define a research topic

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Research Guide

• Define Your Topic
• Plan Your Search
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STEP 1: Define Your Topic

Think about Search Terms

Use your background information to think of appropriate search terms. Brainstorm every possible search term for your topic.Try to think of synonyms and related words for each keyword to help broaden or narrow your search.

Look at your topic. For example: ‘Are Canadian youth politically engaged?’ The keywords in this topic would be Canadian , youth , and political engagement .

These keywords can become:

• Canadian → Canada
• Youth → "young people", "young adults", or adolescents
• "Political engagement" → vote, voting, politics, elections, or "political participation"

Example: Brainstorming Search Terms

My research question was ‘Can alternative energy sources help stop global warming?’

For this question, the keywords would be alternative energy sources, and global warming. So, some search terms could be:

• global warming → climate change, temperature change, greenhouse effect
• alternative energy sources → sustainable energy, renewable energy source, alternative fuels or environmental technology

1. Background Research

• Do some background reading to understand more about the topic.
• Is there a current book or article that gives you are good overview of the topic? 
• You can use Wikipedia  for ideas, keywords for your search and important dates and issues, but do not use it as a source in your final paper, as is not an academic source. It can also include errors, so be careful. 
• Try a test search of the library's resources to see what kind of results you get. If the topic is too general, you may need to narrow it down; if it is too specific, you may need to expand your search. 
• You can also do a test search of the internet using Google. 
• Keep in mind that what you will find through the AC Library is mostly subscription based and will include content not available for free on the internet.  

Example: Picking a Subject

My assignment:.

Write a research report on a topic of your choice

My subject ideas:

• I am interested in environmental issues.
• I have read about global warming, but what are the causes?
• I wonder, what are some possible solutions?
• Why is it such a complicated problem and what are some of the issues that are debated by scientists?
• Is technology the solution to global warming? Or are changes in our behaviour the solution?

My broad topic for the assignment is ‘Global Warming’.

My research to narrow my topic:

• I got a good overview of the topic.
• I discovered areas of the topic that interest me and that I might want to focus on, such as the causes of global warming and the possible responses to it.
• I searched for for ‘Global warming’ in Page 1+ .
• I got too many results, because my topic is too general.
• I can find suggestions of subjects on the left side of the page, which I can use to make my subject more specific.
• In the next step, I will use what I have learned to refine my topic.

2. Refine Your Topic

Narrowing your subject to a more specific topic takes a bit of research and thought.

Here are some ideas to help you narrow your topic:

• Talk to a friend to get ideas. They may give you ideas that didn't occur to you.
• Brainstorm - think about or write down what you know about the topic. Use these as terms for your test searches. 

Use these questions:

• WHY did you choose the topic? What interests you about it?  Do you have an opinion about the issues involved?
• WHO are the information providers on this topic?  Who might publish information about it?  Who is affected by the topic? Do you know of organizations or institutions affiliated with the topic?
• WHAT are the major questions for this topic?  Is there a debate about the topic?  Are there a range of issues and viewpoints to consider?
• WHERE is your topic important: at the local, national or international level?  Are there specific places affected by the topic?
• WHEN is/was your topic important? Is it a current event or an historical issue?  Do you want to compare your topic by time periods?

(Content reproduced from MIT.edu under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License )

• Turn your topic into a question. You will be trying to answer this question with your research. Think about something you would like to try to prove or argue.
• Make sure to pick a topic that will have enough information available. Do a preliminary search to see if there is enough information about your topic.

Example: Refining Your Topic

The subject we chose in the earlier step is ‘global warming.’ This subject is a very broad topic with many different aspects you could research. We will use the techniques above to narrow our subject to a research topic.

• Why: I am interested in environmental issues, and I am interested in how technology can be used to improve things in the future.
• Who: Many environmental journals have published research on this topic. Also, organizations such as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the United Nations Environment Programme publish reports on the topic.
• Which types of energy sources are best for the environment?
• Are they feasible?
• How much will they cost?
• What are the potential positive or negative effects?
• Where: This issue is important for everyone, both on local levels and on a global level.
• When: This is a current issue; it is very important today and for the future. I would like for this paper to be more future-focused.
• From these answers, I came up with possible topics, such as ‘the causes of global warming’ ‘technological solutions to global warming’, or ‘what effect does global warming have on business?’ or ‘scientific debate about global warming’
• I turned my topic into a question: ‘Can alternative energy sources help stop global warming?’
• I made sure my topic has enough information available. A quick search of library resources shows over 7,000 results related to my question.

Sample research question: Can alternative energy sources help stop global warming?

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• Last Updated: Apr 4, 2024 9:56 AM
• URL: https://algonquincollege.libguides.com/research

How to Identify and Develop a Topic: .

How to identify and develop a topic.

It is difficult to define a topic with much specificity before starting your research. But until you define your topic, you won't know where to begin your search for information and you won't know what to look for. With a well-defined topic, you can focus your search strategies to find lots of relevant information without also finding a lot of useless stuff.

Selecting a topic to research is not a one-step task. Identifying and developing your topic is an ongoing process that does not end until you have finished your research project. Start with an idea you are interested in. Find and read some background information to get a better understanding of the topic, then use what you have learned to search for more specific information. Refine (broaden, narrow, refocus, or change) your topic, and try another search.  

Find a Topic

If you weren't assigned a specific topic and can't think of one:

• talk with your class instructor (who is, after all, the reason you are doing this project in the first place)
• find something interesting in the course reading assignments
• look at the entries and index of a subject encyclopedia
• ask a librarian to help you figure out a topic  

Narrow Your Topic

The initial idea for a research topic is often too broad. If your first searches for resources are so general that you find more information than you can click a mouse at or deal with in a reasonable amount of time (i.e. before the research project is due), focus on one of the following:

• a specific period of time
• a specific geographic location
• specific individuals or groups
• a specific aspect of the subject
• the viewpoint of a specific discipline  

Make it a Question

It is often helpful to state your topic in the form of a question. Treat the research project as an attempt to find a specific answer for a specific question.  

List Main Concepts

Pull out ideas and key terms that describe your topic. You can get a better idea of these by looking up your topic in an encyclopedia or other appropriate reference work. This will give you a better understanding of your topic, which will help you figure out what sources you will need and where you will need to look to find them.  

Analyze Your Topic

Where should you look for information? From what subject or discipline perspective are you looking at this topic? Do you need scholarly or popular sources? Will you need books, articles, sound recordings, primary sources, etc.?  

Select Appropriate Tools

Which tools do you need to find the type of information you want, (e.g. the library catalog for books, subject specific indexes for journal articles, etc.) See the library's guide to How to Find and Evaluate Sources for more.  

Initial Results

After you do an initial search, you can tell some things just from the number and type of sources you find. If you get a million or so hits, you probably need to narrow your topic. If you get only a few, broaden it. If the hits seem to be irrelevant to your topic, search using different terms. Do another search and see if you get what seems to be an appropriate amount of appropriate sources. Keep refining your search until you are satisfied with your results. Then go read them.  

After reading through some of the sources you find, you will get a better understanding of the topic you are researching. With this better understanding, you can revise your initial topic and its corresponding question for which you are so diligently seeking an answer. You can also refine your search strategy: the databases you search in, the keywords or subject terms you search for, etc. Go back and try another search using your revisions. Repeat as necessary until you have done enough research to know what to ask and how to answer it.

• Last Updated: Oct 20, 2020 8:13 PM
• URL: https://libguides.wesleyan.edu/topic

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Research Process

• Brainstorming
• Explore Google This link opens in a new window
• Explore Web Resources
• Explore Background Information
• Explore Books
• Explore Scholarly Articles
• Narrowing a Topic
• Primary and Secondary Resources
• Academic, Popular & Trade Publications
• Scholarly and Peer-Reviewed Journals
• Grey Literature
• Clinical Trials
• Evidence Based Treatment
• Scholarly Research
• Database Research Log
• Search Limits
• Keyword Searching
• Boolean Operators
• Phrase Searching
• Truncation & Wildcard Symbols
• Proximity Searching
• Field Codes
• Subject Terms and Database Thesauri
• Reading a Scientific Article
• Website Evaluation
• Article Keywords and Subject Terms
• Cited References
• Citing Articles
• Related Results
• Search Within Publication
• Database Alerts & RSS Feeds
• Personal Database Accounts
• Persistent URLs
• Literature Gap and Future Research
• Web of Knowledge
• Annual Reviews
• Systematic Reviews & Meta-Analyses
• Finding Seminal Works
• Exhausting the Literature
• Finding Dissertations
• Researching Theoretical Frameworks
• Research Methodology & Design
• Tests and Measurements
• Organizing Research & Citations This link opens in a new window
• Scholarly Publication
• Learn the Library This link opens in a new window

Finding a Research Topic

Which step of the research process takes the most time?

A. Finding a topic B. Researching a topic C. Both

How did you answer the above question? Do you spend most of your efforts actually researching a topic, or do you spend a lot of time and energy finding a topic? Ideally, you’ll want to spend fairly equal amounts of effort on both. Finding an appropriate and manageable topic can sometimes be just as hard as researching a topic.

A good research topic will have a body of related research which is accessible and manageable. Identifying a topic with these characteristics at the beginning  of the research process will ultimately save you time.

Finding a research topic that is interesting, relevant, feasible, and worthy of your time may take substantial effort so you should be prepared to invest your time accordingly. Considering your options, doing some background work on each option, and ultimately settling on a topic that is manageable will spare you many of the frustrations that come from attempting research on a topic that, for whatever reason, may not be appropriate.

Remember that as you are searching for a research topic you will need to be able to find enough information about your topic(s) in a book or scholarly journal. If you can only find information about your topic(s) in current event sources (newspapers, magazines, etc.) then the topic might be too new to have a large body of published scholarly information. If this is the case, you may want to reconsider the topic(s).

