Scene Representations for View Generation and Inverse Problems
• Long-range Imaging in Scattering Media
• Hardware-in-the-loop Illumination and Sensor Optimization
• Inverse Lidar Design
• Phase Retrieval Algorithms
• Proximal Algorithms for Learning and Inference
• Domain-Specific Language for Optics Design

Peter Henderson , 302 Sherrerd Hall

• Research Areas: Machine learning, law, and policy

Kyle Jamieson, Room 306

• Research areas: Wireless and mobile networking; indoor radar and indoor localization; Internet of Things
• See other topics on my independent work  ideas page  (campus IP and CS dept. login req'd)

Alan Kaplan, 221 Nassau Street, Room 105

Research Areas:

• Random apps of kindness - mobile application/technology frameworks used to help individuals or communities; topic areas include, but are not limited to: first response, accessibility, environment, sustainability, social activism, civic computing, tele-health, remote learning, crowdsourcing, etc.
• Tools automating programming language interoperability - Java/C++, React Native/Java, etc.
• Software visualization tools for education
• Connected consumer devices, applications and protocols

Brian Kernighan, Room 311

• Research Areas: application-specific languages, document preparation, user interfaces, software tools, programming methodology
• Application-oriented languages, scripting languages.
• Tools; user interfaces
• Digital humanities

Zachary Kincaid, Room 219

• Research areas: programming languages, program analysis, program verification, automated reasoning
• Independent Research Topics:
• Develop a practical algorithm for an intractable problem (e.g., by developing practical search heuristics, or by reducing to, or by identifying a tractable sub-problem, ...).
• Design a domain-specific programming language, or prototype a new feature for an existing language.
• Any interesting project related to programming languages or logic.

Gillat Kol, Room 316

• Research area: theory

Aleksandra Korolova, 309 Sherrerd Hall

• Research areas: Societal impacts of algorithms and AI; privacy; fair and privacy-preserving machine learning; algorithm auditing.

Advisees typically have taken one or more of COS 226, COS 324, COS 423, COS 424 or COS 445.

Pravesh Kothari, Room 320

• Research areas: Theory

Amit Levy, Room 307

• Research Areas: Operating Systems, Distributed Systems, Embedded Systems, Internet of Things
• Distributed hardware testing infrastructure
• Second factor security tokens
• Low-power wireless network protocol implementation
• USB device driver implementation

Kai Li, Room 321

• Research Areas: Distributed systems; storage systems; content-based search and data analysis of large datasets.
• Fast communication mechanisms for heterogeneous clusters.
• Approximate nearest-neighbor search for high dimensional data.
• Data analysis and prediction of in-patient medical data.
• Optimized implementation of classification algorithms on manycore processors.

Xiaoyan Li, 221 Nassau Street, Room 104

• Research areas: Information retrieval, novelty detection, question answering, AI, machine learning and data analysis.
• Explore new statistical retrieval models for document retrieval and question answering.
• Apply AI in various fields.
• Apply supervised or unsupervised learning in health, education, finance, and social networks, etc.
• Any interesting project related to AI, machine learning, and data analysis.

Lydia Liu, Room 414

• Research Areas: algorithmic decision making, machine learning and society
• Theoretical foundations for algorithmic decision making (e.g. mathematical modeling of data-driven decision processes, societal level dynamics)
• Societal impacts of algorithms and AI through a socio-technical lens (e.g. normative implications of worst case ML metrics, prediction and model arbitrariness)
• Machine learning for social impact domains, especially education (e.g. responsible development and use of LLMs for education equity and access)
• Evaluation of human-AI decision making using statistical methods (e.g. causal inference of long term impact)

Wyatt Lloyd, Room 323

• Research areas: Distributed Systems
• Caching algorithms and implementations
• Storage systems
• Distributed transaction algorithms and implementations

Alex Lombardi , Room 312

• Research Areas: Theory

Margaret Martonosi, Room 208

• Quantum Computing research, particularly related to architecture and compiler issues for QC.
• Computer architectures specialized for modern workloads (e.g., graph analytics, machine learning algorithms, mobile applications
• Investigating security and privacy vulnerabilities in computer systems, particularly IoT devices.
• Other topics in computer architecture or mobile / IoT systems also possible.

Jonathan Mayer, Sherrerd Hall, Room 307 

Available for Spring 2025 single-semester IW, only

• Research areas: Technology law and policy, with emphasis on national security, criminal procedure, consumer privacy, network management, and online speech.
• Assessing the effects of government policies, both in the public and private sectors.
• Collecting new data that relates to government decision making, including surveying current business practices and studying user behavior.
• Developing new tools to improve government processes and offer policy alternatives.

Mae Milano, Room 307

• Local-first / peer-to-peer systems
• Wide-ares storage systems
• Consistency and protocol design
• Type-safe concurrency
• Language design
• Gradual typing
• Domain-specific languages
• Languages for distributed systems

Andrés Monroy-Hernández, Room 405

• Research Areas: Human-Computer Interaction, Social Computing, Public-Interest Technology, Augmented Reality, Urban Computing
• Research interests:developing public-interest socio-technical systems.  We are currently creating alternatives to gig work platforms that are more equitable for all stakeholders. For instance, we are investigating the socio-technical affordances necessary to support a co-op food delivery network owned and managed by workers and restaurants. We are exploring novel system designs that support self-governance, decentralized/federated models, community-centered data ownership, and portable reputation systems.  We have opportunities for students interested in human-centered computing, UI/UX design, full-stack software development, and qualitative/quantitative user research.
• Beyond our core projects, we are open to working on research projects that explore the use of emerging technologies, such as AR, wearables, NFTs, and DAOs, for creative and out-of-the-box applications.

Christopher Moretti, Corwin Hall, Room 036

• Research areas: Distributed systems, high-throughput computing, computer science/engineering education
• Expansion, improvement, and evaluation of open-source distributed computing software.
• Applications of distributed computing for "big science" (e.g. biometrics, data mining, bioinformatics)
• Software and best practices for computer science education and study, especially Princeton's 126/217/226 sequence or MOOCs development
• Sports analytics and/or crowd-sourced computing

Radhika Nagpal, F316 Engineering Quadrangle

• Research areas: control, robotics and dynamical systems

Karthik Narasimhan, Room 422

• Research areas: Natural Language Processing, Reinforcement Learning
• Autonomous agents for text-based games ( https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/project/textworld/ )
• Transfer learning/generalization in NLP
• Techniques for generating natural language
• Model-based reinforcement learning

Arvind Narayanan, 308 Sherrerd Hall 

Research Areas: fair machine learning (and AI ethics more broadly), the social impact of algorithmic systems, tech policy

Pedro Paredes, Corwin Hall, Room 041

My primary research work is in Theoretical Computer Science.

 * Research Interest: Spectral Graph theory, Pseudorandomness, Complexity theory, Coding Theory, Quantum Information Theory, Combinatorics.

The IW projects I am interested in advising can be divided into three categories:

 1. Theoretical research

I am open to advise work on research projects in any topic in one of my research areas of interest. A project could also be based on writing a survey given results from a few papers. Students should have a solid background in math (e.g., elementary combinatorics, graph theory, discrete probability, basic algebra/calculus) and theoretical computer science (226 and 240 material, like big-O/Omega/Theta, basic complexity theory, basic fundamental algorithms). Mathematical maturity is a must.

A (non exhaustive) list of topics of projects I'm interested in:   * Explicit constructions of better vertex expanders and/or unique neighbor expanders.   * Construction deterministic or random high dimensional expanders.   * Pseudorandom generators for different problems.   * Topics around the quantum PCP conjecture.   * Topics around quantum error correcting codes and locally testable codes, including constructions, encoding and decoding algorithms.

 2. Theory informed practical implementations of algorithms   Very often the great advances in theoretical research are either not tested in practice or not even feasible to be implemented in practice. Thus, I am interested in any project that consists in trying to make theoretical ideas applicable in practice. This includes coming up with new algorithms that trade some theoretical guarantees for feasible implementation yet trying to retain the soul of the original idea; implementing new algorithms in a suitable programming language; and empirically testing practical implementations and comparing them with benchmarks / theoretical expectations. A project in this area doesn't have to be in my main areas of research, any theoretical result could be suitable for such a project.

Some examples of areas of interest:   * Streaming algorithms.   * Numeric linear algebra.   * Property testing.   * Parallel / Distributed algorithms.   * Online algorithms.    3. Machine learning with a theoretical foundation

I am interested in projects in machine learning that have some mathematical/theoretical, even if most of the project is applied. This includes topics like mathematical optimization, statistical learning, fairness and privacy.

One particular area I have been recently interested in is in the area of rating systems (e.g., Chess elo) and applications of this to experts problems.

Final Note: I am also willing to advise any project with any mathematical/theoretical component, even if it's not the main one; please reach out via email to chat about project ideas.

Iasonas Petras, Corwin Hall, Room 033

• Research Areas: Information Based Complexity, Numerical Analysis, Quantum Computation.
• Prerequisites: Reasonable mathematical maturity. In case of a project related to Quantum Computation a certain familiarity with quantum mechanics is required (related courses: ELE 396/PHY 208).
• Possible research topics include:

1.   Quantum algorithms and circuits:

• i. Design or simulation quantum circuits implementing quantum algorithms.
• ii. Design of quantum algorithms solving/approximating continuous problems (such as Eigenvalue problems for Partial Differential Equations).

2.   Information Based Complexity:

• i. Necessary and sufficient conditions for tractability of Linear and Linear Tensor Product Problems in various settings (for example worst case or average case). 
• ii. Necessary and sufficient conditions for tractability of Linear and Linear Tensor Product Problems under new tractability and error criteria.
• iii. Necessary and sufficient conditions for tractability of Weighted problems.
• iv. Necessary and sufficient conditions for tractability of Weighted Problems under new tractability and error criteria.

3. Topics in Scientific Computation:

• i. Randomness, Pseudorandomness, MC and QMC methods and their applications (Finance, etc)

Yuri Pritykin, 245 Carl Icahn Lab

• Research interests: Computational biology; Cancer immunology; Regulation of gene expression; Functional genomics; Single-cell technologies.
• Potential research projects: Development, implementation, assessment and/or application of algorithms for analysis, integration, interpretation and visualization of multi-dimensional data in molecular biology, particularly single-cell and spatial genomics data.

Benjamin Raphael, Room 309  

• Research interests: Computational biology and bioinformatics; Cancer genomics; Algorithms and machine learning approaches for analysis of large-scale datasets
• Implementation and application of algorithms to infer evolutionary processes in cancer
• Identifying correlations between combinations of genomic mutations in human and cancer genomes
• Design and implementation of algorithms for genome sequencing from new DNA sequencing technologies
• Graph clustering and network anomaly detection, particularly using diffusion processes and methods from spectral graph theory

Vikram Ramaswamy, 035 Corwin Hall

• Research areas: Interpretability of AI systems, Fairness in AI systems, Computer vision.
• Constructing a new method to explain a model / create an interpretable by design model
• Analyzing a current model / dataset to understand bias within the model/dataset
• Proposing new fairness evaluations
• Proposing new methods to train to improve fairness
• Developing synthetic datasets for fairness / interpretability benchmarks
• Understanding robustness of models

Ran Raz, Room 240

• Research Area: Computational Complexity
• Independent Research Topics: Computational Complexity, Information Theory, Quantum Computation, Theoretical Computer Science

Szymon Rusinkiewicz, Room 406

• Research Areas: computer graphics; computer vision; 3D scanning; 3D printing; robotics; documentation and visualization of cultural heritage artifacts
• Research ways of incorporating rotation invariance into computer visiontasks such as feature matching and classification
• Investigate approaches to robust 3D scan matching
• Model and compensate for imperfections in 3D printing
• Given a collection of small mobile robots, apply control policies learned in simulation to the real robots.

Olga Russakovsky, Room 408

• Research Areas: computer vision, machine learning, deep learning, crowdsourcing, fairness&bias in AI
• Design a semantic segmentation deep learning model that can operate in a zero-shot setting (i.e., recognize and segment objects not seen during training)
• Develop a deep learning classifier that is impervious to protected attributes (such as gender or race) that may be erroneously correlated with target classes
• Build a computer vision system for the novel task of inferring what object (or part of an object) a human is referring to when pointing to a single pixel in the image. This includes both collecting an appropriate dataset using crowdsourcing on Amazon Mechanical Turk, creating a new deep learning formulation for this task, and running extensive analysis of both the data and the model

Sebastian Seung, Princeton Neuroscience Institute, Room 153

• Research Areas: computational neuroscience, connectomics, "deep learning" neural networks, social computing, crowdsourcing, citizen science
• Gamification of neuroscience (EyeWire  2.0)
• Semantic segmentation and object detection in brain images from microscopy
• Computational analysis of brain structure and function
• Neural network theories of brain function

Jaswinder Pal Singh, Room 324

• Research Areas: Boundary of technology and business/applications; building and scaling technology companies with special focus at that boundary; parallel computing systems and applications: parallel and distributed applications and their implications for software and architectural design; system software and programming environments for multiprocessors.
• Develop a startup company idea, and build a plan/prototype for it.
• Explore tradeoffs at the boundary of technology/product and business/applications in a chosen area.
• Study and develop methods to infer insights from data in different application areas, from science to search to finance to others. 
• Design and implement a parallel application. Possible areas include graphics, compression, biology, among many others. Analyze performance bottlenecks using existing tools, and compare programming models/languages.
• Design and implement a scalable distributed algorithm.

Mona Singh, Room 420

• Research Areas: computational molecular biology, as well as its interface with machine learning and algorithms.
• Whole and cross-genome methods for predicting protein function and protein-protein interactions.
• Analysis and prediction of biological networks.
• Computational methods for inferring specific aspects of protein structure from protein sequence data.
• Any other interesting project in computational molecular biology.

Robert Tarjan, 194 Nassau St., Room 308

• Research Areas: Data structures; graph algorithms; combinatorial optimization; computational complexity; computational geometry; parallel algorithms.
• Implement one or more data structures or combinatorial algorithms to provide insight into their empirical behavior.
• Design and/or analyze various data structures and combinatorial algorithms.

Olga Troyanskaya, Room 320

• Research Areas: Bioinformatics; analysis of large-scale biological data sets (genomics, gene expression, proteomics, biological networks); algorithms for integration of data from multiple data sources; visualization of biological data; machine learning methods in bioinformatics.
• Implement and evaluate one or more gene expression analysis algorithm.
• Develop algorithms for assessment of performance of genomic analysis methods.
• Develop, implement, and evaluate visualization tools for heterogeneous biological data.

David Walker, Room 211

• Research Areas: Programming languages, type systems, compilers, domain-specific languages, software-defined networking and security
• Independent Research Topics:  Any other interesting project that involves humanitarian hacking, functional programming, domain-specific programming languages, type systems, compilers, software-defined networking, fault tolerance, language-based security, theorem proving, logic or logical frameworks.

Shengyi Wang, Postdoctoral Research Associate, Room 216

Available for Fall 2024 single-semester IW, only

• Independent Research topics: Explore Escher-style tilings using (introductory) group theory and automata theory to produce beautiful pictures.

Kevin Wayne, Corwin Hall, Room 040

• Research Areas: design, analysis, and implementation of algorithms; data structures; combinatorial optimization; graphs and networks.
• Design and implement computer visualizations of algorithms or data structures.
• Develop pedagogical tools or programming assignments for the computer science curriculum at Princeton and beyond.
• Develop assessment infrastructure and assessments for MOOCs.

Matt Weinberg, 194 Nassau St., Room 222

• Research Areas: algorithms, algorithmic game theory, mechanism design, game theoretical problems in {Bitcoin, networking, healthcare}.
• Theoretical questions related to COS 445 topics such as matching theory, voting theory, auction design, etc. 
• Theoretical questions related to incentives in applications like Bitcoin, the Internet, health care, etc. In a little bit more detail: protocols for these systems are often designed assuming that users will follow them. But often, users will actually be strictly happier to deviate from the intended protocol. How should we reason about user behavior in these protocols? How should we design protocols in these settings?

Huacheng Yu, Room 310

• data structures
• streaming algorithms
• design and analyze data structures / streaming algorithms
• prove impossibility results (lower bounds)
• implement and evaluate data structures / streaming algorithms

Ellen Zhong, Room 314

Opportunities outside the department.

We encourage students to look in to doing interdisciplinary computer science research and to work with professors in departments other than computer science.  However, every CS independent work project must have a strong computer science element (even if it has other scientific or artistic elements as well.)  To do a project with an adviser outside of computer science you must have permission of the department.  This can be accomplished by having a second co-adviser within the computer science department or by contacting the independent work supervisor about the project and having he or she sign the independent work proposal form.

Here is a list of professors outside the computer science department who are eager to work with computer science undergraduates.

Maria Apostolaki, Engineering Quadrangle, C330

• Research areas: Computing & Networking, Data & Information Science, Security & Privacy

Branko Glisic, Engineering Quadrangle, Room E330

• Documentation of historic structures
• Cyber physical systems for structural health monitoring
• Developing virtual and augmented reality applications for documenting structures
• Applying machine learning techniques to generate 3D models from 2D plans of buildings
•  Contact : Rebecca Napolitano, rkn2 (@princeton.edu)

Mihir Kshirsagar, Sherrerd Hall, Room 315

Center for Information Technology Policy.

• Consumer protection
• Content regulation
• Competition law
• Economic development
• Surveillance and discrimination

Sharad Malik, Engineering Quadrangle, Room B224

Select a Senior Thesis Adviser for the 2020-21 Academic Year.

• Design of reliable hardware systems
• Verifying complex software and hardware systems

Prateek Mittal, Engineering Quadrangle, Room B236

• Internet security and privacy 
• Social Networks
• Privacy technologies, anonymous communication
• Network Science
• Internet security and privacy: The insecurity of Internet protocols and services threatens the safety of our critical network infrastructure and billions of end users. How can we defend end users as well as our critical network infrastructure from attacks?
• Trustworthy social systems: Online social networks (OSNs) such as Facebook, Google+, and Twitter have revolutionized the way our society communicates. How can we leverage social connections between users to design the next generation of communication systems?
• Privacy Technologies: Privacy on the Internet is eroding rapidly, with businesses and governments mining sensitive user information. How can we protect the privacy of our online communications? The Tor project (https://www.torproject.org/) is a potential application of interest.

Ken Norman,  Psychology Dept, PNI 137

• Research Areas: Memory, the brain and computation 
• Lab:  Princeton Computational Memory Lab

Potential research topics

• Methods for decoding cognitive state information from neuroimaging data (fMRI and EEG) 
• Neural network simulations of learning and memory

Caroline Savage

Office of Sustainability, Phone:(609)258-7513, Email: cs35 (@princeton.edu)

The  Campus as Lab  program supports students using the Princeton campus as a living laboratory to solve sustainability challenges. The Office of Sustainability has created a list of campus as lab research questions, filterable by discipline and topic, on its  website .

