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

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

What Makes a Good Research Paper Topic?

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

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

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

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

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

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

#3: It Fits Your Teacher's Guidelines

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

113 Good Research Paper Topics

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

Arts/Culture

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

Current Events

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

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

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

Science/Environment

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

How to Write a Great Research Paper

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

#1: Figure Out Your Thesis Early

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

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

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

#2: Back Every Statement Up With Research

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

#3: Do Your Research Before You Begin Writing

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

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

What's Next?

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

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

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How To Write A Research Paper

Step-By-Step Tutorial With Examples + FREE Template

By: Derek Jansen (MBA) | Expert Reviewer: Dr Eunice Rautenbach | March 2024

For many students, crafting a strong research paper from scratch can feel like a daunting task – and rightly so! In this post, we’ll unpack what a research paper is, what it needs to do , and how to write one – in three easy steps. 🙂

Overview: Writing A Research Paper

What (exactly) is a research paper.

How to write a research paper
Stage 1 : Topic & literature search
Stage 2 : Structure & outline
Stage 3 : Iterative writing
Key takeaways

Let’s start by asking the most important question, “ What is a research paper? ”.

Simply put, a research paper is a scholarly written work where the writer (that’s you!) answers a specific question (this is called a research question ) through evidence-based arguments . Evidence-based is the keyword here. In other words, a research paper is different from an essay or other writing assignments that draw from the writer’s personal opinions or experiences. With a research paper, it’s all about building your arguments based on evidence (we’ll talk more about that evidence a little later).

Now, it’s worth noting that there are many different types of research papers , including analytical papers (the type I just described), argumentative papers, and interpretative papers. Here, we’ll focus on analytical papers , as these are some of the most common – but if you’re keen to learn about other types of research papers, be sure to check out the rest of the blog .

With that basic foundation laid, let’s get down to business and look at how to write a research paper .

Overview: The 3-Stage Process

While there are, of course, many potential approaches you can take to write a research paper, there are typically three stages to the writing process. So, in this tutorial, we’ll present a straightforward three-step process that we use when working with students at Grad Coach.

These three steps are:

Finding a research topic and reviewing the existing literature
Developing a provisional structure and outline for your paper, and
Writing up your initial draft and then refining it iteratively

Let’s dig into each of these.

Need a helping hand?

Step 1: Find a topic and review the literature

As we mentioned earlier, in a research paper, you, as the researcher, will try to answer a question . More specifically, that’s called a research question , and it sets the direction of your entire paper. What’s important to understand though is that you’ll need to answer that research question with the help of high-quality sources – for example, journal articles, government reports, case studies, and so on. We’ll circle back to this in a minute.

The first stage of the research process is deciding on what your research question will be and then reviewing the existing literature (in other words, past studies and papers) to see what they say about that specific research question. In some cases, your professor may provide you with a predetermined research question (or set of questions). However, in many cases, you’ll need to find your own research question within a certain topic area.

Finding a strong research question hinges on identifying a meaningful research gap – in other words, an area that’s lacking in existing research. There’s a lot to unpack here, so if you wanna learn more, check out the plain-language explainer video below.

Once you’ve figured out which question (or questions) you’ll attempt to answer in your research paper, you’ll need to do a deep dive into the existing literature – this is called a “ literature search ”. Again, there are many ways to go about this, but your most likely starting point will be Google Scholar .

If you’re new to Google Scholar, think of it as Google for the academic world. You can start by simply entering a few different keywords that are relevant to your research question and it will then present a host of articles for you to review. What you want to pay close attention to here is the number of citations for each paper – the more citations a paper has, the more credible it is (generally speaking – there are some exceptions, of course).

Ideally, what you’re looking for are well-cited papers that are highly relevant to your topic. That said, keep in mind that citations are a cumulative metric , so older papers will often have more citations than newer papers – just because they’ve been around for longer. So, don’t fixate on this metric in isolation – relevance and recency are also very important.

Beyond Google Scholar, you’ll also definitely want to check out academic databases and aggregators such as Science Direct, PubMed, JStor and so on. These will often overlap with the results that you find in Google Scholar, but they can also reveal some hidden gems – so, be sure to check them out.

Once you’ve worked your way through all the literature, you’ll want to catalogue all this information in some sort of spreadsheet so that you can easily recall who said what, when and within what context. If you’d like, we’ve got a free literature spreadsheet that helps you do exactly that.

Don’t fixate on an article’s citation count in isolation - relevance (to your research question) and recency are also very important.

Step 2: Develop a structure and outline

With your research question pinned down and your literature digested and catalogued, it’s time to move on to planning your actual research paper .

It might sound obvious, but it’s really important to have some sort of rough outline in place before you start writing your paper. So often, we see students eagerly rushing into the writing phase, only to land up with a disjointed research paper that rambles on in multiple

Now, the secret here is to not get caught up in the fine details . Realistically, all you need at this stage is a bullet-point list that describes (in broad strokes) what you’ll discuss and in what order. It’s also useful to remember that you’re not glued to this outline – in all likelihood, you’ll chop and change some sections once you start writing, and that’s perfectly okay. What’s important is that you have some sort of roadmap in place from the start.

You need to have a rough outline in place before you start writing your paper - or you’ll end up with a disjointed research paper that rambles on.

At this stage you might be wondering, “ But how should I structure my research paper? ”. Well, there’s no one-size-fits-all solution here, but in general, a research paper will consist of a few relatively standardised components:

Introduction
Literature review
Methodology

Let’s take a look at each of these.

First up is the introduction section . As the name suggests, the purpose of the introduction is to set the scene for your research paper. There are usually (at least) four ingredients that go into this section – these are the background to the topic, the research problem and resultant research question , and the justification or rationale. If you’re interested, the video below unpacks the introduction section in more detail.

The next section of your research paper will typically be your literature review . Remember all that literature you worked through earlier? Well, this is where you’ll present your interpretation of all that content . You’ll do this by writing about recent trends, developments, and arguments within the literature – but more specifically, those that are relevant to your research question . The literature review can oftentimes seem a little daunting, even to seasoned researchers, so be sure to check out our extensive collection of literature review content here .

With the introduction and lit review out of the way, the next section of your paper is the research methodology . In a nutshell, the methodology section should describe to your reader what you did (beyond just reviewing the existing literature) to answer your research question. For example, what data did you collect, how did you collect that data, how did you analyse that data and so on? For each choice, you’ll also need to justify why you chose to do it that way, and what the strengths and weaknesses of your approach were.

Now, it’s worth mentioning that for some research papers, this aspect of the project may be a lot simpler . For example, you may only need to draw on secondary sources (in other words, existing data sets). In some cases, you may just be asked to draw your conclusions from the literature search itself (in other words, there may be no data analysis at all). But, if you are required to collect and analyse data, you’ll need to pay a lot of attention to the methodology section. The video below provides an example of what the methodology section might look like.

By this stage of your paper, you will have explained what your research question is, what the existing literature has to say about that question, and how you analysed additional data to try to answer your question. So, the natural next step is to present your analysis of that data . This section is usually called the “results” or “analysis” section and this is where you’ll showcase your findings.

Depending on your school’s requirements, you may need to present and interpret the data in one section – or you might split the presentation and the interpretation into two sections. In the latter case, your “results” section will just describe the data, and the “discussion” is where you’ll interpret that data and explicitly link your analysis back to your research question. If you’re not sure which approach to take, check in with your professor or take a look at past papers to see what the norms are for your programme.

Alright – once you’ve presented and discussed your results, it’s time to wrap it up . This usually takes the form of the “ conclusion ” section. In the conclusion, you’ll need to highlight the key takeaways from your study and close the loop by explicitly answering your research question. Again, the exact requirements here will vary depending on your programme (and you may not even need a conclusion section at all) – so be sure to check with your professor if you’re unsure.

Step 3: Write and refine

Finally, it’s time to get writing. All too often though, students hit a brick wall right about here… So, how do you avoid this happening to you?

Well, there’s a lot to be said when it comes to writing a research paper (or any sort of academic piece), but we’ll share three practical tips to help you get started.

First and foremost , it’s essential to approach your writing as an iterative process. In other words, you need to start with a really messy first draft and then polish it over multiple rounds of editing. Don’t waste your time trying to write a perfect research paper in one go. Instead, take the pressure off yourself by adopting an iterative approach.

Secondly , it’s important to always lean towards critical writing , rather than descriptive writing. What does this mean? Well, at the simplest level, descriptive writing focuses on the “ what ”, while critical writing digs into the “ so what ” – in other words, the implications . If you’re not familiar with these two types of writing, don’t worry! You can find a plain-language explanation here.

Last but not least, you’ll need to get your referencing right. Specifically, you’ll need to provide credible, correctly formatted citations for the statements you make. We see students making referencing mistakes all the time and it costs them dearly. The good news is that you can easily avoid this by using a simple reference manager . If you don’t have one, check out our video about Mendeley, an easy (and free) reference management tool that you can start using today.

Recap: Key Takeaways

We’ve covered a lot of ground here. To recap, the three steps to writing a high-quality research paper are:

To choose a research question and review the literature
To plan your paper structure and draft an outline
To take an iterative approach to writing, focusing on critical writing and strong referencing

Remember, this is just a b ig-picture overview of the research paper development process and there’s a lot more nuance to unpack. So, be sure to grab a copy of our free research paper template to learn more about how to write a research paper.

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Higher education through student eyes: a collection of student research papers.

The present collection of research papers reflects students’ perspectives on today’s changing higher education landscape and the challenges or controversies they observe in contemporary higher education. Student research papers featured in this collection are a testimony of students’ genuine interest in studying and contributing to the established and emerging areas of higher education studies, and their commitment to achieving equity and excellence in higher education.

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How to Write a Research Paper

Use the links below to jump directly to any section of this guide:

Research Paper Fundamentals

How to choose a topic or question, how to create a working hypothesis or thesis, common research paper methodologies, how to gather and organize evidence , how to write an outline for your research paper, how to write a rough draft, how to revise your draft, how to produce a final draft, resources for teachers .

It is not fair to say that no one writes anymore. Just about everyone writes text messages, brief emails, or social media posts every single day. Yet, most people don't have a lot of practice with the formal, organized writing required for a good academic research paper. This guide contains links to a variety of resources that can help demystify the process. Some of these resources are intended for teachers; they contain exercises, activities, and teaching strategies. Other resources are intended for direct use by students who are struggling to write papers, or are looking for tips to make the process go more smoothly.

The resources in this section are designed to help students understand the different types of research papers, the general research process, and how to manage their time. Below, you'll find links from university writing centers, the trusted Purdue Online Writing Lab, and more.

What is an Academic Research Paper?

"Genre and the Research Paper" (Purdue OWL)

There are different types of research papers. Different types of scholarly questions will lend themselves to one format or another. This is a brief introduction to the two main genres of research paper: analytic and argumentative.

"7 Most Popular Types of Research Papers" (Personal-writer.com)

This resource discusses formats that high school students commonly encounter, such as the compare and contrast essay and the definitional essay. Please note that the inclusion of this link is not an endorsement of this company's paid service.

How to Prepare and Plan Out Writing a Research Paper

Teachers can give their students a step-by-step guide like these to help them understand the different steps of the research paper process. These guides can be combined with the time management tools in the next subsection to help students come up with customized calendars for completing their papers.

"Ten Steps for Writing Research Papers" (American University)

This resource from American University is a comprehensive guide to the research paper writing process, and includes examples of proper research questions and thesis topics.

"Steps in Writing a Research Paper" (SUNY Empire State College)

This guide breaks the research paper process into 11 steps. Each "step" links to a separate page, which describes the work entailed in completing it.

How to Manage Time Effectively

The links below will help students determine how much time is necessary to complete a paper. If your sources are not available online or at your local library, you'll need to leave extra time for the Interlibrary Loan process. Remember that, even if you do not need to consult secondary sources, you'll still need to leave yourself ample time to organize your thoughts.

"Research Paper Planner: Timeline" (Baylor University)

This interactive resource from Baylor University creates a suggested writing schedule based on how much time a student has to work on the assignment.

"Research Paper Planner" (UCLA)

UCLA's library offers this step-by-step guide to the research paper writing process, which also includes a suggested planning calendar.

There's a reason teachers spend a long time talking about choosing a good topic. Without a good topic and a well-formulated research question, it is almost impossible to write a clear and organized paper. The resources below will help you generate ideas and formulate precise questions.

"How to Select a Research Topic" (Univ. of Michigan-Flint)

This resource is designed for college students who are struggling to come up with an appropriate topic. A student who uses this resource and still feels unsure about his or her topic should consult the course instructor for further personalized assistance.

"25 Interesting Research Paper Topics to Get You Started" (Kibin)

This resource, which is probably most appropriate for high school students, provides a list of specific topics to help get students started. It is broken into subsections, such as "paper topics on local issues."

"Writing a Good Research Question" (Grand Canyon University)

This introduction to research questions includes some embedded videos, as well as links to scholarly articles on research questions. This resource would be most appropriate for teachers who are planning lessons on research paper fundamentals.

"How to Write a Research Question the Right Way" (Kibin)

This student-focused resource provides more detail on writing research questions. The language is accessible, and there are embedded videos and examples of good and bad questions.

It is important to have a rough hypothesis or thesis in mind at the beginning of the research process. People who have a sense of what they want to say will have an easier time sorting through scholarly sources and other information. The key, of course, is not to become too wedded to the draft hypothesis or thesis. Just about every working thesis gets changed during the research process.

CrashCourse Video: "Sociology Research Methods" (YouTube)

Although this video is tailored to sociology students, it is applicable to students in a variety of social science disciplines. This video does a good job demonstrating the connection between the brainstorming that goes into selecting a research question and the formulation of a working hypothesis.

"How to Write a Thesis Statement for an Analytical Essay" (YouTube)

Students writing analytical essays will not develop the same type of working hypothesis as students who are writing research papers in other disciplines. For these students, developing the working thesis may happen as a part of the rough draft (see the relevant section below).

"Research Hypothesis" (Oakland Univ.)

This resource provides some examples of hypotheses in social science disciplines like Political Science and Criminal Justice. These sample hypotheses may also be useful for students in other soft social sciences and humanities disciplines like History.

When grading a research paper, instructors look for a consistent methodology. This section will help you understand different methodological approaches used in research papers. Students will get the most out of these resources if they use them to help prepare for conversations with teachers or discussions in class.

"Types of Research Designs" (USC)

A "research design," used for complex papers, is related to the paper's method. This resource contains introductions to a variety of popular research designs in the social sciences. Although it is not the most intuitive site to read, the information here is very valuable.

"Major Research Methods" (YouTube)

Although this video is a bit on the dry side, it provides a comprehensive overview of the major research methodologies in a format that might be more accessible to students who have struggled with textbooks or other written resources.

"Humanities Research Strategies" (USC)

This is a portal where students can learn about four methodological approaches for humanities papers: Historical Methodologies, Textual Criticism, Conceptual Analysis, and the Synoptic method.

"Selected Major Social Science Research Methods: Overview" (National Academies Press)

This appendix from the book Using Science as Evidence in Public Policy , printed by National Academies Press, introduces some methods used in social science papers.

"Organizing Your Social Sciences Research Paper: 6. The Methodology" (USC)

This resource from the University of Southern California's library contains tips for writing a methodology section in a research paper.

How to Determine the Best Methodology for You

Anyone who is new to writing research papers should be sure to select a method in consultation with their instructor. These resources can be used to help prepare for that discussion. They may also be used on their own by more advanced students.

"Choosing Appropriate Research Methodologies" (Palgrave Study Skills)

This friendly and approachable resource from Palgrave Macmillan can be used by students who are just starting to think about appropriate methodologies.

"How to Choose Your Research Methods" (NFER (UK))

This is another approachable resource students can use to help narrow down the most appropriate methods for their research projects.

The resources in this section introduce the process of gathering scholarly sources and collecting evidence. You'll find a range of material here, from introductory guides to advanced explications best suited to college students. Please consult the LitCharts How to Do Academic Research guide for a more comprehensive list of resources devoted to finding scholarly literature.

Google Scholar

Students who have access to library websites with detailed research guides should start there, but people who do not have access to those resources can begin their search for secondary literature here.

"Gathering Appropriate Information" (Texas Gateway)

This resource from the Texas Gateway for online resources introduces students to the research process, and contains interactive exercises. The level of complexity is suitable for middle school, high school, and introductory college classrooms.

"An Overview of Quantitative and Qualitative Data Collection Methods" (NSF)

This PDF from the National Science Foundation goes into detail about best practices and pitfalls in data collection across multiple types of methodologies.

"Social Science Methods for Data Collection and Analysis" (Swiss FIT)

This resource is appropriate for advanced undergraduates or teachers looking to create lessons on research design and data collection. It covers techniques for gathering data via interviews, observations, and other methods.

"Collecting Data by In-depth Interviewing" (Leeds Univ.)

This resource contains enough information about conducting interviews to make it useful for teachers who want to create a lesson plan, but is also accessible enough for college juniors or seniors to make use of it on their own.

There is no "one size fits all" outlining technique. Some students might devote all their energy and attention to the outline in order to avoid the paper. Other students may benefit from being made to sit down and organize their thoughts into a lengthy sentence outline. The resources in this section include strategies and templates for multiple types of outlines.