So how do you find a research topic? Unfortunately there’s no directory of topics that you pick and choose from, but there are a few relatively easy techniques that you can use to find a relevant and manageable topic. A good starting point may be to view the Library's Resources for Finding a Research Topic Workshop below.

The sub-pages in this section (on the left-hand menu) offer various tips for where and how to locate resources to develop your research topic. And for additional information on selecting a research topic, see the resources below.

• Defining a Topic - SAGE Research Methods
• Develop My Research Idea - Academic Writer Note: You MUST create an Academic Writer account AND start a paper in order to access this tool. Once you have done so, open a paper and click Research Lab Book in the left navigation menu.
• The Process for Developing Questions - ASC Guide

Resources for Finding a Research Topic Workshop

This workshop will introduce you to library resources which can be used to locate potential topics for a research paper or dissertation. This workshop explores websites, reference books, and scholarly articles, as well as review criteria to consider when selecting a topic.

• Resources for Finding a Research Topic Workshop Outline

Was this resource helpful?

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• Last Updated: Apr 14, 2024 12:14 PM
• URL: https://resources.nu.edu/researchprocess

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How to Establish a Research Topic: Easy Writing Tips

Last Updated: December 15, 2022 Fact Checked

This article was co-authored by Alexander Ruiz, M.Ed. . Alexander Ruiz is an Educational Consultant and the Educational Director of Link Educational Institute, a tutoring business based in Claremont, California that provides customizable educational plans, subject and test prep tutoring, and college application consulting. With over a decade and a half of experience in the education industry, Alexander coaches students to increase their self-awareness and emotional intelligence while achieving skills and the goal of achieving skills and higher education. He holds a BA in Psychology from Florida International University and an MA in Education from Georgia Southern University. There are 9 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. This article has been fact-checked, ensuring the accuracy of any cited facts and confirming the authority of its sources. This article has been viewed 110,178 times.

With a world of possibilities out there, choosing a research topic can be a daunting task. However, selecting a worthy subject is half the battle when it comes to producing valuable original research. If you take some time to attentively brainstorm possibilities and refine them down into a solid, focused research question, you’ll come away with a topic that’s manageable, worthwhile, and, most importantly, interesting to you.

Picking a Topic

• One way to ensure you have a topic that’s of interest to you to pick a subject to which you have a personal connection. For instance, if your sister has Crohn's Disease, you may be interested in investigating it. Or, if you went on an exchange program to Croatia, you might be keen to know more about its history or culture.
• Another way to trim down your possibilities is to see if there any patterns that emerge from the longer list. For example, if you wrote down “Gertrude Stein” and “Djuna Barnes,” you could focus on lesbian expat authors.

• You want to choose a topic that has some, but not too much information available on it. If there are some substantive related resources out there, you know you’re on the right track; if there are pages and pages of relevant search results, you can tell that plenty of people have already gone down that road or that the topic is likely too big to cover and you will need to narrow it further.

• For instance, if you are interested in the mapping of the human genome, read about the general history of the scientific advances that have allowed us to map DNA and see if there’s a particular subtopic that catches your eye. Instead of trying to cover the entire subject, limit your scope to focus on the discovery of a gene related to a specific trait or disease or on a particular application, like the regulation of gene therapy for unborn fetuses.

Kim Gillingham, MA

Use your interests to narrow your focus. Retired librarian, Kim Gillingham, adds: "You can start with a general topic such as Outer Space. Then ask yourself specific questions such as 'What am I interested in about Outer Space?' It could be the history of space exploration, the technology of space exploration, or 'Is Pluto a planet or not?' As always, librarians can be of immense help in narrowing down a topic through a technique called the Reference Interview — try asking your librarian about it!"

• When you meet with or email them, explain the research that you’ve already conducted to show them that you’ve done your homework. Then, ask something like, “I’m most interested in looking into coming of age rituals in contemporary indigenous cultures, and I was wondering if you think that’s a good topic to pursue and if you had any suggestions for specific case studies or other resources related to it.”
• Remember: they may be able to point you in a more specific direction based on your general interests, but don’t expect them to do the whole selection process for you.
• If you’re doing independent research to earn a degree (rather than to fulfill the requirements of a particular class), you should also ask them about the potential marketability of your subject since your topic will be setting the direction for your future career.

Developing Your Research Question

• After you conduct your preliminary research, think about the gaps that you noticed in the information available on the subject that you’ve been investigating. Devise a question that could address that missing information.
• One concrete way to do this is to explore the relationship between two ideas, concepts, phenomena, or events that came up in your research but whose relationship has not been fully investigated. For example, “how did political radicals influence popular representations of sexuality in the 1920s United States?”
• Another concrete way to formulate your question is to consider how an existing methodology or concept applies to a new, specific context or case study. For instance, you could think of how Sigmund Freud’s idea of the “appendage” applies to a specific virtual reality game.

• For example, if your question requires conducting a study that’s not feasible given your timeframe or the resources available to you, then you need to find a way to revise your question so that you can answer it.
• Sometimes if your topic is too new, there won’t be a substantial enough body of research available for you to do a comprehensive analysis of it. In that case, you may need to revise or broaden your question so that you can actually answer it. [5] X Research source

• If your question is not narrow enough, refine your focus further by limiting your topic according to a given historical era, theoretical approach, geographical region, demographic or culture, industry or field. For example, if you’re interested in refugees, you might limit your scope by honing in on a particular event (World War II) and/or time period (the 1940s), a specific location (England) and/or population (Jewish people from Austria). [6] X Research source

Making Sure that You’re on the Right Track

• You might have a brilliant research question, but, if it’s about genetic disorders and the grant you’re applying for only funds research on communicable diseases, you’ll need to go back to the drawing board.
• Also be sure to take the required length of the project into consideration. For instance, if your question is too narrow or specific, you might not be able to hit the 250-page requirement for a doctoral thesis.

• Start by listing the various research methods that you’ll use, such as a literature review, interviews, and qualitative analysis. Then, create a timeline for when you’ll be doing each kind of research, being sure to leave enough time for yourself to complete the writing.

• You can order topics chronologically (for instance, if you’re studying a historical event). Most often, you’ll order them according to the progression of your argument, with one idea building on the last.
• Your research may change the structure or content of your outline, but it’s still useful to have a well-developed starting point.

Community Q&A

• If you have no idea of where to begin, consider going through old notes and textbooks or speaking to classmates to get some inspiration. Or, browse through the most recently published journals in your field to see what the latest trends in research are. Thanks Helpful 1 Not Helpful 0

• Since research is a demanding process, the most important thing is that you choose a topic that will sustain your enthusiasm and curiosity. Thanks Helpful 5 Not Helpful 1

You Might Also Like

• ↑ https://writingcenter.unc.edu/tips-and-tools/brainstorming/
• ↑ http://libguides.mit.edu/select-topic
• ↑ https://bowvalleycollege.libguides.com/research-help/topics
• ↑ https://libraries.indiana.edu/sites/default/files/Develop_a_Research_Question.pdf
• ↑ http://libguides.mit.edu/c.php?g=175961&p=1160160#s-lg-box-wrapper-4114979
• ↑ http://libguides.mit.edu/c.php?g=175961&p=1160160#791450
• ↑ https://files.bucknell.edu/Documents/ISR/topic.pdf
• ↑ Alexander Ruiz, M.Ed.. Educational Consultant. Expert Interview. 18 June 2020.
• ↑ http://libguides.usc.edu/writingguide/outline

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How to Write a Research Paper: Defining Your Topic

• Getting Started
• Defining Your Topic
• Finding Background Information
• Creating a Thesis Statement
• Developing an Outline for Your paper
• Writing the Paper
• Editing and Revising the Paper
• Writing Style Guides and Citing Sources
• Annotated Bibliographies

Defining a Topic

Defining your topic is a multi-part process.

• First, choose your topic . If a specific topic is not assigned to you, you might get ideas for a topic from your course text, class notes, or class discussions, or by exploring some of the library's databases.  
• Remain flexible .  You may wish to change or alter your research topic depending on what you uncover in your research.  For instance, if you find too little information on a topic, you may wish to broaden your topic.  If you find too much information on a topic, you may wish to narrow your topic.  Or, if you find information you were not expecting, you may even want to alter your topic entirely. 
• If you do not know very much about your topic, find background information or an overview of the subject matter , then you can narrow it down as needed. Keep in mind that depending on your subject matter, you might need to broaden or refine your topic a bit.
• Print Encyclopedias There are general ones that can be found in the library such as Encyclopedia Americana that cover a broad subject range or more subject-specific ones such as The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians .
• Online Encyclopedias The library also subscribes to a number of online encyclopedia databases such as Gale Virtual Reference Library, and Sage eReference  These databases, contain a wealth of background information on a wide variety of topics and can be easily searched through names, topics, and keywords. 
• Issues & Controversies and CQ Researcher These two databases contain information on current social issues and hot topics through multiple points of view.  They provide excellent background on these topics

Remote Access to the Databases

The databases listed in this Research Guide are available only to Truckee Meadows Community College students, faculty and staff.  You will need your TMCC credentials (Username and Password) to access them off-campus.

• Use these sources to identify keywords, synonyms, and related concepts . You can use these terms to begin searching in the library catalog for books, in databases for articles, and even Google or another search engine to find information on the Web.

--Modified from Morton College Library's Guide to Writing a Research Paper

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• Next: Finding Background Information >>
• Last Updated: Apr 15, 2024 9:36 AM
• URL: https://libguides.tmcc.edu/Research_Paper

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• The Research Process
• 1. Define Your Topic
• 2. Gather Background Information
• 3. Find Books & More
• 4. Find Articles & More
• 5. Find Web Sources
• 6. Evaluate Your Sources
• 7. Cite Your Sources

The Research Process is a nonlinear process, meaning you may have to revisit steps once or twice during your research to get the best results.

If you are having trouble defining your topic, you might benefit from looking into several topics before choosing or narrowing down your scope for one.

Gathering background information from reference sources on a broader idea, subject, etc. may spark your curiosity or interest to further explore it.

