How to Brainstorm Research Paper Topic Ideas for College Students

When you are in college you will be asked to write many college essays. For a lot of those essays you will have to pick the topic yourself. In order to pick a topic that will result in a high grade you should take some time to brainstorm a good research paper topic.

In order to find a good topic you should try:

Free writing

A free write is where you sit down with a notebook or a computer and you write for a set amount of time. You should set a timer for five minutes and just write. Spend the entire time writing everything that comes to mind. This is important because it gets random thoughts out of the way and then opens the mental doors to creative thoughts or things that really interest you.

Once your time is done see what you have on the paper and look for any topic that is interesting to you. Look for a topic that you can easily expound upon in the length of your paper.

Reviewing course notes

Look over your course notes. Find something that you wrote down which you know was of interest to you but which you were unable to thoroughly research at the time. Maybe your teacher glossed over a subtopic one day during a lecture. Maybe there was something in your reading that you found interesting but it was only touched upon vaguely. Try and find something that you want to learn more about and then start researching it.

If you are having some trouble finding a suitable topic for your paper there are many places you can turn for assistance. You can look at the list below and see if any of the earth science topics are of interest:

• Discuss the impact that climate change is having on the intensity of natural disasters
• Write about whether the agricultural biotech industry is able to co-exist with our environment or not. If it is then propose how.
• Discuss how the current oil dependency we have influences international policies
• Write about whether car manufacturers should have to pay a fine when they make cars that are not energy efficient.
• Discuss whether stores should begin charging every customer for bags in the United States like they do throughout the rest of world. Would this reduce waste?
• Write about whether there is a way to improve the safety of nuclear energy
• Research whether wind energy is practical financially and safe for wildlife