"Topic vs. Sentence Outlines" (UC Berkeley)

This resource introduces two basic approaches to outlining: the shorter topic-based approach, and the longer, more detailed sentence-based approach. This resource also contains videos on how to develop paper paragraphs from the sentence-based outline.

"Types of Outlines and Samples" (Purdue OWL)

The Purdue Online Writing Lab's guide is a slightly less detailed discussion of different types of outlines. It contains several sample outlines.

"Writing An Outline" (Austin C.C.)

This resource from a community college contains sample outlines from an American history class that students can use as models.

"How to Structure an Outline for a College Paper" (YouTube)

This brief (sub-2 minute) video from the ExpertVillage YouTube channel provides a model of outline writing for students who are struggling with the idea.

"Outlining" (Harvard)

This is a good resource to consult after completing a draft outline. It offers suggestions for making sure your outline avoids things like unnecessary repetition.

As with outlines, rough drafts can take on many different forms. These resources introduce teachers and students to the various approaches to writing a rough draft. This section also includes resources that will help you cite your sources appropriately according to the MLA, Chicago, and APA style manuals.

"Creating a Rough Draft for a Research Paper" (Univ. of Minnesota)

This resource is useful for teachers in particular, as it provides some suggested exercises to help students with writing a basic rough draft.

Rough Draft Assignment (Duke of Definition)

This sample assignment, with a brief list of tips, was developed by a high school teacher who runs a very successful and well-reviewed page of educational resources.

"Creating the First Draft of Your Research Paper" (Concordia Univ.)

This resource will be helpful for perfectionists or procrastinators, as it opens by discussing the problem of avoiding writing. It also provides a short list of suggestions meant to get students writing.

Using Proper Citations

There is no such thing as a rough draft of a scholarly citation. These links to the three major citation guides will ensure that your citations follow the correct format. Please consult the LitCharts How to Cite Your Sources guide for more resources.

Chicago Manual of Style Citation Guide

Some call The Chicago Manual of Style , which was first published in 1906, "the editors' Bible." The manual is now in its 17th edition, and is popular in the social sciences, historical journals, and some other fields in the humanities.

APA Citation Guide

According to the American Psychological Association, this guide was developed to aid reading comprehension, clarity of communication, and to reduce bias in language in the social and behavioral sciences. Its first full edition was published in 1952, and it is now in its sixth edition.

MLA Citation Guide

The Modern Language Association style is used most commonly within the liberal arts and humanities. The MLA Style Manual and Guide to Scholarly Publishing was first published in 1985 and (as of 2008) is in its third edition.

Any professional scholar will tell you that the best research papers are made in the revision stage. No matter how strong your research question or working thesis, it is not possible to write a truly outstanding paper without devoting energy to revision. These resources provide examples of revision exercises for the classroom, as well as tips for students working independently.

"The Art of Revision" (Univ. of Arizona)

This resource provides a wealth of information and suggestions for both students and teachers. There is a list of suggested exercises that teachers might use in class, along with a revision checklist that is useful for teachers and students alike.

"Script for Workshop on Revision" (Vanderbilt University)

Vanderbilt's guide for leading a 50-minute revision workshop can serve as a model for teachers who wish to guide students through the revision process during classtime.

"Revising Your Paper" (Univ. of Washington)

This detailed handout was designed for students who are beginning the revision process. It discusses different approaches and methods for revision, and also includes a detailed list of things students should look for while they revise.

"Revising Drafts" (UNC Writing Center)

This resource is designed for students and suggests things to look for during the revision process. It provides steps for the process and has a FAQ for students who have questions about why it is important to revise.

Conferencing with Writing Tutors and Instructors

No writer is so good that he or she can't benefit from meeting with instructors or peer tutors. These resources from university writing, learning, and communication centers provide suggestions for how to get the most out of these one-on-one meetings.

"Getting Feedback" (UNC Writing Center)

This very helpful resource talks about how to ask for feedback during the entire writing process. It contains possible questions that students might ask when developing an outline, during the revision process, and after the final draft has been graded.

"Prepare for Your Tutoring Session" (Otis College of Art and Design)

This guide from a university's student learning center contains a lot of helpful tips for getting the most out of working with a writing tutor.

"The Importance of Asking Your Professor" (Univ. of Waterloo)

This article from the university's Writing and Communication Centre's blog contains some suggestions for how and when to get help from professors and Teaching Assistants.

Once you've revised your first draft, you're well on your way to handing in a polished paper. These resources—each of them produced by writing professionals at colleges and universities—outline the steps required in order to produce a final draft. You'll find proofreading tips and checklists in text and video form.

"Developing a Final Draft of a Research Paper" (Univ. of Minnesota)

While this resource contains suggestions for revision, it also features a couple of helpful checklists for the last stages of completing a final draft.

Basic Final Draft Tips and Checklist (Univ. of Maryland-University College)

This short and accessible resource, part of UMUC's very thorough online guide to writing and research, contains a very basic checklist for students who are getting ready to turn in their final drafts.

Final Draft Checklist (Everett C.C.)

This is another accessible final draft checklist, appropriate for both high school and college students. It suggests reading your essay aloud at least once.

"How to Proofread Your Final Draft" (YouTube)

This video (approximately 5 minutes), produced by Eastern Washington University, gives students tips on proofreading final drafts.

"Proofreading Tips" (Georgia Southern-Armstrong)

This guide will help students learn how to spot common errors in their papers. It suggests focusing on content and editing for grammar and mechanics.

This final set of resources is intended specifically for high school and college instructors. It provides links to unit plans and classroom exercises that can help improve students' research and writing skills. You'll find resources that give an overview of the process, along with activities that focus on how to begin and how to carry out research.

"Research Paper Complete Resources Pack" (Teachers Pay Teachers)

This packet of assignments, rubrics, and other resources is designed for high school students. The resources in this packet are aligned to Common Core standards.

"Research Paper—Complete Unit" (Teachers Pay Teachers)

This packet of assignments, notes, PowerPoints, and other resources has a 4/4 rating with over 700 ratings. It is designed for high school teachers, but might also be useful to college instructors who work with freshmen.

"Teaching Students to Write Good Papers" (Yale)

This resource from Yale's Center for Teaching and Learning is designed for college instructors, and it includes links to appropriate activities and exercises.

"Research Paper Writing: An Overview" (CUNY Brooklyn)

CUNY Brooklyn offers this complete lesson plan for introducing students to research papers. It includes an accompanying set of PowerPoint slides.

"Lesson Plan: How to Begin Writing a Research Paper" (San Jose State Univ.)

This lesson plan is designed for students in the health sciences, so teachers will have to modify it for their own needs. It includes a breakdown of the brainstorming, topic selection, and research question process.

"Quantitative Techniques for Social Science Research" (Univ. of Pittsburgh)

This is a set of PowerPoint slides that can be used to introduce students to a variety of quantitative methods used in the social sciences.

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How To Write A Research Paper

Research Paper Example

Research Paper Example - Examples for Different Formats

Published on: Jun 12, 2021

Last updated on: Feb 6, 2024

Research Paper Example for Different Formats

A research paper typically consists of several key parts, including an introduction, literature review, methodology, results, and annotated bibliography .

When writing a research paper (whether quantitative research or qualitative research ), it is essential to know which format to use to structure your content. Depending on the requirements of the institution, there are mainly four format styles in which a writer drafts a research paper:

Letâs look into each format in detail to understand the fundamental differences and similarities.

Research Paper Example APA

If your instructor asks you to provide a research paper in an APA format, go through the example given below and understand the basic structure. Make sure to follow the format throughout the paper.

APA Research Paper Sample (PDF)

Research Paper Example MLA

Another widespread research paper format is MLA. A few institutes require this format style as well for your research paper. Look at the example provided of this format style to learn the basics.

MLA Research Paper Sample (PDF)

Research Paper Example Chicago

Unlike MLA and APA styles, Chicago is not very common. Very few institutions require this formatting style research paper, but it is essential to learn it. Look at the example given below to understand the formatting of the content and citations in the research paper.

Chicago Research Paper Sample (PDF)

Research Paper Example Harvard

Learn how a research paper through Harvard formatting style is written through this example. Carefully examine how the cover page and other pages are structured.

Harvard Research Paper Sample (PDF)

Examples for Different Research Paper Parts

A research paper is based on different parts. Each part plays a significant role in the overall success of the paper. So each chapter of the paper must be drafted correctly according to a format and structure.

Below are examples of how different sections of the research paper are drafted.

Research Proposal Example

A research proposal is a plan that describes what you will investigate, its significance, and how you will conduct the study.

Research Proposal Sample (PDF)

Abstract Research Paper Example

An abstract is an executive summary of the research paper that includes the purpose of the research, the design of the study, and significant research findings.

It is a small section that is based on a few paragraphs. Following is an example of the abstract to help you draft yours professionally.

Abstract Research Paper Sample (PDF)

Literature Review Research Paper Example

A literature review in a research paper is a comprehensive summary of the previous research on your topic. It studies sources like books, articles, journals, and papers on the relevant research problem to form the basis of the new research.

Writing this section of the research paper perfectly is as important as any part of it.

Literature Review in Research Sample (PDF)

Methods Section of Research Paper Example

The method section comes after the introduction of the research paper that presents the process of collecting data. Basically, in this section, a researcher presents the details of how your research was conducted.

Methods Section in Research Sample (PDF)

Research Paper Conclusion Example

The conclusion is the last part of your research paper that sums up the writerâs discussion for the audience and leaves an impression. This is how it should be drafted:

Research Paper Conclusion Sample (PDF)

Research Paper Examples for Different Fields

The research papers are not limited to a particular field. They can be written for any discipline or subject that needs a detailed study.

In the following section, various research paper examples are given to show how they are drafted for different subjects.

Science Research Paper Example

Are you a science student that has to conduct research? Here is an example for you to draft a compelling research paper for the field of science.

Science Research Paper Sample (PDF)

History Research Paper Example

Conducting research and drafting a paper is not only bound to science subjects. Other subjects like history and arts require a research paper to be written as well. Observe how research papers related to history are drafted.

History Research Paper Sample (PDF)

Psychology Research Paper Example

If you are a psychology student, look into the example provided in the research paper to help you draft yours professionally.

Psychology Research Paper Sample (PDF)

Research Paper Example for Different Levels

Writing a research paper is based on a list of elements. If the writer is not aware of the basic elements, the process of writing the paper will become daunting. Start writing your research paper taking the following steps:

Choose a topic
Form a strong thesis statement
Conduct research
Develop a research paper outline

Once you have a plan in your hand, the actual writing procedure will become a piece of cake for you.

No matter which level you are writing a research paper for, it has to be well structured and written to guarantee you better grades.

If you are a college or a high school student, the examples in the following section will be of great help.

Research Paper Outline (PDF)

Research Paper Example for College

Pay attention to the research paper example provided below. If you are a college student, this sample will help you understand how a winning paper is written.

College Research Paper Sample (PDF)

Research Paper Example for High School

Expert writers of CollegeEssay.org have provided an excellent example of a research paper for high school students. If you are struggling to draft an exceptional paper, go through the example provided.

High School Research Paper Sample (PDF)

Examples are essential when it comes to academic assignments. If you are a student and aim to achieve good grades in your assignments, it is suggested to get help from CollegeEssay.org .

We are the best writing company that delivers essay help for students by providing free samples and writing assistance.

Professional writers have your back, whether you are looking for guidance in writing a lab report, college essay, or research paper.

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Springer Nature - PMC COVID-19 Collection

Stress, Anxiety, and Depression Among Undergraduate Students during the COVID-19 Pandemic and their Use of Mental Health Services

Jungmin lee.

1 Department of Educational Policy Studies and Evaluation, University of Kentucky, 597 S. Upper Street, 131 Taylor Education Building, Lexington, KY 40506-0001 USA

Hyun Ju Jeong

2 Department of Integrated Strategic Communication, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY USA

3 Division of Biomedical Informatics, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY USA

Associated Data

Not applicable.

The coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) has brought significant changes to college students, but there is a lack of empirical studies regarding how the pandemic has affected student mental health among college students in the U.S. To fill the gap in the literature, this study describes stress, anxiety, and depression symptoms for students in a public research university in Kentucky during an early phase of COVID-19 and their usage of mental health services. Results show that about 88% of students experienced moderate to severe stress, with 44% of students showing moderate to severe anxiety and 36% of students having moderate to severe depression. In particular, female, rural, low-income, and academically underperforming students were more vulnerable to these mental health issues. However, a majority of students with moderate or severe mental health symptoms never used mental health services. Our results call for proactively reaching out to students, identifying students at risk of mental health issues, and providing accessible care.

The coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) has brought significant and sudden changes to college students. To protect and prevent students, faculty, and staff members from the disease, higher education institutions closed their campus in the spring of 2020 and made a quick transition to online classes. Students were asked to evacuate on a short notice, adjust to new online learning environments, and lose their paid jobs in the middle of the semester. The pandemic has also raised concerns among college students about the health of their family and friends (Brown & Kafka, 2020 ). Because all these changes were unprecedented and intensive, they caused psychological distress among students, especially during the first few months of the pandemic. There is abundant anecdotal evidence describing students’ stress and emotional difficulties as impacted by COVID-19, but there are only a few empirical studies available that directly measure college student mental health since the outbreak (e.g., Huckins et al., 2020 ; Kecojevic et al., 2020 ; Son et al., 2020 ). Most existing studies focus on mental health for general populations (e.g., Gao et al., 2020 ) or health care workers (e.g., Chen et al., 2020 ), whose results may not be applicable to college students. Given that college students are particularly vulnerable to mental health issues (e.g., Kitzrow, 2003 ), it is important to explore their mental health during this unprecedented crisis.

In this study, we describe the prevalence of stress, anxiety, and depression for undergraduate students in a public research university during the six weeks after the COVID-19 outbreak alongside their usage of mental health services. Using a self-administered online survey, we measured stress, anxiety, and depression levels with well-established clinical tools and asked the extent to which college students used on-campus and off-campus mental health services for the academic year. Our results revealed that more than eight out of ten students surveyed experienced modest or severe stress, and approximately 36–44% of respondents showed moderate or severe anxiety and depression. However, more than 60% of students with moderate or severe stress, anxiety, or depression had never utilized mental health services on- or off-campus. Although focusing on a single institution, this paper is one of the few studies that empirically examine mental health of college students in the U.S. during the early phase of the pandemic. Findings from this paper reassure the seriousness of student mental health during the pandemic and call for a proactive mental health assessment and increased support for college students.

Literature Review

Covid-19 and student mental health.

Empirical studies reported a high prevalence of college mental health issues during the early phase of COVID-19 around the world (Cao et al., 2020 ; Chang et al., 2020 ; Liu et al., 2020 , Rajkumar, 2020 ; Saddik et al., 2020 ). In the U.S. a few, but a growing number of empirical surveys and studies were conducted to assess college students’ mental health during the pandemic. Three nationwide surveys conducted across the U.S. conclude that college student mental health became worse during the pandemic. According to an online survey administered by Active Minds in mid-April of 2020, 80% of college students across the country reported that COVID-19 negatively affected their mental health, with 20% reporting that their mental health had significantly worsened (Horn, 2020 ). It is also concerning that 56% of students did not know where to go if they had immediate needs for professional mental health services (Horn, 2020 ). Another nationwide survey conducted from late-May to early-June also revealed that 85% of college students felt increased anxiety and stress during the pandemic, but only 21% of respondents sought a licensed counselor or a professional (Timely MD, n.d. ) According to the Healthy Minds Network’s survey (2020), which collected data from 14 college campuses across the country between March and May of 2020, the percentage of students with depression increased by 5.2% compared to the year before. However, 58.2% of respondents never tried mental health care and about 60% of students felt that it became more difficult to access to mental health care since the pandemic. These survey results clearly illustrate that an overwhelming majority of college students in the U.S. have experienced mental health problems during the early phase of COVID-19, but far fewer students utilized professional help. Despite the timely and valuable information, only Healthy Minds Network ( 2020 ) used clinical tools to measure student mental health, and none of them explored whether student characteristics were associated with mental health symptoms.

To date, only a few scholarly research studies focus on college student mental health in the U.S. since the COVID-19 outbreak. Huckins et al. ( 2020 ) have longitudinally tracked 178 undergraduate students at Dartmouth University for the 2020 winter term (from early-January to late-March of 2020) and found elevated anxiety and depression scores during mid-March when students were asked to leave the campus due to the pandemic. The evacuation decision coincided with the final week, which could have intensified student anxiety and depression. The anxiety and depression scores gradually decreased once the academic term was over, but they were still significantly higher than those measured during academic breaks in previous years. Conducting semi-structured interviews with 195 students at a large public university in Texas, Son et al. ( 2020 ) found that 71% of students surveyed reported increased stress and anxiety due to the pandemic, but only 5% of them used counseling services. The rest of the students explained that they did not use counseling services because they assumed that others would have similar levels of stress and anxiety, they did not feel comfortable talking with unfamiliar people or over the phone, or they did not trust counseling services in general. Common stressors included concerns about their own health or their loved ones’, sleep disruption, reduced social interactions, and difficulty in concentration. Based on a survey from 162 undergraduate students in New Jersey, Kecojevic et al. ( 2020 ) found that female students had a significantly higher level of stress than male students and that upper-class undergraduate students showed a higher level of anxiety than first-year students. Having difficulties in focusing on academic work led to increased levels of stress, anxiety, and depression (Kecojevic et al., 2020 ).