Choose a Topic

• Are there any specific guidelines to follow?
• What are some of the current trends or issues in this area? 

To find a topic of interest to you, you may want to consult:

• Course materials (Textbook, handouts, etc.)
• Instructor and/or peers
• Personal interests

BE CURIOUS! Whatever topic you decide to focus on should be something your excited to learn more about.

Narrow Your Topic

Be sure that your topic is of an appropriate size for your assignment. 

You could write a whole book on the cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), so narrowing your topic will help you help keep your research and writing manageable. 

Any easy way to narrow your topic is to ask yourself some questions:

What?  Think about the topic from different viewpoints (historically, socially, medically, legally, ethically, etc.)  Do you want to focus on the history of CBT or on the effectiveness  of CBT?

Who?  Think about individuals but also groups of people or population.   Do you want to focus on CBT's use with children? With adolescents? 

Where?  Think about location, environment, and setting.  Do you want to look at how it's been used in group therapy? In schools? In the United States? 

When? Think about time period and/or after a specific event or milestone. Do you want to explore using CBT after a patient has a experienced trauma? Or do you want to explore the use of CBT in the last ten years?

Construct a Research Question

Once you've narrowed your topic by answering some of the questions above, it's good to formulate a research question to help guide your research and possibly generate a thesis statement.

• Start by using "how," "what," or "why."
• Incorporate the limiters (population, location, time, etc.) you outlined when narrowing your topic.

Some examples:

   How effective is the use of cognitive behavioral therapy to treat depression in group therapy with adults?

   What ethical implications might arise when using cognitive behavior therapy as a guidance counselor for elementary school children?

   Why has cognitive behavioral therapy become the preferred method for treating Iraq veterans with PTSD over psychotherapy?

• Research Question Generator Tool from the University of Michigan Libraries that guides users through the formulation of a research question.
• Research Question Generator Worksheet A worksheet from the ACRL, UConn, and the University of Michigan libraries.
• << Previous: The Research Process
• Next: 2. Gather Background Information >>
• Last Updated: May 14, 2020 1:49 PM
• URL: https://libguides.lr.edu/researchprocess

Selecting a Research Topic: Overview

• Refine your topic
• Background information & facts
• Writing help

Here are some resources to refer to when selecting a topic and preparing to write a paper:

• MIT Writing and Communication Center "Providing free professional advice about all types of writing and speaking to all members of the MIT community."
• Search Our Collections Find books about writing. Search by subject for: english language grammar; report writing handbooks; technical writing handbooks
• Blue Book of Grammar and Punctuation Online version of the book that provides examples and tips on grammar, punctuation, capitalization, and other writing rules.
• Select a topic

Choosing an interesting research topic is your first challenge. Here are some tips:

• Choose a topic that you are interested in! The research process is more relevant if you care about your topic.
• If your topic is too broad, you will find too much information and not be able to focus.
• Background reading can help you choose and limit the scope of your topic. 
• Review the guidelines on topic selection outlined in your assignment.  Ask your professor or TA for suggestions.
• Refer to lecture notes and required texts to refresh your knowledge of the course and assignment.
• Talk about research ideas with a friend.  S/he may be able to help focus your topic by discussing issues that didn't occur to you at first.
• WHY did you choose the topic?  What interests you about it?  Do you have an opinion about the issues involved?
• WHO are the information providers on this topic?  Who might publish information about it?  Who is affected by the topic?  Do you know of organizations or institutions affiliated with the topic?
• WHAT are the major questions for this topic?  Is there a debate about the topic?  Are there a range of issues and viewpoints to consider?
• WHERE is your topic important: at the local, national or international level?  Are there specific places affected by the topic?
• WHEN is/was your topic important?  Is it a current event or an historical issue?  Do you want to compare your topic by time periods?

Table of contents

• Broaden your topic
• Information Navigator home
• Sources for facts - general
• Sources for facts - specific subjects

Start here for help

Ask Us Ask a question, make an appointment, give feedback, or visit us.

• Next: Refine your topic >>
• Last Updated: Jul 30, 2021 2:50 PM
• URL: https://libguides.mit.edu/select-topic

Research Process

• Define a Topic
• Locate Information
• Evaluate Information
• Write and review This link opens in a new window
• Citation This link opens in a new window

The first, and often the hardest, step in the research process is to define your topic. Listed below are some things to consider when selecting a topic:

• Choose something that interests you.
• Working on a topic that is within your major may help you later in your academic career.
• Begin with reference works to get some background information on your topic.
• Be prepared to change your topic if you cannot find enough information on your topic
• How to Write a Research Question A research question defines the center of your research topic and narrows your focus. This website gives excellent advice on defining your research question.

Find Topic Ideas

• Access World News This link opens in a new window Find current and archived articles on issues, events, people, government and more with the world's largest collection of full-text news sources. Includes local news, editorials, announcements and other sections from more than 4,700 sources.

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How to Research

Define a topic.

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• Understand assignment requirements .
• Select a topic for their research paper.
• Formulate a research question.
• Narrow or broaden a research question.
• Determine keywords and brainstorm search terms .

   If you are unsure about what is expected about your assignment, consult with your instructor.

Step 1: Understand Your Assignment

Understand your assignment.

Before setting out to complete an assignment, get to know what is required. Parts of the assignment description students should look for include:

• Due date. Plan out an adequate amount of time to learn about your assignment, conduct research, create citations, and write.
• Length. The length of an assignment will give you an idea of how much research you will need to do.
• Citation Style. It will give you an idea of how to format your assignment (e.g., single-spaced, double-spaced, font, etc.) and create references (e.g., APA Style). If this information is not present in your assignment description, check your course outline.
• Sources. This includes the number of sources and types of sources you will need to complete the assignment sufficiently (e.g., scholarly sources).

Assignment descriptions also provide useful context or background information that will help you with identifying a topic.

Source: Niagara College Libraries + Learning Commons Information Skills Online Handbook

Step 2: Select a Research Topic

• a) Topic Selection
• b) Background Research
• c) Research Question
• d) Assess Your Topic

Select a Topic

Carefully read over your assignment description.

• Have you been provided with options for topics or do you need to come up with your own topic?
• Is there something that is happening in the news that interests you?
• Is there something you have learned about in your studies that you would like to explore further?
• If you have any questions, ask your professor for clarification.

When selecting your topic, ask yourself these questions:

• WHY did you choose the topic? What interests you about it? Do you have an opinion about the issues involved?
• WHO  are the information providers on this topic? Who might publish information about it? Who is affected by the topic? Do you know of organizations or institutions affiliated with the topic?
• WHAT are the major questions for this topic? Is there a debate about the topic? Are there a range of issues and viewpoints to consider?
• WHERE is your topic important: at the local, national, or international level? Are there specific places affected by the topic?
• WHEN is/was your topic important? Is it a current event or an historical issue? Do you want to compare your topic by time periods?

Content reproduced from  MIT.edu   under a  Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License

Background Research

Start researching your topic.

This process helps give you some background information about your topic prior to formulating your research question.

• Review your lecture notes and/or course readings for background information.
• You can use Wikipedia for your preliminary research - it often provides a concise overview of the topic with helpful links to open access (freely accessible) journal articles and resources. Do not cite Wikipedia articles in your final paper; however, sources cited on Wikipedia pages are free game (use our evaluation criteria before you cite!).
• Library subscribed  databases .
• A reputable encyclopedia: Encyclopedia Britannica or Funk and Wagnalls New World Encyclopedia .
• A major article on the topic.
• Library research guides .
• Books (and eBooks) on the subject.

Develop a Research Question

Once a topic has been selected and you have performed some background research, you can start developing a research question. 

Why Create a Research Question?

Research questions "help writers focus their research by providing a path through the research and writing process. The specificity of a well-developed research question helps writers avoid the 'all-about' paper and work toward supporting a specific, arguable thesis" (The Writing Center) .

Creating a Research Question

A good research question will require you to analyze an issue or problem. Developing a research question that asks about how or why tends to be more useful than a research question that asks what or describe questions (Monash University) .

You have already asked yourself the 5Ws in step a (Why, Who, What, Where, and When), next ask yourself:

• Is my research question clear and focused? Does your research question clearly state what you intend to research?
• Is my research question complex? Your question should not be able to be answered with a 'yes' or a 'no', but it also should not be too difficult to answer.
• Is my research question researchable? Are there enough resources available to answer your research question?

Sample Research Questions

Sample Research Questions from Indiana University Library

Assess Your Topic

Narrow your topic.

• If your topic is too broad, there will be too many resources for you to sift through.
• Limit your topic to a particular approach to the issue.
• Consider only one piece, or sub-area, of the subject.
• Limit the time span you examine.
• Limit by age, sex, race, occupation, species, or ethnic group.
• Limit by geographical location.

Content reproduced/adapted from  MIT.edu   under a  Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License

Broaden Your Topic

• Broadening the scope of your topic by generalizing what you are looking for.
• Adjusting your topic to something that has been extensively written about if your topic is very new.
• Broadening the scope of language used in search terms. A great way to accomplish this is to include commonly used words (keywords) from your background research. Also, consider using a thesaurus to find synonyms to represent your topic.

Content reproduced/adapted from    under a  Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License

Step 3: Create Keywords, Search Terms, & Thesis

• a) Determine Keywords
• b) Brainstorming Search Terms
• c) Searching
• d) Reassess Research Question

Determining Keywords

It will be easier to find information if you define your topic and identify the key concepts.

Step A) Take a look at your research question and ask yourself, what are the main concepts? These main concepts will become your keywords. 

The research question:

Keywords that describe this topic could include:

From this example, we have highlighted just the key words:

• Today's youth 
• Parents 
• "Better life" (this concept is a bit tricky. You will need to determine what you mean by "better life", such as economic status, healthcare, area of the world, etc.)

We have left out all other words and punctuation (do, have, a, than, their, ?) from our key words.

