60 Good Research Topics With Examples and Ideas

Good research topics are broad enough to elicit good information, yet narrow enough to be manageable in a short paper. This list contains topics that are narrow enough to handle in a research paper, but broad enough so that you can locate excellent information.

A Good List of Research Topics

This is more than a list of general subjects. This is a list of good research topics that make writing a paper easy and quick. Each research topic is specific, manageable, and easily divided into sections. This makes these topics much more valuable.

Research Topics and Ideas

Many of these topics will work for multiple subjects in many different classes. Some may work better as high school research paper topics, while others will make good research paper topics for college students. These topics are not recommended for middle school students.

It may be useful to look at topics that don’t seem, on the surface, to match your assignment. Often, one topic can be adjusted or altered slightly to fit with another angle.

1. Abortion Dilemmas Faced by Adults
2. Government Subsidies for Agriculture: Pro and Con
3. Adopted Children: Issues Faced as Adults
4. Discovery of Pluto by Astrologists
5. Affirmative Action and College Admission Policies
6. Ethical Practices in Clothing Manufacture
7. African American Vernacular English (Ebonics) in Elementary Schools
8. Animal Management for Sustainable Living
9. Biased Media Practices in Television Reporting
10. Chemically Altered Products in Specialty Markets
11. Body Art as Personal Expression
12. Civil Rights Struggles of the 21^st Century
13. Cost Analysis of Prescription Drugs
14. Disaster Relief Actions Following Earthquakes
15. Distribution of Condoms to Students in Urban Schools
16. Emotional Aspects of Cocaine Addiction
17. Growing Up in a Minority Culture: Confidence and Confusion
18. Identity Theft: Three Most Common Sources
19. Impact of Assisted Suicide on The Medical Community in the 1980s
20. Individuality versus Conformity for Young Adults in College Settings
21. Physical Effects of Bulimia
22. Power of Women in the Media
23. Punishment and Prosecution of Hate Crimes in Alabama
24. Reform of Social Security Programs: Supplemental Security Income
25. Rural Poverty for Non-Agricultural Families
26. Recreational Marijuana’s Effect on the Economy
27. Effective Use of The Insanity Defense for Crimes Other Than Murder
28. Urban Farming within City Limits
29. Variations in the Legal Drinking Age Among States: Effects and Causes
30. A Post-Privacy World: What Does it Mean?

What if you can’t find a good topic on the list?

As you look at the list of topics, you may consider changing one or more of the key words within the topic. Changing one or more keywords can change the whole angle of a topic, making it more in line with your subject or assignment.

Here’s an example:

Affirmative Action and College Admission Policies

might be changed to:

Academic Scholarships and College Admission Policies

Another variation of the same topic idea could be:

Affirmative Action and Workplace Diversity Programs

Alter this topic to suit almost any assignment by changing keywords and keeping the structure.

You can continue to substitute keywords until you find a topic that suits you.

1. Arthurian Legend In 19^th Century Paintings
2. Definitions and Examples of Nocturnes in Musical Compositions
3. Science Fiction Versus Science Fantasy: Comparisons and Contrasts
4. Folklore and Fairy Tales of France
5. Historical Architecture of Germany
6. Theatre Styles of Ancient Rome
7. The Decorative and Practical Functions of Egyptian Ceramics
8. Archetypes in Heroic Literature
9. Obscure Religions of Spain
10. Sculptures Representing the Ideal Human Form
11. Christianity in the Middle East
12. Traditional Dances of Algeria
13. Textile Arts as an Expression of Cultural Beliefs
14. Protest Art: Posters, Paintings, and Murals
15. The Harlem Renaissance in Theatre
16. Regional Theatres and Summer Stock During the 1950s in the US
17. Evolution of Women’s Shoes
18. Design and Construction of Worship Houses
19. Family Structure in the Inuit Culture
20. The Function of Kivas in Worship and Social Life

Let's say the topic example is:

Abortion Dilemmas Faced by Adults

Keep the overall structure of the topic example, but make significant changes in BOTH of the main ideas. Examples of adaptations for this topic might include:

Life-Stage Dilemmas Faced by Older Adults

Peer-Pressure Dilemmas Faced by Preteens in After School Hours

1. The Classification of the Species: How it Started
2. The Study of Constellations in Astronomy
3. Biology of the Wetlands: Three Key Species
4. Significant Advancements in Organic Chemistry
5. The Evolution of Computer Science.
6. Desert Ecology and Water Conservation
7. Geologic Ages that Created Coal
8. The Kepler and Hubble Telescopes
9. Damage to the Ozone Layer: Why It Matters
10. Structure and Actions of Tsunamis

Research Topic Examples and Creative Ideas

Choose one idea from each column. Create a phrase that combines those ideas. Use this to generate the beginnings of a research topic. Utilize a search engine to explore the phrase, and you may find a good research topic, even with the wildest combination of ideas.

Granted, this is a wildly creative approach, and not all topics will work well together. But even the most unusual combinations can yield productive ideas. For example, take the crazy combination of:

Middle Eastern Fashion Trends in the Dark Ages

Place that text in a search engine, and you might be surprised. Several very interesting ideas present themselves.Many of them are perfectly realistic and appropriate for serious research papers.

Try it and see.