College Student Mental Health and Usage of Mental Health Services Before COVID-19

College student mental health has long been studied in education, psychology, and medicine even before the pandemic. The general consensus of the literature is that college student mental health is in crisis, worsening in number and severity over time. Before the pandemic in the academic year of 2020, more than one-third of college students across the country were diagnosed by mental health professionals for having at least one mental health symptom (American College Health Association, 2020 ). Anxiety (27.7%) and depression (22.5%) were most frequently diagnosed. The proportion of students with mental health problems is on the rise as well. Between 2009 and 2015, the proportion of students with anxiety or depression increased by 5.9% and 3.2%, respectively (Oswalt et al., 2020 ). Similarly, between 2012 and 2020, scores for depression, general anxiety, and social anxiety have constantly increased among those who visited counseling centers on college campuses (Center for College Mental Health [CCMH], 2021 ).

Some groups are more vulnerable to mental health problems than others. For example, female and LGBTQ students tend to report a higher prevalence of mental health issues than male students (Eisenberg et al., 2007b ; Evans et al., 2018 ; Wyatt et al., 2017 ). However, there is less conclusive evidence on the difference across race or ethnicity. It is well-supported that Asian students and international students report fewer mental health problems than White students and domestic students, but there are mixed results regarding the difference between underrepresented racial minority students (i.e., African-American, Hispanic, and other races) and White students (Hyun et al., 2006 ; Hyun et al., 2007 ). Many researchers find either insignificant differences (e.g., Eisenberg et al., 2007b ) or fewer mental health issues reported for underrepresented minority students compared to White students (e.g., Wyatt et al., 2017 ). This may not necessarily mean that racial minority students tend to have fewer mental health problems, but it may reflect their cultural tendency against disclosing one’s mental health issues to others (Hyun et al., 2007 ; Wyatt & Oswalt, 2013 ). In terms of age, some studies (e.g., Eisenberg et al., 2007b ) reveal that students who are 25 years or older tend to have fewer mental health issues than younger students, while others find it getting worse throughout college (Wyatt et al., 2017 ). Lastly, financial stress significantly increases depression, anxiety, and suicidal thoughts among college students (Eisenberg et al., 2007b ).

Despite the high prevalence of mental health issues, college students tend to underutilize mental health services (Cage et al., 2018 ; Hunt & Eisenberg, 2010 ; Lipson et al., 2019 ; Oswalt et al., 2020 ). The Healthy Minds Study 2018–2019, which collected data from 62,171 college students across the country, reports that 57% of students with positive anxiety or depression screens have not used counseling or therapy, and 64% of them have not taken any psychotropic medications within the past 12 months (Healthy Minds, 2019 ). Even when students had visited a counseling center, about one-fourth of them did not return for a scheduled appointment, and another 14.1% of students declined further services (CCMH, 2021 ). When asked the barriers that prevented them from seeking mental health services, students reported a lack of perceived needs for help (41%), preference to deal with mental health issues on their own or with families and friends (27%), a lack of time (23%), financial difficulty (15%), and a lack of information about where to go (10%). Students who never used mental health services were not sure if their insurance covered mental health treatment or were more skeptical about the effectiveness of treatment (Eisenberg et al., 2007a ). Stigma, students’ view about getting psychological help for themselves, is another significant barrier in seeking help and utilizing mental health services (Cage et al., 2018 ).

Current Study

While previous studies have advanced our understanding of student mental health and their usage of mental health services, we find a lack of empirical studies on these matters, particularly in the context of COVID-19. The goal of this study is to fill the gap with specific investigations into the prevalence and pattern of U.S. college student mental health with regard to counseling service use during the early phase of COVID-19. First, very few studies focus on college students and their mental health during the pandemic, and most nationwide surveys conducted in the U.S. did not use clinically validated tools to measure student mental health. In this study, we have employed the three clinical measures to assess stress, anxiety, and depression, which are the most prevalent mental health problems among college student populations (Leviness et al., 2017 ). Secondly, it should be noted that while empirical research conducted in U.S. institutions clearly demonstrate that college students were under serious mental distress during the pandemic (Huckins et al., 2020 ; Son et al., 2020 ; Kecojevic et al., 2020 ), such studies have relatively small sample sizes and rarely examined whether particular groups were more vulnerable than others during the pandemic. To overcome such limitations, the present study has recruited a relatively large number of students from all degree-seeking students enrolled at the study institution. Further, given the high prevalence of mental health issues, we have identified vulnerable student groups and provided suggestions regarding necessary support for these students in an effort to reduce mental health disparity. Lastly, previous studies (e.g., Healthy Minds, 2019 ) show that college students, even those with mental health issues, tended to underutilize counseling services before the pandemic. Yet, there is limited evidence regarding whether this continued to be the case during COVID-19. Our study provides empirical evidence regarding the utilization of mental health services during the early phase of the pandemic and identifies its predictors. Based on the preceding discussions, we address the following research questions in this study:

First, how prevalent were stress, anxiety, and depression among college students during the early phase of the pandemic? Second, to what extent have students utilized mental health services on- and off-campus? Third, what are the predictors of mental health symptoms and the usage of mental health services?

We collected data via a self-administered online survey. This survey was designed to measure student mental health, the usage of mental health services, and demographics. The survey was sent to all degree-seeking students enrolled in a public research university in Kentucky for the spring of 2020. An invitation email was first sent on March 23, which was two days after the university announced campus closure, and two more reminder emails were sent in mid-April and late-April. The survey was available until May 8th, which was the last day of the semester.

A total of 2691 students (out of 24,146 qualified undergraduate and graduate degree-seeking students enrolled for the semester) responded to the survey. The response rate was 11.14%, but this is acceptable as it is within the range of Internet survey response rates, which is anywhere from 1 to 30% (Wimmer & Dominick, 2006 ). We deleted responses from 632 students who did not answer any mental health questions, which left 2059 valid students for the analysis. In this study, we focused on undergraduate students because they are significantly different from graduate students in terms of demographics (e.g., racial composition, age, and income) and major stressors (Wyatt & Oswalt, 2013 ). As a result, 1412 undergraduate students are included in our sample. 90% of these students had complete data. The rest of students skipped a couple of questions (usually related to their residency) but answered most of the question. Thus, we conducted multiple imputation, created ten imputed data sets, and ran regression models using these imputed data (Allison, 2002 ). Our regression results using imputed data are qualitatively similar to the estimates using original data; however, for comparison, we also provided the regression estimates using original data in Appendix Tables 6 and and7. 7 . Please note that we still used original data for descriptive research questions (presented in Tables 1 , ,2, 2 , and and4) 4 ) to accurately describe the prevalence of mental health symptoms and use of counseling services.

Descriptive statistics of sample characteristics

Descriptive statistics for stress, anxiety, and depression prevalence

Usage of mental health services among students with moderate or severe symptoms

Ordinal logistic regression models for severity of mental health symptoms (original data)

Odds ratio are reported, and numbers in parentheses are standard error

+ p < 0.1, * p < 0.05, ** p < 0.01, *** p < 0.001

Logistic regression models predicting the usage of mental health services (original data)

+ p < 0.1, * p < 0.05, ** p < 0.01, *** p < 0.001

Table 1 provides descriptive statistics for students in our data. Female (73%), White (86%), and students who are below 25 years old (95%) are the vast majority of our sample. About one in four students are rural students and/or students from Appalachian areas (27%) and first-generation students (23%). Wealthier students (whose family income was $100,000 or more) make up about 44% of the sample (44%). Compared to the undergraduate student population at the study site, female students (56.3% at the study site) are overrepresented in our study. The proportion of White students is slightly higher in our sample (86%) than the study population (84%), and that of first-generation students is slightly lower in our sample (23%) than that in the study population (26%).

There are five key outcome variables for this study. The first three outcome variables are stress, anxiety, and depression, and the other two variables are the extent to which students used on-campus and off-campus mental health services for the academic year, respectively. Our mental health measures are well-established and widely used in a clinical setting. For stress, we used the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) that includes ten items asking students’ feelings and perceived stress measured on a 5-point Likert scale from 0 (strongly disagree) to 4 (strongly agree) (Cohen et al., 1983 ). Using the sum of scores from the ten items, the cut-off score for low, moderate, and high stress is 13, 26, and 40, respectively. PSS scale was used in hundreds of studies and validated in many languages (Samaha & Hawi, 2016 ). PSS also has a high internal consistency reliability. Of the recent studies that used the instrument to measure mental health of U.S. college students, Cronbach’s alpha was around 0.83 to 0.87, which exceeded the commonly used cut-off of 0.70 (Adams et al., 2016 ; Burke et al., 2016 ; Samaha & Hawi, 2016 ).

We used the General Anxiety Disorder 7-item (GAD-7) scale to measure anxiety. This is a brief self-report scale to identify probable cases of anxiety disorders (Spitzer et al., 2006 ). The GAD scores of 5, 10, and 15 are taken as the cut-off points for mild, moderate, and severe anxiety, respectively. In a clinical setting, anyone with a score of 10 or above are recommended for further evaluation. GAD is moderately good at screening three other common anxiety disorders - panic disorder (sensitivity 74%, specificity 81%), social anxiety disorder (sensitivity 72%, specificity 80%), and post-traumatic stress disorder (sensitivity 66%, specificity 81%) (Spitzer et al., 2006 ) In their recent study, Johnson, et al. ( 2019 ) validated that “the GAD-7 has excellent internal consistency, and the one-factor structure in a heterogeneous clinical population was supported” (p. 1).

Lastly, depression was assessed with the eight-item Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS) Depression Short Form (Pilkonis et al., 2014 ). A score less than 17 is considered as none to slight depression, a score between 17 and 21 is considered as mild depression, a score between 22 and 32 is considered as moderate depression, and a score of 33 or above is considered as severe depression. PROMIS depression scale is a universal, rather than a disease-specific, measure that was developed using item response theory to promote greater precision and reduce respondent burden (Shensa et al., 2018 ). The scale has been correlated and validated with other commonly used depression instruments, including the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CES-D), the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-II), and the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) (Lin et al., 2016 ).

When it comes to the usage of psychological and counseling services, we asked students to indicate the extent to which they used free on-campus resources (e.g., counseling center) and off-campus paid health professional services (e.g., psychiatrists) anytime during the academic year on a scale of 1 (never) to 5 (very often), respectively. These questions do not specifically ask if students utilized these services after the COVID-19 outbreak, but responses for these questions indicate whether and how often students had used any of these services for the academic year until they responded to our survey.

We also collected data about student demographics and characteristics including student gender, race or ethnicity, age, class levels (freshman, sophomore, junior, and senior), first generation student status (1 = neither parent has a bachelor’s degree, 0 = at least one parent with a bachelor’s degree), family income, residency (rural and/or Appalachian students, international students), GPAs, and perceived stigma about seeking counseling or therapy (i.e., “I am afraid of what my family and friends will say or think of me if I seek counseling/therapy”) measured on a 5-point Likert scale. We used these variables to see if they were associated with a high level of stress, anxiety, and depression and the usage of mental health services.

We used descriptive statistics, ordinal logistic regression, and logistic regression models in this study. To address the first and second research questions, we used descriptive statistics and presented the prevalence of stress, anxiety, and depression as well as the frequency of using mental health services. For the third research question, we adopted ordinal logistic regression and logistic regression models depending on outcome variables. We used ordinal logistic regression models to identify correlates of different levels of stress, anxiety, and depression, which were measured in ordinal variables (e.g., mild, moderate, and severe). For the usage of mental health service outcomes, we employed logistic regression models. Because more than two-thirds of students in the sample never utilized either type of mental health services, we re-coded the usage variables into binary variables (1 = used services, 0 = never used services) and ran logistic regression models.

Limitations

Our study is not without limitations. First, we do not claim a causal relationship in this study, but we describe the state of mental health for students soon after the COVID-19 outbreak. We acknowledge that many students may have suffered from mental health problems before the pandemic, with some experiencing escalation after the outbreak (e.g., Horn, 2020 ). Even if our study does not provide a causal relationship, we believe that it is important to measure and document student mental health during the pandemic so that practitioners can be aware of the seriousness of this issue and consider ways to better serve students. Secondly, our study results may not be applicable to students in other institutions or states. We collected data from a public research university in Kentucky where the number of confirmed cases and deaths were relatively lower than other states such as New York. The study site mainly serves traditional college students who attend college right after high school, who live on campus, and who do not have dependents. Therefore, mental health for students at other types of institutions or in other states could be different from what is presented in our study.

Prevalence of Stress, Anxiety, and Depression

Table 2 shows the prevalence of stress, anxiety, and depression. Overall, a majority of students experienced psychological distress during the early phase of the pandemic. When it comes to stress, about 63% of students had a moderate level of stress, and another 24.61% of students fell into a severe stress category. Only 12% of students had a low level of stress. In other words, more than eight in ten students in the survey experienced moderate to severe stress during the pandemic. This result is comparable to the Active Minds’ survey results that report 91% of college students reported experiencing feelings of stress and anxiety since the pandemic (Horn, 2020 ).

In terms of anxiety, approximately 24% and 21% of students in our study had moderate and severe anxiety disorders, respectively. Given that those who scored 10 or above on the GAD-7 scale (moderate to severe category) are recommended to meet with professionals (Spitzer et al., 2006 ), this finding implies that nearly half of students in this study needed to get professional help. This proportion of students with moderate to severe anxiety is almost double that for university students in China (e.g., Chang et al., 2020 ) or the United Arab Emirates soon after the COVID-19 outbreak (Saddik et al., 2020 ). Lastly, approximately 30% and 6% of students suffered from moderate and severe depression, respectively. These proportions are far higher than college students in China measured during the pandemic (Chang et al., 2020 ) but slightly higher than a nationwide sample of U.S. college students assessed before the pandemic (Healthy Minds, 2019 ). Given that our study measured these mental health symptoms for the first six weeks of the pandemic, we speculate that the proportion of students with moderate or severe depression would increase over time.

In order to explore predictors of a higher level of stress, anxiety, and depression, we ran ordinal logistic regression models as presented in Table 3 . Overall, it is clear and consistent that the odds of experiencing a higher level of stress, anxiety, and depression (e.g., severe than moderate, moderate than mild, etc.) were significantly greater for female students by a factor of 1.489, 1.723, and 1.246 than the odds for male students when other things were held constant. This gender difference in mental health symptoms is quite consistent with other studies before and during the pandemic (Eisenberg et al., 2007a ; Kecojevic et al., 2020 ). When it comes to race or ethnicity, the odds of experiencing a higher level of stress, anxiety, and depression for African-American students were almost as half as the odds for White students. However, there was no significant difference in the odds for Hispanic and Asian students compared to White students. Student class level was significantly related to stress and anxiety levels: The odds were greater for upper-class students than lower class students. This result is consistent with Kecojevic et al. ( 2020 ), which reported significantly higher levels of anxiety among upper-class students compared to freshman students. It may reflect that one of major stressors for college students during the pandemic is the uncertain future of their education and job prospects, which would be a bigger concern for upper-class students (Timely MD, n.d.).

Ordinal logistic regression models for severity of mental health symptoms (imputed data)

One’s rurality, family income, and GPA were significantly associated with the severity of mental health symptoms. The odds of experiencing a severe level of anxiety and depression were 1.325 and 1.270 times higher among rural students than urban and suburban students. With every one unit increase in family income or students’ GPAs, the odds of experiencing a more severe stress, anxiety, and depression significantly decreased. This result suggests that students from disadvantaged backgrounds were even more vulnerable to psychological distress during the early phase of the pandemic. The negative association between GPAs and mental distress levels was consistent with previous studies that showed that college students were very concerned about their academic performances and had difficulty in concentration during the early phase of the pandemic (Kecojevic et al., 2020 ; Son et al., 2020 ).

Usage of Mental Health Services

In Table 4 , we first describe the extent to which students with moderate to severe symptoms of stress, anxiety, or depression used mental health services on- and off-campus during the academic year. The university in this study has provided free counseling services for students, and the counseling services have continued to be available for students in the state via phone or Internet even after the university was closed after the outbreak. Table Table4 4 presents the frequency of students using on-campus mental health services (Panel A) and off-campus paid mental health services (Panel B) on a five-point scale. For this table, we limited the sample to students with moderate to severe symptoms of stress, anxiety, or depression to focus on students who were in need of these services. Surprisingly, a majority of these students never used mental health services on- and off-campus even when their stress, anxiety, or depression scores indicated that they needed professional help. More than 60% of students with moderate to severe symptoms never used on-campus services, and more than two-thirds of students never used off-campus mental health services. This underutilization of mental health resources is concerning but not surprising given that college students tended not to use counseling services before and during the pandemic as presented in previous studies (e.g., CCMH, 2021 ; Healthy minds, 2019 ; Son et al., 2020 ).