Brainstorming Search Terms 

Step B) Think of all the words, or synonyms , you can use to describe these keywords. By definition, synonyms are words that have a similar meaning and are interchangeable. To make this process easier, use a thesaurus to find synonyms.

To show this process, we have mapped out several synonyms and related terms to our three main terms we pulled from our research question. Related terms are a little different from synonyms as they do not always mean the exact same thing as the keywords, but are useful for broadening the scope of your search. We have also broken several terms into narrower and broad terms.

Synonyms & Related Terms

• Today's youth = teenagers = adolescents = young adults = Generation Z
• Parents = caregivers = mother = father
• "Better Life" = education = healthcare = finances = socioeconomic status = technology

Narrower Terms

• Education level < Education 
• Financial well-being < Finances

Broad Terms

• Finances > Debt
• Wealth > Income

Step C) Now that we have identified our main keywords, synonyms and related terms, as well as narrower and broad terms, we can start our background research by  searching on the web or in  library databases for resources related to our topic.

Often, a simple Google search will help you define your topic further.

Typing in our research question:  Do today's youth have a better life than their parents?  into the search bar of Google, we come across a very helpful resource put out by Pew Research Center .

[click on above image of a Google search to be sent to the Google results page]

Using resources such as the report from Pew Research Center, we can flesh out more of our research question with new knowledge of the factors that make life different between generations, including education level, income and wealth, housing, etc.

Reassess Research Question & Formulate Thesis

Step D)  Research is an ever-evolving, iterative process. After searching, you may find information that informs your research question and/or resulting search terms. At this point, you may wish to revisit the first two steps: Determining Keywords and Brainstorming Search Terms.

Alternatively, you may also choose to adapt your research question  into a thesis to fit this new information.

Example: 

Our original research question was: 

Based on some of our introductory research we conducted in Step C, it may be more valuable to narrow our research question to focus on a more specific topic, such as access to education. We can rework our research question into a thesis to reflect these changes:

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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 ...

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Conceptualizing your research topic

Conceptualizing a research topic entails formulating a “defensible and researchable” research question . Conducting a literature search as one of the first steps in a graduate degree is often quite helpful as published peer-reviewed research articles are key to identify knowledge gaps in current literature. Thus, students can design and phrase their research projects to aim to address these research gaps.

Elements of a good research topic

• Interesting: topic represents an area of deep interest for the researcher
• Original : for PhD students, the topic can produce an original contribution to knowledge
• Manageable: research question could be answered within the degree’s recommended time frame (see time limitation ).

At McGill, PhD students are usually expected to have a sufficiently defined research topic by the time of the comprehensive exam .

Seminar presentations can help with topic definition and project planning

Many experienced supervisors and successful PhD students suggest that preparing a research proposal for presentation at a seminar within six months of commencement helps with focusing on the topic. Here are some suggested questions:

• What is it that you want to find answers for?
• Why is it important that this be researched?
• What impact will this research have?
• How will you go about researching this?

Read critically to identify gaps in the field and understand different research methods

Critical reading involves developing an understanding of the knowledge and gaps in the field and being able to critique different research methods, methodologies and epistemologies.

Try concept mapping to visualize and organize links between ideas

Concept mapping: a practical strategy for students and researchers starting a project. It helps to identify areas of importance as well as possibilities for the exploration and analysis of such areas.

Concept maps are helpful as a means of focusing discussion on the topic or research question because they offer a visual approach to creating relationships among concepts . More information about concept mapping can be found at the Institute for Human and Machine Cognition's page on Constructing your first concept map .

• A concept map showing the main components of a concept map , from Novak & Canas (2008) .

If the student makes a concept map, this can form the basis of different discussions between the student and supervisor.

How important is motivation for topic selection?

Most graduate students have a general idea about what they would like to research. Depending on supervisors and disciplines, a student may be "given" a specific research topic or a list of topics to choose from or be asked to generate a topic based on her or his prior knowledge and experience. In either situation, it is a good idea to talk with others – supervisors, students, colleagues, peers, even friends and family – about possible choices, since a research topic is something most students will commit to for the rest of their degree.

Point to reflect on

• What questions, topics or methodologies are you passionate about? Why are you passionate about them (e.g., personal interest or curiosity, potential applications to help others or the environment)?
• Is it possible to answer your desired question within the time frame of a graduate degree? If not, is it possible to choose a portion of this topic to investigate during your graduate studies?
• Do you get more motivated from knowing exactly what you’re going to do, or from the excitement of unexpected discoveries or research trajectories? How can you select a topic and plan your project to better suit your sources of motivation See  Staying motivated  for additional resources

Steps to refine the research focus

• Identify the boundaries of the research areas and the gaps in the field .
• Make a list of possible research ideas within a topic.
• Discuss these ideas with others (e.g., peers, colleagues, professors, mentors). This can provide opportunities for receiving advice based on past experiences, additional ideas, or opportunities for collaboration.
• Reduce the list to two ideas : a first choice and a backup. Having a backup is useful in the event that the first choice is found to be inappropriate for the time restriction, require unattainable resources, or be otherwise not feasible.
• Brainstorm as many ideas, questions, possible problems, and any other thoughts relevant to the first choice.
• Narrow down these ideas into a more precise focus by considering feasibility (e.g., time, requires resources), interest, and significance. The resulting idea should complete the sentence “The purpose of this project is…”
• Refer back to the brainstorming and remove anything not relevant to the purpose statement. Add any new relevant ideas. Use these ideas as well as the purpose statement to create a list of researchable questions . Be sure to define key terms and consider required resources, including the characteristics of the participants if applicable.
• Create a project outline. Consider what information or data will be needed and how it can be obtained.

Adapted from Wisker (2005, p. 83) and Bell & Waters (2014)

Bell, J., & Waters, S. (2014). Doing your research project: A guide for first-time researchers . New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Education.

Novak, J. D., & Cañas, A. J. (2008). The theory underlying concept maps and how to construct and use them. Institute for Human and Machine Cognition . Retrieved from http://cmap.ihmc.us/docs/theory-of-concept-maps

Wisker, G. (2005). The good supervisor: Supervising postgraduate and undergraduate research for doctoral theses and dissertations . Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial 4.0 International License . Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies, McGill University .

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Importance of Narrowing the Research Topic

Whether you are assigned a general issue to investigate, must choose a problem to study from a list given to you by your professor, or you have to identify your own topic to investigate, it is important that the scope of the research problem is not too broad, otherwise, it will be difficult to adequately address the topic in the space and time allowed. You could experience a number of problems if your topic is too broad, including:

• You find too many information sources and, as a consequence, it is difficult to decide what to include or exclude or what are the most relevant sources.
• You find information that is too general and, as a consequence, it is difficult to develop a clear framework for examining the research problem.
• A lack of sufficient parameters that clearly define the research problem makes it difficult to identify and apply the proper methods needed to analyze it.
• You find information that covers a wide variety of concepts or ideas that can't be integrated into one paper and, as a consequence, you trail off into unnecessary tangents.

Lloyd-Walker, Beverly and Derek Walker. "Moving from Hunches to a Research Topic: Salient Literature and Research Methods." In Designs, Methods and Practices for Research of Project Management . Beverly Pasian, editor. ( Burlington, VT: Gower Publishing, 2015 ), pp. 119-129.

Strategies for Narrowing the Research Topic

A common challenge when beginning to write a research paper is determining how and in what ways to narrow down your topic . Even if your professor gives you a specific topic to study, it will almost never be so specific that you won’t have to narrow it down at least to some degree [besides, it is very boring to grade fifty papers that are all about the exact same thing!].

A topic is too broad to be manageable when a review of the literature reveals too many different, and oftentimes conflicting or only remotely related, ideas about how to investigate the research problem. Although you will want to start the writing process by considering a variety of different approaches to studying the research problem, you will need to narrow the focus of your investigation at some point early in the writing process. This way, you don't attempt to do too much in one paper.

Here are some strategies to help narrow the thematic focus of your paper :

• Aspect -- choose one lens through which to view the research problem, or look at just one facet of it [e.g., rather than studying the role of food in South Asian religious rituals, study the role of food in Hindu marriage ceremonies, or, the role of one particular type of food among several religions].
• Components -- determine if your initial variable or unit of analysis can be broken into smaller parts, which can then be analyzed more precisely [e.g., a study of tobacco use among adolescents can focus on just chewing tobacco rather than all forms of usage or, rather than adolescents in general, focus on female adolescents in a certain age range who choose to use tobacco].
• Methodology -- the way in which you gather information can reduce the domain of interpretive analysis needed to address the research problem [e.g., a single case study can be designed to generate data that does not require as extensive an explanation as using multiple cases].
• Place -- generally, the smaller the geographic unit of analysis, the more narrow the focus [e.g., rather than study trade relations issues in West Africa, study trade relations between Niger and Cameroon as a case study that helps to explain economic problems in the region].
• Relationship -- ask yourself how do two or more different perspectives or variables relate to one another. Designing a study around the relationships between specific variables can help constrict the scope of analysis [e.g., cause/effect, compare/contrast, contemporary/historical, group/individual, child/adult, opinion/reason, problem/solution].
• Time -- the shorter the time period of the study, the more narrow the focus [e.g., restricting the study of trade relations between Niger and Cameroon to only the period of 2010 - 2020].
• Type -- focus your topic in terms of a specific type or class of people, places, or phenomena [e.g., a study of developing safer traffic patterns near schools can focus on SUVs, or just student drivers, or just the timing of traffic signals in the area].
• Combination -- use two or more of the above strategies to focus your topic more narrowly.

NOTE : Apply one of the above strategies first in designing your study to determine if that gives you a manageable research problem to investigate. You will know if the problem is manageable by reviewing the literature on your more narrowed problem and assessing whether prior research is sufficient to move forward in your study [i.e., not too much, not too little]. Be careful, however, because combining multiple strategies risks creating the opposite problem--your problem becomes too narrowly defined and you can't locate enough research or data to support your study.