An example from Computer Science could include using  TigerEnergy , a platform which provides real-time data on campus energy generation and consumption, to study one of the many energy systems or buildings on campus. Three CS students used TigerEnergy to create a  live energy heatmap of campus .

Other potential projects include:

• Apply game theory to sustainability challenges
• Develop a tool to help visualize interactions between complex campus systems, e.g. energy and water use, transportation and storm water runoff, purchasing and waste, etc.
• How can we learn (in aggregate) about individuals’ waste, energy, transportation, and other behaviors without impinging on privacy?

Janet Vertesi, Sociology Dept, Wallace Hall, Room 122

• Research areas: Sociology of technology; Human-computer interaction; Ubiquitous computing.
• Possible projects: At the intersection of computer science and social science, my students have built mixed reality games, produced artistic and interactive installations, and studied mixed human-robot teams, among other projects.

David Wentzlaff, Engineering Quadrangle, Room 228

Computing, Operating Systems, Sustainable Computing.

• Instrument Princeton's Green (HPCRC) data center
• Investigate power utilization on an processor core implemented in an FPGA
• Dismantle and document all of the components in modern electronics. Invent new ways to build computers that can be recycled easier.
• Other topics in parallel computer architecture or operating systems

Choose Your Test

Sat / act prep online guides and tips, 113 great research paper topics.

General Education

One of the hardest parts of writing a research paper can be just finding a good topic to write about. Fortunately we've done the hard work for you and have compiled a list of 113 interesting research paper topics. They've been organized into ten categories and cover a wide range of subjects so you can easily find the best topic for you.

In addition to the list of good research topics, we've included advice on what makes a good research paper topic and how you can use your topic to start writing a great paper.

What Makes a Good Research Paper Topic?

Not all research paper topics are created equal, and you want to make sure you choose a great topic before you start writing. Below are the three most important factors to consider to make sure you choose the best research paper topics.

#1: It's Something You're Interested In

A paper is always easier to write if you're interested in the topic, and you'll be more motivated to do in-depth research and write a paper that really covers the entire subject. Even if a certain research paper topic is getting a lot of buzz right now or other people seem interested in writing about it, don't feel tempted to make it your topic unless you genuinely have some sort of interest in it as well.

#2: There's Enough Information to Write a Paper

Even if you come up with the absolute best research paper topic and you're so excited to write about it, you won't be able to produce a good paper if there isn't enough research about the topic. This can happen for very specific or specialized topics, as well as topics that are too new to have enough research done on them at the moment. Easy research paper topics will always be topics with enough information to write a full-length paper.

Trying to write a research paper on a topic that doesn't have much research on it is incredibly hard, so before you decide on a topic, do a bit of preliminary searching and make sure you'll have all the information you need to write your paper.

#3: It Fits Your Teacher's Guidelines

Don't get so carried away looking at lists of research paper topics that you forget any requirements or restrictions your teacher may have put on research topic ideas. If you're writing a research paper on a health-related topic, deciding to write about the impact of rap on the music scene probably won't be allowed, but there may be some sort of leeway. For example, if you're really interested in current events but your teacher wants you to write a research paper on a history topic, you may be able to choose a topic that fits both categories, like exploring the relationship between the US and North Korea. No matter what, always get your research paper topic approved by your teacher first before you begin writing.

113 Good Research Paper Topics

Below are 113 good research topics to help you get you started on your paper. We've organized them into ten categories to make it easier to find the type of research paper topics you're looking for.

Arts/Culture

• Discuss the main differences in art from the Italian Renaissance and the Northern Renaissance .
• Analyze the impact a famous artist had on the world.
• How is sexism portrayed in different types of media (music, film, video games, etc.)? Has the amount/type of sexism changed over the years?
• How has the music of slaves brought over from Africa shaped modern American music?
• How has rap music evolved in the past decade?
• How has the portrayal of minorities in the media changed?

Current Events

• What have been the impacts of China's one child policy?
• How have the goals of feminists changed over the decades?
• How has the Trump presidency changed international relations?
• Analyze the history of the relationship between the United States and North Korea.
• What factors contributed to the current decline in the rate of unemployment?
• What have been the impacts of states which have increased their minimum wage?
• How do US immigration laws compare to immigration laws of other countries?
• How have the US's immigration laws changed in the past few years/decades?
• How has the Black Lives Matter movement affected discussions and view about racism in the US?
• What impact has the Affordable Care Act had on healthcare in the US?
• What factors contributed to the UK deciding to leave the EU (Brexit)?
• What factors contributed to China becoming an economic power?
• Discuss the history of Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies  (some of which tokenize the S&P 500 Index on the blockchain) .
• Do students in schools that eliminate grades do better in college and their careers?
• Do students from wealthier backgrounds score higher on standardized tests?
• Do students who receive free meals at school get higher grades compared to when they weren't receiving a free meal?
• Do students who attend charter schools score higher on standardized tests than students in public schools?
• Do students learn better in same-sex classrooms?
• How does giving each student access to an iPad or laptop affect their studies?
• What are the benefits and drawbacks of the Montessori Method ?
• Do children who attend preschool do better in school later on?
• What was the impact of the No Child Left Behind act?
• How does the US education system compare to education systems in other countries?
• What impact does mandatory physical education classes have on students' health?
• Which methods are most effective at reducing bullying in schools?
• Do homeschoolers who attend college do as well as students who attended traditional schools?
• Does offering tenure increase or decrease quality of teaching?
• How does college debt affect future life choices of students?
• Should graduate students be able to form unions?

• What are different ways to lower gun-related deaths in the US?
• How and why have divorce rates changed over time?
• Is affirmative action still necessary in education and/or the workplace?
• Should physician-assisted suicide be legal?
• How has stem cell research impacted the medical field?
• How can human trafficking be reduced in the United States/world?
• Should people be able to donate organs in exchange for money?
• Which types of juvenile punishment have proven most effective at preventing future crimes?
• Has the increase in US airport security made passengers safer?
• Analyze the immigration policies of certain countries and how they are similar and different from one another.
• Several states have legalized recreational marijuana. What positive and negative impacts have they experienced as a result?
• Do tariffs increase the number of domestic jobs?
• Which prison reforms have proven most effective?
• Should governments be able to censor certain information on the internet?
• Which methods/programs have been most effective at reducing teen pregnancy?
• What are the benefits and drawbacks of the Keto diet?
• How effective are different exercise regimes for losing weight and maintaining weight loss?
• How do the healthcare plans of various countries differ from each other?
• What are the most effective ways to treat depression ?
• What are the pros and cons of genetically modified foods?
• Which methods are most effective for improving memory?
• What can be done to lower healthcare costs in the US?
• What factors contributed to the current opioid crisis?
• Analyze the history and impact of the HIV/AIDS epidemic .
• Are low-carbohydrate or low-fat diets more effective for weight loss?
• How much exercise should the average adult be getting each week?
• Which methods are most effective to get parents to vaccinate their children?
• What are the pros and cons of clean needle programs?
• How does stress affect the body?
• Discuss the history of the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians.
• What were the causes and effects of the Salem Witch Trials?
• Who was responsible for the Iran-Contra situation?
• How has New Orleans and the government's response to natural disasters changed since Hurricane Katrina?
• What events led to the fall of the Roman Empire?
• What were the impacts of British rule in India ?
• Was the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki necessary?
• What were the successes and failures of the women's suffrage movement in the United States?
• What were the causes of the Civil War?
• How did Abraham Lincoln's assassination impact the country and reconstruction after the Civil War?
• Which factors contributed to the colonies winning the American Revolution?
• What caused Hitler's rise to power?
• Discuss how a specific invention impacted history.
• What led to Cleopatra's fall as ruler of Egypt?
• How has Japan changed and evolved over the centuries?
• What were the causes of the Rwandan genocide ?

• Why did Martin Luther decide to split with the Catholic Church?
• Analyze the history and impact of a well-known cult (Jonestown, Manson family, etc.)
• How did the sexual abuse scandal impact how people view the Catholic Church?
• How has the Catholic church's power changed over the past decades/centuries?
• What are the causes behind the rise in atheism/ agnosticism in the United States?
• What were the influences in Siddhartha's life resulted in him becoming the Buddha?
• How has media portrayal of Islam/Muslims changed since September 11th?

Science/Environment

• How has the earth's climate changed in the past few decades?
• How has the use and elimination of DDT affected bird populations in the US?
• Analyze how the number and severity of natural disasters have increased in the past few decades.
• Analyze deforestation rates in a certain area or globally over a period of time.
• How have past oil spills changed regulations and cleanup methods?
• How has the Flint water crisis changed water regulation safety?
• What are the pros and cons of fracking?
• What impact has the Paris Climate Agreement had so far?
• What have NASA's biggest successes and failures been?
• How can we improve access to clean water around the world?
• Does ecotourism actually have a positive impact on the environment?
• Should the US rely on nuclear energy more?
• What can be done to save amphibian species currently at risk of extinction?
• What impact has climate change had on coral reefs?
• How are black holes created?
• Are teens who spend more time on social media more likely to suffer anxiety and/or depression?
• How will the loss of net neutrality affect internet users?
• Analyze the history and progress of self-driving vehicles.
• How has the use of drones changed surveillance and warfare methods?
• Has social media made people more or less connected?
• What progress has currently been made with artificial intelligence ?
• Do smartphones increase or decrease workplace productivity?
• What are the most effective ways to use technology in the classroom?
• How is Google search affecting our intelligence?
• When is the best age for a child to begin owning a smartphone?
• Has frequent texting reduced teen literacy rates?

How to Write a Great Research Paper

Even great research paper topics won't give you a great research paper if you don't hone your topic before and during the writing process. Follow these three tips to turn good research paper topics into great papers.

#1: Figure Out Your Thesis Early

Before you start writing a single word of your paper, you first need to know what your thesis will be. Your thesis is a statement that explains what you intend to prove/show in your paper. Every sentence in your research paper will relate back to your thesis, so you don't want to start writing without it!

As some examples, if you're writing a research paper on if students learn better in same-sex classrooms, your thesis might be "Research has shown that elementary-age students in same-sex classrooms score higher on standardized tests and report feeling more comfortable in the classroom."

If you're writing a paper on the causes of the Civil War, your thesis might be "While the dispute between the North and South over slavery is the most well-known cause of the Civil War, other key causes include differences in the economies of the North and South, states' rights, and territorial expansion."

#2: Back Every Statement Up With Research

Remember, this is a research paper you're writing, so you'll need to use lots of research to make your points. Every statement you give must be backed up with research, properly cited the way your teacher requested. You're allowed to include opinions of your own, but they must also be supported by the research you give.

#3: Do Your Research Before You Begin Writing

You don't want to start writing your research paper and then learn that there isn't enough research to back up the points you're making, or, even worse, that the research contradicts the points you're trying to make!

Get most of your research on your good research topics done before you begin writing. Then use the research you've collected to create a rough outline of what your paper will cover and the key points you're going to make. This will help keep your paper clear and organized, and it'll ensure you have enough research to produce a strong paper.

What's Next?

Are you also learning about dynamic equilibrium in your science class? We break this sometimes tricky concept down so it's easy to understand in our complete guide to dynamic equilibrium .

Thinking about becoming a nurse practitioner? Nurse practitioners have one of the fastest growing careers in the country, and we have all the information you need to know about what to expect from nurse practitioner school .

Want to know the fastest and easiest ways to convert between Fahrenheit and Celsius? We've got you covered! Check out our guide to the best ways to convert Celsius to Fahrenheit (or vice versa).

These recommendations are based solely on our knowledge and experience. If you purchase an item through one of our links, PrepScholar may receive a commission.

Christine graduated from Michigan State University with degrees in Environmental Biology and Geography and received her Master's from Duke University. In high school she scored in the 99th percentile on the SAT and was named a National Merit Finalist. She has taught English and biology in several countries.

Ask a Question Below

Have any questions about this article or other topics? Ask below and we'll reply!

Improve With Our Famous Guides

• For All Students

The 5 Strategies You Must Be Using to Improve 160+ SAT Points

How to Get a Perfect 1600, by a Perfect Scorer

Series: How to Get 800 on Each SAT Section:

Score 800 on SAT Math

Score 800 on SAT Reading

Score 800 on SAT Writing

Series: How to Get to 600 on Each SAT Section:

Score 600 on SAT Math

Score 600 on SAT Reading

Score 600 on SAT Writing

Free Complete Official SAT Practice Tests

What SAT Target Score Should You Be Aiming For?

15 Strategies to Improve Your SAT Essay

The 5 Strategies You Must Be Using to Improve 4+ ACT Points

How to Get a Perfect 36 ACT, by a Perfect Scorer

Series: How to Get 36 on Each ACT Section:

36 on ACT English

36 on ACT Math

36 on ACT Reading

36 on ACT Science

Series: How to Get to 24 on Each ACT Section:

24 on ACT English

24 on ACT Math

24 on ACT Reading

24 on ACT Science

What ACT target score should you be aiming for?

ACT Vocabulary You Must Know

ACT Writing: 15 Tips to Raise Your Essay Score

How to Get Into Harvard and the Ivy League

How to Get a Perfect 4.0 GPA

How to Write an Amazing College Essay

What Exactly Are Colleges Looking For?

Is the ACT easier than the SAT? A Comprehensive Guide

Should you retake your SAT or ACT?

When should you take the SAT or ACT?

Stay Informed

Get the latest articles and test prep tips!

Looking for Graduate School Test Prep?

Check out our top-rated graduate blogs here:

GRE Online Prep Blog

GMAT Online Prep Blog

TOEFL Online Prep Blog

Holly R. "I am absolutely overjoyed and cannot thank you enough for helping me!”

• Get Curious
• Talk to People
• Take Action
• Inspire Others
• Events and Outcomes
• JHU At-A-Glance
• Students and Schools
• Ready to Hire?
• Mentor Students
• Hire Students
• “When U Grow Up” Podcast

A student’s guide to undergraduate research

• Share This: Share A student’s guide to undergraduate research on Facebook Share A student’s guide to undergraduate research on LinkedIn Share A student’s guide to undergraduate research on X

Originally written by Shiwei Wang for Nature journal in March 2019.

Participating in original research during your undergraduate studies can greatly expand your learning experience. However, finding the project can be a challenging task, so here’s a short but comprehensive guide that can help you get the most out of an undergraduate research opportunity.

Choose the right lab

Learn to think like a scientist. A lot of people start their undergraduate research by glancing at the faculty list and e-mailing multiple professors whose work seems interesting. Although this might get you a position somewhere, it is not the most effective approach. Before looking at labs, dive into the science to find out which areas fascinate you. Read a lot, go to talks, and talk to your professors not just about their classes, but about science in general as well.

Subscribe to e-mail newsletters from journals such as Nature and Science. Try to read research highlights and science news regularly. Podcasts and articles by, for example, Nature, Science, Scientific American or Quanta can also be interesting sources of information. Follow academics, journals and universities on Twitter. Start your undergraduate research by learning more about science, thinking like a scientist and working out what you love.

Look for questions, not subjects. You might have chosen a major to study, but don’t let this limit your search for research labs. Modern labs are interdisciplinary and very different from what you do in undergrad labs. Instead of limiting your search to your department, try to look at labs in all related departments. Choose labs on the basis of the questions they’re trying to answer.

Mentoring is as important as research. Contact group members to learn about your prospective laboratory’s environment. Are the group members close? Is the lab friendly or competitive and condescending? Is the lab head hands-off or hands-on? The size of the group is also important. If you join a small group, you’ll have a higher chance of being mentored directly by your principal investigator, whereas in a big group, you are more likely to be mentored by a postdoctoral researcher or graduate student.

Reach out with confidence. Once you’ve determined that the research programme interests you and the group dynamic is healthy, send the principal investigator an e-mail. Make sure to explain why you’re interested in working in the lab and that you have spoken to other lab members. Be patient if they don’t reply. If you don’t receive a response after a week or so, send a second e-mail or reach out in other ways, such as by asking group members to enquire for you.

Get the most out of the experience

Start your research with reading, and keep on reading. Usually, the principal investigator will assign you a mentor and a project. Ask for literature to read: learning about the state of the field and why the work is important will help you to push the project forward. Read about your field as well as other, totally unrelated fields. As an undergraduate, you have the freedom to change your major and your future plans. Make sure to strike a balance between reading and conducting experiments. It’s hard to do both at the same time, but it will make you a better scientist.

Set specific goals for yourself and let your mentors know. Think about what you want from your research and how much time you are willing to put in. Besides learning the techniques, do you want to learn how to analyse results and design experiments? Do you want to learn how to write proposals by applying for undergraduate research grants? Do you want to improve your presentation skills by going to conferences? Do you want to potentially finish a project for publication? Working out what you want to achieve will help you to direct your time effectively.

Research takes time. Don’t blame yourself if experiments don’t work or the project is not moving forward as fast as you expected. Science is about failing and trying again. Getting used to and coping with frustration is part of the learning curve of research.

Find a healthy balance. University is already a lot of work, and research will only take up more time. When planning your schedule, try to allocate large blocks of time (whole afternoons or individual days) to research. Rushing through a procedure could be unsafe and will often produce useless results. Always plan extra time for experiments. Consider working less in the lab during exam weeks so you don’t get overwhelmed. Talk to your mentor about your schedule and feelings regularly, so that you can arrange experiments at times that suit you, and you can keep on top of your mental health.

Find financial support. If you wish to do research at your own institution over the summer, your institution might offer funding to cover your expenses. If you want to go to another university, you can apply for funding from that institution’s undergraduate research programme, or from foundations, companies or academic societies. For example, the US National Science Foundation offers a Research Experiences for Undergraduates programme. Universities, foundations and academic societies might also offer grants to cover your travel expense to various conferences. Don’t let money limit what you want to do. Talk to senior students or professors, or search online to find all the opportunities!

Always think about the big picture. Your undergraduate research doesn’t define what you’re going to do after your degree. Keep reading and taking classes outside your comfort zone. Explore and learn as much as possible. Working out what you love is the best preparation you can get for the rest of your career.

Read the full article on the Nature website.

To find a research opportunity at Johns Hopkins University, visit the Hopkins Office of Undergraduate Research website .

Have a language expert improve your writing

Run a free plagiarism check in 10 minutes, generate accurate citations for free.

• Knowledge Base
• Starting the research process

How to Choose a Dissertation Topic | 8 Steps to Follow

Published on November 11, 2022 by Shona McCombes and Tegan George. Revised on November 20, 2023.