In order to explore predictors of the usage of mental health services, we ran logistic regression models as shown in Table 5 . We included all students in these regression models to see whether a severity of mental health symptoms was related to the usage of mental health services. Table Table5 5 presents the results for the usage of any mental health services, on-campus mental health services, and off-campus mental health services, respectively. Overall, stress, anxiety, and depression levels were positively associated with using mental health services on- and off-campus: With every one unit increase in each of these mental health symptoms, the odds of using on- and off-campus mental health services significantly increased. This result is relieving as it suggests that students who were in great need of these services actually used them. Other than mental health symptoms, there were different predictors for utilizing on-campus and off-campus services. African-American and Hispanic students were significantly more likely to use on-campus services than White students. The odds of using on-campus mental health services were 3.916 times higher for African-American students and 2.032 times higher for Hispanic students than White students. This result is interesting given that the odds of having severe mental distress were significantly lower for African-American students than White students, according to Table Table3. 3 . It may suggest that African-American students reported relatively lower levels of mental health symptoms as they had been using on-campus mental health services at higher rates. The odds of using on-campus mental health services were 2.269 times higher for international students than domestic students, but there was no significant difference in the odds of using off-campus services between the two groups. Students’ age was significantly associated with the usage of on-campus and off-campus mental health services: The odds of using on-campus services were significantly lower for older students, while the odds of utilizing off-campus services were significantly higher for older students compared to younger students. When it comes to using off-campus mental health services, the odds were significantly higher for female students, older students, and upper-class students than male students, younger students, and lower classman students. Students who were concerned with stigma associated with getting counseling and therapy were less likely to utilize off-campus mental health services.

Logistic regression models predicting the usage of mental health services (imputed data)

Discussions

Our paper describes the prevalence of stress, anxiety, and depression among a sample of undergraduate students in a public research university during an early phase of the COVID-19 outbreak. Using well-established clinical tools, we find that stress, anxiety, and depression were the pervasive problems for college student population during the pandemic. In particular, female, rural, low-income, and academically low-performing students were more vulnerable to psychological distress. Despite its prevalence, about two-thirds of students with moderate to severe symptoms had not utilized mental health services on- and off-campus. These key findings are very concerning considering that mental health is strongly associated with student well-being, academic outcomes, and retention (Bruffaerts et al., 2018 ; Wyatt et al., 2017 ).

Above all, we reiterate that college student mental health is in crisis during the pandemic and call for increased attention and interventions on this issue. More than eight in ten students in our study had moderate to severe stress, and more than one thirds of students experienced moderate to severe anxiety and/or depression. This is much worse than American college students before the COVID-19 (e.g., American College Health Association, 2020 ) and postsecondary students in other countries during the pandemic (e.g., Chang et al., 2020 ; Saddik et al., 2020 ). In particular, rural students, low-income students, and students with low GPAs were more vulnerable to psychological distress. These students have already faced multiple barriers in pursuing higher education (e.g., Adelman, 2006 ; Byun et al., 2012 ), and additional mental health issues would put them at a high risk of dropping out of college. Lastly, although they were dropped from the main analysis due to the small sample size ( n = 17), it is still noteworthy that a significantly higher proportion of LGBTQ students in our sample experienced severe stress, anxiety, and depression, which calls for significant attention and care for these students.

Despite the high prevalence of mental health problems, a majority of students with moderate to severe symptoms never used mental health services during the academic year, even though the university provided free counseling services. This result could be partially explained by the fact that the university’s counseling center switched to virtual counseling since the COVID-19 outbreak, which was available only for students who stayed within the state due to the license restriction across state boarders. This transition could limit access to necessary care for out-of-state students, international students, or students in remote areas where telecommunications or the internet connection is not very stable. Even worse, these students may also have limited access to off-campus health professionals due to the geographic restrictions (rural students), limited insurance coverage (international students), or a lack of financial means. Our results support that international students relied significantly more on on-campus resources than domestic students. We urge practitioners and policy makers to provide additional mental health resources that are accessible, affordable, and available for students regardless of their locations, insurance, and financial means, such as informal peer conversation groups or regular check-ins via phone calls or texts.

It is also important to point out that the overall usage of both on-campus and off-campus mental health services was generally low even before the COVID-19 outbreak. Previous studies consistently report that college students underutilize mental health services not only because of a lack of information, financial means, or available seats but also because of a paucity of perceived needs or stigma related to revealing one’s mental health issues to others (Cage et al., 2018 ; Eisenberg et al., 2007a ; Son et al., 2020 ). Our results support this finding by demonstrating that stigma one associated with getting counseling or therapy negatively influenced their utilization of off-campus mental health services. Considering these barriers, practitioners should deliver a clear message publicly that mental health problems are very common among college students and that it is natural and desirable to seek professional help if students feel stressed out, anxious, or depressed. In order to identify students with mental health needs and raise awareness among students, it can be also considered to administer a short and validated assessment in classes that enroll a large number of students (e.g., in a freshman seminar course), inform the entire class of how to interpret their scores on their own, and provide a list of available resources for those who may be interested. This would give students a chance to self-check their mental health without revealing their identities and seek help, if necessary.

We recommend that future researchers longitudinally track students and see whether the prevalence of mental health problems changes over time. Longitudinal studies are generally scarce in student mental health literature, but the timing of assessment can influence mental health symptoms reported (Huckins et al., 2020 ). The survey for our study was sent out right after the university of this study was closed due to the pandemic. It is possible that students may adjust to the outbreak over time and feel better, or that their stress may add up as the disease progresses. Tracking students over time can illustrate whether and how their mental health changes, especially depending on the way the pandemic unfolds combined with the cycle of an academic year. Secondly, there should be more studies that evaluate the effect of an intervention program on student mental health. Hunt and Eisenberg ( 2010 ) point out that little has been known about the efficacy of intervention programs while almost every higher education institution offers multiple mental health resources and counseling programs. During this pandemic, it can be a unique opportunity to implement virtual mental health interventions and evaluate their efficacy. Future research on virtual counseling and mental health interventions would guide practices to accommodate mental health needs for students who exclusively take online courses or part-time students who spend most of their time off campus. Lastly, we recommend future research investigate the extent of mental health service utilization among students with mental health needs. Existing surveys and studies on this topic usually rely on responses from those who visit a counseling center or students who respond to their surveys. Neither of these groups accurately represents those who are in need of professional help because there may be a number of students who are not aware of their mental health issues or do not want to reveal it. An effective treatment should first start with identifying those in need.

Our study highlights that college students are stressed, anxious, and depressed in the wake of COVID-19. Although college students have constantly reported mental health issues (e.g., American College Health Association, 2020 ), it is remarkable to note that the broad spectrum of COVID-19-related challenges may mitigate the overall quality of their psychological wellbeing. This is particularly the case for at-risk students (rural, international, low-income, and low-achieving students) who have already faced multiple challenges. We also present that a majority of students with mental health needs have never utilized on- and off-campus services possibly due to the limited access or potential stigma associated with mental health care. Systematic efforts with policy makers and practitioners are requested in this research to overcome the potential barriers. All these findings, based on the clinical assessment of student mental health during the early phase of the pandemic, will benefit scholars and practitioners alike. As many colleges and universities across the country have re-opened their campus for the 2020–2021 academic year, students, especially those who take in-person classes, would be concerned about the disease and continuing their study in this unprecedented time. On top of protecting students from the disease by promoting wearing masks and social distancing, it is imperative to pay attention to their mental health and make sure that they feel safe and healthy. To this end, higher education institutions should proactively reach out to all student populations, identify students at risk of mental health issues, and provide accessible and affordable care.

Biographies

is Assistant Professor of Higher Education at the University of Kentucky. She studies higher education policy, program, and practice and their effects on student success.

is an Assistant Professor of Integrated Strategic Communication at the University of Kentucky. She earned her Ph.D. in Media and Information Studies at Michigan State University. Her research interests include prosocial campaigns, consumer wellbeing, and civic engagement.

is an associate professor in the Division of Biomedical Informatics in the College of Medicine at the University of Kentucky. Dr. Kim’s current research includes: consumer health informatics, personal health information management, and health information seeking behaviors. She uses clinical natural language professing techniques and survey methodologies to better understand patients’ health knowledge and their health information uses and behaviors.

Author’s Contribution

The order of the authors in the title page reflects the share of each author’s contribution to the manuscript.

Data Availability

Code availability, declarations.

The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

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Contributor Information

Jungmin Lee, Email: [email protected] .

Hyun Ju Jeong, Email: [email protected] .

Sujin Kim, Email: ude.yku@miknijus .

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Ultimate List of 265 Research Topics for College Students

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

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

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

Is Research Important?

Art Research Topics
Biology Research Topics
Educational Topics
Environmental Topics

Gender Research Topics

Law Research Topics

Literature Research Topics

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

Sports Research Paper Topics

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

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

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

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

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

What Are the Purposes of Research?

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

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

Why Is It important?

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

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

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

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

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

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

Art Research Paper Topics

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

Why should we not overestimate the importance of studying art ?

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

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

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

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

Biology Research Topics for College Students

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

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

What are the attributes of a research paper in biology?

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

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

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

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

Educational Research Topics for Students

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

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

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

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

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

Environmental Research Topics

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Law Research Paper Topics

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

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

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

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

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

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

Music Research Paper Topics

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

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

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

Psychology Research Paper Topics

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

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

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

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

Religion Research Paper Topics

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

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

Science Research Topics for College Students

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

We suggest you the following science research paper topics:

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

Social Science Research Topics

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Narrow Your Topic

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

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

Let’s look at three research topic examples:

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

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

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

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

Evaluate Sources

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

What are the tips for source evaluation?

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

3 Main Tips on Writing a Thesis Statement

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

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

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

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

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

What Is Research? — Hampshire College
Definition of Research — Western Sydney University
The Importance of Research to Students — Cleveland University Kansas City
Guidelines for Writing Art History Research Papers — UA Little Rock University
Areas of Research in Biology — Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Environmental Science: Current Research — Herald Scholarly Open Access
Thesis Statements — University of North Carolina
Thesis Statement Tips — Purdue University
What Is Education Research — National Center for Education Research
Research in the Faculty of Music — University of Cambridge
Research: Religion and Society Specialism — University of Birmingham
Sociology Research Areas — Cornell University
Narrowing a Topic Idea — UCS Libraries
Developing a Research Question — The University of Arizona
Organizing Academic Research Paper — Sacred Heart University
How to Write a Conclusion for a Research Paper: Indeed
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200 Easy Research Paper Topics for College Students in 2021

Writing research papers is a must-do step in any educational process at college. In many cases, professors allow students to be creative with choosing a topic to complete this type of academic assignment. This privilege usually sounds great at first glance. However, thousands of learners might feel overwhelmed with a wide choice of interesting research topics they can find online.

The truth is that you can easily get lost in countless research paper topics available on different websites. Moreover, exploring and narrowing down the solutions for your essay might appear too challenging. The reason is that many research topics for college available online are outdated or contain too broad concepts for the research. To make your investigation process easier, we’ve collected a list of 200 new and innovative topics for composing an impressive research essay, presentation, or report. No worries if you have little writing experience or creativity - this guide will help you choose a fresh solution for your assignments in no time.

How to Choose Research Study Ideas for College Students

If the professor gives you complete freedom to pick up a topic, we have good news for you. Now, you can select a field or niche according to your individual preferences and background knowledge! There is no need to compose a boring paper that will make you yawn during the entire writing process. However, make sure you follow some basic rules of choosing good research paper topics below.

Stick to Your Favorite Topic

Are you fond of cars? Feel free to research the benefits and drawbacks of electric automobiles. Can’t imagine your life without sports? Explore the dope issue in professional sports. The key to developing a successful paper is to write about the topic that makes you feel excited. If you write about something you show zero interest in, the process will likely slow down and become more challenging. Therefore, always try to find something inspiring.

Choose Understandable Solutions

Many students are interested in modern technologies or space exploration. However, writing on these topics requires having advanced knowledge in the corresponding areas. Still, few learners can boast of having a deep understanding of artificial intelligence, computer programming, or space technologies. That is why it is better to look for easier and more comprehensive topics to write about. As a result, you will reduce the amount of time for research and cope with the college task faster.

Make Sure You Will Find Enough Information

When choosing ideas for a research paper, you need to make sure there are at least several reliable sources you can use for researching. The fact is that if you pick a truly out-of-the-box solution, you might fail to find enough relevant information about it. The same rule works for outdated topics. In case you select a played-out idea, you will hardly find new and up-to-date sources to support your idea. Here is a little hint for you: if you are looking for the relevant information for a chosen idea but fail to find anything suitable, it is better to change your topic.

Look for Clear and Understandable Concepts and Issues

When searching for the best research paper topics, don’t forget to think about your audience. What does it mean? The fact is that it is necessary to pick up a solution that is completely understandable for both you and the readers. In other words, avoid sticking to extremely difficult or complex topics that might make your audience feel confused. In case you use some specific terms in your paper that might be unfamiliar to the common reader, it is better to explain them briefly.

Try to Be Specific

Picking up too broad topics for research papers is one of the most common mistakes of hundreds of students. To avoid this issue, it is better to stay away from too general solutions that can be described from dozens of sides. Otherwise, you might go down in tons of diverse data and arguments you can use for your paper. Being precise and choosing only the most powerful facts are among the features of any successful student.

Look For Something Unique

Picking up topics for a research paper some of your classmates are also writing about is never the best choice. It is better to select an idea you will be able to describe from an unusual perspective. If you prefer to cover simple and comprehensive topics, it will be great to try an innovative approach to describing facts. However, don’t experiment with the paper’s structure and focus on providing exclusive and original arguments only. The best research academic papers are intriguing and inspiring.

Be In Trend

There is nothing new that trendy topics attract more attention from the audience. The reason is that they have a huge unexplored potential and amazing research opportunities. If you pick up an emerging topic, you will likely get higher grades for your academic assignment.

Simple Research Topics: Education

If you are still wondering which idea is the best one for composing your research paper, it might be good to write about education . The truth is that this topic is one of the easiest to write about. Moreover, you will effortlessly find countless relevant sources to support your ideas related to education. Feel free to grab one of these handy solutions you can put into practice when writing your academic paper.

Are Standardized Tests Good to Evaluate the Student’s Knowledge?
How to Make Education More Accessible for Students With Disabilities?
Should Tuition Become Free at All Colleges in the United States?
How Can Schools and Colleges Support International Students?
Becoming a Student and a Successful Businessman: Is It Possible?
The Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on the Education Sector
The Benefits of Social Networking at College and University
The Innovations in the Education System of the United States
Is It Possible to Start Building a Career During Studies?
How Can Schools Stop Violence Among Students?
Should American Learners Have a “Gap Year”?
The Analysis of the Finnish Education System
Homeschooling vs. Learning in the Classroom
British vs. American Education Systems
The Teaching Technologies of the Future
Should College Students Have a Part-Time Job?
Is There Any Discrimination at High Schools?
Should Schools Have Sexual Education Lessons?
Most Common Issues of Bilingual Education
Why Do Students Need to Learn Religion at School?
How to Stop Cheating on Exams
Student Loans: Pros and Cons
The Pros and Cons of Same-Sex Classrooms
The Development of Women’s Right to Education
Montessori Method: Advantages and Drawbacks
Effective Ways to Improve the Quality of Teaching
How Can the Issue of “Useless Classes” Be Solved?
Should Colleges Become Business-Driven?
How to Improve Modern Elementary Education?
Should School Children Wear Uniforms?
How to Stop Hazing at High Schools?

Unique Research Topics on Health

To put it short, these solutions remain topical among young learners for years. If you would like to select a comprehensive and brilliant solution for your research paper, choosing topics related to health might help you finish your essay fast. What to research? Here is a list of ideas you can start writing about right now.

The Impact of Drugs on the Human Body
How to Stop Consuming Too Much Junk Food?
How Much Fruit and Vegetables Should a Common Student Consume per Day?
The Correlation Between Mood and the Health of the Immune System
Is It Possible to Stop the COVID-19 Spread in All Countries?
Why Do Many Girls Suffer From Anorexia During Their Studies?
The Mental Issues of the Most Well-Known Criminals
The Impact of Classical Music on Overall Well-Being
Main Reasons for Facing Serious Allergies
The Importance of Regular Health Screenings
Ways to Prevent Serious Mental Diseases
Kids’ Vaccination: Advantages and Risks
Birth Control Issues in Developed Countries
The Impact of Breastfeeding on the Kids’ Health
The Impact of Insomnia on the Quality of Life
Most Effective Ways to Control Obesity
Top Reasons to Consume More Fats Regularly
Artificial Vitamins: Should Everyone Consume Them?
The Role of Nutrition for Maintaining Brain Health
How to Decrease Stress Levels of Teenagers
The Pros and Cons of Reconstructive Surgery
Acupuncture: The Hidden Health Benefits
The Most Important Aspects of Neonatal Nutrition
Impact of Emotional Stability on Human Health
Uncommon Solutions to Improve Short-Term Memory
Should Elementary Schools Have Homework?
The Psychology of Gifted People
Top Issues of Cardiovascular Care
How to Keep Your Brain Healthy
The Impact of Sports on Human Health
The Future of Natural Medicine
New Strategies for Coma Recovery
Basic Rules of Sun Safety
The Dangers of Low-Fat Diets
The Future of Antibiotics Therapies
Pros and Cons of Dietary Supplements
Non-Medical Cancer Treatments
Most Effective Ways to Make Your Brain Work Harder
Religion and Health
Benefits of Swimming
Eating Disorders

Easy Research Paper Topics: Environment

If you would like to follow the path of Greta Thunberg, it might be good to start your way with composing papers related to environment protection and ecology. Explore the main issues in this field and come up with an impressive research paper in a matter of a couple of hours.