Booth, Wayne C. The Craft of Research . Fourth edition. Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago Press, 2016; Coming Up With Your Topic. Institute for Writing Rhetoric. Dartmouth College; Narrowing a Topic. Writing Center. University of Kansas; Narrowing Topics. Writing@CSU. Colorado State University; Strategies for Narrowing a Topic. University Libraries. Information Skills Modules. Virginia Tech University; The Process of Writing a Research Paper. Department of History. Trent University; Ways to Narrow Down a Topic. Contributing Authors. Utah State OpenCourseWare.

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Understand Your Assignment

Regardless of the assignment, department, or instructor, adopting these two habits will serve you well:

• Read the assignment carefully as soon as you receive it . Do not put this task off—reading the assignment at the beginning will save you time, stress, and problems later. An assignment can look pretty straightforward at first, particularly if the instructor has provided lots of information. That does not mean it will not take time and effort to complete; you may even have to learn a new skill to complete the assignment.
• Ask the instructor about anything you do not understand. Do not hesitate to approach your instructor. Instructors would prefer to set you straight before you hand the paper in. That’s also when you will find their feedback most useful.

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Inhaltsverzeichnis

• 1 Definition: Research Topics
• 3 Finding Research Topics
• 4 Defining Good Research Topics
• 5  Academic Writing Research Topics
• 6 Examples of Research Topics
• 7 In a Nutshell

Definition: Research Topics

A research topic is the subject or issue that forms the basis of a research paper. It is a well-defined subject the researcher is interested in. While it can be phrased as a question, you are not required to do so. The research then addresses the question. It can also be phrased both as a research question and a hypothesis.

The purpose of this article is to help you understand what research topics are and how they are used to conduct good research. It covers the characteristics of good research topics and provides information on and techniques for coming up with good research topics. The importance of research topics in academic writing is explained and some examples of research topics are listed.

How do you come up with ideas for suitable research topics?

Rational thinking and creative techniques are two key methods you can use to generate research ideas. You can use either of the techniques, or you can try both techniques and then decide which one you find more useful for your research. Both concepts are further discussed later in this article.

Tip: Keep in mind that you’ll need to create research questions based on your topic later on. It’s ok to begin with vague ideas, but later on you need to focus on a specific area of a topic.

How do you refine your research topic ideas?

The Delphi technique is an approach that many students have found useful for refining their research ideas. Usually, a number of people who are interested in the research are assembled to help generate and select more refined research topics. The next step will be to refine your ideas into a research question . This will require you to conduct more research on topics or issues that you found interesting during the research topic deciding phase.

What are the main elements of a research proposal?

A research proposal consists of an appropriate title that mirrors the content of the proposal; a background to justify the need for the research; a statement on what the research is meant to achieve. A section should be dedicated to the methods that will be adopted in order to achieve the research objectives within the expected timeframe. A section on resource considerations will help convince the reader about the feasibility of the research. This should be followed by a list of references.

How do you propose research topics?

Writing helps organize our ideas into coherent statements. For inspiration, check out some research proposal examples . The draft proposal should be discussed with your thesis supervisor or teaching assistant, who can advise you on how the proposal might be amended if necessary, so that the research can be completed within the proposed timeframe. This is of particular importance if the proposal has to be presented for funding or to an academic research committee for approval.

What defines a good research topic?

You’re the one who has to write the research paper or thesis, so it’s vital that YOU are interested in the topic that you’re researching. Your research topic shouldn’t be too vague. But in saying that, you also need to ensure that you’re able to write about your topic within the time frame provided. You need to be able to formulate your topic into a research question and a thesis statement later on.

Finding Research Topics

If done using a systematic approach, finding research topics can be interesting. A range of techniques involving rational as well as creative thinking are used to find a research topic.

Brainstorming

This is a problem-solving technique which generates best results when carried out as a group, but it can also be done by an individual. Find a quiet place to work and write down a problem related to your lectures or curriculum that interests you and of which you have some prior knowledge.

If you are working in a group, members can make suggestions regarding the problem. Make a note of all the suggestions and include all contributions, however wild they may be. Review each of the suggestions with your group and select the ones that most appeal to you. You may arrange discussing these suggestions with your thesis supervisor or the teaching assistant in charge of your project if needed.

Inspiration from your teachers

Project leaders, teaching assistants, professional groups and practitioners in your field will often have project ideas they are happy to share. They might come up with good research topics; just be sure to document the ideas discussed so that you can remember to further explore them on your own.

Literature search

Articles, reports in academic journals and books are all useful sources of research topics. Review articles in particular often indicate areas in which more research may be required. Most recently published reports usually contain recommendations which can form the basis of further research, and books contain an overview of research already undertaken, in addition to suggesting new areas to explore for further research.

Relevance trees

This technique involves generating topics on the basis of a broad concept. Each of these topics constitutes an independent branch which can yield sub-branches. You can review these sub-branches and combine some of them to come up with new research topics. Your project supervisor or teaching assistant may be of help in selecting a final topic from the shortlisted ones if you cannot narrow your choice down to one topic.

Looking inwards

Another way of finding a research topic is to review the assignments you have already completed and select the ones you received good grades in. These are the ones in which you are already knowledgeable. They will provide you with possibilities for further research.

Defining Good Research Topics

A good research topic should have well defined objectives. Selecting a research topic which you will be interested in for the entire research duration is vital. If you have only a vague interest in the topic, it will be difficult to excel on such a topic. Therefore, you should have a genuine interest in the research topic you have chosen.

Make sure you possess the required skills and resources, or that you can develop the capability that is necessary to research the topic within the given timeframe. You should also be certain that you can access the data you will need to collect in the course of the research. Your research topic should be one you are familiar with and in which you have the capacity to produce a well-written final research report.

TIP: Always use transition words to properly connect the sentences and paragraphs in your thesis or essay.

 Academic Writing Research Topics

Academic writing is a style of expression that defines the intellectual boundaries of a discipline. It focuses on a research problem and conveys an accepted interpretation of concepts or complex ideas. Research topics are germane to academic writing because they proffer rigorous arguments that can convince a reader to reconsider previously accepted position on a topic.

Examples of Research Topics

Previous research topics can serve as sources of inspiration for finding new research topics. Some examples of different research topics include: • Media and communications research paper topics • Environmental research paper topics • Business research paper topics

Depending on your field of study, looking at past projects can be very helpful in your search for new research topics.

In a Nutshell

• A research topic is a well-defined subject the researcher is interested in.
• Rational thinking and creative techniques are two methods you can use to generate research ideas.
• Techniques to find good research topics include brainstorming, getting inspiration from your teachers, using relevance trees, doing a literature search or looking inwards.
• You should have a genuine interest in the research topic you have chosen.

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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.

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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.

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Selecting a Research Topic

• Narrowing Your Research Topic
• Topic Selection Strategies
• EBSCO's Research Starters

Defining Scope

Tips for identifying scope.

Once you decide on a research topic, you need to determine the scope of your topic.  The scope of a research topic is determined by how detailed you want your project to be.  This process will tell you if your topic is already too narrow or too broad.  Consider the following when determining the scope of your research topic (Leggett and Jackowski, 2012):

• What is my topic about?
• Can I define it clearly?
• What relationships does my topic have with other fields?
• Are there correlations, causes, and/or effects between my topic and other topics?
• If the amount of sources available is overwhelming, then your topic may be too broad.
• If there are limited sources on your topic, then it may be too narrow.
• Is there anything specific about the group, population, or objects that I am studying that make them stand out from the others?
• What have scholars already said about my topic and what have they concluded?
• Does the geographical location impact my topic in any way?
• The scope of a research topic depends on the page length requirements.  You might feel tempted to select a broader topic for a larger paper, but your paper will lack conciseness.

The following tips may help you identify the scope of your research topic (Center for Writing and Speaking, n.d.):

• Be flexible.  You may have to abandon ideas that do not necessarily fit with the topic you have.  Furthermore, you may need to focus your research on one of the main ideas you had for your topic, rather than all of them.
• You might be thinking "too big."  This is one of the main reasons why research topics are too broad.  This is especially true if you have to write a large paper (more than 5 pages).  The length may seem overwhelming, but choosing a big topic just to get the page length will make writing about the topic more difficult.
• Define the key terms in your topic.   What do you mean by each term?  This could help you identify a more specific subtopic that you may want to cover.  Use your definitions of the key words to formulate a narrower topic.
• Avoid vague or abstract key words in your topic, such as love, death, society, etc.   Are you referring to something specific within that term or category?  If not, then the topic is likely too broad.

The following web page from Agnes Scott College, titled "Narrowing Scope" may assist you in determining the scope of your research topic.

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• Last Updated: May 22, 2023 10:46 AM
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Job crafting is a proactive approach where employees reshape their roles to infuse more meaning and engagement into their work. This idea goes beyond conventional job design, offering individuals the opportunity to tailor their roles, tasks, and interactions to align with their personal strengths, passions, and values. In contrast with the traditional top-down approach to job design, job crafting is an employee-driven, continuous process. It can be divided into three primary components:

1. Task crafting. Task crafting involves employees changing the nature or number of the tasks they perform. This might involve taking on additional responsibilities, altering the way they perform current tasks, or dropping tasks that seem less relevant to their strengths or interests. For example, a software developer might have a strong interest in user experience design. To align their role with this interest, they could start participating in the design team’s meetings and contribute to the user interface aspect of projects while still maintaining their primary coding responsibilities.

2. Relational crafting. Relational crafting is about altering the nature and extent of interactions with others at work. Employees might seek more collaboration with certain colleagues or aim to develop new relationships that could enhance their job satisfaction and effectiveness. An example of this would be a customer service representative who sees value in understanding the product development process. They could start interacting more with the product development team, gaining insights that could help them provide better customer feedback and improve their overall effectiveness.