Choosing your dissertation topic is the first step in making sure your research goes as smoothly as possible. When choosing a topic, it’s important to consider:

• Your institution and department’s requirements
• Your areas of knowledge and interest
• The scientific, social, or practical relevance
• The availability of data and resources
• The timeframe of your dissertation
• The relevance of your topic

You can follow these steps to begin narrowing down your ideas.

Table of contents

Step 1: check the requirements, step 2: choose a broad field of research, step 3: look for books and articles, step 4: find a niche, step 5: consider the type of research, step 6: determine the relevance, step 7: make sure it’s plausible, step 8: get your topic approved, other interesting articles, frequently asked questions about dissertation topics.

The very first step is to check your program’s requirements. This determines the scope of what it is possible for you to research.

• Is there a minimum and maximum word count?
• When is the deadline?
• Should the research have an academic or a professional orientation?
• Are there any methodological conditions? Do you have to conduct fieldwork, or use specific types of sources?

Some programs have stricter requirements than others. You might be given nothing more than a word count and a deadline, or you might have a restricted list of topics and approaches to choose from. If in doubt about what is expected of you, always ask your supervisor or department coordinator.

Start by thinking about your areas of interest within the subject you’re studying. Examples of broad ideas include:

• Twentieth-century literature
• Economic history
• Health policy

To get a more specific sense of the current state of research on your potential topic, skim through a few recent issues of the top journals in your field. Be sure to check out their most-cited articles in particular. For inspiration, you can also search Google Scholar , subject-specific databases , and your university library’s resources.

As you read, note down any specific ideas that interest you and make a shortlist of possible topics. If you’ve written other papers, such as a 3rd-year paper or a conference paper, consider how those topics can be broadened into a dissertation.

After doing some initial reading, it’s time to start narrowing down options for your potential topic. This can be a gradual process, and should get more and more specific as you go. For example, from the ideas above, you might narrow it down like this:

• Twentieth-century literature   Twentieth-century Irish literature   Post-war Irish poetry
• Economic history   European economic history   German labor union history
• Health policy   Reproductive health policy   Reproductive rights in South America

All of these topics are still broad enough that you’ll find a huge amount of books and articles about them. Try to find a specific niche where you can make your mark, such as: something not many people have researched yet, a question that’s still being debated, or a very current practical issue.

At this stage, make sure you have a few backup ideas — there’s still time to change your focus. If your topic doesn’t make it through the next few steps, you can try a different one. Later, you will narrow your focus down even more in your problem statement and research questions .

There are many different types of research , so at this stage, it’s a good idea to start thinking about what kind of approach you’ll take to your topic. Will you mainly focus on:

• Collecting original data (e.g., experimental or field research)?
• Analyzing existing data (e.g., national statistics, public records, or archives)?
• Interpreting cultural objects (e.g., novels, films, or paintings)?
• Comparing scholarly approaches (e.g., theories, methods, or interpretations)?

Many dissertations will combine more than one of these. Sometimes the type of research is obvious: if your topic is post-war Irish poetry, you will probably mainly be interpreting poems. But in other cases, there are several possible approaches. If your topic is reproductive rights in South America, you could analyze public policy documents and media coverage, or you could gather original data through interviews and surveys .

You don’t have to finalize your research design and methods yet, but the type of research will influence which aspects of the topic it’s possible to address, so it’s wise to consider this as you narrow down your ideas.

It’s important that your topic is interesting to you, but you’ll also have to make sure it’s academically, socially or practically relevant to your field.

• Academic relevance means that the research can fill a gap in knowledge or contribute to a scholarly debate in your field.
• Social relevance means that the research can advance our understanding of society and inform social change.
• Practical relevance means that the research can be applied to solve concrete problems or improve real-life processes.

The easiest way to make sure your research is relevant is to choose a topic that is clearly connected to current issues or debates, either in society at large or in your academic discipline. The relevance must be clearly stated when you define your research problem .

Before you make a final decision on your topic, consider again the length of your dissertation, the timeframe in which you have to complete it, and the practicalities of conducting the research.

Will you have enough time to read all the most important academic literature on this topic? If there’s too much information to tackle, consider narrowing your focus even more.

Will you be able to find enough sources or gather enough data to fulfil the requirements of the dissertation? If you think you might struggle to find information, consider broadening or shifting your focus.

Do you have to go to a specific location to gather data on the topic? Make sure that you have enough funding and practical access.

Last but not least, will the topic hold your interest for the length of the research process? To stay motivated, it’s important to choose something you’re enthusiastic about!

Most programmes will require you to submit a brief description of your topic, called a research prospectus or proposal .

Remember, if you discover that your topic is not as strong as you thought it was, it’s usually acceptable to change your mind and switch focus early in the dissertation process. Just make sure you have enough time to start on a new topic, and always check with your supervisor or department.

If you want to know more about the research process , methodology , research bias , or statistics , make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples.

Methodology

• Sampling methods
• Simple random sampling
• Stratified sampling
• Cluster sampling
• Likert scales
• Reproducibility

 Statistics

• Null hypothesis
• Statistical power
• Probability distribution
• Effect size
• Poisson distribution

Research bias

• Optimism bias
• Cognitive bias
• Implicit bias
• Hawthorne effect
• Anchoring bias
• Explicit bias

Formulating a main research question can be a difficult task. Overall, your question should contribute to solving the problem that you have defined in your problem statement .

However, it should also fulfill criteria in three main areas:

• Researchability
• Feasibility and specificity
• Relevance and originality

All research questions should be:

• Focused on a single problem or issue
• Researchable using primary and/or secondary sources
• Feasible to answer within the timeframe and practical constraints
• Specific enough to answer thoroughly
• Complex enough to develop the answer over the space of a paper or thesis
• Relevant to your field of study and/or society more broadly

You can assess information and arguments critically by asking certain questions about the source. You can use the CRAAP test , focusing on the currency , relevance , authority , accuracy , and purpose of a source of information.

Ask questions such as:

• Who is the author? Are they an expert?
• Why did the author publish it? What is their motivation?
• How do they make their argument? Is it backed up by evidence?

A dissertation prospectus or proposal describes what or who you plan to research for your dissertation. It delves into why, when, where, and how you will do your research, as well as helps you choose a type of research to pursue. You should also determine whether you plan to pursue qualitative or quantitative methods and what your research design will look like.

It should outline all of the decisions you have taken about your project, from your dissertation topic to your hypotheses and research objectives , ready to be approved by your supervisor or committee.

Note that some departments require a defense component, where you present your prospectus to your committee orally.

The best way to remember the difference between a research plan and a research proposal is that they have fundamentally different audiences. A research plan helps you, the researcher, organize your thoughts. On the other hand, a dissertation proposal or research proposal aims to convince others (e.g., a supervisor, a funding body, or a dissertation committee) that your research topic is relevant and worthy of being conducted.

Cite this Scribbr article

If you want to cite this source, you can copy and paste the citation or click the “Cite this Scribbr article” button to automatically add the citation to our free Citation Generator.

McCombes, S. & George, T. (2023, November 20). How to Choose a Dissertation Topic | 8 Steps to Follow. Scribbr. Retrieved June 10, 2024, from https://www.scribbr.com/research-process/dissertation-topic/

Is this article helpful?

Shona McCombes

Other students also liked, how to define a research problem | ideas & examples, what is a research design | types, guide & examples, writing strong research questions | criteria & examples, "i thought ai proofreading was useless but..".

I've been using Scribbr for years now and I know it's a service that won't disappoint. It does a good job spotting mistakes”

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

• View all journals
• Explore content
• About the journal
• Publish with us
• Sign up for alerts
• CAREER COLUMN
• 15 March 2019

A student’s guide to undergraduate research

• Shiwei Wang 0

Shiwei Wang is a junior undergraduate student studying Integrated Science and Chemistry at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. Twitter: @W_Shiwei

You can also search for this author in PubMed   Google Scholar

I have thoroughly enjoyed my experience working in a materials-chemistry laboratory at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, for the past two years. Being able to mix an undergraduate education with original research in a proper laboratory has been a fantastic opportunity.

Access options

Access Nature and 54 other Nature Portfolio journals

Get Nature+, our best-value online-access subscription

24,99 € / 30 days

cancel any time

Subscribe to this journal

Receive 51 print issues and online access

185,98 € per year

only 3,65 € per issue

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-019-00871-x

This is an article from the Nature Careers Community, a place for Nature readers to share their professional experiences and advice. Guest posts are encouraged. You can get in touch with the editor at [email protected].

Wang, S. et al. Preprint at ChemRxiv https://doi.org/10.26434/chemrxiv.7824707.v2 (2019).

Download references

Related Articles

Bring training forward for undergraduate researchers

What the science of elections can reveal in this super-election year

Career Feature 10 JUN 24

How we packed off the giant pandas from the Smithsonian’s National Zoo

‘I saw that discrimination wasn’t hearsay or rumours — it really did exist’

Career Q&A 05 JUN 24

I was denied tenure — how do I cope?

Career Feature 06 JUN 24

Racing across the Atlantic: how we pulled together for ocean science

Career Feature 03 JUN 24

How I run a virtual lab group that’s collaborative, inclusive and productive

Career Column 31 MAY 24

Postdoctoral fellow at USC (Dr. Jian-Fu Chen lab), Los Angeles

Two post-doc positions for studying neuroscience and craniofacial biology, crosstalk, and disease using mouse and iPSC models.

Los Angeles, California

USC - Center for Craniofacial Molecular Biology

Associate Editor, Physics of Living Systems

The Associate Editor will decide on publishing the most exciting and consequential results in the physics of living systems.

United States (US) - Remote

American Physical Society

Senior Project Manager

The Senior Project Manager will play a key role in enabling Springer Nature’s OA transformation, and optimising and expanding our OA business.

London – Hybrid Working Model

Springer Nature Ltd

Senior Commercial Manager (Open Access)

This position offers a unique opportunity to influence the future of open access publishing.

Postdoctoral Fellow in Immunology at Northwestern University

Our T cell biology lab is looking for fellows interested in improving immunotherapies for cancer and autoimmune disease through immune engineering.

Chicago, Illinois

Choi Laboratory at Northwestern

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Quick links

• Explore articles by subject
• Guide to authors
• Editorial policies

You are using an outdated browser. Please upgrade your browser to improve your experience.

• Undergraduate Research

You are in a modal window. Press the escape key to exit.

• News & Events
• See programs

Common Searches

• Why is it called Johns Hopkins?
• What majors and minors are offered?
• Where can I find information about graduate programs?
• How much is tuition?
• What financial aid packages are available?
• How do I apply?
• How do I get to campus?
• Where can I find job listings?
• Where can I log in to myJHU?
• Where can I log in to SIS?
• University Leadership
• History & Mission
• Diversity & Inclusion
• Notable Alumni
• Hopkins in the Community
• Hopkins Around the World
• News from Johns Hopkins
• Undergraduate Studies
• Graduate Studies
• Online Studies
• Part-Time & Non-Degree Programs
• Summer Programs
• Academic Calendars
• Advanced International Studies
• Applied Physics Laboratory
• Arts & Sciences
• Engineering
• Peabody Conservatory
• Public Health
• Undergraduate Admissions
• Graduate Admissions
• Plan a Visit
• Tuition & Costs
• Financial Aid
• Innovation & Incubation
• Bloomberg Distinguished Professors
• Our Campuses
• About Baltimore
• Housing & Dining
• Arts & Culture
• Health & Wellness
• Disability Services
• Calendar of Events
• Maps & Directions
• Contact the University
• Employment Opportunities
• Give to the University
• For Parents
• For News Media
• Office of the President
• Office of the Provost
• Gilman’s Inaugural Address
• Academic Support
• Study Abroad
• Nobel Prize winners
• Homewood Campus
• Emergency Contact Information

As  America’s first research university , we have been tackling difficult questions and finding answers since 1876.

Every day, our faculty and students work side by side in a tireless pursuit of discovery, continuing our founding mission to bring knowledge to the world. Whether you study engineering, chemistry, music, anthropology, or all of the above, every student here—no matter his or her major—is an investigator.

You can find research in whatever field you want because everyone here is doing some sort of research, and you can help out.

Explore supernovae alongside a Nobel laureate. Learn how to make music with lasers . Create devices that will save lives in impoverished countries . Take a grand tour of the cities that inspired some of the Western world’s great thinkers—Venice, Florence, Paris, or London.

At Hopkins, you can do all of the above. The possibilities are limited only by your imagination.

Two juniors named Goldwater Scholars

Program funds undergraduate summer research experiences

Rising senior earns Beinecke Scholarship

Programs & fellowships.

• Provost’s Undergraduate Research Awards : Receive up to $3,000 and be paired with a full-time faculty sponsor for research on any topic of your choosing
• Woodrow Wilson Undergraduate Research Fellowship Program : Engage in hands-on, independent learning with faculty mentors and receive funding of up to $10,000 over four years
• ASPIRE grants : Promote independent research projects among undergrads in the School of Arts and Sciences; awards range from $500 to $4,500 per academic year

Learn more:

• Hopkins Office of Undergraduate Research
• Student research opportunities at the School of Engineering
• Student research opportunities at the School of Arts and Sciences

• Johns Hopkins University
• Address Baltimore, Maryland
• Phone number 410-516-8000
• © 2024 Johns Hopkins University. All rights reserved.
• Schools & Divisions
• Admissions & Aid
• Research & Faculty
• Campus Life
• University Policies and Statements
• Privacy Statement
• Title IX Information and Resources
• Higher Education Act Disclosures
• Clery Disclosure
• Accessibility

The Ohio State University

• BuckeyeLink
• Find People
• Search Ohio State

CFAES COVID-19 Resources:    Safe and Healthy Buckeyes   |   COVID-19 Hub   |   CFAES Calendar

College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences

Search form

Sample research topics, breadcrumb menu.

Scientific research topics have many sources of inspiration including observations of natural phenomena, watching animal behavior, or reactions of people in life situations. Natural responses to these observations are to ask: Why did they do that? How did that happen? What if I did this?

A broad set of current research topics identified by scientists at The Ohio State University are the Discovery Themes which include:

• Brain Injury : Prevention and Treatment of Chronic Brain Injury
• Data Analytics : Translational Data Analytics and Decision Science
• Foods for Health : Personalized Food and Nutritional Metabolic Profiling to Improve Health
• Food Security : Resilient, Sustainable and Global Food Security for Health
• Infectious Diseases : Emerging and Re-Emerging Infectious Disease Detection, Treatment and Prevention
• Materials and Manufacturing for Sustainabilit y : Translational Materials and Innovation: Accelerating Global Sustainability
• Sustainable Economy :   Sustainability Science for Materials Innovation

Some past research topics include:

• Integration of the senses
• Exotic and native fishes habitat overlap
• Effect of mixing speed on ice cream quality
• Reducing ammonia volatilization from dairy cattle manure
• Relationship between hemoglobin concentration and fresh pork quality characteristics
• Use of landfill leachate to generate electricity in microbial fuel cells
• Effect of fat content on quality of ice cream
• The effect of sweeteners on ice cream characteristics

So, what do you want to explore?  

Undergraduate Research

Choosing a topic, developing a research question.

• Planning Your Secondary Research
• Writing a Literature Review
• Designing Your Research & Choosing a Methodology
• Finding Books
• Finding Articles
• Finding Laws & Regulations
• Finding Statistics & Datasets
• Finding Multimedia
• Interlibrary Loan This link opens in a new window
• Evaluating Sources
• Citing & Writing Resources
• UG Research Methods Module This link opens in a new window

For your capstone or other research project, you are required to choose your own topic. Here are some things to keep in mind as you begin to brainstorm a topic:

• Your topic must be academic in nature. 
• Make sure it is something that you like and are interested in. You will be working with this topic and your research question in depth as you complete your capstone project. 

Topics can be found in a number of places, though sometimes it can be difficult to narrow a focus or know where to start. The following are places to look for inspiration: 

• Is there a topic that you would like to study but haven't yet had the chance to do so in one of your classes or one that you haven't had a chance to research in depth? Your capstone project would be a good opportunity to learn!
• Explore the newest online edition of Emerging Trends in the Social and Behavioral Sciences . Simply click on the table of contents to view the latest trends in interdisciplinary research.
• Browse news sources to see what types of topics are being discussed for a starting point. For a list of news sources Bentley Library has access to consult our  Current News Resources   Research Guide .
• Review top journals in a field you are interested in to see what topics other scholars and researchers are focusing on. To identify these journals, use  Cabell's Directories , Ulrichsweb Global Serials Directory ,  and  Journal Citation Reports . 
• Explore some of our library databases by doing searches on a topic to see what information is out there. The following might be especially helpful to get you started:

Each week, the CQ Researcher examines an issue of compelling public interest. All CQ reports include an abstract, chronology, extensive bibliography and notes, and an outlook. A sidebar includes reports related to the latest topic, and the full text of past reports can be searched via the CQ search function or the cumulative index.

Don't forget to keep track of all of the sources you consult along the way in developing your topic and doing preliminary research! Visit this page for some tips on how to keep track of your sources .

Once you have a topic, the next step is to develop a research question. Your advisor will be helping you along the way but here are some things to consider in developing a good research question.

Good research questions are  open-ended , meaning they do not necessarily have a simple yes or no answer and require you to consult a number of sources. Some research questions involve investigating a cause and effect, comparing two or more ideas, or measuring efficacy though there are many different types of questions to be asked.

Brainstorming and doing preliminary research can help you come up with ideas for aspects of your topic you would like to explore further.

If you have a large topic, you may need to narrow your research and question to be more manageable due to time constraints and resources available. One suggestion is to focus on a specific aspect of the topic such as:

• Geographic area
• Population demographic (i.e. age range, sex, ethnicity, profession, etc.)

Keep in mind the reverse can also be true - sometimes you can have a question that is  too  specific that will need to be opened up a bit more to become workable.

• << Previous: Home
• Next: Planning Your Secondary Research >>
• Last Updated: May 9, 2024 9:22 AM
• URL: https://libguides.bentley.edu/UGresearch

• Bipolar Disorder
• Therapy Center
• When To See a Therapist
• Types of Therapy
• Best Online Therapy
• Best Couples Therapy
• Best Family Therapy
• Managing Stress
• Sleep and Dreaming
• Understanding Emotions
• Self-Improvement
• Healthy Relationships
• Student Resources
• Personality Types
• Guided Meditations
• Verywell Mind Insights
• 2024 Verywell Mind 25
• Mental Health in the Classroom
• Editorial Process
• Meet Our Review Board
• Crisis Support

50+ Research Topics for Psychology Papers

How to Find Psychology Research Topics for Your Student Paper

Kendra Cherry, MS, is a psychosocial rehabilitation specialist, psychology educator, and author of the "Everything Psychology Book."

Steven Gans, MD is board-certified in psychiatry and is an active supervisor, teacher, and mentor at Massachusetts General Hospital.