The Main Dangers of Air Pollution
Greenhouse Effect: Myths vs. Reality
Ways to Stop Marine Pollution
Advantages and Drawbacks of Using Pesticides in Agriculture
GMO Products vs. Organic Food
The Importance of “Green Programs” in Developing Countries
The Problem of Radioactive Waste Disposal
Should Environmental Regulations Become Stricter?
Is the Problem of Global Warming Exaggerated?
The Problem of Water Deficit in Developing Countries
Ways to Protect Endangered Wildlife
How Can an Individual Help Save an Environment?
Why Should Children Learn About Global Warming?
The Advantages of Solar Technologies
The Main Dangers of Producing Too Much Plastic
How to Start Using Eco-Friendly Products?
The Changes in the Climate of Earth in the 21st Century
The Analysis of the Deforestation Levels in South America
How to Improve Access to Clean Water in All Countries Globally?
Is It Possible to Manage Overpopulation?
The Prospects of Nuclear Energy

Interesting Topics to Research: Technology and Media

Modern technologies are developing at a breakneck speed. The new solutions, apps, and approaches revolutionize different industries and elevate the quality of lives of millions of people. If you choose a nice solution about innovation and computing for your essay, you will definitely have a chance to attract the attention of the audience. Top research papers topics ideas are right here below!

The Possible Ways to Develop Artificial Intelligence Systems
How Will Smartphones Change in the Near Future?
The Benefits of Cloud Solutions in Storing Data
Top Areas to Use Drone Technologies
Ecommerce Solutions vs. Local Retailers
Online Currencies and Their Impact on the Global Financial System
How to Avoid the Dangers of the Dark Web?
Will Self-Driving Cars Become Common in the Future?
Privacy Issues Online
The Future of Blogging
Online vs. Offline Communication
Will People Colonize Mars?
Nanomedicine: Myths and Realities
Online Payments and Paper Money
Breaking the Sound Barrier
Is Social Media a New Technology?
Technologies That Might Impact Human Behavior
Safest Ways to Store Information in the 21st Century
How Do Modern Technologies Allow People to Work From Home?
The Impact of Modern Technologies on Globalization
The Perspectives of Online Gaming
The Impact of Advertisements on Kids and Teens
Newest Technologies Used in Surgery
Internet Addiction and the Ways to Prevent It
Censorship Control

Hot Topics for Research Paper: Family and Communication

Family is an essential part of our lives. How to set up healthy family relationships? What is the role of parents in raising children? Feel free to use any of these ideas for your research paper. By the way, good research topics related to communication are also collected in this paragraph.

Marital Rape and Its Impact on the Personality
Impact of Divorce on Kids and Teens
How to Stop Abusive Relationships?
How to Make Your Children Happier?
Effective Ways to Solve Conflicts in Families
How to Improve Communication Between Siblings?
Role of Grandparents in Raising Children
Lack of Communication Between Family Members
Why Do Children Kill Abusive Parents?
The Impact of Parents’ Depression on Their Children
Happy Childhood and Leadership
Advantages of Having a Big Family
Drugs and Alcoholism in Modern Families
Impact of Home Life on Child Development
Do All Children Need to Respect Their Parents?
The Criticism of Freud’s Theories
Important Parental Rights
Gender Roles in the Family
Basic Family Values
Domestic Abuse

Easy and Interesting Research Paper Topics

Many students face difficulties when choosing an idea for composing an academic paper. If you are not good at writing on education, health, business, or family relationships, it might be great to search for something more exciting. Here is a list of diverse topics you might find good-looking.

The Role of International Health Organizations in Modern Society
Corporate and Business Laws: Most Common Issues
Why Do Many People Watch TV Shows and Series?
Future of Chinese Economy
The Future of Video Streaming Services
Women’s Rights in the Modern World
How to Support Global Peacekeeping
Gender Stereotypes in Advertising
Classical Hollywood Cinema
Landmark Court Decisions
Possible Ways to Use 3d Printers
Portrayals of Superheroes in Movies
Cannabis Legalization: Pros and Cons
Should Companies Stop Animal Testing?
Criminalizing Protests
Socialism vs. Capitalism
How Has Feminism Changed Over the Years?
Origins of Racial Discrimination
Should Modern People Read More?
Top Effective Promotion Solutions for Startups
Crowdfunding & Outsourcing
Policies That Are Related to Transgenders
Role of Cultural Revolutions
How to Decrease Crime Rates in Big Cities?
What Are the Benefits and Drawbacks of Fracking?
Freedom of Religion: Basic Issues
Body Cameras for Police Officers: Pros and Cons
Should Penalties for Drunk Driving Become Stricter?
Abstinence Program: Do They Truly Work?
The Importance of Writing Research Papers at Colleges
Effective Techniques to Erase Bad Memories
Ways to Solve the Immigration Crisis
Stereotypes in Modern Culture
Gun Safety and Control Policies

Top Tips to Writing a Winning Research Paper

Picking up an excellent topic is only about 20% of the job you need to do to compose a flawless research paper. What’s next? Are there any prompts that might help you finish your assignment in no time? Sure! Our experts are ready to share some secrets on composing fantastic essays within the shortest terms.

Double-Check the Professor’s Instructions

The secret truth is that there are many types of research papers you might face during your studies. Consequently, these papers might have different requirements and writing rules you need to follow. How to find out how to compose your essay? The easiest way to discover all details is to read the instructions shared by the professor. Although it is a must step all students need to do before they start writing, many learners often forget about this easy rule. By the way, what information can you find in the college writing instructions? As a rule, you will find these types of data:

deadlines for completing assignments;
formatting styles;
the tone of voice you need to use;
assignment goals;
length specifications;
list of topics;
key features for your writing;
submission method;
most common mistakes you need to avoid.

It is recommended to read the instructions at least a couple of times to make sure you understand all the requirements and specifications of your research paper. Avoid starting to write your essay before you’ve learned its basic rules.

Be Realistic

Many students are very confident about their research and writing skills. Therefore, thousands of learners still believe they can effortlessly develop a top-notch research paper in just a couple of hours. However, even professional writers can’t compose a superior 3000-word essay in just an hour.

Therefore, it is vital to be realistic when setting up your individual deadlines and creating writing schedules to cope with your academic assignments. Even if you choose current research topics that are incredibly easy to write about, you will still need to do advanced research, choose trustworthy sources, and pick up the most impressive arguments for your paper. All these tasks might take you plenty of time.

It is also not recommended to write research papers at the last moment. First, you might fail to meet the deadline. Second, you might easily come up with poor quality writing because of being unattentive. Third, you will hardly have enough time to proofread and edit your essay. Fourth, when in a hurry, you might copy and paste data from different sources into your paper. This will inevitably lead to extremely high plagiarism levels. All these issues might lead to receiving low grades for your academic assignment.

Follow the Rules

There are many writing rules you will need to follow. However, the basic one is to choose a traditional structure of an academic paper. In other words, your research paper will need to have an introduction, body paragraphs, and the conclusion. Avoid being creative when choosing the structure of your paper - it is the worst place for showing off your innovation. If you would like to stand out from the crowd of other learners, it is better to select an out-of-the-box topic for your assignment.

Proofread and Edit Your Paper

Many students are so tired of doing the research and writing that they often forget to proofread their papers. However, this is an important step in completing any type of academic assignment. If you proofread your essay, you can easily detect dozens of inconsistencies, mistakes, and typos. Moreover, you can also find some repetitive phrases, sentences, or facts in your paper. All these issues can drastically worsen your quality of writing. Even if you are sure your writing is 100% excellent, make sure to proofread it before passing it to the professor.

Check Originality

Plagiarism is a true nightmare of any diligent student. How to avoid this serious issue when composing your academic paper? First, make sure to share the results of your analysis uniquely and uncommonly. Second, use citations carefully. Third, check your essay for plagiarism online! You can find dozens of plagiarism detecting tools and utilities designed for students on many websites. Feel free to use a couple of solutions to make sure your essay is fresh and original. If you suddenly find out your paper has a high plagiarism level, make sure to make significant modifications and be more original. After that, double-check your essay once again.

The Best Way to Get a Perfect Research Paper

There are plenty of important research topics you can use in your academic writing. But what if you’ve chosen a great idea but fail to compose a unique and flawless paper? Is there any solution if you don’t have enough time to meet the professor's deadline? Sure!

Thousands of students fail to deliver college or university assignments on time. The reasons for this issue might significantly vary. Some learners are not skilled writers, while others might not have a deep understanding of the chosen field. Moreover, many students are trying to build careers or dedicate all their free time to sports. Anyway, failure to meet deadlines might worsen the student’s academic performance and other problems related to studies. The good news is that you can avoid facing all these issues!

Our professional writers are always ready to help you complete any type of research paper within the shortest terms. You don’t need to provide any reasons for asking for writing help - we understand the students’ pain and can provide you with pro assistance anytime. Just place an order on our website, choose the deadline, and forget about all your learning issues. You will get a perfectly written academic paper right when you need it. We have thousands of happy customers and impressive guarantees, so you can always trust our service. We value each customer and always deliver superior papers to each of our clients.

ResearchWorks Home

Student Research Papers

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Built environments, college of [0], communications, department of [14], comparative history of ideas program [20], disability studies [1], earth and space sciences [89], english, department of [1], foster school of business [0], friday harbor laboratories [707], gender, women and sexuality studies, department of [22], geography, dept. of [5], henry m. jackson school of international studies [108], history, department of [8], ischool [3], japan studies [4], linguistics [7], materials science and engineering [25], mathematics, department of [0], oceanography, school of [337], speech and hearing sciences department [1], summer institute in the arts and humanities [26], uw law school [1], collections in this community, archaeological heritage master's capstone projects [0], daniel j. evans school of public policy & governance [4], library research award for undergraduates [176], museology master's theses [81], physiology and biophysics, department of [2], population health research award for undergraduates [3], uw school of medicine [1], recent submissions, effects of vessel disturbance on harbor seal (phoca vitulina) abundance and behavior at yellow island and goose island, wa, usa , compliance to the voluntary no-go zones off lime kiln point state park: efficacy of a southern resident killer whale (orcinus orca) conservation strategy , assessing the abundance and movement of marine birds during a range of tidal currents at cattle point, san juan island , comparative behavioral and diversity studies of shorebirds in marine and freshwater habitats at san juan island , effects of time, tide, and currents on pacific great blue heron (ardea herodias fannini) abundance, behavior, prey, and strike rates at false bay, san juan island , implications of bald eagle (haliaeetus leucocephalus) predation on the goose island glaucous-winged gull (larus glaucescens) nesting colony , impact of time and tidal current speed on alcid abundance and behavior in san juan channel , floating kelp rafts as indicators of aggregation zones within the san juan archipelago , characterizing seasonal dormancy and the physiological threshold for survival in pacific sand lance (ammodytes personatus) , exploring mixed layer dynamics and light as limiting factors in the diatom community in the sji , assessing marine heatwave impacts on the pelagic ecosystem of the san juan archipelago , dietary and spatial analysis of salmon in san juan archipelago, puget sound, and alaska , wall obstacles impact escape response latency and directionality in pacific staghorn sculpin , mechanisms of resilience: contextualizing the health of subtidal zostera marina meadows around the san juan islands, washington , summer fog frequency patterns and impact on intertidal organisms around washington coast from goes-17 satellite imagery, field photos, and field sensors , comparing the impacts of human disturbance and marine preserve status in the intertidal community , why are you so defensive investigating the correlation between risk-taking behaviors and defensive morphology of marine three-spined stickleback, gasterosteus aculeatus , physiological responses to water temperature and flow in three marine mussel species , assessing the impact of heatwave exposure on the swimming performance, kinematics, and metabolism of a nearshore marine fish, cymatogaster aggregata , efficiency is not always the name of the game: pile perch prefer to swim slower than their optimal speed .

Journal of Student Research

Journal of Student Research (JSR) is an Academic, Multidisciplinary, and Faculty-reviewed Journal (Houston, Texas) devoted to the Rapid Dissemination of Current Research Published by High School Edition , Undergraduate and Graduate students.

Articles Indexed in Scholarly Databases

The journal seeks articles that are novel, integrative, and accessible to a broad audience, including an array of disciplines. The content of the journal ranges from Applied research to Theoretical research. In general, papers on all topics are welcome to submit. The journal uses an automated process from manuscript submission to publication. Manuscript submission, peer review, and publication are all handled online, and the journal automates all clerical steps during peer review.

Trusted By Student Authors Globally

Focus and Scope

Students strive to be successful at publications, and with JSR, authors aspiring to publish will receive scholarly feedback after the reviews of their submissions are received. This feedback will help authors identify areas of improvement to their submission and help them better understand the process to be successful at publication. Once published, we strive to provide a global platform for our authors to showcase their work.

Faculty-Refereed Review Process

This journal uses a double-blind review, which means that both the reviewer and author identities are concealed from the reviewers, and vice versa, throughout the review process. Authors need to ensure that their manuscripts do not give away their identity to facilitate this. To find out more about the review process, please visit the Author Guidelines page. We invite teachers and faculty interested in reviewing articles for this journal; please visit our Reviewers page for more information.

Open Access Policy

This journal provides access to its published content on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge. Learn more about Open Access .

Authors Retain Copyright

Articles published in this journal are under a Creative Commons License , and the authors retain the copyright to their work.

Announcements

Call for papers: volume 13 issue 3.

If you are an undergraduate or graduate student at a college or university aspiring to publish, we are accepting submissions. Submit Your Article Now!

Deadline: 11:59 p.m. May 31, 2024

Research Paper Examples

Research paper examples are of great value for students who want to complete their assignments timely and efficiently. If you are a student in the university, your first stop in the quest for research paper examples will be the campus library where you can get to view the research sample papers of lecturers and other professionals in diverse fields plus those of fellow students who preceded you in the campus. Many college departments maintain libraries of previous student work, including large research papers, which current students can examine.

Embark on a journey of academic excellence with iResearchNet, your premier destination for research paper examples that illuminate the path to scholarly success. In the realm of academia, where the pursuit of knowledge is both a challenge and a privilege, the significance of having access to high-quality research paper examples cannot be overstated. These exemplars are not merely papers; they are beacons of insight, guiding students and scholars through the complex maze of academic writing and research methodologies.

At iResearchNet, we understand that the foundation of academic achievement lies in the quality of resources at one’s disposal. This is why we are dedicated to offering a comprehensive collection of research paper examples across a multitude of disciplines. Each example stands as a testament to rigorous research, clear writing, and the deep understanding necessary to advance in one’s academic and professional journey.

Access to superior research paper examples equips learners with the tools to develop their own ideas, arguments, and hypotheses, fostering a cycle of learning and discovery that transcends traditional boundaries. It is with this vision that iResearchNet commits to empowering students and researchers, providing them with the resources to not only meet but exceed the highest standards of academic excellence. Join us on this journey, and let iResearchNet be your guide to unlocking the full potential of your academic endeavors.

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Get 10% off with 24start discount code, what is a research paper.

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Importance of Research Paper Examples

Research Paper Writing Services

A Sample Research Paper on Child Abuse

A research paper represents the pinnacle of academic investigation, a scholarly manuscript that encapsulates a detailed study, analysis, or argument based on extensive independent research. It is an embodiment of the researcher’s ability to synthesize a wealth of information, draw insightful conclusions, and contribute novel perspectives to the existing body of knowledge within a specific field. At its core, a research paper strives to push the boundaries of what is known, challenging existing theories and proposing new insights that could potentially reshape the understanding of a particular subject area.

The objective of writing a research paper is manifold, serving both educational and intellectual pursuits. Primarily, it aims to educate the author, providing a rigorous framework through which they engage deeply with a topic, hone their research and analytical skills, and learn the art of academic writing. Beyond personal growth, the research paper serves the broader academic community by contributing to the collective pool of knowledge, offering fresh perspectives, and stimulating further research. It is a medium through which scholars communicate ideas, findings, and theories, thereby fostering an ongoing dialogue that propels the advancement of science, humanities, and other fields of study.

Research papers can be categorized into various types, each with distinct objectives and methodologies. The most common types include:

Analytical Research Paper: This type focuses on analyzing different viewpoints represented in the scholarly literature or data. The author critically evaluates and interprets the information, aiming to provide a comprehensive understanding of the topic.
Argumentative or Persuasive Research Paper: Here, the author adopts a stance on a contentious issue and argues in favor of their position. The objective is to persuade the reader through evidence and logic that the author’s viewpoint is valid or preferable.
Experimental Research Paper: Often used in the sciences, this type documents the process, results, and implications of an experiment conducted by the author. It provides a detailed account of the methodology, data collected, analysis performed, and conclusions drawn.
Survey Research Paper: This involves collecting data from a set of respondents about their opinions, behaviors, or characteristics. The paper analyzes this data to draw conclusions about the population from which the sample was drawn.
Comparative Research Paper: This type involves comparing and contrasting different theories, policies, or phenomena. The aim is to highlight similarities and differences, thereby gaining a deeper understanding of the subjects under review.
Cause and Effect Research Paper: It explores the reasons behind specific actions, events, or conditions and the consequences that follow. The goal is to establish a causal relationship between variables.
Review Research Paper: This paper synthesizes existing research on a particular topic, offering a comprehensive analysis of the literature to identify trends, gaps, and consensus in the field.