3. Cognitive crafting. Cognitive crafting occurs when employees change their perception of the job by focusing on aspects that best align with their values and passions. This reframing can significantly alter how they experience their job and their level of engagement. For instance, an accountant in a nonprofit might choose to view their role not just as a finance manager but as a crucial contributor to the organization’s mission of social impact. This perspective can enhance their sense of purpose and fulfillment in their job.

Why Implement Job Crafting?

The reasons for managers to implement job crafting are multifaceted and impactful. First, job crafting directly affects employee engagement and well-being. For instance, an IT professional might shift their focus toward more creative tasks like user interface design if it aligns with their interests, leading to higher job satisfaction. Similarly, a salesperson passionate about education might dedicate a portion of their time to training new hires. Giving employees the autonomy to reshape their roles leads to reduced stress and burnout. Engaged employees who enjoy a better work-life balance show greater productivity, enthusiasm, and commitment. They are more innovative, often suggesting system improvements or new product ideas, and are more likely to stay with the organization, reducing turnover rates. For example, Google’s famous “20% time” policy, where employees could dedicate a portion of their workweek to projects outside their primary job descriptions, led to significant innovations.

Second, the relational aspect of job crafting allows employees to build stronger, more effective working relationships. A project manager, for example, might choose to interact more frequently with the marketing team to better understand customer needs, thereby enhancing collaboration. This could lead to more cohesive team dynamics and a supportive work environment. Additionally, job crafting contributes to a positive organizational culture. It creates an environment of autonomy, encouraging employees to take initiative and innovate. This positive culture not only attracts high-quality talent but also enhances the organization’s reputation as a desirable place to work. Companies like Zappos empower employees to reshape their roles, leading to high levels of employee satisfaction and an enviable company culture.

Job crafting creates an environment of autonomy, encouraging employees to take initiative and innovate.

Finally, job crafting makes organizations more adaptable to change. In dynamic sectors like technology, where rapid change is the norm, employees who are accustomed to reshaping their roles can quickly adjust to new technologies and market demands. Moreover, it allows for a better alignment between personal goals and organizational objectives. For example, a customer service representative with a knack for social media might take on roles involving social media engagement, aligning their personal interests with the company’s goal of enhancing its digital presence. This ensures that employees’ efforts contribute more effectively to the organization’s success, fostering a more efficient and goal-oriented workforce. This approach is evident in companies like Adobe, where individual creativity and initiative are aligned with broader organizational goals, leading to both personal and corporate growth.

Challenges and Considerations of Job Crafting

While job crafting offers numerous benefits, it also presents challenges, as Benjamin discovered when writing his new book, Job Crafting . One is maintaining the balance between employee autonomy in crafting their roles and the fulfillment of the job’s essential functions and objectives. Managers must carefully oversee this process to ensure that employees’ core responsibilities and the goals of their positions are not compromised when they personalize their roles.

Related Articles

Another significant consideration is managing fairness and equity within teams. It’s vital for managers to monitor and prevent any perceptions of inequity that might arise as some employees modify their roles, which could lead to dissatisfaction or conflict among team members. Additionally, providing adequate support and guidance is essential. Managers should actively assist employees in the job-crafting process by offering resources and advice to help them reshape their roles effectively and sustainably. This support ensures that job crafting contributes positively to both individual and organizational objectives.

Job crafting represents a paradigm shift in how we think about work and employee engagement. By empowering employees to tailor their jobs to fit their personal strengths, passions, and values, organizations can unlock a wealth of benefits, from increased productivity and innovation to improved employee well-being and retention. For managers looking to build a more dynamic, engaged, and adaptable workforce, job crafting is an approach well worth considering.

About the Authors

Benjamin Laker (@drbenlaker) is a professor of leadership at the University of Reading’s Henley Business School and a coauthor of Job Crafting (MIT Press, 2024). Stefania Mariano is an associate professor of management at the American University of Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates.

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45% of Americans Say U.S. Should Be a ‘Christian Nation’

But they hold differing opinions about what that phrase means, and two-thirds of u.s. adults say churches should keep out of politics, table of contents.

• Views about how major parties, Biden administration approach religion
• Partisanship, religion and views of U.S. as ‘Christian nation’
• Three-quarters of U.S. adults say religion is losing influence in society
• Most Americans say churches should stay out of politics, refrain from political endorsements
• Just under half of Americans say the Bible should have at least some influence on U.S. laws
• Share saying Supreme Court is ‘friendly’ to religion nearly doubles between 2019 and 2022
• Eight-in-ten oppose idea of Supreme Court justices bringing their own faith into official decisions
• More say Supreme Court’s recent decisions have helped than hurt Christians
• Americans are divided about Christianity’s role in the country, have diverse ideas about what it means to be a ‘Christian nation’
• More have negative than positive view of ‘Christian nationalism,’ and many are unfamiliar with the term
• Acknowledgments
• The American Trends Panel survey methodology

Pew Research Center conducted this survey to explore Americans’ attitudes about religion’s role in public life. The survey asked respondents whether they think churches and other religious organizations should be involved in politics, whether the U.S. should be a “Christian nation,” whether they have heard of “Christian nationalism” (and if so, what they think of it), and about their perceptions of religion’s role in the Supreme Court, among other topics.

For this report, we surveyed 10,588 U.S. adults from Sept. 13 to 18, 2022. Roughly half of the survey’s respondents (5,311 participants) were randomly assigned to receive the questions about whether the U.S. should be a “Christian nation,” and the other half of respondents (5,277) were randomly assigned to receive the “Christian nationalism” questions. All respondents to the survey are part of Pew Research Center’s American Trends Panel (ATP), an online survey panel that is recruited through national random sampling of residential addresses. This way nearly all U.S. adults have a chance of selection. The survey is weighted to be representative of the U.S. adult population by gender, race, ethnicity, partisan affiliation, education, religious affiliation and other categories. For more, see the ATP’s methodology and the methodology for this report.

The questions used in this report can be found here.

Growing numbers of religious and political leaders are embracing the “Christian nationalist” label , and some dispute the idea that the country’s founders wanted a separation of church and state . On the other side of the debate, however, many Americans – including the leaders of many Christian churches – have pushed back against Christian nationalism, calling it a “danger” to the country.  

Most U.S. adults believe America’s founders intended the country to be a Christian nation, and many say they think it should be a Christian nation today, according to a new Pew Research Center survey designed to explore Americans’ views on the topic. But the survey also finds widely differing opinions about what it means to be a “Christian nation” and to support “Christian nationalism.” 

For instance, many supporters of Christian nationhood define the concept in broad terms, as the idea that the country is guided by Christian values. Those who say the United States should not be a Christian nation, on the other hand, are much more inclined to define a Christian nation as one where the laws explicitly enshrine religious teachings.

Overall, six-in-ten U.S. adults – including nearly seven-in-ten Christians – say they believe the founders “originally intended” for the U.S. to be a Christian nation. And 45% of U.S. adults – including about six-in-ten Christians – say they think the country “should be” a Christian nation. A third say the U.S. “is now” a Christian nation.

At the same time, a large majority of the public expresses some reservations about intermingling religion and government. For example, about three-quarters of U.S. adults (77%) say that churches and other houses of worship should not endorse candidates for political offices. Two-thirds (67%) say that religious institutions should keep out of political matters rather than expressing their views on day-to-day social or political questions. And the new survey – along with other recent Center research – makes clear that there is far more support for the idea of separation of church and state than opposition to it among Americans overall.

This raises the question: What do people mean when they say the U.S. should be a “Christian nation”? While some people who say the U.S. should be a Christian nation define the concept as one where a nation’s laws are based on Christian tenets and the nation’s leaders are Christian, it is much more common for people in this category to see a Christian nation as one where people are more broadly guided by Christian values or a belief in God, even if its laws are not explicitly Christian and its leaders can have a variety of faiths or no faith at all. Some people who say the U.S. should be a Christian nation are thinking about the religious makeup of the population; to them, a Christian nation is a country where most people are Christians. Others are simply envisioning a place where people treat each other well and have good morals.

Combining the results of the new survey with an earlier Center survey on the relationship between religion and government conducted in March 2021 helps to show the distribution of these differing viewpoints. Thousands of respondents took both surveys, so it is possible to see how they answered multiple questions.

Among those who say the U.S. should be a Christian nation, roughly three-in-ten (28%) said in March 2021 that “the federal government should declare the U.S. a Christian nation,” while half (52%) said the federal government “should never declare any particular religion as the official religion of the United States.”

Similarly, among those who say in the new survey that the U.S. should be a Christian nation, only about a quarter (24%) said in the prior survey that the federal government should advocate Christian religious values. About twice as many (52%) said the government should “advocate for moral values that are shared by people of many faiths.”

And three-in-ten U.S. adults who want the U.S. to be a Christian nation (31%) said in the March 2021 survey that the federal government should stop enforcing the separation of church and state. More took the opposite position, saying the federal government should enforce that separation (39%).

At the same time, however, people who believe the U.S. should be a Christian nation are far more inclined than those who think it should not be a Christian nation to favor officially declaring Christianity to be the nation’s religion, to support government advocacy of Christian values, and to say the government should stop enforcing separation of church and state.

Furthermore, the new survey finds that nearly eight-in-ten people who say the U.S. should be a Christian nation also say the Bible should have at least some influence on U.S. laws, including slightly more than half (54%) who say that when the Bible conflicts with the will of the people, the Bible should prevail.

And about a third of U.S. adults who say the U.S. should be a Christian nation (32%) also think the fact that the country is religiously diverse – i.e., made up of people from many different religions as well as people who are not religious – weakens American society. Those who want the U.S. to be a Christian nation are far more inclined than those who do not want the U.S. to be a Christian nation to express this negative view of religious diversity.

Still, among those who say the U.S. should be a Christian nation, there are roughly as many people who say the country’s religious diversity strengthens American society as there are who say it weakens society (28% vs. 32%).

And cumulatively, the survey’s results suggest that most people who say the U.S. should be a Christian nation are thinking of some definition of the term other than a government-imposed theocracy.

