Thursday, September 23, 2010

Finding a Research Topic

Here is a fun way to find creative, narrow research topics.

1) Brainstorm a list of things you enjoy or that are a regular part of your life.

examples: hobbies, things you did last weekend, a favorite tv show, a personal challenge

2) Use Google to search for ways your list intersects with the assigned topic.

A real example from one of my students: Let's say you've included an interest in ghosts and the supernatural. You have been assigned to do a research project on the Age of Exploration. You wonder if there might be some ghost stories associated with the Aztecs. You do a Google search and find there is a story of Aztec ghosts guarded treasure that the Aztec emperor hid away in the bottom of a lake in Utah in order to hide it from European conquistadors. Cool--right?

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