• Specific Branches of Psychology
• Topics Involving a Disorder or Type of Therapy
• Human Cognition
• Human Development
• Critique of Publications
• Famous Experiments
• Historical Figures
• Specific Careers
• Case Studies
• Literature Reviews
• Your Own Study/Experiment

Are you searching for a great topic for your psychology paper ? Sometimes it seems like coming up with topics of psychology research is more challenging than the actual research and writing. Fortunately, there are plenty of great places to find inspiration and the following list contains just a few ideas to help get you started.

Finding a solid topic is one of the most important steps when writing any type of paper. It can be particularly important when you are writing a psychology research paper or essay. Psychology is such a broad topic, so you want to find a topic that allows you to adequately cover the subject without becoming overwhelmed with information.

I can always tell when a student really cares about the topic they chose; it comes through in the writing. My advice is to choose a topic that genuinely interests you, so you’ll be more motivated to do thorough research.

In some cases, such as in a general psychology class, you might have the option to select any topic from within psychology's broad reach. Other instances, such as in an  abnormal psychology  course, might require you to write your paper on a specific subject such as a psychological disorder.

As you begin your search for a topic for your psychology paper, it is first important to consider the guidelines established by your instructor.

Research Topics Within Specific Branches of Psychology

The key to selecting a good topic for your psychology paper is to select something that is narrow enough to allow you to really focus on the subject, but not so narrow that it is difficult to find sources or information to write about.

One approach is to narrow your focus down to a subject within a specific branch of psychology. For example, you might start by deciding that you want to write a paper on some sort of social psychology topic. Next, you might narrow your focus down to how persuasion can be used to influence behavior .

Other social psychology topics you might consider include:

• Prejudice and discrimination (i.e., homophobia, sexism, racism)
• Social cognition
• Person perception
• Social control and cults
• Persuasion, propaganda, and marketing
• Attraction, romance, and love
• Nonverbal communication
• Prosocial behavior

Psychology Research Topics Involving a Disorder or Type of Therapy

Exploring a psychological disorder or a specific treatment modality can also be a good topic for a psychology paper. Some potential abnormal psychology topics include specific psychological disorders or particular treatment modalities, including:

• Eating disorders
• Borderline personality disorder
• Seasonal affective disorder
• Schizophrenia
• Antisocial personality disorder
• Profile a  type of therapy  (i.e., cognitive-behavioral therapy, group therapy, psychoanalytic therapy)

Topics of Psychology Research Related to Human Cognition

Some of the possible topics you might explore in this area include thinking, language, intelligence, and decision-making. Other ideas might include:

• False memories
• Speech disorders
• Problem-solving

Topics of Psychology Research Related to Human Development

In this area, you might opt to focus on issues pertinent to  early childhood  such as language development, social learning, or childhood attachment or you might instead opt to concentrate on issues that affect older adults such as dementia or Alzheimer's disease.

Some other topics you might consider include:

• Language acquisition
• Media violence and children
• Learning disabilities
• Gender roles
• Child abuse
• Prenatal development
• Parenting styles
• Aspects of the aging process

Do a Critique of Publications Involving Psychology Research Topics

One option is to consider writing a critique paper of a published psychology book or academic journal article. For example, you might write a critical analysis of Sigmund Freud's Interpretation of Dreams or you might evaluate a more recent book such as Philip Zimbardo's  The Lucifer Effect: Understanding How Good People Turn Evil .

Professional and academic journals are also great places to find materials for a critique paper. Browse through the collection at your university library to find titles devoted to the subject that you are most interested in, then look through recent articles until you find one that grabs your attention.

Topics of Psychology Research Related to Famous Experiments

There have been many fascinating and groundbreaking experiments throughout the history of psychology, providing ample material for students looking for an interesting term paper topic. In your paper, you might choose to summarize the experiment, analyze the ethics of the research, or evaluate the implications of the study. Possible experiments that you might consider include:

• The Milgram Obedience Experiment
• The Stanford Prison Experiment
• The Little Albert Experiment
• Pavlov's Conditioning Experiments
• The Asch Conformity Experiment
• Harlow's Rhesus Monkey Experiments

Topics of Psychology Research About Historical Figures

One of the simplest ways to find a great topic is to choose an interesting person in the  history of psychology  and write a paper about them. Your paper might focus on many different elements of the individual's life, such as their biography, professional history, theories, or influence on psychology.

While this type of paper may be historical in nature, there is no need for this assignment to be dry or boring. Psychology is full of fascinating figures rife with intriguing stories and anecdotes. Consider such famous individuals as Sigmund Freud, B.F. Skinner, Harry Harlow, or one of the many other  eminent psychologists .

Psychology Research Topics About a Specific Career

​Another possible topic, depending on the course in which you are enrolled, is to write about specific career paths within the  field of psychology . This type of paper is especially appropriate if you are exploring different subtopics or considering which area interests you the most.

In your paper, you might opt to explore the typical duties of a psychologist, how much people working in these fields typically earn, and the different employment options that are available.

Topics of Psychology Research Involving Case Studies

One potentially interesting idea is to write a  psychology case study  of a particular individual or group of people. In this type of paper, you will provide an in-depth analysis of your subject, including a thorough biography.

Generally, you will also assess the person, often using a major psychological theory such as  Piaget's stages of cognitive development  or  Erikson's eight-stage theory of human development . It is also important to note that your paper doesn't necessarily have to be about someone you know personally.

In fact, many professors encourage students to write case studies on historical figures or fictional characters from books, television programs, or films.

Psychology Research Topics Involving Literature Reviews

Another possibility that would work well for a number of psychology courses is to do a literature review of a specific topic within psychology. A literature review involves finding a variety of sources on a particular subject, then summarizing and reporting on what these sources have to say about the topic.

Literature reviews are generally found in the  introduction  of journal articles and other  psychology papers , but this type of analysis also works well for a full-scale psychology term paper.

Topics of Psychology Research Based on Your Own Study or Experiment

Many psychology courses require students to design an actual psychological study or perform some type of experiment. In some cases, students simply devise the study and then imagine the possible results that might occur. In other situations, you may actually have the opportunity to collect data, analyze your findings, and write up your results.

Finding a topic for your study can be difficult, but there are plenty of great ways to come up with intriguing ideas. Start by considering your own interests as well as subjects you have studied in the past.

Online sources, newspaper articles, books , journal articles, and even your own class textbook are all great places to start searching for topics for your experiments and psychology term papers. Before you begin, learn more about  how to conduct a psychology experiment .

What This Means For You

After looking at this brief list of possible topics for psychology papers, it is easy to see that psychology is a very broad and diverse subject. While this variety makes it possible to find a topic that really catches your interest, it can sometimes make it very difficult for some students to select a good topic.

If you are still stumped by your assignment, ask your instructor for suggestions and consider a few from this list for inspiration.

• Hockenbury, SE & Nolan, SA. Psychology. New York: Worth Publishers; 2014.
• Santrock, JW. A Topical Approach to Lifespan Development. New York: McGraw-Hill Education; 2016.

By Kendra Cherry, MSEd Kendra Cherry, MS, is a psychosocial rehabilitation specialist, psychology educator, and author of the "Everything Psychology Book."

• Student Success
• Academic Life

Program Innovations: Promoting Success in Student Research

To enhance the student experience and increase access to experiential learning, colleges and universities have gotten creative with undergraduate research experiences.

By  Ashley Mowreader

You have / 5 articles left. Sign up for a free account or log in.

Undergraduate research can provide students with hands-on experience in a lab environment, as well as help them determine career opportunities they might not otherwise consider.

sanjeri/E+/Getty Images Plus

Undergraduate research opportunities are one way to provide experiential learning in many disciplines, introducing learners to research methods under the supervision of a faculty member and providing experience for a résumé.

A 2021 study from the University of Central Florida found student researchers are more likely to have higher grade point averages and graduation rates, and higher matriculation into graduate school, as well as life skills such as analyzing literature critically, observing and collecting data and communication.

However, not every student has equal access to undergraduate research opportunities. The study found non-STEM students, transfer students and part-time students are less likely to participate in research compared to their peers.

To increase student participation in undergraduate research and boost skill development among student researchers, institutions have created innovative models of work. Here are seven examples.

Survey Says

Around three in 10 students say they are required to participate in undergraduate research, according to a winter 2023 Student Voice survey from Inside Higher Ed , and a slightly smaller number (27 percent) believe that undergraduate research should be required in their program.

Four-year students are more likely to say undergraduate research is required in their program (32 percent) compared to their two-year peers (15 percent).

First-year research opportunities—University of Missouri

Career exposure in the first year can help students feel confident about their paths throughout college and provide a head start in building their résumés.

Mizzou is known for its Interdisciplinary Plant Group that hosts research scholars exploring innovations in plant biology and a first-year program that provides young researchers a leg up in their work, giving them research time with more experienced researchers and mentorship.

FRIPS, short for Freshman Research in Plants , supports 10 to 15 students annually, who work alongside a faculty member and their research group on plant biology. Students also meet regularly with their FRIPS scholars cohort and gain professional development training.

Each student’s work is funded by grant dollars from the National Science Foundation (NSF).

Graduates of FRIPS often go on to become Goldwater Scholars and NSF graduate research fellows. The program also creates a place of belonging and community for new students to the university.

Underrepresented minority students—Davidson College

Some students face systemic disadvantages in participating in co-curricular experiences because they may lack the social capital or be unfamiliar with the norms of higher ed to identify and participate in a faculty-led research experience.

At Davidson College in North Carolina, rising sophomores can participate in a four- to six-week summer intensive research fellowship program called RISE (Research in Science Experience) . This program is designed for students from historically marginalized groups including low-income and first-generation students.

The goal of RISE is to equip students to take on larger, more intensive academic-year and summer experiences for later in their college career. Each student receives $2,500 in scholarships and funds to cover on-campus housing, which the college arranges for all participants.

Jacquelline Nyakunu , a rising junior at Davidson, spent the summer with chemistry professor Cindy Hauser researching hookah, studying the smoking of shisha and the chemical composition of the tobacco. Nyakunu wrote in a blog post that the experience taught her about her passion for chemistry, built her research skills and solidified her career path as a pre-medicine student.

Editors’ Picks

• A Rough Month for Campus Cuts
• Sabbaticals as Engines of Liberation
• Lost in Translation? AI Adds Hope and Concern to Language Learning

Transfer students—University of California, Los Angeles

Transferring into a new institution can be a challenge for many students, and finding ways to get plugged in and connected to one’s field of interest can be just as hard.

UCLA offers an initiative exclusively for transfer students to both promote their academic success at the university and expose them to undergraduate research opportunities, the Transfer Research Entry Program (TREP).

To participate, each student must be an incoming transfer student with at least two years remaining at UCLA and be considering a career in research. Participants attend a one-week virtual bootcamp about research, which covers careers in research and how to write a cover letter and curriculum vitae. The program also provides networking opportunities for transfer students and academic survival skills for the transition to UCLA.

There’s no obligation to take a research role after the bootcamp, but students are encouraged to do so and given guidance on how to find their areas of interest, the application and interview process as well.

Financial support—University of Texas at El Paso

Financial need can be a barrier to participation for some students. The University of Texas at El Paso is a Hispanic Serving Institution (84 percent Hispanic), commuter school with a large population of Pell-eligible students (60 percent) and first-generation learners. Many students are working to support themselves and their families, explains Lourdes E. Echegoyen, director of the Campus Office of Undergraduate Research Initiatives.

As a result, UTEP staff realized a need to provide financial assistance through employment to give students high-impact activities.

University staff have identified grant funding from federal agencies, including the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, the Department of Education, and private foundations.

Students can receive financial support through stipends or tuition scholarships. The university’s student employment program also provides employment positions for undergraduate researchers across disciplines.

“Generally, full time students are supported to conduct research during the academic year from 10 to 19 hours per week—depending on the program—thus allowing students to remain on campus and be mentored as research trainees,” Echegoyen says.

UTEP leaders have seen the benefits of undergraduate research on retention and persistence among students, with one program focused on biomedical research having a 98 percent retention rate among students across four years, compared to a 37 percent retention rate among their peers who did not participate.&

Community partnerships—Roosevelt University

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Roosevelt University in Chicago partnered with The Field Museum to digitize and analyze data collected at the museum. Visitors had measured specimens of liverworts, but the data needed to be sorted and inaccurate measurements eliminated from the set to be most useful to scientists.

Students wrote code to screen and clean the data, helping set the researchers up for success and teaching students firsthand about research processes in a remote setting.

Career development—Elon University

At Elon in North Carolina, returning students can participate in undergraduate research over the summer in between academic terms, funded by the university. While career readiness is a natural component of research experiences, leaders at the university wanted to bolster student skills beyond the laboratory, says Eric Hall, professor of exercise and director of undergraduate research at Elon.

Now, student researchers attend regular professional-development workshops that inform and establish career competencies. The workshops are co-led by other campus partners, including the writing center, career services, the fellowships office and librarians, Hall says.

For the 2024 session, workshops include a session on LinkedIn on how the fellowships office can support student goals, professional writing for graduate school and industry, and navigating academic publishing.

The new initiative is still being evaluated, with formal data collection underway, but anecdotal evidence from post-assessments shows students enjoy and learn from the experiences.

Research in the classroom—California State Polytechnic University, Pomona

Cal Poly Pomona leaders wanted to expose more learners to undergraduate research, understanding that first-generation, Pell-eligible or historically underserved students have lower access to research opportunities, says Winny Dong, faculty director for the office of undergraduate research.

Rather than asking students to squeeze an additional responsibility into their schedules, faculty members brought research to the classroom, embedding experiences into required general education courses.

The initiative makes it so all students are exposed to research and required to participate in some capacity, helping build their skills and pique interest for those who may consider a career in research.

Parting Thoughts From a Retiring President

As David Wippman prepares to step down from Hamilton College, he shares his views on topics including free speech, pr

Share This Article

More from academic life.

Report: Grade Inflation Highlighted in Developmental Course Placement

A new study from ACT finds students who completed high school during the COVID-19 pandemic were placed in development

Positive Partnership: Streamlining and Speeding Up Transfer Completion

A partnership between George Mason University and Northern Virginia Community College promotes timely degree completi

Alternate Angles of Higher Ed Equity: Seven Insights Gained From European Universities

Setting aside affordability in the conversation about equity allows for a broader range of insight that could benefit

• Become a Member
• Sign up for Newsletters
• Learning & Assessment
• Diversity & Equity
• Career Development
• Labor & Unionization
• Shared Governance
• Academic Freedom
• Books & Publishing
• Financial Aid
• Residential Life
• Free Speech
• Physical & Mental Health
• Race & Ethnicity
• Sex & Gender
• Socioeconomics
• Traditional-Age
• Adult & Post-Traditional
• Teaching & Learning
• Artificial Intelligence
• Digital Publishing
• Data Analytics
• Administrative Tech
• Alternative Credentials
• Financial Health
• Cost-Cutting
• Revenue Strategies
• Academic Programs
• Physical Campuses
• Mergers & Collaboration
• Fundraising
• Research Universities
• Regional Public Universities
• Community Colleges
• Private Nonprofit Colleges
• Minority-Serving Institutions
• Religious Colleges
• Women's Colleges
• Specialized Colleges
• For-Profit Colleges
• Executive Leadership
• Trustees & Regents
• State Oversight
• Accreditation
• Politics & Elections
• Supreme Court
• Student Aid Policy
• Science & Research Policy
• State Policy
• Colleges & Localities
• Employee Satisfaction
• Remote & Flexible Work
• Staff Issues
• Study Abroad
• International Students in U.S.
• U.S. Colleges in the World
• Intellectual Affairs
• Seeking a Faculty Job
• Advancing in the Faculty
• Seeking an Administrative Job
• Advancing as an Administrator
• Beyond Transfer
• Call to Action
• Confessions of a Community College Dean
• Higher Ed Gamma
• Higher Ed Policy
• Just Explain It to Me!
• Just Visiting
• Law, Policy—and IT?
• Leadership & StratEDgy
• Leadership in Higher Education
• Learning Innovation
• Online: Trending Now
• Resident Scholar
• University of Venus
• Student Voice
• Health & Wellness
• The College Experience
• Life After College
• Academic Minute
• Weekly Wisdom
• Reports & Data
• Quick Takes
• Advertising & Marketing
• Consulting Services
• Data & Insights
• Hiring & Jobs
• Event Partnerships

4 /5 Articles remaining this month.

Sign up for a free account or log in.

• Create Free Account

Students & Educators  —Menu

• Educational Resources
• Educators & Faculty
• College Planning
• ACS ChemClub
• Project SEED
• U.S. National Chemistry Olympiad
• Student Chapters
• ACS Meeting Information
• Undergraduate Research
• Internships, Summer Jobs & Coops
• Study Abroad Programs
• Finding a Mentor
• Two Year/Community College Students
• Social Distancing Socials
• Planning for Graduate School
• Grants & Fellowships
• Career Planning
• International Students
• Planning for Graduate Work in Chemistry
• ACS Bridge Project
• Graduate Student Organizations (GSOs)
• Schedule-at-a-Glance
• Standards & Guidelines
• Explore Chemistry
• Science Outreach
• Publications
• ACS Student Communities
• You are here:
• American Chemical Society
• Students & Educators
• Undergraduate

Undergraduate Research in Chemistry

Undergraduate research in chemistry is self-directed experimentation work under the guidance and supervision of a mentor or advisor. Students participate in an ongoing research project and investigate phenomena of interest to them and their advisor.

There is a broad range of research areas in the chemical sciences. Today’s research groups are interdisciplinary, crossing boundaries across fields and across other disciplines, such as physics, biology, materials science, engineering and medicine.

Basic or Applied Research?

Basic research The objective of basic research is to gain more comprehensive knowledge or understanding of the subject under study, without specific applications in mind. In industry, basic research is defined as research that advances scientific knowledge but does not have specific immediate commercial objectives, although it may be in fields of present or potential commercial interest.

Applied research Applied research is aimed at gaining knowledge or understanding to determine the means by which a specific, recognized need may be met. In industry, applied research includes investigations oriented to discovering new scientific knowledge that has specific commercial objectives with respect to products, processes, or services.

• Undergraduate Research Opportunities
• International Research Experiences for Undergraduates Program (IREU)
• Opportunities

What is research at the undergraduate level?    

At the undergraduate level, research is self-directed work under the guidance and supervision of a mentor/advisor ― usually a university professor. A gradual transition towards independence is encouraged as a student gains confidence and is able to work with minor supervision. Students normally participate in an ongoing research project and investigate phenomena of interest to them and their advisor. In the chemical sciences, the range of research areas is quite broad. A few groups maintain their research area within a single classical field of analytical, inorganic, organic, physical, chemical education or theoretical chemistry. More commonly, research groups today are interdisciplinary, crossing boundaries across fields and across other disciplines, such as physics, biology, materials science, engineering and medicine.