Indeed, in response to a question that gave respondents a chance to describe, in their own words, what the phrase “Christian nation” means to them, nearly half (48%) of those who say the U.S. should be a Christian nation define that phrase as the general guidance of Christian beliefs and values in society, such as that a Christian nation is one where the population has faith in God or Jesus Christ, specifically. Fewer people who say the U.S. should be a Christian nation explain that they mean the country’s laws should be based on Christianity (6%).

Those who say the U.S. should not be a Christian nation are much more likely than those who say it should be one to say that being a Christian nation would entail religion-based laws and policies (30% vs. 6%). Others who oppose Christian nationhood use negative words to describe the concept, such as that a Christian nation would be “strict,” “controlling,” “racist,” “bigoted” or “exclusionary” toward people of other faiths (21%). (For additional discussion and details of the results of the survey’s open-ended question about the meaning of the term “Christian nation,” see Chapter 3 .)

In your own words, what does the phrase ‘Christian nation’ mean to you?

Examples of responses among those who say …

… the U.S. should be a Christian nation

• “A country based on Christian beliefs. Freedom of religion, all men being created equal. While belief in the 10 Commandments would be great, imagine life in the U.S. if only four to 10 were kept! People need to believe in something/someone higher than themselves.”
• “Belief in the underpinning philosophy of Judeo-Christian traditions, which includes loving thy neighbor, belief in service to a higher power than yourself, individualism, free will and traditional morality.”
• “Attributing all that we have to God or a supreme being.”

… the U.S. should NOT be a Christian nation

• “‘ Christian’ used to be code for polite and decent; now it’s code for the opposite. A ‘Christian nation’ would be intolerant, inflexible and ultimately brutal.”
• “I don’t like that term, but to me it means theocracy. I realize other people mean it in different ways, such as to refer to the fact that most people in America are Christian. But to pretend that the nation somehow belongs to Christians just because they happen to be the majority excludes everyone else.”
• “A White Christian ethno-state.”

In addition to the questions that asked about being a “Christian nation ,” the survey asked other respondents about their familiarity with the term “Christian nationalism .” 1 Overall, the survey indicates that more than half of U.S. adults (54%) have heard nothing at all about Christian nationalism, while 14% say they have heard a little, 17% have heard some, 9% have heard quite a bit and 5% have heard a great deal about it.

Altogether, 45% say they have heard at least a little about Christian nationalism. These respondents received a follow-up question asking whether they have a favorable or unfavorable view of Christian nationalism. (Those who said they had heard nothing at all about the term were not asked for their opinion on it.) Far more people express an unfavorable opinion than a favorable one (24% vs. 5%), though even among respondents who say they have heard at least a little about Christian nationalism, many don’t express an opinion or say they don’t know enough to take a stance.

In an open-ended question asking about the meaning of “Christian nationalism,” upward of one-in-ten Americans say the term implies some form of institutionalization or official dominance of Christianity, such as theocratic rule or a formal declaration that the U.S. is a Christian nation with Christian inhabitants. At the same time, many Americans who say they hold a favorable view of Christian nationalism describe it in ways that suggest it promotes morality and faith without necessarily being in a position of formal, legal dominance. Overall, however, Americans’ descriptions of Christian nationalism – especially among those who have an unfavorable opinion of it – are more negative than positive. (See an accompanying interactive feature for a selection of responses to this question.)

These are among the key findings of a new Pew Research Center survey, conducted Sept. 13-18, 2022, among 10,588 respondents who are part of the Center’s American Trends Panel . The survey is the latest entry in the Center’s long-running effort to gauge the public’s perceptions and attitudes related to religion in public life – including their views about how much influence religion has in American society and how much it ought to have. The survey also contained several questions about religion and the Supreme Court.

The high court’s last session produced a number of decisions with implications for religion, including the historic case that overturned Roe v. Wade as well as rulings that favored a high school football coach who led Christian prayers after games and allowed public funding for private religious schools .

The new survey finds a big jump in the share of Americans who say they think the Supreme Court is friendly toward religion. Today, roughly a third of U.S. adults (35%) say the court is friendly to religion, up sharply from 18% who said this in 2019, when the Center last asked this question.

About four-in-ten U.S. adults (42%) say the Supreme Court’s recent decisions have helped the interests of Christians in the United States, compared with 15% who say they have hurt Christians. And 44% of U.S. adults say Supreme Court justices have relied on their religious beliefs too much in their recent decisions, versus 13% who say they have relied on these beliefs too little. Both of these questions were asked for the first time as part of the new survey.

The survey also finds a small but noticeable uptick in the share of respondents who say religion is gaining influence in American life – from 20% in 2019 to 23% today. And the share of Americans who say it has become harder to be a person of strong religious faith over the last decade declined from 54% in 2014 (when the Center last asked this question) to 47% today.

Still, with religiously unaffiliated Americans rising steadily as a share of the U.S. population , the share of people who say religion is losing influence in American life continues to far exceed the share who say religion’s influence is growing (by a 74% to 23% margin). And those who say it has gotten harder to be a deeply religious person in the U.S. continue to outnumber those who say it has become easier (by a 47% to 13% margin).

And over the past year, there is no sign that any religious group analyzed in the survey has increasingly come to view their side as “winning” on the political issues that matter most to them. Indeed, majorities in every religious group analyzed in the study – ranging from 62% of Black Protestants to 78% of White evangelical Protestants – say their side has been losing more often than winning on the political issues that matter to them. This also includes people who are religiously unaffiliated (those who describe themselves as atheist, agnostic or “nothing in particular”). Three-quarters (74%) of unaffiliated U.S. adults (sometimes called “nones”) say their side has been losing. (For additional discussion of the public’s view of whether their side has been winning or losing in politics, see “ Growing share of Americans say their side in politics has been losing more often than winning .”)

In addition to asking about the Supreme Court’s stance toward religion, the survey also asked similar questions about the country’s two major political parties and the Biden administration. Republicans and Democrats mostly agree that the Republican Party is “friendly” toward religion; 61% of Republicans and independents who lean toward the Republican Party say this, as do 60% of Democrats and Democratic leaners.

Partisans differ sharply, however, in their perceptions of the Democratic Party. Six-in-ten Democrats say their party is “neutral” toward religion, and roughly three-in-ten say their party is friendly toward religion. Just 8% of Democrats view the Democratic Party as “unfriendly” toward religion. In sharp contrast, most Republicans (61%) say the Democratic Party is unfriendly toward religion, while 27% say it is neutral and just 10% say it is friendly.

Majorities in most religious groups say the Republican Party is friendly toward religion, although Black Protestants (32% of whom view the GOP as friendly to religion) and Hispanic Catholics (47%) are two exceptions. White evangelicals, meanwhile, are the only religious group in which a majority views the Democratic Party as unfriendly to religion (64%).

Opinions about the Biden administration’s approach to religion resemble views toward the Democratic Party. Most Democrats say the Biden administration is neutral toward religion, while a sizable minority say it is friendly and just 5% say it is unfriendly. By contrast, most Republicans (57%) say the White House is unfriendly toward religion, while three-in-ten say it is neutral and just one-in-ten say it is friendly.

A plurality of all U.S. Catholics (44%) say the Biden administration is neutral toward religion, while 29% say it is unfriendly and 25% say it is friendly to religion. (Biden is the nation’s second Catholic president .)

The survey finds that White evangelical Protestants are more likely than other Christians to say the founders intended for America to be a “Christian nation,” that the U.S. should be a Christian nation today, and that the Bible should have more influence over U.S. laws than the will of the people if the two conflict.

But these sentiments also are commonplace among other Christian groups – and by no means exclusive to White evangelicals. For example, half of Black Protestants say the Bible should have more influence on U.S. laws than the will of the people if the two conflict. About half of White Protestants who are not evangelical say the U.S. should be a Christian nation. And roughly six-in-ten Catholics say they believe the founders originally intended for America to be a Christian nation.

Perhaps not surprisingly, the view that the U.S. should be a Christian nation is far less common among non-Christians than among Christians, as is the view that the founders originally intended for the U.S. to be a Christian nation (though 44% of non-Christians express the latter view). But non-Christians are more likely than Christians to say they currently see the U.S. as a Christian nation (40% vs. 30%). 2

Three-quarters of Republicans (76%) say the founders intended for the U.S. to be a Christian nation, compared with roughly half of Democrats (47%). Republicans also are at least twice as likely as Democrats to say that America should be a Christian nation (67% vs. 29%) and that the Bible should have more influence over U.S. laws than the will of the people if they conflict (40% vs. 16%).

Americans of different ages also differ on these questions, with older Americans much more likely to express the desire for America to be a Christian nation. For example, 63% of Americans ages 65 and older say the United States should be a Christian nation, compared with 23% of those ages 18 to 29. Other studies consistently find that older Americans are far more likely than younger ones to identify as Christians.

Other key findings include:

• A third of U.S. Christians say “being patriotic” is “essential” to what being Christian means to them, while four-in-ten say it is “important, but not essential” and roughly a quarter (27%) say being patriotic is “not important” to what it means to be Christian. There are only modest differences among White evangelical Protestants, White Protestants who are not evangelical, and White Catholics on this question. Black Protestants and Hispanic Catholics are somewhat less inclined than their White counterparts to cite patriotism as an essential element of Christianity. Christians from all backgrounds are instead much more likely to rank believing in God, living a moral life and having a personal relationship with Jesus Christ as “essential” elements of Christianity.

• Roughly four-in-ten U.S. adults say churches and other religious organizations have too much influence in politics – on par with the share who said this in 2017, and slightly higher than the share who said it in 2019. Roughly one-third now say churches and religious organizations have about the right amount of sway in politics, while 22% say they do not have enough political influence.
• The survey suggests that more Americans see religion as a positive influence in American life than a negative one. Four-in-ten U.S. adults say religion’s influence is declining and that this is a bad thing. Approximately one-in-ten say religion’s influence is growing and that this is a good thing. Roughly half, then, express a positive view of religion in these questions. By contrast, about a quarter of U.S. adults express a negative view of religion by saying either that religion’s influence is waning and that is a good thing, or that religion’s influence is growing and that is a bad thing. (See Chapter 1 for additional details.)