Understanding the nuances and objectives of these various types of research papers is crucial for scholars and students alike, as it guides their approach to conducting and writing up their research. Each type demands a unique set of skills and perspectives, pushing the author to think critically and creatively about their subject matter. As the academic landscape continues to evolve, the research paper remains a fundamental tool for disseminating knowledge, encouraging innovation, and fostering a culture of inquiry and exploration.

Browse Sample Research Papers

iResearchNet prides itself on offering a wide array of research paper examples across various disciplines, meticulously curated to support students, educators, and researchers in their academic endeavors. Each example embodies the hallmarks of scholarly excellence—rigorous research, analytical depth, and clear, precise writing. Below, we explore the diverse range of research paper examples available through iResearchNet, designed to inspire and guide users in their quest for academic achievement.

Anthropology Research Paper Examples

Our anthropology research paper examples delve into the study of humanity, exploring cultural, social, biological, and linguistic variations among human populations. These papers offer insights into human behavior, traditions, and evolution, providing a comprehensive overview of anthropological research methods and theories.

Archaeology Research Paper
Forensic Anthropology Research Paper
Linguistics Research Paper
Medical Anthropology Research Paper
Social Problems Research Paper

Art Research Paper Examples

The art research paper examples feature analyses of artistic expressions across different cultures and historical periods. These papers cover a variety of topics, including art history, criticism, and theory, as well as the examination of specific artworks or movements.

Performing Arts Research Paper
Music Research Paper
Architecture Research Paper
Theater Research Paper
Visual Arts Research Paper

Cancer Research Paper Examples

Our cancer research paper examples focus on the latest findings in the field of oncology, discussing the biological mechanisms of cancer, advancements in diagnostic techniques, and innovative treatment strategies. These papers aim to contribute to the ongoing battle against cancer by sharing cutting-edge research.

Breast Cancer Research Paper
Leukemia Research Paper
Lung Cancer Research Paper
Ovarian Cancer Research Paper
Prostate Cancer Research Paper

Communication Research Paper Examples

These examples explore the complexities of human communication, covering topics such as media studies, interpersonal communication, and public relations. The papers examine how communication processes affect individuals, societies, and cultures.

Advertising Research Paper
Journalism Research Paper
Media Research Paper
Public Relations Research Paper
Public Speaking Research Paper

Crime Research Paper Examples

The crime research paper examples provided by iResearchNet investigate various aspects of criminal behavior and the factors contributing to crime. These papers cover a range of topics, from theoretical analyses of criminality to empirical studies on crime prevention strategies.

Computer Crime Research Paper
Domestic Violence Research Paper
Hate Crimes Research Paper
Organized Crime Research Paper
White-Collar Crime Research Paper

Criminal Justice Research Paper Examples

Our criminal justice research paper examples delve into the functioning of the criminal justice system, exploring issues related to law enforcement, the judiciary, and corrections. These papers critically examine policies, practices, and reforms within the criminal justice system.

Capital Punishment Research Paper
Community Policing Research Paper
Corporal Punishment Research Paper
Criminal Investigation Research Paper
Criminal Justice System Research Paper
Plea Bargaining Research Paper
Restorative Justice Research Paper

Criminal Law Research Paper Examples

These examples focus on the legal aspects of criminal behavior, discussing laws, regulations, and case law that govern criminal proceedings. The papers provide an in-depth analysis of criminal law principles, legal defenses, and the implications of legal decisions.

Actus Reus Research Paper
Gun Control Research Paper
Insanity Defense Research Paper
International Criminal Law Research Paper
Self-Defense Research Paper

Criminology Research Paper Examples

iResearchNet’s criminology research paper examples study the causes, prevention, and societal impacts of crime. These papers employ various theoretical frameworks to analyze crime trends and propose effective crime reduction strategies.

Cultural Criminology Research Paper
Education and Crime Research Paper
Marxist Criminology Research Paper
School Crime Research Paper
Urban Crime Research Paper

Culture Research Paper Examples

The culture research paper examples examine the beliefs, practices, and artifacts that define different societies. These papers explore how culture shapes identities, influences behaviors, and impacts social interactions.

Advertising and Culture Research Paper
Material Culture Research Paper
Popular Culture Research Paper
Cross-Cultural Studies Research Paper
Culture Change Research Paper

Economics Research Paper Examples

Our economics research paper examples offer insights into the functioning of economies at both the micro and macro levels. Topics include economic theory, policy analysis, and the examination of economic indicators and trends.

Budget Research Paper
Cost-Benefit Analysis Research Paper
Fiscal Policy Research Paper
Labor Market Research Paper

Education Research Paper Examples

These examples address a wide range of issues in education, from teaching methods and curriculum design to educational policy and reform. The papers aim to enhance understanding and improve outcomes in educational settings.

Early Childhood Education Research Paper
Information Processing Research Paper
Multicultural Education Research Paper
Special Education Research Paper
Standardized Tests Research Paper

Health Research Paper Examples

The health research paper examples focus on public health issues, healthcare systems, and medical interventions. These papers contribute to the discourse on health promotion, disease prevention, and healthcare management.

AIDS Research Paper
Alcoholism Research Paper
Disease Research Paper
Health Economics Research Paper
Health Insurance Research Paper
Nursing Research Paper

History Research Paper Examples

Our history research paper examples cover significant events, figures, and periods, offering critical analyses of historical narratives and their impact on present-day society.

Adolf Hitler Research Paper
American Revolution Research Paper
Ancient Greece Research Paper
Apartheid Research Paper
Christopher Columbus Research Paper
Climate Change Research Paper
Cold War Research Paper
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Deforestation Research Paper
Diseases Research Paper
Earthquakes Research Paper
Egypt Research Paper

Leadership Research Paper Examples

These examples explore the theories and practices of effective leadership, examining the qualities, behaviors, and strategies that distinguish successful leaders in various contexts.

Implicit Leadership Theories Research Paper
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Remote Leadership Research Paper

Mental Health Research Paper Examples

The mental health research paper examples provided by iResearchNet discuss psychological disorders, therapeutic interventions, and mental health advocacy. These papers aim to raise awareness and improve mental health care practices.

ADHD Research Paper
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Autism Research Paper
Depression Research Paper
Eating Disorders Research Paper
PTSD Research Paper
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Stress Research Paper

Political Science Research Paper Examples

Our political science research paper examples analyze political systems, behaviors, and ideologies. Topics include governance, policy analysis, and the study of political movements and institutions.

American Government Research Paper
Civil War Research Paper
Communism Research Paper
Democracy Research Paper
Game Theory Research Paper
Human Rights Research Paper
International Relations Research Paper
Terrorism Research Paper

Psychology Research Paper Examples

These examples delve into the study of the mind and behavior, covering a broad range of topics in clinical, cognitive, developmental, and social psychology.

Artificial Intelligence Research Paper
Assessment Psychology Research Paper
Biological Psychology Research Paper
Clinical Psychology Research Paper
Cognitive Psychology Research Paper
Developmental Psychology Research Paper
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Educational Psychology Research Paper
Environmental Psychology Research Paper
Experimental Psychology Research Paper
Intelligence Research Paper
Learning Disabilities Research Paper
Personality Psychology Research Paper
Psychiatry Research Paper
Psychotherapy Research Paper
Social Cognition Research Paper
Social Psychology Research Paper

Sociology Research Paper Examples

The sociology research paper examples examine societal structures, relationships, and processes. These papers provide insights into social phenomena, inequality, and change.

Family Research Paper
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Group Dynamics Research Paper
Quality of Life Research Paper
Social Change Research Paper
Social Movements Research Paper
Social Networks Research Paper

Technology Research Paper Examples

Our technology research paper examples address the impact of technological advancements on society, exploring issues related to digital communication, cybersecurity, and innovation.

Computer Forensics Research Paper
Genetic Engineering Research Paper
History of Technology Research Paper
Internet Research Paper
Nanotechnology Research Paper

Other Research Paper Examples

Abortion Research Paper
Adoption Research Paper
Animal Testing Research Paper
Bullying Research Paper
Diversity Research Paper
Divorce Research Paper
Drugs Research Paper
Environmental Issues Research Paper
Ethics Research Paper
Evolution Research Paper
Feminism Research Paper
Food Research Paper
Gender Research Paper
Globalization Research Paper
Juvenile Justice Research Paper
Law Research Paper
Management Research Paper
Philosophy Research Paper
Public Health Research Paper
Religion Research Paper
Science Research Paper
Social Sciences Research Paper
Statistics Research Paper
Other Sample Research Papers

Each category of research paper examples provided by iResearchNet serves as a valuable resource for students and researchers seeking to deepen their understanding of a specific field. By offering a comprehensive collection of well-researched and thoughtfully written papers, iResearchNet aims to support academic growth and encourage scholarly inquiry across diverse disciplines.

Sample Research Papers: To Read or Not to Read?

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The significance of research paper examples in the academic journey of students cannot be overstated. These examples serve not only as a blueprint for structuring and formatting academic papers but also as a beacon guiding students through the complex landscape of academic writing standards. iResearchNet recognizes the pivotal role that high-quality research paper examples play in fostering academic success and intellectual growth among students.

Blueprint for Academic Success

Research paper examples provided by iResearchNet are meticulously crafted to demonstrate the essential elements of effective academic writing. These examples offer clear insights into how to organize a paper, from the introductory paragraph, through the development of arguments and analysis, to the concluding remarks. They showcase the appropriate use of headings, subheadings, and the integration of tables, figures, and appendices, which collectively contribute to a well-organized and coherent piece of scholarly work. By studying these examples, students can gain a comprehensive understanding of the structure and formatting required in academic papers, which is crucial for meeting the rigorous standards of academic institutions.

Sparking Ideas and Providing Evidence

Beyond serving as a structural guide, research paper examples act as a source of inspiration for students embarking on their research projects. These examples illuminate a wide array of topics, methodologies, and analytical frameworks, thereby sparking ideas for students’ own research inquiries. They demonstrate how to effectively engage with existing literature, frame research questions, and develop a compelling thesis statement. Moreover, by presenting evidence and arguments in a logical and persuasive manner, these examples illustrate the art of substantiating claims with solid research, encouraging students to adopt a similar level of rigor and depth in their work.

Enhancing Research Skills

Engagement with high-quality research paper examples is instrumental in improving research skills among students. These examples expose students to various research methodologies, from qualitative case studies to quantitative analyses, enabling them to appreciate the breadth of research approaches applicable to their fields of study. By analyzing these examples, students learn how to critically evaluate sources, differentiate between primary and secondary data, and apply ethical considerations in research. Furthermore, these papers serve as a model for effectively citing sources, thereby teaching students the importance of academic integrity and the avoidance of plagiarism.

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A research paper is an academic piece of writing, so you need to follow all the requirements and standards. Otherwise, it will be impossible to get the high results. To make it easier for you, we have analyzed the structure and peculiarities of a sample research paper on the topic ‘Child Abuse’.

The paper includes 7300+ words, a detailed outline, citations are in APA formatting style, and bibliography with 28 sources.

To write any paper you need to write a great outline. This is the key to a perfect paper. When you organize your paper, it is easier for you to present the ideas logically, without jumping from one thought to another.

In the outline, you need to name all the parts of your paper. That is to say, an introduction, main body, conclusion, bibliography, some papers require abstract and proposal as well.

A good outline will serve as a guide through your paper making it easier for the reader to follow your ideas.

I. Introduction

Ii. estimates of child abuse: methodological limitations, iii. child abuse and neglect: the legalities, iv. corporal punishment versus child abuse, v. child abuse victims: the patterns, vi. child abuse perpetrators: the patterns, vii. explanations for child abuse, viii. consequences of child abuse and neglect, ix. determining abuse: how to tell whether a child is abused or neglected, x. determining abuse: interviewing children, xi. how can society help abused children and abusive families, introduction.

An introduction should include a thesis statement and the main points that you will discuss in the paper.

A thesis statement is one sentence in which you need to show your point of view. You will then develop this point of view through the whole piece of work:

‘The impact of child abuse affects more than one’s childhood, as the psychological and physical injuries often extend well into adulthood.’

Child abuse is a very real and prominent social problem today. The impact of child abuse affects more than one’s childhood, as the psychological and physical injuries often extend well into adulthood. Most children are defenseless against abuse, are dependent on their caretakers, and are unable to protect themselves from these acts.

Childhood serves as the basis for growth, development, and socialization. Throughout adolescence, children are taught how to become productive and positive, functioning members of society. Much of the socializing of children, particularly in their very earliest years, comes at the hands of family members. Unfortunately, the messages conveyed to and the actions against children by their families are not always the positive building blocks for which one would hope.

In 2008, the Children’s Defense Fund reported that each day in America, 2,421 children are confirmed as abused or neglected, 4 children are killed by abuse or neglect, and 78 babies die before their first birthday. These daily estimates translate into tremendous national figures. In 2006, caseworkers substantiated an estimated 905,000 reports of child abuse or neglect. Of these, 64% suffered neglect, 16% were physically abused, 9% were sexually abused, 7% were emotionally or psychologically maltreated, and 2% were medically neglected. In addition, 15% of the victims experienced “other” types of maltreatment such as abandonment, threats of harm to the child, and congenital drug addiction (National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System, 2006). Obviously, this problem is a substantial one.

In the main body, you dwell upon the topic of your paper. You provide your ideas and support them with evidence. The evidence include all the data and material you have found, analyzed and systematized. You can support your point of view with different statistical data, with surveys, and the results of different experiments. Your task is to show that your idea is right, and make the reader interested in the topic.

In this example, a writer analyzes the issue of child abuse: different statistical data, controversies regarding the topic, examples of the problem and the consequences.

Several issues arise when considering the amount of child abuse that occurs annually in the United States. Child abuse is very hard to estimate because much (or most) of it is not reported. Children who are abused are unlikely to report their victimization because they may not know any better, they still love their abusers and do not want to see them taken away (or do not themselves want to be taken away from their abusers), they have been threatened into not reporting, or they do not know to whom they should report their victimizations. Still further, children may report their abuse only to find the person to whom they report does not believe them or take any action on their behalf. Continuing to muddy the waters, child abuse can be disguised as legitimate injury, particularly because young children are often somewhat uncoordinated and are still learning to accomplish physical tasks, may not know their physical limitations, and are often legitimately injured during regular play. In the end, children rarely report child abuse; most often it is an adult who makes a report based on suspicion (e.g., teacher, counselor, doctor, etc.).

Even when child abuse is reported, social service agents and investigators may not follow up or substantiate reports for a variety of reasons. Parents can pretend, lie, or cover up injuries or stories of how injuries occurred when social service agents come to investigate. Further, there is not always agreement about what should be counted as abuse by service providers and researchers. In addition, social service agencies/agents have huge caseloads and may only be able to deal with the most serious forms of child abuse, leaving the more “minor” forms of abuse unsupervised and unmanaged (and uncounted in the statistical totals).

While most laws about child abuse and neglect fall at the state levels, federal legislation provides a foundation for states by identifying a minimum set of acts and behaviors that define child abuse and neglect. The Federal Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA), which stems from the Keeping Children and Families Safe Act of 2003, defines child abuse and neglect as, at minimum, “(1) any recent act or failure to act on the part of a parent or caretaker which results in death, serious physical or emotional harm, sexual abuse, or exploitation; or (2) an act or failure to act which presents an imminent risk or serious harm.”

Using these minimum standards, each state is responsible for providing its own definition of maltreatment within civil and criminal statutes. When defining types of child abuse, many states incorporate similar elements and definitions into their legal statutes. For example, neglect is often defined as failure to provide for a child’s basic needs. Neglect can encompass physical elements (e.g., failure to provide necessary food or shelter, or lack of appropriate supervision), medical elements (e.g., failure to provide necessary medical or mental health treatment), educational elements (e.g., failure to educate a child or attend to special educational needs), and emotional elements (e.g., inattention to a child’s emotional needs, failure to provide psychological care, or permitting the child to use alcohol or other drugs). Failure to meet needs does not always mean a child is neglected, as situations such as poverty, cultural values, and community standards can influence the application of legal statutes. In addition, several states distinguish between failure to provide based on financial inability and failure to provide for no apparent financial reason.

Statutes on physical abuse typically include elements of physical injury (ranging from minor bruises to severe fractures or death) as a result of punching, beating, kicking, biting, shaking, throwing, stabbing, choking, hitting (with a hand, stick, strap, or other object), burning, or otherwise harming a child. Such injury is considered abuse regardless of the intention of the caretaker. In addition, many state statutes include allowing or encouraging another person to physically harm a child (such as noted above) as another form of physical abuse in and of itself. Sexual abuse usually includes activities by a parent or caretaker such as fondling a child’s genitals, penetration, incest, rape, sodomy, indecent exposure, and exploitation through prostitution or the production of pornographic materials.