What are the benefits of being involved in undergraduate research?

There are many benefits to undergraduate research, but the most important are:

• Learning, learning, learning. Most chemists learn by working in a laboratory setting. Information learned in the classroom is more clearly understood and it is more easily remembered once it has been put into practice. This knowledge expands through experience and further reading. From the learning standpoint, research is an extremely productive cycle.
• Experiencing chemistry in a real world setting. The equipment, instrumentation and materials used in research labs are generally more sophisticated, advanced, and of far better quality than those used in lab courses
• Getting the excitement of discovery. If science is truly your vocation, regardless of any negative results, the moment of discovery will be truly exhilarating. Your results are exclusive. No one has ever seen them before.
• Preparing for graduate school. A graduate degree in a chemistry-related science is mostly a research degree. Undergraduate research will not only give you an excellent foundation, but working alongside graduate students and post-doctorates will provide you with a unique opportunity to learn what it will be like.

Is undergraduate research required for graduation?

Many chemistry programs now require undergraduate research for graduation. There are plenty of opportunities for undergraduate students to get involved in research, either during the academic year, summer, or both. If your home institution is not research intensive, you may find opportunities at other institutions, government labs, and industries.

When should I get involved in undergraduate research?

Chemistry is an experimental science. We recommended that you get involved in research as early in your college life as possible. Ample undergraduate research experience gives you an edge in the eyes of potential employers and graduate programs.

While most mentors prefer to accept students in their research labs once they have developed some basic lab skills through general and organic lab courses, some institutions have programs that involve students in research projects the summer prior to their freshman year. Others even involve senior high school students in summer research programs. Ask your academic/departmental advisor about the options available to you.

What will I learn by participating in an undergraduate research program?

Conducting a research project involves a series of steps that start at the inquiry level and end in a report. In the process, you learn to:

• Conduct scientific literature searches
• Read, interpret and extract information from journal articles relevant to the project
• Design experimental procedures to obtain data and/or products of interest
• Operate instruments and implement laboratory techniques not usually available in laboratories associated with course work
• Interpret results, reach conclusions, and generate new ideas based on results
• Interact professionally (and socially) with students and professors within the research group, department and school as well as others from different schools, countries, cultures and backgrounds
• Communicate results orally and in writing to other peers, mentors, faculty advisors, and members of the scientific community at large via the following informal group meeting presentations, reports to mentor/advisor, poster presentations at college-wide, regional, national or international meetings; formal oral presentations at scientific meetings; or journal articles prepared for publication

How do I select an advisor?

This is probably the most important step in getting involved in undergraduate research. The best approach is multifaceted. Get informed about research areas and projects available in your department, which are usually posted on your departmental website under each professor’s name.

Talk to other students who are already involved in research. If your school has an  ACS Student Chapter , make a point to talk to the chapter’s members. Ask your current chemistry professor and lab instructor for advice. They can usually guide you in the right direction. If a particular research area catches your interest, make an appointment with the corresponding professor.

Let the professor know that you are considering getting involved in research, you have read a bit about her/his research program, and that you would like to find out more. Professors understand that students are not experts in the field, and they will explain their research at a level that you will be able to follow. Here are some recommended questions to ask when you meet with this advisor:

• Is there a project(s) within her/his research program suitable for an undergraduate student?
• Does she/he have a position/space in the lab for you?
• If you were to work in her/his lab, would you be supervised directly by her/him or by a graduate student? If it is a graduate student, make a point of meeting with the student and other members of the research group. Determine if their schedule matches yours. A night owl may not be able to work effectively with a morning person.
• Does she/he have funding to support the project? Unfunded projects may indicate that there may not be enough resources in the lab to carry out the project to completion. It may also be an indication that funding agencies/peers do not consider this work sufficiently important enough for funding support. Of course there are exceptions. For example, a newly hired assistant professor may not have external funding yet, but he/she may have received “start-up funds” from the university and certainly has the vote of confidence of the rest of the faculty. Otherwise he/she would not have been hired. Another classical exception is computational chemistry research, for which mostly fast computers are necessary and therefore external funding is needed to support research assistants and computer equipment only. No chemicals, glassware, or instrumentation will be found in a computational chemistry lab.
• How many of his/her articles got published in the last two or three years? When prior work has been published, it is a good indicator that the research is considered worthwhile by the scientific community that reviews articles for publication. Ask for printed references. Number of publications in reputable refereed journals (for example ACS journals) is an excellent indicator of the reputation of the researcher and the quality of his/her work.

Here is one last piece of advice: If the project really excites you and you get satisfactory answers to all your questions, make sure that you and the advisor will get along and that you will enjoy working with him/her and other members of the research group.

Remember that this advisor may be writing recommendation letters on your behalf to future employers, graduate schools, etc., so you want to leave a good impression. To do this, you should understand that the research must move forward and that if you become part of a research team, you should do your best to achieve this goal. At the same time, your advisor should understand your obligations to your course work and provide you with a degree of flexibility.

Ultimately, it is your responsibility to do your best on both course work and research. Make sure that the advisor is committed to supervising you as much as you are committed to doing the required work and putting in the necessary/agreed upon hours.

How much time should I allocate to research?

The quick answer is as much as possible without jeopardizing your course work. The rule of thumb is to spend 3 to 4 hours working in the lab for every credit hour in which you enroll. However, depending on the project, some progress can be achieved in just 3-4 hours of research/week. Most advisors would recommend 8-10 hours/week.

Depending on your project, a few of those hours may be of intense work and the rest may be spent simply monitoring the progress of a reaction or an instrumental analysis. Many research groups work on weekends. Saturdays are excellent days for long, uninterrupted periods of lab work.

What are some potential challenges?

• Time management . Each project is unique, and it will be up to you and your supervisor to decide when to be in the lab and how to best utilize the time available to move the project forward.
• Different approaches and styles . Not everyone is as clean and respectful of the equipment of others as you are. Not everyone is as punctual as you are. Not everyone follows safety procedures as diligently as you do. Some groups have established protocols for keeping the lab and equipment clean, for borrowing equipment from other members, for handling common equipment, for research meetings, for specific safety procedures, etc. Part of learning to work in a team is to avoid unnecessary conflict while establishing your ground to doing your work efficiently.
• “The project does not work.”  This is a statement that advisors commonly hear from students. Although projects are generally very well conceived, and it is people that make projects work, the nature of research is such that it requires patience, perseverance, critical thinking, and on many occasions, a change in direction. Thoroughness, attention to detail, and comprehensive notes are crucial when reporting the progress of a project.

Be informed, attentive, analytical, and objective. Read all the background information. Read user manuals for instruments and equipment. In many instances the reason for failure may be related to dirty equipment, contaminated reagents, improperly set instruments, poorly chosen conditions, lack of thoroughness, and/or lack of resourcefulness. Repeating a procedure while changing one parameter may work sometimes, while repeating the procedure multiple times without systematic changes and observations probably will not.

When reporting failures or problems, make sure that you have all details at hand. Be thorough in you assessment. Then ask questions. Advisors usually have sufficient experience to detect errors in procedures and are able to lead you in the right direction when the student is able to provide all the necessary details. They also have enough experience to know when to change directions. Many times one result may be unexpected, but it may be interesting enough to lead the investigation into a totally different avenue. Communicate with your advisor/mentor often.

Are there places other than my institution where I can conduct research?

Absolutely! Your school may be close to other universities, government labs and/or industries that offer part-time research opportunities during the academic year. There may also be summer opportunities in these institutions as well as in REU sites (see next question).

Contact your chemistry department advisor first. He/she may have some information readily available for you. You can also contact nearby universities, local industries and government labs directly or through the career center at your school. You can also find listings through ACS resources:

• Research Opportunities (US only)
• International Research Opportunities
• Internships and Summer Jobs

What are Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) sites? When should I apply for a position in one of them?

REU is a program established by the National Science Foundation (NSF) to support active research participation by undergraduate students at host institutions in the United States or abroad. An REU site may offer projects within a single department/discipline or it may have projects that are inter-departmental and interdisciplinary. There are currently over 70 domestic and approximately 5 international REU sites with a chemistry theme. Sites consist of 10-12 students each, although there are larger sites that supplement NSF funding with other sources. Students receive stipends and, in most cases, assistance with housing and travel.

Most REU sites invite rising juniors and rising seniors to participate in research during the summer. Experience in research is not required to apply, except for international sites where at least one semester or summer of prior research experience is recommended. Applications usually open around November or December for participation during the following summer. Undergraduate students supported with NSF funds must be citizens or permanent residents of the United States or its possessions. Some REU sites with supplementary funds from other sources may accept international students that are enrolled at US institutions.

• Get more information about REU sites

How do I prepare a scientific research poster?

Here are some links to sites with very useful information and samples.

• Anatomy of an Ace Research Paper
• Getting Ready for the ACS National Meeting
• Survivng Your First ACS Undergraduate Poster Presentation
• Six Ways Research Can Fire Up Your Chapter

Accept & Close The ACS takes your privacy seriously as it relates to cookies. We use cookies to remember users, better understand ways to serve them, improve our value proposition, and optimize their experience. Learn more about managing your cookies at Cookies Policy .

1155 Sixteenth Street, NW, Washington, DC 20036, USA |  service@acs.org  | 1-800-333-9511 (US and Canada) | 614-447-3776 (outside North America)

• Terms of Use
• Accessibility

Copyright © 2024 American Chemical Society

30 Seriously Impressive Undergrad Research Projects

At UT, research isn’t exclusively for faculty and graduate students. Need proof? Just take a look at this impressive list of undergraduate research from this year. “ Unfeminist Coalition in Game of Thrones,” anyone?

At The University of Texas at Austin, r esearch is an essential part of our DNA. (Coincidentally,  DNA is an essential part of our research .)  UT is one of the most highly rated public research universities in the nation. 

But research isn’t exclusively within the purview of faculty and graduate students. Undergraduates can start as early as freshman year , supported by programs like student-run research journals , the EUREKA Research Database and the Freshman Research Initiative , the nation’s largest effort to involve first-year students in meaningful research, placing them in faculty-led laboratories working on real-world research projects.

Need more proof? Just take a look at this impressive list of undergraduate research poster presentations made at this year’s Research Week , UT’s annual celebration of undergraduate research and creative activity. (For the full list, go here .)

Analyzing and predicting shoreline change rates along the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge

Preston McLaughlin, geography

Bayesian modeling of neuron firing rate maps using a B-spline prior

Eszter Kish, neuroscience; Eric Rincon, computer science

Biological filtration of contaminants from drinking water

Ethan Howley

Building personality

Evan Delord, neuroscience

Computational sequencing and humanization of antibodies

Coral Loockerman, biology

Identifying a novel inhibitor for GES-5 Carbapenemase in Klebsiella pneumonia infections by virtual drug screening

Xenia Gonzalez, biology

Searching for high redshift (z=8) galaxies using the Brightest of Reionizing Galaxies survey (BoRG)

James Diekmann, astronomy

The Herschel Space Telescope confirms the decay of supersonic turbulence

Rebecca Larson, astronomy, physics

Transcriptional control of the Manganese Efflux Transporter, SLC30A10

Jonathan Mercado, biology

Arts and Humanities

Artistic freedom: What is the boundary between freedom of speech and the public good?

Crystal Schreiber, visual art studies; Yeun Jae Chang, visual art studies; Minhye Choi, studio art; Gregory Castillo, visual art studies

College athletics: Athletes first, students second?

Daniel Escobar, philosophy

Fakers of aboriginal art

Ashley Stanford, art history

From the bones of wolves: Guitar music from the southwest United States

Thales Smith, music performance, plan II

Meaning in public space: The Texas State Capitol as epideictic rhetoric

David DeVine, rhetoric and writing

Mistakes were made: On the use of agency and other factors in the analysis of political apology speeches

Alina Carnahan, rhetoric and writing

No crusades, no Columbus: A study of cultural interchange 1100–1500

Jeremy Wenzel, computer science

Rehabilitating canines: The journey of former fighting dogs

Larissa Zelezniak, history

The media and crime: What is real and what is perceived?

Michelle Jackson, psychology

Unfeminist coalition in Game of Thrones

Choyette Mahtab, anthropology

Social Sciences

Gender beliefs and mental health outcomes among Mexican Americans in borderland communities

Maria Renteria, social work, anthropology

Evolving obesity prevention policies in United States elementary schools: 1966–2014

Stephanie Astle, nursing

Investing foul play in financial crisis: An introduction to forensic finance

Kevin Mei, economics, finance

Online activism and networked feminism: Wendy Davis and her filibuster

Ketty Loo, psychology

Prevention of substance use with military veterans in college: Beliefs system and psychological distress

Christine Rodriguez, social work

Testing global colorectal cancer incidence in developing countries using risk factor data

Austin Porter, plan II

The development of auditory category learning: A computational modeling approach

Nicole Tsao, communication sciences and disorders

The effect of candidate race on federal campaign contributions

David Singer, government

The missing piece: Music in geriatric health

Alice Jean, environmental science

The war on coal: A case study in agenda setting

Hannah Johnson, geological sciences, government

Understanding speech patterns in young children with hearing impairments

Samantha Moses, John Torres (both communication sciences and disorders)

Explore Latest Articles

Jun 10, 2024

Extended Campus Celebrates 115 Years of Global Distance Learning

Jun 06, 2024

Long-Buried Castoffs Now Big-Screen Stars

May 31, 2024

Introducing a New UT Podcast: ‘AI for the Rest of Us’

• Search This Site All UCSD Sites Faculty/Staff Search Term
• Staff & Appointments
• Request a Presentation
• Mission, Vision, & Diversity
• Events and Programs Calendar
• News Stories
• Subscribe to the URH Newsletter
• Newsletter Submission Form
• Council on Undergraduate Research
• Getting Started in Undergraduate Research
• How to Pick a Research Topic
• How to Find a Research Mentor
• Letters of Recommendation
• Application Process
• Student Profiles
• Undergraduate Research Library Prize
• Research Picture Submission
• Undergraduate Research Directory
• Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
• URH Academic Year Programs
• URH Summer Research Programs
• All URH Programs
• All UC San Diego Undergraduate Research Programs
• Conference for Research in the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities (CRASSH)
• Online Undergraduate Research Symposium (OURS)
• Medical Education for Diverse Students (MEDS) Conference
• Summer Research Conference (SRC)
• Undergraduate Research Conference (URC)
• Conference Preparation
• External Research Conferences and Professional Meetings
• Conference Travel Funding
• Prestigious Scholarships
• Be a Mentor
• Other Ways to Get Involved
• Resources for Mentors
• Outstanding Mentor Awards
• Scholarship on Undergraduate Research
• Alumni Profiles & News
• Undergraduate Research

How Do I Pick a Research Topic?

When you’re doing research, you want to consider topics that interest you. Depending on the field and mentor, you may be working on a project that you designed yourself or you may be working on a larger project within a research team. The questions below can help you determine a research topic, mentor, and/or research team to work on.

You can find a research topic by asking yourself some questions. No answer is incorrect!

What are you most interested in the world?

What makes you passionate? What would you like to change?

What would you like to create?

What would like to spend your time doing?

What are major trends in academia right now, in industry, in the media?

What are you studying in your classes?

Undergraduate Research Hub

CONNECT WITH THE UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH HUB:

• LinkedIn  

Undergraduate Research

• Research is a Process
• Topic to Research Question
• Finding Books
• Finding Articles
• Evaluating Information
• Notes, Quotes, and Citing
• Organizing a Literature Review
• Building a Literature Review
• Communicating with Faculty
• Peer Review & Predators

Welcome to topic to research question

What to know:  General topics are too big to research and write about. You'll need to narrow it down to a college level research question.

What you'll learn: How to narrow your topic down into a college-level research question by asking questions, doing a little research, and finding keywords that scholars use. And that you can do these parts in any order that works for you.  ​

Why you should care:  Doing this work upfront means that your book and article searching will go much faster. 

Topic vs. Research Question

Finding keywords for searching, background research, try it develop your topic into a research question.

• << Previous: Research is a Process
• Next: Finding Books >>
• Last Updated: Jun 5, 2024 9:25 AM
• URL: https://guides.library.txstate.edu/undergradresearch

• How it works

Published by Robert Bruce at August 29th, 2023 , Revised On September 5, 2023

Biology Research Topics

Are you in need of captivating and achievable research topics within the field of biology? Your quest for the best biology topics ends right here as this article furnishes you with 100 distinctive and original concepts for biology research, laying the groundwork for your research endeavor.

Table of Contents

Our proficient researchers have thoughtfully curated these biology research themes, considering the substantial body of literature accessible and the prevailing gaps in research.

Should none of these topics elicit enthusiasm, our specialists are equally capable of proposing tailor-made research ideas in biology, finely tuned to cater to your requirements. 

Thus, without further delay, we present our compilation of biology research topics crafted to accommodate students and researchers.

Research Topics in Marine Biology

• Impact of climate change on coral reef ecosystems.
• Biodiversity and adaptation of deep-sea organisms.
• Effects of pollution on marine life and ecosystems.
• Role of marine protected areas in conserving biodiversity.
• Microplastics in marine environments: sources, impacts, and mitigation.

Biological Anthropology Research Topics

• Evolutionary implications of early human migration patterns.
• Genetic and environmental factors influencing human height variation.
• Cultural evolution and its impact on human societies.
• Paleoanthropological insights into human dietary adaptations.
• Genetic diversity and population history of indigenous communities.

Biological Psychology Research Topics 

• Neurobiological basis of addiction and its treatment.
• Impact of stress on brain structure and function.
• Genetic and environmental influences on mental health disorders.
• Neural mechanisms underlying emotions and emotional regulation.
• Role of the gut-brain axis in psychological well-being.

Cancer Biology Research Topics 

• Targeted therapies in precision cancer medicine.
• Tumor microenvironment and its influence on cancer progression.
• Epigenetic modifications in cancer development and therapy.
• Immune checkpoint inhibitors and their role in cancer immunotherapy.
• Early detection and diagnosis strategies for various types of cancer.

Also read: Cancer research topics

Cell Biology Research Topics

• Mechanisms of autophagy and its implications in health and disease.
• Intracellular transport and organelle dynamics in cell function.
• Role of cell signaling pathways in cellular response to external stimuli.
• Cell cycle regulation and its relevance to cancer development.
• Cellular mechanisms of apoptosis and programmed cell death.

Developmental Biology Research Topics 

• Genetic and molecular basis of limb development in vertebrates.
• Evolution of embryonic development and its impact on morphological diversity.
• Stem cell therapy and regenerative medicine approaches.
• Mechanisms of organogenesis and tissue regeneration in animals.
• Role of non-coding RNAs in developmental processes.