Guide to this report

The remainder of this report describes these findings in additional detail. Chapter 1 focuses on the public’s perceptions of religion’s role in public life. Chapter 2 examines views of religion and the Supreme Court. And Chapter 3 focuses on views of the U.S. as a “Christian nation” and perceptions of “Christian nationalism.”

• A randomly selected half of respondents received the survey’s questions about being a “Christian nation,” while the other half of respondents received the questions about “Christian nationalism.” No respondents received both groups of questions. See Topline for complete details. ↩
• Muslims, Hindus and other smaller religious groups are included in the survey and represented in the “all non-Christians” category, but there were not enough respondents in these groups to analyze separately. ↩

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ORNL research effort could define future of Navy's nuclear fleet, and some want it to end

U.S. Rep. Chuck Fleischmann is pushing to defund a nuclear nonproliferation research program that supports work at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in his district.

Since 2016, Congress has given $100 million to three national laboratories to develop a new kind of fuel for the U.S. Navy, which powers all its aircraft carriers and submarines with onboard nuclear reactors.

Fleischmann, chairman of the House subcommittee on energy and water projects, recommended the program to find a low-enriched uranium fuel for the Navy lose its $20 million budget.

Where other Navy vessels use gas and oil as fuel, much like a combustion engine in a car does, aircraft carriers and submarines use uranium from decommissioned nuclear weapons. The so-called " Nuclear Navy " was born in Oak Ridge after World War II, as scientists scrambled to find uses other than weapons for nuclear power.

Outside of a few research reactors transitioning to low-enriched uranium fuel, naval reactors are the only items other than weapons that use bomb-grade uranium in the U.S.

The powerful fuel is an advantage to the Navy since it doesn't require refueling and allows for compact reactor designs, but it concerns advocates of nuclear nonproliferation.

If a nation asserts it will produce bomb-grade uranium for naval reactors, as Iran has done , it can use a loophole in International Atomic Energy Agency guidelines to avoid normal safety inspections for decades, warned scientists and policy experts in a letter to President Biden in 2021.

The Navy's continued use of weapons-grade uranium could encourage other nations to make the dangerous material, experts say, and the U.S. may have to restart production when its supply runs out.

The U.S. has not produced uranium for weapons since 1964 and ended all production of bomb-grade uranium in 1992.

In reports to Congress in 2014 and 2016, the Navy said developing a new fuel would take at least 15 years and nearly $1 billion. It also said the fuels could make naval vessels less effective and more expensive.

The research program's budget, a fraction of a percent of all energy and water spending, was left out of the latest National Defense Authorization Act, which sets funding levels and priorities. 

Fleischmann did not offer an explanation for wanting to defund the search for a new naval fuel and his office did not respond to emails and calls requesting comment.

Funding for the program was extended through early 2024 in November, when Congress failed to reach a spending agreement. It is set to expire Jan. 19 , the deadline for Congress to pass new spending bills and avoid a potential government shutdown.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said Jan. 14 they had introduced a stopgap bill that would extend funding , including for energy and water projects, to March 1.

The bill is set for a fight in the House, where a faction of the GOP opposes the measure, pushing for increased border control and less spending overall.

Fleischmann wants to defund research, despite nuclear record

Fleischmann has been a strong proponent of nuclear safety and advanced nuclear reactors such as the small modular reactors under development by the Tennessee Valley Authority in his district.

In a statement accompanying his $58 billion budget proposal for energy and water projects, Fleischmann said national defense and a strong nuclear deterrent against China and Russia are "the highest priority of the federal government."

Only three other navies — those of India, Russia and the United Kingdom — use highly enriched uranium fuel. The French Navy uses low-enriched uranium fuel and experts think the Chinese Navy uses low-enriched uranium fuel.

The uranium used by the U.S. Navy is potent, composed between 93% and 97% of an explosive isotope. It is stored at Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge and processed into naval reactor fuel by a private company in Erwin, Tennessee, called Nuclear Fuel Services .

Oak Ridge is instrumental not just in storing bomb-grade uranium, but in research that could push the Navy beyond it. In the last few years, samples of low-enriched uranium fuels have been tested for naval use at the High Flux Isotope Reactor at ORNL, according to a National Nuclear Security Administration report to Congress .

Fleischmann has supported a multibillion-dollar effort to spur domestic production of low-enriched uranium for advanced nuclear power reactors, which the U.S. relies on Russia to import.

Yet he recommended defunding the development of the same kind of fuel for the Navy in a separate report, troubling advocates of nonproliferation.

“Members of Congress usually fight in favor of programs in their district. They don’t usually fight to kill programs in their district, so it’s kind of like a man-bites-dog story,” Alan Kuperman, a professor of public affairs at the University of Texas at Austin, told Knox News. “In (Fleischmann's) big bill, this is a rounding error, so this is not about money. This is about principle.”

NNSA and Navy skeptical about new naval fuel

Fleischmann is not the only opponent of the research. The Navy declined to continue the program in 2017, passing it along to the Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration, where it has received a lukewarm response.

In December, the Nuclear Proliferation Prevention Project at UT Austin published a previously private progress report on the research to Congress .

The National Nuclear Security Administration report is the first time the agency has publicly acknowledged the program, said Kuperman, who leads the nonproliferation program.

In the report, Jill Hruby, the top National Nuclear Security Administration official, said she was "pleased with the progress" the agency had made towards developing a new naval fuel. In a sign of the agency's ambivalence, she also referenced Navy reports that suggested low-enriched uranium fuel would harm the effectiveness and cost of its vessels.

Kuperman said he wants hard evidence that the fuels would reduce the power and endurance of aircraft carriers and submarines.

“The premise has always been, we’ll only do this conversion if it doesn’t affect the performance," Kuperman said.

While the National Nuclear Security Administration declined to comment on pending legislation, a spokesperson for the agency said bomb-grade uranium provides the Navy "distinct advantages in naval warfare while upholding the highest nonproliferation standards."

New Navy fuel could achieve nuclear nonproliferation

Nuclear nonproliferation in the U.S. has long centered on transitioning away from bomb-grade uranium in research reactors and discouraging production of bomb-grade uranium.

For decades, advocates for nuclear nonproliferation have pushed the Navy to instead develop a low-enriched fuel, which cannot be easily used in weapons and powers most research reactors.

Calls for a safer naval fuel have intensified since the $245 billion AUKUS security agreement between Australia, the United Kingdom and the the U.S. in 2021. The centerpiece of the deal is the delivery of a nuclear-powered submarine fleet to Australia, scheduled to begin in the 2040s, to combat China's military power in the Indo-Pacific region.

In a letter to President Joe Biden shortly after the deal was reached, several members of the House and Senate urged him to support research into low-enriched uranium fuels for the new submarines. Australia is set to become the first state without nuclear weapons to maintain a stockpile of bomb-grade uranium.

"We are concerned that other nations with weaker nonproliferation records may point to the Australian precedent to develop nuclear weapons under the cover of a naval reactor program," the letter to the president said.

Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., signed the letter to Biden. In a statement to Knox News, he said Congress needs to fund the research to prevent bomb-grade uranium from being the Navy's only fuel option.

“High-enriched uranium means a higher risk of nuclear proliferation, and our country has a responsibility and a commitment to maintain to lead on nonproliferation - not lose interest in it," Markey said. "We need to keep funding this advanced (low-enriched uranium) fuel research so that high-enriched uranium doesn’t fall into the wrong hands.”

Another concern is the U.S.'s limited store of bomb-grade uranium for naval reactors. Set to run dry in the 2050s, the finite stockpile raises the specter that the U.S. would revive production of bomb-grade uranium.

In a 2020 report from the Government Accountability Office, National Nuclear Security Administration officials said the U.S. would need to restart production of highly enriched uranium or else run out of fuel for the Navy in the 2050s.

Time is running out for Navy to switch fuels

A report from the Navy in 2016 said it could take 15 years to develop a low-enriched uranium fuel for aircraft carriers and submarines.

That timeline will run up against the Navy's decision on how to fuel its next class of attack submarines, a decision which could be made by 2030, according to a declassified report from JASON, a group of scientists who advise the U.S. government on sensitive science and technology issues.

Dedicated to reactors that span the lifetime of a submarine, the Navy has been hesitant to develop fuels that would require refueling.

“Essentially, the Navy is giving zero priority to nonproliferation. They consider that’s not their department," Frank von Hippel, senior research physicist and professor emeritus at Princeton and a global leading expert on nuclear security, told Knox News.

Because its support has come from a handful of leaders in Congress, the research program could disappear if it’s defunded in the next energy and water appropriations bill, von Hippel said. That most of its supporters are Democrats and its detractors Republican may invoke a broader divergence in the two parties.

“I think there's a difference in view on the power of the U.S. example,” von Hippel said. “Democrats tend to believe that if we want other countries not to use (highly enriched uranium), in this case for naval reactors, then our example is important. I think the Republicans are skeptical of that kind of idealistic argument.”

Last March, three other House members wrote Fleischmann a letter asking that he consider supporting the research.

Reps. Bill Foster of Illinois, John Garamendi of California, and Rick Larsen of Washington, all Democrats, argued that research on low-enriched uranium fuel was an opportunity to advance aging technology and it needed to be done before the Navy designs new submarines.

"These design phases occur only every few decades, given the many years required to build a submarine and their decades of service-life," the letter said. "The design phase for the successor to the Virginia-class submarines will begin soon. The window for incorporating safer fuel will close shortly thereafter and will not reopen until the late 21st Century."

Daniel Dassow is a growth and development reporter focused on technology and energy. Phone 423-637-0878. Email  [email protected] .

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