Finally, emotional or psychological abuse typically is defined as a pattern of behavior that impairs a child’s emotional development or sense of self-worth. This may include constant criticism, threats, or rejection, as well as withholding love, support, or guidance. Emotional abuse is often the most difficult to prove and, therefore, child protective services may not be able to intervene without evidence of harm to the child. Some states suggest that harm may be evidenced by an observable or substantial change in behavior, emotional response, or cognition, or by anxiety, depression, withdrawal, or aggressive behavior. At a practical level, emotional abuse is almost always present when other types of abuse are identified.

Some states include an element of substance abuse in their statutes on child abuse. Circumstances that can be considered substance abuse include (a) the manufacture of a controlled substance in the presence of a child or on the premises occupied by a child (Colorado, Indiana, Iowa, Montana, South Dakota, Tennessee, and Virginia); (b) allowing a child to be present where the chemicals or equipment for the manufacture of controlled substances are used (Arizona, New Mexico); (c) selling, distributing, or giving drugs or alcohol to a child (Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Minnesota, and Texas); (d) use of a controlled substance by a caregiver that impairs the caregiver’s ability to adequately care for the child (Kentucky, New York, Rhode Island, and Texas); and (e) exposure of the child to drug paraphernalia (North Dakota), the criminal sale or distribution of drugs (Montana, Virginia), or drug-related activity (District of Columbia).

One of the most difficult issues with which the U.S. legal system must contend is that of allowing parents the right to use corporal punishment when disciplining a child, while not letting them cross over the line into the realm of child abuse. Some parents may abuse their children under the guise of discipline, and many instances of child abuse arise from angry parents who go too far when disciplining their children with physical punishment. Generally, state statutes use terms such as “reasonable discipline of a minor,” “causes only temporary, short-term pain,” and may cause “the potential for bruising” but not “permanent damage, disability, disfigurement or injury” to the child as ways of indicating the types of discipline behaviors that are legal. However, corporal punishment that is “excessive,” “malicious,” “endangers the bodily safety of,” or is “an intentional infliction of injury” is not allowed under most state statutes (e.g., state of Florida child abuse statute).

Most research finds that the use of physical punishment (most often spanking) is not an effective method of discipline. The literature on this issue tends to find that spanking stops misbehavior, but no more effectively than other firm measures. Further, it seems to hinder rather than improve general compliance/obedience (particularly when the child is not in the presence of the punisher). Researchers have also explained why physical punishment is not any more effective at gaining child compliance than nonviolent forms of discipline. Some of the problems that arise when parents use spanking or other forms of physical punishment include the fact that spanking does not teach what children should do, nor does it provide them with alternative behavior options should the circumstance arise again. Spanking also undermines reasoning, explanation, or other forms of parental instruction because children cannot learn, reason, or problem solve well while experiencing threat, pain, fear, or anger. Further, the use of physical punishment is inconsistent with nonviolent principles, or parental modeling. In addition, the use of spanking chips away at the bonds of affection between parents and children, and tends to induce resentment and fear. Finally, it hinders the development of empathy and compassion in children, and they do not learn to take responsibility for their own behavior (Pitzer, 1997).

One of the biggest problems with the use of corporal punishment is that it can escalate into much more severe forms of violence. Usually, parents spank because they are angry (and somewhat out of control) and they can’t think of other ways to discipline. When parents are acting as a result of emotional triggers, the notion of discipline is lost while punishment and pain become the foci.

In 2006, of the children who were found to be victims of child abuse, nearly 75% of them were first-time victims (or had not come to the attention of authorities prior). A slight majority of child abuse victims were girls—51.5%, compared to 48% of abuse victims being boys. The younger the child, the more at risk he or she is for child abuse and neglect victimization. Specifically, the rate for infants (birth to 1 year old) was approximately 24 per 1,000 children of the same age group. The victimization rate for children 1–3 years old was 14 per 1,000 children of the same age group. The abuse rate for children aged 4– 7 years old declined further to 13 per 1,000 children of the same age group. African American, American Indian, and Alaska Native children, as well as children of multiple races, had the highest rates of victimization. White and Latino children had lower rates, and Asian children had the lowest rates of child abuse and neglect victimization. Regarding living arrangements, nearly 27% of victims were living with a single mother, 20% were living with married parents, while 22% were living with both parents but the marital status was unknown. (This reporting element had nearly 40% missing data, however.) Regarding disability, nearly 8% of child abuse victims had some degree of mental retardation, emotional disturbance, visual or hearing impairment, learning disability, physical disability, behavioral problems, or other medical problems. Unfortunately, data indicate that for many victims, the efforts of the child protection services system were not successful in preventing subsequent victimization. Children who had been prior victims of maltreatment were 96% more likely to experience another occurrence than those who were not prior victims. Further, child victims who were reported to have a disability were 52% more likely to experience recurrence than children without a disability. Finally, the oldest victims (16–21 years of age) were the least likely to experience a recurrence, and were 51% less likely to be victimized again than were infants (younger than age 1) (National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System, 2006).

Child fatalities are the most tragic consequence of maltreatment. Yet, each year, children die from abuse and neglect. In 2006, an estimated 1,530 children in the United States died due to abuse or neglect. The overall rate of child fatalities was 2 deaths per 100,000 children. More than 40% of child fatalities were attributed to neglect, but physical abuse also was a major contributor. Approximately 78% of the children who died due to child abuse and neglect were younger than 4 years old, and infant boys (younger than 1) had the highest rate of fatalities at 18.5 deaths per 100,000 boys of the same age in the national population. Infant girls had a rate of 14.7 deaths per 100,000 girls of the same age (National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System, 2006).

One question to be addressed regarding child fatalities is why infants have such a high rate of death when compared to toddlers and adolescents. Children under 1 year old pose an immense amount of responsibility for their caretakers: they are completely dependent and need constant attention. Children this age are needy, impulsive, and not amenable to verbal control or effective communication. This can easily overwhelm vulnerable parents. Another difficulty associated with infants is that they are physically weak and small. Injuries to infants can be fatal, while similar injuries to older children might not be. The most common cause of death in children less than 1 year is cerebral trauma (often the result of shaken-baby syndrome). Exasperated parents can deliver shakes or blows without realizing how little it takes to cause irreparable or fatal damage to an infant. Research informs us that two of the most common triggers for fatal child abuse are crying that will not cease and toileting accidents. Both of these circumstances are common in infants and toddlers whose only means of communication often is crying, and who are limited in mobility and cannot use the toilet. Finally, very young children cannot assist in injury diagnoses. Children who have been injured due to abuse or neglect often cannot communicate to medical professionals about where it hurts, how it hurts, and so forth. Also, nonfatal injuries can turn fatal in the absence of care by neglectful parents or parents who do not want medical professionals to possibly identify an injury as being the result of abuse.

Estimates reveal that nearly 80% of perpetrators of child abuse were parents of the victim. Other relatives accounted for nearly 7%, and unmarried partners of parents made up 4% of perpetrators. Of those perpetrators that were parents, over 90% were biological parents, 4% were stepparents, and 0.7% were adoptive parents. Of this group, approximately 58% of perpetrators were women and 42% were men. Women perpetrators are typically younger than men. The average age for women abusers was 31 years old, while for men the average was 34 years old. Forty percent of women who abused were younger than 30 years of age, compared with 33% of men being under 30. The racial distribution of perpetrators is similar to that of victims. Fifty-four percent were white, 21% were African American, and 20% were Hispanic/Latino (National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System, 2006).

There are many factors that are associated with child abuse. Some of the more common/well-accepted explanations are individual pathology, parent–child interaction, past abuse in the family (or social learning), situational factors, and cultural support for physical punishment along with a lack of cultural support for helping parents here in the United States.

The first explanation centers on the individual pathology of a parent or caretaker who is abusive. This theory focuses on the idea that people who abuse their children have something wrong with their individual personality or biological makeup. Such psychological pathologies may include having anger control problems; being depressed or having post-partum depression; having a low tolerance for frustration (e.g., children can be extremely frustrating: they don’t always listen; they constantly push the line of how far they can go; and once the line has been established, they are constantly treading on it to make sure it hasn’t moved. They are dependent and self-centered, so caretakers have very little privacy or time to themselves); being rigid (e.g., having no tolerance for differences—for example, what if your son wanted to play with dolls? A rigid father would not let him, laugh at him for wanting to, punish him when he does, etc.); having deficits in empathy (parents who cannot put themselves in the shoes of their children cannot fully understand what their children need emotionally); or being disorganized, inefficient, and ineffectual. (Parents who are unable to manage their own lives are unlikely to be successful at managing the lives of their children, and since many children want and need limits, these parents are unable to set them or adhere to them.)

Biological pathologies that may increase the likelihood of someone becoming a child abuser include having substance abuse or dependence problems, or having persistent or reoccurring physical health problems (especially health problems that can be extremely painful and can cause a person to become more self-absorbed, both qualities that can give rise to a lack of patience, lower frustration tolerance, and increased stress).

The second explanation for child abuse centers on the interaction between the parent and the child, noting that certain types of parents are more likely to abuse, and certain types of children are more likely to be abused, and when these less-skilled parents are coupled with these more difficult children, child abuse is the most likely to occur. Discussion here focuses on what makes a parent less skilled, and what makes a child more difficult. Characteristics of unskilled parents are likely to include such traits as only pointing out what children do wrong and never giving any encouragement for good behavior, and failing to be sensitive to the emotional needs of children. Less skilled parents tend to have unrealistic expectations of children. They may engage in role reversal— where the parents make the child take care of them—and view the parent’s happiness and well-being as the responsibility of the child. Some parents view the parental role as extremely stressful and experience little enjoyment from being a parent. Finally, less-skilled parents tend to have more negative perceptions regarding their child(ren). For example, perhaps the child has a different shade of skin than they expected and this may disappoint or anger them, they may feel the child is being manipulative (long before children have this capability), or they may view the child as the scapegoat for all the parents’ or family’s problems. Theoretically, parents with these characteristics would be more likely to abuse their children, but if they are coupled with having a difficult child, they would be especially likely to be abusive. So, what makes a child more difficult? Certainly, through no fault of their own, children may have characteristics that are associated with child care that is more demanding and difficult than in the “normal” or “average” situation. Such characteristics can include having physical and mental disabilities (autism, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder [ADHD], hyperactivity, etc.); the child may be colicky, frequently sick, be particularly needy, or cry more often. In addition, some babies are simply unhappier than other babies for reasons that cannot be known. Further, infants are difficult even in the best of circumstances. They are unable to communicate effectively, and they are completely dependent on their caretakers for everything, including eating, diaper changing, moving around, entertainment, and emotional bonding. Again, these types of children, being more difficult, are more likely to be victims of child abuse.

Nonetheless, each of these types of parents and children alone cannot explain the abuse of children, but it is the interaction between them that becomes the key. Unskilled parents may produce children that are happy and not as needy, and even though they are unskilled, they do not abuse because the child takes less effort. At the same time, children who are more difficult may have parents who are skilled and are able to handle and manage the extra effort these children take with aplomb. However, risks for child abuse increase when unskilled parents must contend with difficult children.

Social learning or past abuse in the family is a third common explanation for child abuse. Here, the theory concentrates not only on what children learn when they see or experience violence in their homes, but additionally on what they do not learn as a result of these experiences. Social learning theory in the context of family violence stresses that if children are abused or see abuse (toward siblings or a parent), those interactions and violent family members become the representations and role models for their future familial interactions. In this way, what children learn is just as important as what they do not learn. Children who witness or experience violence may learn that this is the way parents deal with children, or that violence is an acceptable method of child rearing and discipline. They may think when they become parents that “violence worked on me when I was a child, and I turned out fine.” They may learn unhealthy relationship interaction patterns; children may witness the negative interactions of parents and they may learn the maladaptive or violent methods of expressing anger, reacting to stress, or coping with conflict.

What is equally as important, though, is that they are unlikely to learn more acceptable and nonviolent ways of rearing children, interacting with family members, and working out conflict. Here it may happen that an adult who was abused as a child would like to be nonviolent toward his or her own children, but when the chips are down and the child is misbehaving, this abused-child-turned-adult does not have a repertoire of nonviolent strategies to try. This parent is more likely to fall back on what he or she knows as methods of discipline.

Something important to note here is that not all abused children grow up to become abusive adults. Children who break the cycle were often able to establish and maintain one healthy emotional relationship with someone during their childhoods (or period of young adulthood). For instance, they may have received emotional support from a nonabusing parent, or they received social support and had a positive relationship with another adult during their childhood (e.g., teacher, coach, minister, neighbor, etc.). Abused children who participate in therapy during some period of their lives can often break the cycle of violence. In addition, adults who were abused but are able to form an emotionally supportive and satisfying relationship with a mate can make the transition to being nonviolent in their family interactions.

Moving on to a fourth familiar explanation for child abuse, there are some common situational factors that influence families and parents and increase the risks for child abuse. Typically, these are factors that increase family stress or social isolation. Specifically, such factors may include receiving public assistance or having low socioeconomic status (a combination of low income and low education). Other factors include having family members who are unemployed, underemployed (working in a job that requires lower qualifications than an individual possesses), or employed only part time. These financial difficulties cause great stress for families in meeting the needs of the individual members. Other stress-inducing familial characteristics are single-parent households and larger family size. Finally, social isolation can be devastating for families and family members. Having friends to talk to, who can be relied upon, and with whom kids can be dropped off occasionally is tremendously important for personal growth and satisfaction in life. In addition, social isolation and stress can cause individuals to be quick to lose their tempers, as well as cause people to be less rational in their decision making and to make mountains out of mole hills. These situations can lead families to be at greater risk for child abuse.

Finally, cultural views and supports (or lack thereof) can lead to greater amounts of child abuse in a society such as the United States. One such cultural view is that of societal support for physical punishment. This is problematic because there are similarities between the way criminals are dealt with and the way errant children are handled. The use of capital punishment is advocated for seriously violent criminals, and people are quick to use such idioms as “spare the rod and spoil the child” when it comes to the discipline or punishment of children. In fact, it was not until quite recently that parenting books began to encourage parents to use other strategies than spanking or other forms of corporal punishment in the discipline of their children. Only recently, the American Academy of Pediatrics has come out and recommended that parents do not spank or use other forms of violence on their children because of the deleterious effects such methods have on youngsters and their bonds with their parents. Nevertheless, regardless of recommendations, the culture of corporal punishment persists.

Another cultural view in the United States that can give rise to greater incidents of child abuse is the belief that after getting married, couples of course should want and have children. Culturally, Americans consider that children are a blessing, raising kids is the most wonderful thing a person can do, and everyone should have children. Along with this notion is the idea that motherhood is always wonderful; it is the most fulfilling thing a woman can do; and the bond between a mother and her child is strong, glorious, and automatic—all women love being mothers. Thus, culturally (and theoretically), society nearly insists that married couples have children and that they will love having children. But, after children are born, there is not much support for couples who have trouble adjusting to parenthood, or who do not absolutely love their new roles as parents. People look askance at parents who need help, and cannot believe parents who say anything negative about parenthood. As such, theoretically, society has set up a situation where couples are strongly encouraged to have kids, are told they will love kids, but then society turns a blind or disdainful eye when these same parents need emotional, financial, or other forms of help or support. It is these types of cultural viewpoints that increase the risks for child abuse in society.

The consequences of child abuse are tremendous and long lasting. Research has shown that the traumatic experience of childhood abuse is life changing. These costs may surface during adolescence, or they may not become evident until abused children have grown up and become abusing parents or abused spouses. Early identification and treatment is important to minimize these potential long-term effects. Whenever children say they have been abused, it is imperative that they be taken seriously and their abuse be reported. Suspicions of child abuse must be reported as well. If there is a possibility that a child is or has been abused, an investigation must be conducted.

Children who have been abused may exhibit traits such as the inability to love or have faith in others. This often translates into adults who are unable to establish lasting and stable personal relationships. These individuals have trouble with physical closeness and touching as well as emotional intimacy and trust. Further, these qualities tend to cause a fear of entering into new relationships, as well as the sabotaging of any current ones.

Psychologically, children who have been abused tend to have poor self-images or are passive, withdrawn, or clingy. They may be angry individuals who are filled with rage, anxiety, and a variety of fears. They are often aggressive, disruptive, and depressed. Many abused children have flashbacks and nightmares about the abuse they have experienced, and this may cause sleep problems as well as drug and alcohol problems. Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and antisocial personality disorder are both typical among maltreated children. Research has also shown that most abused children fail to reach “successful psychosocial functioning,” and are thus not resilient and do not resume a “normal life” after the abuse has ended.

Socially (and likely because of these psychological injuries), abused children have trouble in school, will have difficulty getting and remaining employed, and may commit a variety of illegal or socially inappropriate behaviors. Many studies have shown that victims of child abuse are likely to participate in high-risk behaviors such as alcohol or drug abuse, the use of tobacco, and high-risk sexual behaviors (e.g., unprotected sex, large numbers of sexual partners). Later in life, abused children are more likely to have been arrested and homeless. They are also less able to defend themselves in conflict situations and guard themselves against repeated victimizations.

Medically, abused children likely will experience health problems due to the high frequency of physical injuries they receive. In addition, abused children experience a great deal of emotional turmoil and stress, which can also have a significant impact on their physical condition. These health problems are likely to continue occurring into adulthood. Some of these longer-lasting health problems include headaches; eating problems; problems with toileting; and chronic pain in the back, stomach, chest, and genital areas. Some researchers have noted that abused children may experience neurological impairment and problems with intellectual functioning, while others have found a correlation between abuse and heart, lung, and liver disease, as well as cancer (Thomas, 2004).