Also read: Education research topics

Human Biology Research Topics

• Genetic factors influencing susceptibility to infectious diseases.
• Human microbiome and its impact on health and disease.
• Genetic basis of rare and common human diseases.
• Genetic and environmental factors contributing to aging.
• Impact of lifestyle and diet on human health and longevity.

Molecular Biology Research Topics 

• CRISPR-Cas gene editing technology and its applications.
• Non-coding RNAs as regulators of gene expression.
• Role of epigenetics in gene regulation and disease.
• Mechanisms of DNA repair and genome stability.
• Molecular basis of cellular metabolism and energy production.

Research Topics in Biology for Undergraduates

• 41. Investigating the effects of pollutants on local plant species.
• Microbial diversity and ecosystem functioning in a specific habitat.
• Understanding the genetics of antibiotic resistance in bacteria.
• Impact of urbanization on bird populations and biodiversity.
• Investigating the role of pheromones in insect communication.

Synthetic Biology Research Topics 

• Design and construction of synthetic biological circuits.
• Synthetic biology applications in biofuel production.
• Ethical considerations in synthetic biology research and applications.
• Synthetic biology approaches to engineering novel enzymes.
• Creating synthetic organisms with modified functions and capabilities.

Animal Biology Research Topics 

• Evolution of mating behaviors in animal species.
• Genetic basis of color variation in butterfly wings.
• Impact of habitat fragmentation on amphibian populations.
• Behavior and communication in social insect colonies.
• Adaptations of marine mammals to aquatic environments.

Also read: Nursing research topics

Best Biology Research Topics 

• Unraveling the mysteries of circadian rhythms in organisms.
• Investigating the ecological significance of cryptic coloration.
• Evolution of venomous animals and their prey.
• The role of endosymbiosis in the evolution of eukaryotic cells.
• Exploring the potential of extremophiles in biotechnology.

Biological Psychology Research Paper Topics

• Neurobiological mechanisms underlying memory formation.
• Impact of sleep disorders on cognitive function and mental health.
• Biological basis of personality traits and behavior.
• Neural correlates of emotions and emotional disorders.
• Role of neuroplasticity in brain recovery after injury.

Biological Science Research Topics: 

• Role of gut microbiota in immune system development.
• Molecular mechanisms of gene regulation during development.
• Impact of climate change on insect population dynamics.
• Genetic basis of neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s.
• Evolutionary relationships among vertebrate species based on DNA analysis.

Biology Education Research Topics 

• Effectiveness of inquiry-based learning in biology classrooms.
• Assessing the impact of virtual labs on student understanding of biology concepts.
• Gender disparities in science education and strategies for closing the gap.
• Role of outdoor education in enhancing students’ ecological awareness.
• Integrating technology in biology education: challenges and opportunities.

Biology-Related Research Topics

• The intersection of ecology and economics in conservation planning.
• Molecular basis of antibiotic resistance in pathogenic bacteria.
• Implications of genetic modification of crops for food security.
• Evolutionary perspectives on cooperation and altruism in animal behavior.
• Environmental impacts of genetically modified organisms (GMOs).

Biology Research Proposal Topics

• Investigating the role of microRNAs in cancer progression.
• Exploring the effects of pollution on aquatic biodiversity.
• Developing a gene therapy approach for a genetic disorder.
• Assessing the potential of natural compounds as anti-inflammatory agents.
• Studying the molecular basis of cellular senescence and aging.

Biology Research Topic Ideas

• Role of pheromones in insect mate selection and behavior.
• Investigating the molecular basis of neurodevelopmental disorders.
• Impact of climate change on plant-pollinator interactions.
• Genetic diversity and conservation of endangered species.
• Evolutionary patterns in mimicry and camouflage in organisms.

Biology Research Topics for Undergraduates 

• Effects of different fertilizers on plant growth and soil health.
• Investigating the biodiversity of a local freshwater ecosystem.
• Evolutionary origins of a specific animal adaptation.
• Genetic diversity and disease susceptibility in human populations.
• Role of specific genes in regulating the immune response.

Cell and Molecular Biology Research Topics 

• Molecular mechanisms of DNA replication and repair.
• Role of microRNAs in post-transcriptional gene regulation.
• Investigating the cell cycle and its control mechanisms.
• Molecular basis of mitochondrial diseases and therapies.
• Cellular responses to oxidative stress and their implications in ageing.

These topics cover a broad range of subjects within biology, offering plenty of options for research projects. Remember that you can further refine these topics based on your specific interests and research goals.

Frequently Asked Questions 

What are some good research topics in biology?

A good research topic in biology will address a specific problem in any of the several areas of biology, such as marine biology, molecular biology, cellular biology, animal biology, or cancer biology.

A topic that enables you to investigate a problem in any area of biology will help you make a meaningful contribution. 

How to choose a research topic in biology?

Choosing a research topic in biology is simple. 

Follow the steps:

• Generate potential topics. 
• Consider your areas of knowledge and personal passions. 
• Conduct a thorough review of existing literature.
•  Evaluate the practicality and viability. 
• Narrow down and refine your research query. 
• Remain receptive to new ideas and suggestions.

Who Are We?

For several years, Research Prospect has been offering students around the globe complimentary research topic suggestions. We aim to assist students in choosing a research topic that is both suitable and feasible for their project, leading to the attainment of their desired grades. Explore how our services, including research proposal writing , dissertation outline creation, and comprehensive thesis writing , can contribute to your college’s success.

You May Also Like

Looking for interesting and manageable research topics in education? Your search ends right here because this blog post provides 50 […]

Find out if you need permission to publish your dissertation in canada. Understand copyright, university rules, and third-party content.

Academic integrity: a commitment to honesty and ethical conduct in learning. Upholding originality and proper citation are its cornerstones.

Ready to place an order?

USEFUL LINKS

Learning resources, company details.

• How It Works

Automated page speed optimizations for fast site performance

• Calculators
• Swot Analysis
• Pestle Analysis
• Five Forces Analysis
• Organizational Structure
• Copywriting
• Research Topics
• Student Resources

Services We Provide

Resources We Provide

Login / Register

• 15 Latest Networking Research Topics for Students

Comparative analysis between snort and suricata IDS software(s)

Description of the topic

The main focus of this research is to conduct a comparative analysis between Snort and Suricata software to determine which IDS software can provide better performance. There are various IDS software(s) available that can be used by organizations but it is difficult to identify which one is best (Aldarwbi et al., 2022). Different organizational structures are often facing problems while setting up an IDS system which results in false positives and intrusions. Through this research, it can be identified which IDS software is better and what secure configuration is required to detect intrusions (Waleed et al., 2022).

Research objectives

• To evaluate Snort and Suricata IDS software(s) to determine the most optimal one.
• To identify the false positive rate of Snort and Suricata on the networked environment.

Research questions

RQ1: Which IDS software can perform better on the production network in terms of performance, security, scalability and reliability?

RQ2: What different ways can be followed to deal with false positive problems in IDS technology?

Research methodology

The given research objectives and research questions can be addressed using quantitative research methodology where an experimental approach can be followed. For the given topic, both Snort and Suricata IDS systems should be configured and tested against different attacks. Depending on the findings, it can be analyzed which IDS software can perform better in terms of performance and security (Shuai & Li, 2021).

• Aldarwbi, M.Y., Lashkari, A.H. and Ghorbani, A.A. (2022) “The sound of intrusion: A novel network intrusion detection system,” Computers and Electrical Engineering , 104, p. 108455.
• Shuai, L. and Li, S. (2021) “Performance optimization of Snort based on DPDK and Hyperscan,” Procedia Computer Science , 183, pp. 837-843.
• Waleed, A., Jamali, A.F. and Masood, A. (2022) “Which open-source ids? Snort, Suricata or Zeek,” Computer Networks , 213, p. 109116.

Role of honeypots and honey nets in network security

Network Security has become essential nowadays and there is a need for setting up robust mechanisms to maintain confidentiality and integrity (Feng et al., 2023). Due to the number of security mechanisms available, organizations found it hard to finalize and implement them on their network. For example, honey pots and honeynet approaches look almost the same and have the same purpose but work differently. Under this research topic, the configuration of honeynets and honeypots can be done to check which one can perform better security in terms of trapping cyber attackers. The entire implementation can be carried out in the cloud-based instance for improved security and it can be identified which type of honey pot technology must be preferred (Maesschalck et al., 2022).

• To set up a honey pot system using Open Canary on the virtual instance to protect against cyber attackers.
• To set up a honeynet system on the virtual instance to assure protection is provided against malicious attackers.
• To test honeypots and honeynets by executing DDoS attacks to check which can provide better security.

RQ1: Why is there a need for using honeypots over honey pots in a production networked environment?

RQ2: What are the differences between cloud-based and local honey pot systems for endpoint protection?

This research can be carried out using the quantitative method of research. At the initial stage, the implementation of honeypots and honeypots can be done on the virtual instance following different security rules. Once the rules are applied, the testing can be performed using a Kali Linux machine to check whether honey pots were effective or honeynets (Gill et al., 2020).

• Feng, H. et al. (2023) “Game theory in network security for Digital Twins in industry,” Digital Communications and Networks [Preprint].
• Gill, K.S., Saxena, S. and Sharma, A. (2020) “GTM-CSEC: A game theoretic model for cloud security based on ids and Honeypot,” Computers & Security , 92, p. 101732
• Maesschalck, S. et al. (2022) “Don’t get stung, cover your ICS in honey: How do honeypots fit within industrial control system security,” Computers & Security , 114, p. 102598.

How do malware variants are progressively improving?

This research can be based on evaluating how malware variants are progressively improving and what should be its state in the coming future. Malware is able to compromise confidential user’s information assets which is why this research can be based on identifying current and future consequences owing to its improvements (Deng et al., 2023). In this field, there is no research work that has been carried out to identify how malware variants are improving their working and what is expected to see in future. Once the evaluation is done, a clear analysis can also be done on some intelligent preventive measures to deal with dangerous malware variants and prevent any kind of technological exploitation (Tang et al., 2023).

• To investigate types of malware variants available to learn more about malware's hidden features.
• To focus on future implications of malware executable programs and how they can be avoided.
• To discuss intelligent solutions to deal with all malware variants.

RQ1: How do improvements in malware variants impact enterprises?

RQ2: What additional solutions are required to deal with malware variants?

In this research, qualitative analysis can be conducted on malware variants and the main reason behind their increasing severity. The entire research can be completed based on qualitative research methodology to answer defined research questions and objectives. Some real-life case studies should also be integrated into the research which can be supported by the selected topic (Saidia Fasci et al., 2023).

• Deng, H. et al. (2023) “MCTVD: A malware classification method based on three-channel visualization and deep learning,” Computers & Security , 126, p. 103084.
• Saidia Fasci, L. et al. (2023) “Disarming visualization-based approaches in malware detection systems,” Computers & Security , 126, p. 103062.
• Tang, Y. et al. (2023) “BHMDC: A byte and hex n-gram based malware detection and classification method,” Computers & Security , p. 103118.

Implementation of IoT - enabled smart office/home using cisco packet tracer

The Internet of Things has gained much more attention over the past few years which is why each enterprise and individual aims at setting up an IoT network to automate their processes (Barriga et al., 2023). This research can be based on designing and implementing an IoT-enabled smart home/office network using Cisco Packet Tracer software. Logical workspace, all network devices, including IoT devices can be used for preparing a logical network star topology (Elias & Ali, 2014). To achieve automation, the use of different IoT rules can be done to allow devices to work based on defined rules.

• To set up an IoT network on a logical workspace using Cisco Packet Tracer simulation software.
• To set up IoT-enabled rules on an IoT registration server to achieve automation (Hou et al., 2023).

RQ: Why is the Cisco packet tracer preferred for network simulation over other network simulators?

At the beginning of this research, a quantitative research methodology can be followed where proper experimental set-up can be done. As a packet tracer is to be used, the star topology can be used to interconnect IoT devices, sensors and other network devices at the home/office. Once a placement is done, the configuration should be done using optimal settings and all IoT devices can be connected to the registration server. This server will have IoT rules which can help in achieving automation by automatically turning off lights and fans when no motion is detected (Baggan et al., 2022).

• Baggan, V. et al. (2022) “A comprehensive analysis and experimental evaluation of Routing Information Protocol: An Elucidation,” Materials Today: Proceedings , 49, pp. 3040–3045.
• Barriga, J.A. et al. (2023) “Design, code generation and simulation of IOT environments with mobility devices by using model-driven development: Simulateiot-Mobile,” Pervasive and Mobile Computing , 89, p. 101751.
• Elias, M.S. and Ali, A.Z. (2014) “Survey on the challenges faced by the lecturers in using packet tracer simulation in computer networking course,” Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences , 131, pp. 11–15.
• Hou, L. et al. (2023) “Block-HRG: Block-based differentially private IOT networks release,” Ad Hoc Networks , 140, p. 103059.

Comparative analysis between AODV, DSDV and DSR routing protocols in WSN networks

For wireless sensor networks (WSN), there is a major need for using WSN routing rather than performing normal routines. As WSN networks are self-configured, there is a need for an optimal routing protocol that can improve network performance in terms of latency, jitter, and packet loss (Luo et al., 2023). There are often various problems faced when WSN networks are set up due to a lack of proper routing protocol selection. As a result of this, severe downtime is faced and all links are not able to communicate with each other easily (Hemanand et al., 2023). In this research topic, the three most widely used WSN routing protocols AODV, DSDV and DSR can be compared based on network performance. To perform analysis, three different scenarios can be created in network simulator 2 (Ns2).

• To create three different scenarios on ns2 software to simulate a network for 1 to 100 seconds.
• To analyze which WSN routing is optimal in terms of network performance metrics, including latency, jitter and packet loss.
• To use CBR and NULL agents for all wireless scenarios to start with simulation purposes.

RQ: How do AODV, DSR and DSDV routing protocols differ from each other in terms of network performance?

This research can be carried out using a quantitative research method. The implementation for the provided research topic can be based on Ns2 simulation software where three different scenarios can be created (AODV, DSDV and DSR). For each scenario, NULL, CSR and UDP agents can be done to start with simulation for almost 1 to 100 seconds. For all transmissions made during the given time, network performance can be checked to determine which routing is best (Mohapatra & Kanungo, 2012).

• Human and, D. et al. (2023) “Analysis of power optimization and enhanced routing protocols for Wireless Sensor Networks,” Measurement: Sensors , 25, p. 100610. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.measen.2022.100610.
• Luo, S., Lai, Y. and Liu, J. (2023) “Selective forwarding attack detection and network recovery mechanism based on cloud-edge cooperation in software-defined wireless sensor network,” Computers & Security , 126, p. 103083. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cose.2022.103083.
• Mohapatra, S. and Kanungo, P. (2012) “Performance analysis of AODV, DSR, OLSR and DSDV routing protocols using NS2 Simulator,” Procedia Engineering , 30, pp. 69–76. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.proeng.2012.01.835.

Securing wireless network using AAA authentication and WLAN controller

Wireless networks often face intrusion attempts due to insecure protocols and sometimes open SSIDs. As a result of this, man-in-the-middle and eavesdropping attacks become easier which results in the loss of confidential information assets (Sivasankari & Kamalakkannan, 2022). When it comes to managing networks in a large area, there are higher chances for attacks that enable cyber attackers in intercepting ongoing communication sessions. However, there is currently no research conducted where the use of AAA authentication has been done with WLAN controllers to make sure a higher level of protection is provided (Nashwan, 2021). The proposed research topic can be based on securing wireless networks with the help of AAA authentication and WLAN controllers. The use of AAA authentication can be done to set up a login portal for users whilst the WLAN controller can be used for managing all wireless access points connected to the network (Nashwan, 2021).

• To set up AAA authentication service on the wireless network simulated on Cisco Packet Tracer for proper access control.
• To set up a WLAN controller on the network to manage all wireless access points effortlessly.
• To use WPA2-PSK protocol on the network to assure guest users are only able to access wireless networks over a secure protocol.

RQ1: What additional benefits are offered by AAA authentication on the WLAN networks?

RQ2: Why are wireless networks more likely to face network intrusions than wired networks?

This research topic is based on the secure implementation of a wireless LAN network using a Cisco packet tracer. Hence, this research can be carried out using a quantitative research method. The implementation can be carried out using AAA authentication which can assure that access control is applied for wireless logins. On the other hand, a WLAN controller can also be configured which can ensure that all WAPs are managed (ZHANG et al., 2012).

• Nashwan, S. (2021) “AAA-WSN: Anonymous Access Authentication Scheme for wireless sensor networks in Big Data Environment,” Egyptian Informatics Journal , 22(1), pp. 15–26.
• Sivasankari, N. and Kamalakkannan, S. (2022) “Detection and prevention of man-in-the-middle attack in IOT network using regression modeling,” Advances in Engineering Software , 169, p. 103126.
• ZHANG, J. et al. (2012) “AAA authentication for Network mobility,” The Journal of China Universities of Posts and Telecommunications , 19(2), pp. 81-86.

OWASP's approach to secure web applications from web application exploits

The research can revolve around the development of web applications by considering OWASP's top 10 rules. Usually, web applications are deployed by organizations depending on their requirements and these applications are vulnerable to various exploits, including injection, broken authentication and other forgery attacks (Poston, 2020). Identifying every single vulnerability is difficult when reference is not taken and often organizations end up hosting a vulnerable server that leads to privacy issues and compromises confidential information easily. In this research, OWASP's top 10 approaches can be followed to develop a secure web application that can be able to protect against top web application exploits. This approach is based on emphasizing severe and minor vulnerabilities which must be patched for protecting against web application attacks (Deepa & Thilagam, 2016).

• The first objective can be setting up an insecure web application on the cloud environment which can be exploited with different techniques.
• The second objective can be to consider all techniques and procedures provided by OWASP's top 10 methodologies.
• The last objective can be applying all fixes to insecure web applications to make them resistant to OWASP top 10 attacks (Sonmez, 2019).

RQ1: What are the benefits of using OWASP's top 10 approaches to harden web applications in comparison to other security approaches?

The research methodology considered for this research project can be quantitative using an experimental approach. The practical work can be done for the selected topic using AWS or the Azure cloud platform. Simply, a virtual web server can be configured and set up with a secure and insecure web application. Following OWASP's top 10 techniques and procedures, the web application can be secured from possible attacks. In addition, insecure applications can also be exploited and results can be evaluated (Applebaum et al., 2021).

• Applebaum, S., Gaber, T. and Ahmed, A. (2021) “Signature-based and machine-learning-based web application firewalls: A short survey,” Procedia Computer Science , 189, pp. 359–367. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.procs.2021.05.105.
• Deepa, G. and Thilagam, P.S. (2016) “Securing web applications from injection and logic vulnerabilities: Approaches and challenges,” Information and Software Technology , 74, pp. 160–180. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.infsof.2016.02.005.
• Poston, H. (2020) “Mapping the owasp top Ten to the blockchain,” Procedia Computer Science , 177, pp. 613-617. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.procs.2020.10.087.
• Sonmez, F.Ö. (2019) “Security qualitative metrics for Open Web Application Security Project Compliance,” Procedia Computer Science , 151, pp. 998-1003. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.procs.2019.04.140.

Importance of configuring RADIUS (AAA) server on the network

User authentication has become significant nowadays as it guarantees that a legitimate user is accessing the network. But a problem is faced when a particular security control is to be identified for authentication and authorization. These controls can be categorized based on mandatory access controls, role-based access control, setting up captive portals and many more. Despite several other security controls, one of the most efficient ones is the RADIUS server (SONG et al., 2008). This server can authenticate users on the network to make sure network resources are accessible to only legal users. This research topic can be based on understanding the importance of RADIUS servers on the network which can also be demonstrated with the help of the Cisco Packet Tracer. A network can be designed and equipped with a RADIUS server to ensure only legal users can access network resources (WANG et al., 2009).

• To configure RADIUS (AAA) server on the network which can be able to authenticate users who try to access network resources.
• To simulate a network on a packet tracer simulation software and verify network connectivity.

RQ1: What are other alternatives to RADIUS (AAA) authentication servers for network security?

RQ2: What are the common and similarities between RADIUS and TACACS+ servers?

As a logical network is to be designed and configured, a quantitative research methodology can be followed. In this research coursework, a secure network design can be done using a packet tracer network simulator, including a RADIUS server along with the DMZ area. The configuration for the RADIUS server can be done to allow users to only access network resources by authenticating and authorizing (Nugroho et al., 2022).

• Nugroho, Y.S. et al. (2022) “Dataset of network simulator related-question posts in stack overflow,” Data in Brief , 41, p. 107942.
• SONG, M., WANG, L. and SONG, J.-de (2008) “A secure fast handover scheme based on AAA protocol in Mobile IPv6 Networks,” The Journal of China Universities of Posts and Telecommunications , 15, pp. 14-18.
• WANG, L. et al. (2009) “A novel congestion control model for interworking AAA in heterogeneous networks,” The Journal of China Universities of Posts and Telecommunications , 16, pp. 97-101.

Comparing mod security and pF sense firewall to block illegitimate traffic

Firewalls are primarily used for endpoint security due to their advanced features ranging from blocking to IDS capabilities and many more. It is sometimes challenging to identify which type of firewall is best and due to this reason, agencies end up setting up misconfigured firewalls (Tiwari et al., 2022). This further results in a cyber breach, destroying all business operations. The research can be emphasizing conducting a comparison between the two most widely used firewalls i.e. Mod Security and pF sense. Using a virtualized environment, both firewalls can be configured and tested concerning possible cyber-attacks (Lu & Yang, 2020).

• To use the local environment to set up Mod security and pF sense firewall with appropriate access control rules.
• To test both firewalls by executing distributed denial of service attacks from a remote location.
• To compare which type of firewall can provide improved performance and robust security.

RQ: How do Mod security and pF sense differ from each other in terms of features and performance?

The practical experimentation for both firewalls can be done using a virtualized environment where two different machines can be created. Hence, this research can be carried out using a quantitative research method . The first machine can have Mod security and the second machine can have pF sense configured. A new subnet can be created which can have these two machines. The third machine can be an attacking machine which can be used for testing firewalls. The results obtained can be then evaluated to identify which firewall is best for providing security (Uçtu et al., 2021).

• Lu, N. and Yang, Y. (2020) “Application of evolutionary algorithm in performance optimization of Embedded Network Firewall,” Microprocessors and Microsystems , 76, p. 103087.
• Tiwari, A., Papini, S. and Hemamalini, V. (2022) “An enhanced optimization of parallel firewalls filtering rules for scalable high-speed networks,” Materials Today: Proceedings , 62, pp. 4800-4805.
• Uçtu, G. et al. (2021) “A suggested testbed to evaluate multicast network and threat prevention performance of Next Generation Firewalls,” Future Generation Computer Systems , 124, pp. 56-67.

Conducting a comprehensive investigation on the PETYA malware

The main purpose of this research is to conduct a comprehensive investigation of the PETYA malware variant (McIntosh et al., 2021). PETYA often falls under the category of ransomware attacks which not only corrupt and encrypt files but can compromise confidential information easily. Along with PETYA, there are other variants also which lead to a security outage and organizations are not able to detect these variants due to a lack of proper detection capabilities (Singh & Singh, 2021). In this research, a comprehensive analysis has been done on PETYA malware to identify its working and severity level. Depending upon possible causes of infection of PETYA malware, some proactive techniques can also be discussed (Singh & Singh, 2021). A separation discussion can also be made on other malware variants, their features, and many more.

• The main objective of this research is to scrutinize the working of PETYA malware because a ransomware attack can impact the micro and macro environment of the organizations severely.
• The working of PETYA malware along with its source code can be reviewed to identify its structure and encryption type.
• To list all possible CVE IDs which are exploited by the PETYA malware.

RQ1: How dangerous is PETYA malware in comparison to other ransomware malware?

This research can be based on qualitative research methodology to evaluate the working of PETYA malware from various aspects, the methodology followed and what are its implications. The research can be initiated by evaluating the working of PETYA malware, how it is triggered, what encryption is applied and other factors. A sample source code can also be analyzed to learn more about how cryptography is used with ransomware (Abijah Roseline & Geetha, 2021).

• Abijah Roseline, S. and Geetha, S. (2021) “A comprehensive survey of tools and techniques mitigating computer and mobile malware attacks,” Computers & Electrical Engineering , 92, p. 107143.
• McIntosh, T. et al. (2021) “Enforcing situation-aware access control to build malware-resilient file systems,” Future Generation Computer Systems , 115, pp. 568-582.
• Singh, J. and Singh, J. (2021) “A survey on machine learning-based malware detection in executable files,” Journal of Systems Architecture , 112, p. 101861.

Setting up a Live streaming server on the cloud platform

Nowadays, various organizations require a live streaming server to stream content depending upon their business. However, due to a lack of proper hardware, organizations are likely to face high network congestion, slowness and other problems (Ji et al., 2023). Referring to the recent cases, it has been observed that setting up a streaming server on the local environment is not expected to perform better than a cloud-based streaming server configuration (Martins et al., 2019). This particular research topic can be based on setting up a live streaming server on the AWS or Azure cloud platform to make sure high network bandwidth is provided with decreased latency. The research gap analysis would be conducted to analyze the performance of live streaming servers on local and cloud environments in terms of network performance metrics (Bilal et al., 2018).

• To set up a live streaming server on the AWS or Azure cloud platform to provide live streaming services.
• To use load balancers alongside streaming servers to ensure the load is balanced and scalability is achieved.
• To use Wireshark software to test network performance during live streaming.

RQ1: Why are in-house streaming servers not able to provide improved performance in comparison to cloud-based servers?

RQ2: What additional services are provided by cloud service providers which help in maintaining network performance?

The implementation is expected to carry out on the AWS cloud platform with other AWS services i.e. load balancer, private subnet and many more (Efthymiopoulou et al., 2017). Hence, this research can be carried out using a quantitative research method. The configuration of ec2 instances can be done which can act as a streaming server for streaming media and games. For testing this project, the use of OBS studio can be done which can help in checking whether streaming is enabled or not. For network performance, Wireshark can be used for testing network performance (George et al., 2020).

• Bilal, KErbad, A. and Hefeeda, M. (2018) “QoE-aware distributed cloud-based live streaming of multi-sourced Multiview Videos,” Journal of Network and Computer Applications , 120, pp. 130-144.
• Efthymiopoulou, M. et al. (2017) “Robust control in cloud-assisted peer-to-peer live streaming systems,” Pervasive and Mobile Computing , 42, pp. 426-443.
• George, L.C. et al. (2020) “Usage visualization for the AWS services,” Procedia Computer Science , 176, pp. 3710–3717.
• Ji, X. et al. (2023) “Adaptive QoS-aware multipath congestion control for live streaming,” Computer Networks , 220, p. 109470.
• Martins, R. et al. (2019) “Iris: Secure reliable live-streaming with Opportunistic Mobile Edge Cloud offloading,” Future Generation Computer Systems , 101, pp. 272-292.

Significance of using OSINT framework for Network reconnaissance

Network reconnaissance is becoming important day by day when it comes to penetration testing. Almost all white hat hackers are dependent on the OSINT framework to start with network reconnaissance and footprinting when it comes to evaluating organizational infrastructure. On the other hand, cyber attackers are also using this technique to start fetching information about their target. Currently, there is no investigation carried out to identify how effective the OSINT framework is over traditional reconnaissance activities (Liu et al., 2022). This research is focused on using OSINT techniques to analyze victims using different sets of tools like Maltego, email analysis and many other techniques. The analysis can be based on fetching sensitive information about the target which can be used for conducting illegal activities (Abdullah, 2019).

• To use Maltego software to conduct network reconnaissance on the target by fetching sensitive information.
• To compare the OSINT framework with other techniques to analyze why it performs well.

RQ1: What is the significance of using the OSINT framework in conducting network reconnaissance?

RQ2: How can the OSINT framework be used by cyber hackers for conducting illegitimate activities?

The OSINT framework is easily accessible on its official website where different search options are given. Hence, this research can be carried out using a quantitative research method. Depending upon the selected target, each option can be selected and tools can be shortlisted for final implementation. Once the tools are shortlisted, they can be used to conduct network reconnaissance (González-Granadillo et al., 2021). For example, Maltego can be used as it is a powerful software to fetch information about the target.

• Abdullah, S.A. (2019) “Seui-64, bits an IPv6 addressing strategy to mitigate reconnaissance attacks,” Engineering Science and Technology , an International Journal, 22(2), pp. 667–672.
• Gonzalez-Granadillo, G. et al. (2021) “ETIP: An enriched threat intelligence platform for improving OSINT correlation, analysis, visualization and sharing capabilities,” Journal of Information Security and Applications , 58, p. 102715.
• Liu, W. et al. (2022) “A hybrid optimization framework for UAV Reconnaissance Mission Planning,” Computers & Industrial Engineering , 173, p. 108653.

Wired and wireless network hardening in cisco packet tracer

At present, network security has become essential and if enterprises are not paying attention to the security infrastructure, there are several chances for cyber breaches. To overcome all these issues, there is a need for setting up secure wired and wireless networks following different techniques such as filtered ports, firewalls, VLANs and other security mechanisms. For the practical part, the use of packet tracer software can be done to design and implement a highly secure network (Sun, 2022).

• To use packet tracer simulation software to set up secure wired and wireless networks.
• Use different hardening techniques, including access control rules, port filtering, enabling passwords and many more to assure only authorized users can access the network (Zhang et al., 2012).

RQ: Why is there a need for emphasizing wired and wireless network security?

Following the quantitative approach, the proposed research topic implementation can be performed in Cisco Packet Tracer simulation software. Several devices such as routers, switches, firewalls, wireless access points, hosts and workstations can be configured and interconnected using Cat 6 e cabling. For security, every device can be checked and secure design principles can be followed like access control rules, disabled open ports, passwords, encryption and many more (Smith & Hasan, 2020).

• Smith, J.D. and Hasan, M. (2020) “Quantitative approaches for the evaluation of Implementation Research Studies,” Psychiatry Research , 283, p. 112521.
• Sun, J. (2022) “Computer Network Security Technology and prevention strategy analysis,” Procedia Computer Science , 208, pp. 570–576.
• Zhang, YLiang, R. and Ma, H. (2012) “Teaching innovation in computer network course for undergraduate students with a packet tracer,” IERI Procedia , 2, pp. 504–510.

Different Preemptive ways to resist spear phishing attacks

When it comes to social engineering, phishing attacks are rising and are becoming one of the most common ethical issues as it is one of the easiest ways to trick victims into stealing information. This research topic is based on following different proactive techniques which would help in resisting spear phishing attacks (Xu et al., 2023). This can be achieved by using the Go-Phish filter on the machine which can automatically detect and alert users as soon as the phished URL is detected. It can be performed on the cloud platform where the apache2 server can be configured along with an anti-phishing filter to protect against phishing attacks (Yoo & Cho, 2022).

• To set up a virtual instance on the cloud platform with an apache2 server and anti-phishing software to detect possible phishing attacks.
• To research spear phishing and other types of phishing attacks that can be faced by victims (Al-Hamar et al., 2021).

RQ1: Are phishing attacks growing just like other cyber-attacks?

RQ2: How effective are anti-phishing filters in comparison to cyber awareness sessions?

The entire research can be conducted by adhering to quantitative research methodology which helps in justifying all research objectives and questions. The implementation of the anti-phishing filter can be done by creating a virtual instance on the cloud platform which can be configured with an anti-phishing filter. Along with this, some phishing attempts can also be performed to check whether the filter works or not (Siddiqui et al., 2022).

• Al-Hamar, Y. et al. (2021) “Enterprise credential spear-phishing attack detection,” Computers & Electrical Engineering , 94, p. 107363.
• Siddiqui, N. et al. (2022) “A comparative analysis of US and Indian laws against phishing attacks,” Materials Today: Proceedings , 49, pp. 3646–3649.
• Xu, T., Singh, K. and Rajivan, P. (2023) “Personalized persuasion: Quantifying susceptibility to information exploitation in spear-phishing attacks,” Applied Ergonomics , 108, p. 103908.
• Yoo, J. and Cho, Y. (2022) “ICSA: Intelligent chatbot security assistant using text-CNN and multi-phase real-time defense against SNS phishing attacks,” Expert Systems with Applications , 207, p. 117893.

Evaluating the effectiveness of distributed denial of service attacks

The given research topic is based on evaluating the effectiveness of distributed denial of service attacks on cloud and local environments. Hence, this research can be carried out using a quantitative research method. Cyber attackers find DDoS as one of the most dangerous technological exploitation when it comes to impacting network availability (Krishna Kishore et al., 2023). This research can revolve around scrutinizing the impact of DDoS attacks on the local environment and cloud environment. This can be done by executing DDoS attacks on a simulated environment using hoping or other software(s) to check where it has a higher magnitude (de Neira et al., 2023).

• To set up a server on the local and cloud environment to target using DDoS attacks for checking which had experienced slowness.
• To determine types of DDoS attack types, their magnitude and possible mitigation techniques.

RQ: Why do DDoS attacks have dynamic nature and how is it likely to sternly impact victims?

The experimentation for this research can be executed by creating a server on the local and cloud environment. Hence, this research can be carried out using a quantitative research method. These servers can be set up as web servers using apache 2 service. On the other hand, a Kali Linux machine can be configured with DDoS execution software. Each server can be targeted with DDoS attacks to check its effectiveness (Benlloch-Caballero et al., 2023).

• Benlloch-Caballero, P., Wang, Q. and Alcaraz Calero, J.M. (2023) “Distributed dual-layer autonomous closed loops for self-protection of 5G/6G IOT networks from distributed denial of service attacks,” Computer Networks , 222, p. 109526.
• de Neira, A.B., Kantarci, B. and Nogueira, M. (2023) “Distributed denial of service attack prediction: Challenges, open issues and opportunities,” Computer Networks , 222, p. 109553.
• Krishna Kishore, P., Ramamoorthy, S. and Rajavarman, V.N. (2023) “ARTP: Anomaly-based real time prevention of distributed denial of service attacks on the web using machine learning approach,” International Journal of Intelligent Networks , 4, pp. 38–45.

Recommended Readings

Latest Web Development Research Topics

Top Management Research Topics

Newest AI Research Topics

Research in every field is becoming more and more essential because of constant developments around the world. Similar is the case in the field of networking. This is the reason; students who are preparing to master the field of networking need to keep their knowledge of the current state of the art in the field up to date.

However, choosing the right research topic often becomes a tough task for students to carry out their research effectively. That being the case, this list contains 15 latest research topics in the field of networking. Whether you are a seasoned researcher or just starting, this list can provide you with ample inspiration and guidance to drive your research forward in the dynamic and evolving field of Networking.

Copyright © 2023 CrowJack. All Rights Reserved

American Psychological Association

The impact of transgender legislation

Psychological science points to an increased risk of suicide and poor mental health amid a record number of bills aimed at restricting the rights of the LGBTQ+ population

APA policy supporting transgender, gender diverse, nonbinary individuals

Membership in APA

APA Community

A new exclusive destination tailored for APA members

Membership benefits

Unlock the tools, discounts, and services included with your membership

Renew your membership

Keep your benefits and access to leading psychological information

Psychology topics spotlight

Misinformation and disinformation

Resources to navigate trauma

Tips to foster a healthy workplace

Science and practice of psychology

Ethics Code

Continuing Education

Grants, Awards, and Funding

Standards and Guidelines

Networks and communities

Network with peers, enhance your professional development, expand your personal growth, and more

APA Divisions

High school teachers

Undergraduate educators

Graduate students

Early career psychologists

Managing your career

Resources to help you throughout your career in psychology, including finding a job, salary data, finances and money management, mentoring and supervision, and training and professional development

Explore career paths

Psychologist profiles

How did you get that job?

Events and training

Featured jobs

Apa publications and products.

Write with clarity, precision, and inclusion

Children’s books

Monitor on Psychology

Newsletters

Reports and surveys

Continuing education

Merchandise

Real Siblings

Jacob's Missing Book

Harper Becomes a Big Sister

Attachment-Based Family Therapy for Sexual and Gender Minority Young Adults and Their Non-Accepting Parents

Dismantling Everyday Discrimination

APA Services

Learn how you can help APA advocate for psychology-informed federal policy and legislation, and support psychological research

APA Services, Inc.

A companion professional organization to APA, serving all members and advocating for psychology

Department of Mathematics

• Toggle Navigation

Possible Student Research Topics

Projects are listed by faculty member.    Please contact faculty members directly for further information.

Dr. Gemmer:  Broadly, my research interests lie in analyzing and developing mathematical models of phenomenon in the physical and biological sciences. As an applied mathematician I find significant professional satisfaction studying “toy” models of systems which can yield concrete insights into phenomena observed in Nature. I am also particularly drawn to problems which not only have interesting and important applications but also have the potential to lead to new and deep mathematics. In my work I have developed expertise in calculus of variations, mathematical modeling, applied analysis, continuum mechanics, asymptotic methods, ordinary and partial differential equations and Riemannian geometry. I would be happy to meet with a student to discuss potential projects. Past projects I have mentored include modeling crowd dynamics, modeling the spread of infectious diseases on adaptive networks, brachistochrone problems in inverse square gravitational fields, rare events in stochastic differential equations, modeling adaptation in predator prey systems, and studying the stability of inverted pendulums, i.e. segues. A list of potential and past projects is available at  http://users.wfu.edu/gemmerj/projects.html .

Dr. Jiang:  1.  Network models of infectious disease:  try to investigate the difference between A Markov chain model and a deterministic model. Keywords: Markov chain, rate of eradication, network model, dynamical systems.  2. Multifractal analysis of time series.  Keyword: Holder exponents, Wavelet coefficients, Hausdorff dimension

Dr. Raynor:  I’m open to working on any topic in the general areas of analysis, differential equations, and differential geometry.  Some areas on which I’ve worked with students before are traffic modeling, free boundary problems, DNA solitary wave modeling, fractals, and ranking theory.

Dr. Rouse:   Rather than indicate a specific project, I prefer to decide on a project after talking with a student about their interests and background. That said, all the projects I am likely to suggest are in number theory.

Course-based undergraduate research experiences (CURE) in Geology courses.

I teach several geology courses. In each course, my students are given research topics at the start of the term and instructions on how to conduct research. Throughout the term we talk about their progress. I provide guidance and support to ensure feasibility and relevance of the research. I use Course based undergraduate research to engage students in geologic research within the context of each course work.  This pedagogical method provides my students with hands-on research experiences and helps develop critical thinking, problem-solving, and communication skills. 

Topic Selection:

Students are given a list of research topics related to the course content or could propose their own ideas. Topics are sufficiently challenging to encourage exploration but manageable within the course timeframe. In each class, students design and plan experiments to address the research questions or hypotheses related to their chosen topics. Students carry out the planned experiments, collect data, and document their procedures. Students learn and apply data analysis techniques appropriate to their research questions. Statistical analysis is introduced, depending on the complexity of the research. Students interpret their findings in the context of existing literature and theoretical frameworks. Students discuss the implications of their results, potential sources of error, and avenues for future research.

Students write a formal research paper following the structure of scientific papers (introduction, methods, results, discussion, conclusion). Writing skills and proper citation practices are emphasized. During the writing processes, papers are peer reviewed and edited to ensure clarity, grammar, and citations styles.

Students also create a visual representation of their research through a poster. Doug Foxgrover from ITS, gives a lecture on how to prepare posters. This format requires them to distill complex information into a clear and concise visual display.

Students present their research findings to their peers, invited guests and possibly to a broader audience. This involves a 15 minute talk summarizing key points and answering questions. Implementing such a course requires careful planning, clear communication, and ongoing support for students. 

Challenges:

There are some challenges when conducting Course-based undergraduate research experiences. To mention some of these challenges, not all students are interested in doing research. The enthusiasm ranges from extremely enthusiastic  to a low one. But, peer pressure plays well for those who are less enthusiastic. Another challenge is not having enough time to edit the writing towards the end of the term. Another challenge is for those projects that require instrumentation, not having the instrument needed, the technical expertise needed are always challenges. I have great Teaching Assistants, but they are also busy with their course work and create some challenges for everyone involved.

Instruction given to the students at the start of the term:

Class Projects: For several years my students have been doing group projects.  Learning and working in groups involves shared and/or learned values, resources and ways of doing research.  Students from many of my classes have done great group projects and you can see them in the website or in prints.  In the past, these projects included local geology, water chemistry and mapping.  I will give you a variety of possible topics that you can choose by the end of the first week.  At the end of the term, you will write a report, make a poster and present your findings using powerpoint.  The following is a format for your paper. There are several papers about past projects on my website and in my office. Please look at the early to see the format and the work done.

Final paper and poster format: Think of the report as a scientific paper.  It should have a title and sections containing: 1. Introduction 2. Background 3. Methods 4. Results 5. Discussion 6. Conclusion 7. Reference

Introduction : Your introductory paragraphs must include:

• Purpose: A single, concise statement of the major objective of the lab, i.e. what are the questions you are trying to answer. 
• Background: A brief summary of the topic being investigated, including any information which may be necessary in order to understand your
• Stated purpose of the lab. 
• State the major results/findings of the lab exercise

Methods : Include the information necessary to allow someone to repeat what you did.

• What data did you use? 
• Include geographic locations, definitions of key terms, and anything else necessary in order to understand exactly what you did.

Observations and Results.

• What did you observe in each part? Include all observations made at the suggestion of the lab exercises. Always include the units of physical quantities and label axes of plots. 
• Describe any relationships that you observed between variables. 
• Where appropriate include figures, graphs and calculations. 

Discussion : This is the most important part of the lab, as it is where you interpret your observations and results.

• Give explanations for and implications of any relationships observed. Were the relationships as you expected from underlying physical principles? 
• What are the main sources of uncertainty in interpreting your observations? 
• Address any interesting questions you may have had as you were working through the lab exercises, as well any general questions included in the lab exercises. 
• Can you make any generalizations? Why or why not? 

 Conclusion. Summarize your results, the main points of your discussion, and how they relate to your stated purpose of the lab. It is a good idea to include how the main points of your discussion are connected, in order to demonstrate the overall significance of your findings and the concepts you learned. 

Reference: Follow GSA style of listing all resources used in the lab report.

A few of the projects were presented at Geological Society of America meetings.  Many of the projects that my students conduct can be found in this LINK .

• Teaching in the Disciplines
• Teaching Circle

Add a comment

Covering a story? Visit our page for journalists or call (773) 702-8360.

Top Stories

Can you find good health information on tiktok uchicago study advises caution, two uchicago students honored for commitment to environmental work.

• Majority of Americans will pay more for electric vehicles made in U.S., survey finds

Atop a Chilean mountain, undergraduate students make cutting-edge astronomical observations

Uchicago students conduct research at magellan telescopes as part of new field course.

Editor’s Note: This is part of a series called UChicago Class Visits , spotlighting transformative classroom experiences and unique learning opportunities offered at UChicago.

At the top of a mountain in the Chilean Andes, peering into the cosmos from 8,000 feet above sea level, a University of Chicago student had a revelation.

“I sat down at the telescope on our first night on the mountain and started taking observations, and I realized immediately it was what I wanted to do with the rest of my life,” said Sarah Grannis, a third-year undergraduate student. “It was nothing short of career-defining for me.”

Grannis was part of a field course in astronomy and astrophysics at UChicago, which  immerses students in the full scientific process: how to propose and design an astronomical experiment, how to make observations at a telescope, and how to analyze the data and publish it. Students and alumni of the class have already published six papers in scientific journals.

Previously, due to pandemic travel restrictions, the class had to conduct observations remotely. But this past spring break, seven students were able to travel to the Magellan telescopes at Carnegie Science's Las Campanas Observatory in Chile to use the telescopes for research.

“It was amazing, I don’t know how to describe it,” said third-year student Joseph Yeung. “It’s crazy to be in the driver’s seat, sitting there in the moment and knowing you’re one of the first people—maybe the first person ever—to see this light.”

Universal mysteries

Prof. Mike Gladders has taught the course since its inception in 2020. In his mind, the course is an opportunity to not only teach students about astronomy, but for them to make new contributions to the scientific literature while doing so.

In the first quarter of the course, the students learn about astrophysics as well as the telescopes and the types of measurements and calibrations that can be made. Then they search existing databases of the sky to try to find promising objects to look at more closely with the Magellan telescopes.

In particular, they are searching for extremely distant galaxies that have been “lensed”—magnified like a fish through the fishbowl, thanks to the enormous power of gravity. The light from these far-away galaxies has been traversing the cosmos at the speed of light for billions of years, and so the students were looking back in time to the deep past, when both the universe, and the galaxies in it, were young. These galaxies are of interest to scientists because they provide clues about the physical processes that helped form and shape galaxies over cosmic time.

In the early days of the cosmos, the universe mostly consisted of dark clouds of hydrogen gas. Then, about 500 million years after the Big Bang, some intense form of radiation began ionizing the hydrogen, leading to the makeup of the universe that we know and love today. “This launches the development of complexity in the cosmos,” said Gladders. But very little is known about how this happened; finding these very early galaxies can offer clues to the processes at work.

Once the students have identified promising objects to take a closer look at with the telescopes, they travel to Chile over spring break to make those observations.

‘A mad scramble’

The excursion is possible, in part, because the University of Chicago is a partner of the Magellan telescopes at Carnegie Science's Las Campanas Observatory and has institutional access to the telescopes.

Because it was over spring break, the trip was short and intense. To get to the telescopes, the group flew to Santiago, Chile, then took a smaller plane to a town called La Serena, and then drove for several hours into the mountains before staying up to make observations at night.

At 8,000 feet, the air is significantly thinner than in Chicago, which makes it great for observing the sky but taxing for humans used to the plentiful oxygen at sea level. “The first night was a mad scramble,” said Gladders. “By the second night we had our feet a little more underneath us.”

The students took observations at the telescopes in shifts throughout the night.

“Until that point, I had only had experience analyzing data that had already been taken and processed for me,” said third-year student Camila Silva. “But when you are taking the data yourself, you gain a really good sense of how every single adjustment, calibration, and decision you make during observing will affect the validity and quality of the data you get.

“Getting to have that firsthand experience really instilled a deep reverence for the scientific process in me,” she said.

In between shifts, the students could step out and see the night sky with the naked eye, which was also intense; the mountain was chosen because it is one of the darkest and clearest skies on Earth. “The stars are like nothing you’ve ever seen in your life,” said Grannis.

They also took side trips to visit other observatories in the area, including the Gemini and Blanco telescopes and the construction site for the upcoming Vera C. Rubin Observatory, which will serve as a flagship ground telescope; as well as visiting a nearby cloud forest in the mountains that is so unique it is designated as a UNESCO biosphere reserve.

A meaningful experience

Back in Chicago, the students are now analyzing the data they took and preparing for eventual publication.

As members of the course, the students join an ongoing collaboration known as COOL-LAMPS (for C hicag O   O ptically-selected strong  L enses – L ocated  A t the  M argins of  P ublic  S urveys). Consisting of current and former members of the course as well as collaborators from multiple other institutions, the collaboration has published multiple studies in scientific journals and is preparing more. 

“It really struck me when Professor Gladders said at the beginning of our first class that our collaboration is actually one of the leaders in this particular field of science,” said Yeung. “Since the class started a few years back, we’ve been leading the observations and data analysis of these types of astronomical objects. It makes me feel like I’m not just a student; I’m also an astronomer.”

For his part, Gladders is thrilled to be able to fully realize his original vision for the course by traveling to the telescope.

“I do what I do because 25 years ago, I got the experience to work at a significant research telescope—and that feeling is why I’m here now as a professor,” he said. “To stand under the sky like that, to appreciate it as a curious being looking out into the cosmos, is something you just have to experience. And to couple that with being able to ask and even answer certain questions about what you’re looking at—together, those are very powerful.

“People do transformative things when they are inspired by transformative experiences.”

Get more with UChicago News delivered to your inbox.

Recommended

NASA selects UChicago undergraduates’ proposal to build a ‘nano…

Scientists may have found the spot where our supermassive black hole …

Related Topics

Latest news, supply chain software startup freshx takes first place at 2024 nvc.

Class of 2024 learns ‘three little secrets to change the world’

The College

Go 'Inside the Lab' at UChicago

Explore labs through videos and Q and As with UChicago faculty, staff and students

Quantum Computing

Researchers draw inspiration from ancient Alexandria to optimize quantum simulations

National Science Foundation

UChicago to partner on $12 million NSF project to ‘decarbonize’ computing

Around uchicago.

Around Campus

Rockefeller Chapel renovation to add beauty, functionality to historic landmark

Quantrell and PhD Teaching Awards

UChicago announces 2024 winners of Quantrell and PhD Teaching Awards

Campus News

Project to improve accessibility, sustainability of Main Quadrangles

National Academy of Sciences

Five UChicago faculty elected to National Academy of Sciences in 2024

UChicago women’s tennis team wins first NCAA title

UChicago men’s tennis team storms back to win NCAA championship

Biological Sciences Division

“You have to be open minded, planning to reinvent yourself every five to seven years.”

UChicago Class Visits

Knauss Fellowship application period now open!  Learn how to apply .

Supporting students on their path to marine and coastal careers.

Find career development opportunities provided by Sea Grant, information on scholarships, internships, and fellowships, and more.

Sea Grant Student Programs

Community engaged internship, knauss marine policy fellowship, nmfs-sea grant fellowship, student opportunities around our network, student scholarships.

Sea Grant scholarships offer opportunities that provide financial assistance and research funding to students pursuing a career in STEM. 

Undergraduate Students

Sea Grant has several prestigious opportunities to partner with various STEM organizations to promote professional development in new careers and provide hands-on experiences in research.

Graduate Students

Sea Grant has many reputable fellowships specifically for graduate students that focus on professional development in budding careers for a variety of marine topics.

Other Opportunities

Check out these resources from Sea Grant partners across the nation.

Student Resources

Sea Grant Student Opportunities

(8.5 x 11 inch printable PDF)

Sea Grant Knauss Fellowship

Overview with instructions on how to apply (8.5 x 11 inch printable PDF)

Hear from our students

Student experiences, student support by the numbers.

Metrics reported in Summer 2021 for work conducted February 1, 2020 to January 31, 2021.

Student News

An introduction to the Marine Mammal Commission: Jackie Shaff

From DC to Antarctica: Gina Selig

Check out this new video from 2023 fellow Gina Selig discussing her work with the Antarctic Treaties Commission and her upcoming trip to Antarctica.

Reelin’ in the Years

Suggestions or feedback?

MIT News | Massachusetts Institute of Technology

• Machine learning
• Social justice
• Black holes
• Classes and programs

Departments

• Aeronautics and Astronautics
• Brain and Cognitive Sciences
• Architecture
• Political Science
• Mechanical Engineering

Centers, Labs, & Programs

• Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL)
• Picower Institute for Learning and Memory
• Lincoln Laboratory
• School of Architecture + Planning
• School of Engineering
• School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences
• Sloan School of Management
• School of Science
• MIT Schwarzman College of Computing

Chancellor Melissa Nobles’ address to MIT’s undergraduate Class of 2024

Press contact :, media download.

*Terms of Use:

Images for download on the MIT News office website are made available to non-commercial entities, press and the general public under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial No Derivatives license . You may not alter the images provided, other than to crop them to size. A credit line must be used when reproducing images; if one is not provided below, credit the images to "MIT."

Previous image Next image

Below is the text of Chancellor Melissa Nobles' Commencement remarks, as prepared for delivery today.

Thank you, Phoebe and William!

Ok everyone! It's happening! It's your graduation day! Congratulations to you, soon to be graduates, and congratulations to your loved ones! What a day!

To the class of 2024: You are here today, graduating from MIT on beautiful Killian court, thanks in part to the many people who believed in you, who championed you, who boosted you when you needed it.

Many of your loved ones are here with us today, and others around the globe are beaming with happiness as they watch this ceremony online. So, soak up the love and pride of your families and friends and champions here and afar…. It’s a very special day for them, too.

THANK YOU parents, thank you families, thank you friends, thank you to the professors and staff here at MIT, and thank you to everyone who has helped shape our graduates’ journeys to this day.

Now, let's talk about YOU, the graduates of 2024!

Yes, you started at MIT during Covid, and don't worry, we won't dwell on that.

What I do want to highlight is that because the world turned upside down, because you didn't know the "typical rhythms" of MIT and the upper classes couldn't show you all the ropes, you did what MIT students do best — and you did it in overdrive:

You made stuff up. You figured things out. You experimented. You iterated. You engineered. You stretched. You created new traditions. You bonded. You used your heart, and built your communities — first online, and later on campus — because connections to people never felt more important.

And I'm not trying to glamorize this. Surely, starting from scratch can be daunting, rocky, inefficient, exhausting… and filled with dead ends.

But it also creates possibility, which you filled with creativity, strength, persistence, and resilience. And, as a consequence, you built a COMPLETE and fulfilling college experience.

So as you wrap things up, take a moment to pause and be present. Look around you at your classmates, strangers who met on Zoom and became tight friends under tough circumstances.

Think back to the fall of your sophomore year, when things literally opened up on campus and you too opened yourselves up, wholeheartedly, to your fellow students.

What wild adventures you had as sophomores — getting to know each other — and drinking from MIT’s famed firehose — together… I-R-L!

And feel proud of the care you have shown to the classes who follow in your footsteps, by passing along the institutional knowledge that you painstakingly unearthed, that you created and refined, so that future students don’t need to start from scratch as you did.

Think about your houses, your clubs, your mentors inside and outside the classroom, your teams, your performances, your research, your coursework, and your creations.

Think about the intellectual curiosity that you arrived with, plus all that you learned since, and how your passions and ambitions led you to even more complex discoveries.

Remember all the psets you completed and will NEVER NEED TO DO AGAIN!

While you'll soon leave behind your beloved maker spaces and favorite hang out spots and the practice fields where you gave things your all, you'll bring your problem solving skills, your ingenuity, your passions, and your drive to new spaces… new spots… and new fields.

You'll forge new friendships while staying in touch with your MIT besties.

You'll buy bananas at the grocery store and reminisce about when you'd get them for free 24/7 at the Banana Lounge, back in the day.

You'll trek through the unknown with an adventurous and generous spirit. You'll ask for help when you need it, and you’ll continue to inspire and give to others that follow.

And above all, you'll be confident about what is possible, what you can achieve, how you can apply your talents and skills in this complex world — because you have a hard-earned MIT degree!

Your degree is an extra special accomplishment because you faced so many adversities along the way, individually and together... as a class.

But you did it! And all of us here today, and celebrating with you around the globe, are so proud of you!

So now let's listen to some soulful music, and then get those diplomas to you and make things official!

Congratulations MIT Class of 2024!

Adanna, take it away!

Share this news article on:

Related links.

• Commencement 2024

Related Topics

• Commencement
• Special events and guest speakers

Related Articles

Noubar Afeyan PhD ’87 gives new MIT graduates a special assignment

President Sally Kornbluth’s charge to the Class of 2024

Commencement address by Noubar Afeyan PhD ’87

Chancellor Melissa Nobles’ address to MIT’s undergraduate Class of 2023

Previous item Next item

More MIT News

MIT Faculty Founder Initiative announces three winners of entrepreneurship awards

Read full story →

How a quantum scientist, a nurse, and an economist are joining the fight against global poverty

Catalyst Symposium helps lower “activation barriers” for rising biology researchers

Protein study could help researchers develop new antibiotics

Through econometrics, Isaiah Andrews is making research more robust

Students research pathways for MIT to reach decarbonization goals

• More news on MIT News homepage →

Massachusetts Institute of Technology 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA, USA

• Map (opens in new window)
• Events (opens in new window)
• People (opens in new window)
• Careers (opens in new window)
• Accessibility
• Social Media Hub
• MIT on Facebook
• MIT on YouTube
• MIT on Instagram