Victims of sexual abuse show an alarming number of disturbances as adults. Some dislike and avoid sex, or experience sexual problems or disorders, while other victims appear to enjoy sexual activities that are self-defeating or maladaptive—normally called “dysfunctional sexual behavior”—and have many sexual partners.

Abused children also experience a wide variety of developmental delays. Many do not reach physical, cognitive, or emotional developmental milestones at the typical time, and some never accomplish what they are supposed to during childhood socialization. In the next section, these developmental delays are discussed as a means of identifying children who may be abused.

There are two primary ways of identifying children who are abused: spotting and evaluating physical injuries, and detecting and appraising developmental delays. Distinguishing physical injuries due to abuse can be difficult, particularly among younger children who are likely to get hurt or receive injuries while they are playing and learning to become ambulatory. Nonetheless, there are several types of wounds that children are unlikely to give themselves during their normal course of play and exploration. These less likely injuries may signal instances of child abuse.

While it is true that children are likely to get bruises, particularly when they are learning to walk or crawl, bruises on infants are not normal. Also, the back of the legs, upper arms, or on the chest, neck, head, or genitals are also locations where bruises are unlikely to occur during normal childhood activity. Further, bruises with clean patterns, like hand prints, buckle prints, or hangers (to name a few), are good examples of the types of bruises children do not give themselves.

Another area of physical injury where the source of the injury can be difficult to detect is fractures. Again, children fall out of trees, or crash their bikes, and can break limbs. These can be normal parts of growing up. However, fractures in infants less than 12 months old are particularly suspect, as infants are unlikely to be able to accomplish the types of movement necessary to actually break a leg or an arm. Further, multiple fractures, particularly more than one on a bone, should be examined more closely. Spiral or torsion fractures (when the bone is broken by twisting) are suspect because when children break their bones due to play injuries, the fractures are usually some other type (e.g., linear, oblique, compacted). In addition, when parents don’t know about the fracture(s) or how it occurred, abuse should be considered, because when children get these types of injuries, they need comfort and attention.

Head and internal injuries are also those that may signal abuse. Serious blows to the head cause internal head injuries, and this is very different from the injuries that result from bumping into things. Abused children are also likely to experience internal injuries like those to the abdomen, liver, kidney, and bladder. They may suffer a ruptured spleen, or intestinal perforation. These types of damages rarely happen by accident.

Burns are another type of physical injury that can happen by accident or by abuse. Nevertheless, there are ways to tell these types of burn injuries apart. The types of burns that should be examined and investigated are those where the burns are in particular locations. Burns to the bottom of the feet, genitals, abdomen, or other inaccessible spots should be closely considered. Burns of the whole hand or those to the buttocks are also unlikely to happen as a result of an accident.

Turning to the detection and appraisal of developmental delays, one can more readily assess possible abuse by considering what children of various ages should be able to accomplish, than by noting when children are delayed and how many milestones on which they are behind schedule. Importantly, a few delays in reaching milestones can be expected, since children develop individually and not always according to the norm. Nonetheless, when children are abused, their development is likely to be delayed in numerous areas and across many milestones.

As children develop and grow, they should be able to crawl, walk, run, talk, control going to the bathroom, write, set priorities, plan ahead, trust others, make friends, develop a good self-image, differentiate between feeling and behavior, and get their needs met in appropriate ways. As such, when children do not accomplish these feats, their circumstances should be examined.

Infants who are abused or neglected typically develop what is termed failure to thrive syndrome. This syndrome is characterized by slow, inadequate growth, or not “filling out” physically. They have a pale, colorless complexion and dull eyes. They are not likely to spend much time looking around, and nothing catches their eyes. They may show other signs of lack of nutrition such as cuts, bruises that do not heal in a timely way, and discolored fingernails. They are also not trusting and may not cry much, as they are not expecting to have their needs met. Older infants may not have developed any language skills, or these developments are quite slow. This includes both verbal and nonverbal means of communication.

Toddlers who are abused often become hypervigilant about their environments and others’ moods. They are more outwardly focused than a typical toddler (who is quite self-centered) and may be unable to separate themselves as individuals, or consider themselves as distinct beings. In this way, abused toddlers cannot focus on tasks at hand because they are too concerned about others’ reactions. They don’t play with toys, have no interest in exploration, and seem unable to enjoy life. They are likely to accept losses with little reaction, and may have age-inappropriate knowledge of sex and sexual relations. Finally, toddlers, whether they are abused or not, begin to mirror their parents’ behaviors. Thus, toddlers who are abused may mimic the abuse when they are playing with dolls or “playing house.”

Developmental delays can also be detected among abused young adolescents. Some signs include the failure to learn cause and effect, since their parents are so inconsistent. They have no energy for learning and have not developed beyond one- or two-word commands. They probably cannot follow complicated directions (such as two to three tasks per instruction), and they are unlikely to be able to think for themselves. Typically, they have learned that failure is totally unacceptable, but they are more concerned with the teacher’s mood than with learning and listening to instruction. Finally, they are apt to have been inadequately toilet trained and thus may be unable to control their bladders.

Older adolescents, because they are likely to have been abused for a longer period of time, continue to get further and further behind in their developmental achievements. Abused children this age become family nurturers. They take care of their parents and cater to their parents’ needs, rather than the other way around. In addition, they probably take care of any younger siblings and do the household chores. Because of these default responsibilities, they usually do not participate in school activities; they frequently miss days at school; and they have few, if any, friends. Because they have become so hypervigilant and have increasingly delayed development, they lose interest in and become disillusioned with education. They develop low self-esteem and little confidence, but seem old for their years. Children this age who are abused are still likely to be unable to control their bladders and may have frequent toileting accidents.

Other developmental delays can occur and be observed in abused and neglected children of any age. For example, malnutrition and withdrawal can be noticed in infants through teenagers. Maltreated children frequently have persistent or untreated illnesses, and these can become permanent disabilities if medical conditions go untreated for a long enough time. Another example can be the consequences of neurological damage. Beyond being a medical issue, this type of damage can cause problems with social behavior and impulse control, which, again, can be discerned in various ages of children.

Once child abuse is suspected, law enforcement officers, child protection workers, or various other practitioners may need to interview the child about the abuse or neglect he or she may have suffered. Interviewing children can be extremely difficult because children at various stages of development can remember only certain parts or aspects of the events in their lives. Also, interviewers must be careful that they do not put ideas or answers into the heads of the children they are interviewing. There are several general recommendations when interviewing children about the abuse they may have experienced. First, interviewers must acknowledge that even when children are abused, they likely still love their parents. They do not want to be taken away from their parents, nor do they want to see their parents get into trouble. Interviewers must not blame the parents or be judgmental about them or the child’s family. Beyond that, interviews should take place in a safe, neutral location. Interviewers can use dolls and role-play to help children express the types of abuse of which they may be victims.

Finally, interviewers must ask age-appropriate questions. For example, 3-year-olds can probably only answer questions about what happened and who was involved. Four- to five-year-olds can also discuss where the incidents occurred. Along with what, who, and where, 6- to 8-year-olds can talk about the element of time, or when the abuse occurred. Nine- to 10-year-olds are able to add commentary about the number of times the abuse occurred. Finally, 11-year-olds and older children can additionally inform interviewers about the circumstances of abusive instances.

A conclusion is not a summary of what a writer has already mentioned. On the contrary, it is the last point made. Taking every detail of the investigation, the researcher makes the concluding point. In this part of a paper, you need to put a full stop in your research. You need to persuade the reader in your opinion.

Never add any new information in the conclusion. You can present solutions to the problem and you dwell upon the results, but only if this information has been already mentioned in the main body.

Child advocates recommend a variety of strategies to aid families and children experiencing abuse. These recommendations tend to focus on societal efforts as well as more individual efforts. One common strategy advocated is the use of public service announcements that encourage individuals to report any suspected child abuse. Currently, many mandatory reporters (those required by law to report abuse such as teachers, doctors, and social service agency employees) and members of communities feel that child abuse should not be reported unless there is substantial evidence that abuse is indeed occurring. Child advocates stress that this notion should be changed, and that people should report child abuse even if it is only suspected. Public service announcements should stress that if people report suspected child abuse, the worst that can happen is that they might be wrong, but in the grander scheme of things that is really not so bad.

Child advocates also stress that greater interagency cooperation is needed. This cooperation should be evident between women’s shelters, child protection agencies, programs for at-risk children, medical agencies, and law enforcement officers. These agencies typically do not share information, and if they did, more instances of child abuse would come to the attention of various authorities and could be investigated and managed. Along these lines, child protection agencies and programs should receive more funding. When budgets are cut, social services are often the first things to go or to get less financial support. Child advocates insist that with more resources, child protection agencies could hire more workers, handle more cases, conduct more investigations, and follow up with more children and families.

Continuing, more educational efforts must be initiated about issues such as punishment and discipline styles and strategies; having greater respect for children; as well as informing the community about what child abuse is, and how to recognize it. In addition, Americans must alter the cultural orientation about child bearing and child rearing. Couples who wish to remain child-free must be allowed to do so without disdain. And, it must be acknowledged that raising children is very difficult, is not always gloriously wonderful, and that parents who seek help should be lauded and not criticized. These kinds of efforts can help more children to be raised in nonviolent, emotionally satisfying families, and thus become better adults.

Bibliography

When you write a paper, make sure you are aware of all the formatting requirements. Incorrect formatting can lower your mark, so do not underestimate the importance of this part.

Organizing your bibliography is quite a tedious and time-consuming task. Still, you need to do it flawlessly. For this reason, analyze all the standards you need to meet or ask professionals to help you with it. All the comas, colons, brackets etc. matter. They truly do.

Bibliography:

American Academy of Pediatrics: https://www.aap.org/
Bancroft, L., & Silverman, J. G. (2002). The batterer as parent. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act, 42 U.S.C.A. § 5106g (1998).
Childhelp: Child Abuse Statistics: https://www.childhelp.org/child-abuse-statistics/
Children’s Defense Fund: https://www.childrensdefense.org/
Child Stats.gov: https://www.childstats.gov/
Child Welfare League of America: https://www.cwla.org/
Crosson-Tower, C. (2008). Understanding child abuse and neglect (7th ed.). Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
DeBecker, G. (1999). Protecting the gift: Keeping children and teenagers safe (and parents sane). New York: Bantam Dell.
Family Research Laboratory at the University of New Hampshire: https://cola.unh.edu/family-research-laboratory
Guterman, N. B. (2001). Stopping child maltreatment before it starts: Emerging horizons in early home visitation services. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Herman, J. L. (2000). Father-daughter incest. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Medline Plus, Child Abuse: https://medlineplus.gov/childabuse.html
Myers, J. E. B. (Ed.). (1994). The backlash: Child protection under fire. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
National Center for Missing and Exploited Children: https://www.missingkids.org/home
National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System. (2006). Child maltreatment 2006: Reports from the states to the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families.
New York University Silver School of Social Work: https://socialwork.nyu.edu/
Pitzer, R. L. (1997). Corporal punishment in the discipline of children in the home: Research update for practitioners. Paper presented at the National Council on Family Relations Annual Conference, Washington, DC.
RAND, Child Abuse and Neglect: https://www.rand.org/topics/child-abuse-and-neglect.html
Richards, C. E. (2001). The loss of innocents: Child killers and their victims. Wilmington, DE: Scholarly Resources.
Straus, M. A. (2001). Beating the devil out of them: Corporal punishment in American families and its effects on children. Edison, NJ: Transaction.
Thomas, P. M. (2004). Protection, dissociation, and internal roles: Modeling and treating the effects of child abuse. Review of General Psychology, 7(15).
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families: https://www.acf.hhs.gov/

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The Research Paper

There will come a time in most students' careers when they are assigned a research paper. Such an assignment often creates a great deal of unneeded anxiety in the student, which may result in procrastination and a feeling of confusion and inadequacy. This anxiety frequently stems from the fact that many students are unfamiliar and inexperienced with this genre of writing. Never fear—inexperience and unfamiliarity are situations you can change through practice! Writing a research paper is an essential aspect of academics and should not be avoided on account of one's anxiety. In fact, the process of writing a research paper can be one of the more rewarding experiences one may encounter in academics. What is more, many students will continue to do research throughout their careers, which is one of the reasons this topic is so important.

Becoming an experienced researcher and writer in any field or discipline takes a great deal of practice. There are few individuals for whom this process comes naturally. Remember, even the most seasoned academic veterans have had to learn how to write a research paper at some point in their career. Therefore, with diligence, organization, practice, a willingness to learn (and to make mistakes!), and, perhaps most important of all, patience, students will find that they can achieve great things through their research and writing.

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Impact of Covid-19 on Bangladeshi university students mental health: ML and DL analysis

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The Covid-19 outbreak has adversely influenced university students across the world both physically and psychologically. The psychological struggle faced by students, is effected by various factors, including disruptions to daily routines and academic activities, increased reliance on smartphones and the internet, limited social interaction, and confinement to their homes. These impediments reflect a broader issue of imbalance in cognitive health status among them during the pandemic. In Bangladesh, despite having the necessary population to study, understanding the impact of Covid-19 on the mental health status of university students has been limited. Hence, it is imperative to diagnose mental health issues and deal with the underlying reasons in order to enhance students' psychological well-being, which leads to academic achievement. Nowadays, Artificial Intelligence (AI) based prediction models have the potential to play a crucial role in predicting mental state early. The purpose of the study is to explore the following effects of the pandemic on the mental health of Bangladeshi university students using Machine Learning (ML) and Deep Learning (DL) techniques. A reliable AI prediction system requires real-world data, that was collected by a survey through a Google form (online questionnaires) among 400 students of 16 universities, and the respondents were 253. In this paper, after data preprocessing, ten widely known ML and four DL models were developed to automatically and accurately predict mental well-being during or after the Covid-19 circumstance. According to our findings, the Random Forest (RF) algorithm and Siamese Neural Networks (SNNs) outperformed other models in terms of accuracy (86\% and 75\%). Additionally, Chi-Square test was conducted, which revealed the five most common and significant predictors (“Stable family income”, “Disruption of daily life”, “Own income”, “Sleep status”, and “Fear of getting infected with Covid-19”) of psychological health conditions. Overall, this work could assist university administrations, government agencies, and health specialists in taking appropriate measures to understand and maintain students' mental health. This research also suggests proper monitoring, government support, and social awareness during and after the worldwide epidemic to keep an excellent mental health state of university students.

Competing Interest Statement

The authors have declared no competing interest.

Funding Statement

This work was supported by Innovative Human Resource Development for Local 614 Intellectualization program through the Institute of Information & Communications 615 Technology Planning & Evaluation(IITP) grant funded by the Korea 616 government(MSIT)(IITP-2024-00156287, 50%). This work was partially supported 617 by the Korea Internet & Security Agency (KISA) - Information Security College Support 618 Project (50%)

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I confirm all relevant ethical guidelines have been followed, and any necessary IRB and/or ethics committee approvals have been obtained.

The details of the IRB/oversight body that provided approval or exemption for the research described are given below:

The Ethics Committee of the University Research Ethics Board at University Grants Commission of Bangladesh waived ethical approval for this work. The data collection involved anonymous responses from university students via an online Google Form, where the identity of the participants was completely hidden. According to the ethical guidelines of our institution, research involving anonymous surveys where participants cannot be identified does not require ethical approval.

I confirm that all necessary patient/participant consent has been obtained and the appropriate institutional forms have been archived, and that any patient/participant/sample identifiers included were not known to anyone (e.g., hospital staff, patients or participants themselves) outside the research group so cannot be used to identify individuals.

I understand that all clinical trials and any other prospective interventional studies must be registered with an ICMJE-approved registry, such as ClinicalTrials.gov. I confirm that any such study reported in the manuscript has been registered and the trial registration ID is provided (note: if posting a prospective study registered retrospectively, please provide a statement in the trial ID field explaining why the study was not registered in advance).

I have followed all appropriate research reporting guidelines, such as any relevant EQUATOR Network research reporting checklist(s) and other pertinent material, if applicable.

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School of Electrical and Computer Engineering

College of engineering, undergraduate research excellence celebrated at ors symposium.

In celebration of student research and innovation, the Opportunity Research Scholar's (ORS) Symposium was held on April 24, 2024. ORS is the Georgia Tech School of Electrical and Computer Engineering’s (ECE) undergraduate research program designed to enhance and expand the traditional classroom experience through long-term projects.

The annual symposium is the culmination of two semesters of research through the ORS program. Starting each fall, students in groups of three to four, conduct the research with the help of a graduate advisor and a faculty member.

At the end of the Spring semester, each group submits their research as a conference paper to the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) ORSS, which decides the first and second place Best Paper Winners for the ECE ORSS.

“The ORS Symposium is testament to the dedication, passion, and hard work of our student researchers,” ORS Director Shanthi Rajaraman said. “To witness the progress and growth of these young minds is rewarding and inspiring."

Students also present their research via posters at the symposium, with a People’s Choice Award given out to the best overall poster as decided by student participants and mentors.

Additionally, students have the opportunity to peer review other teams’ projects. For the past three years, the ORS Symposium has been open to teams beyond ECE. This year, there were 25 teams that participated, with 22 coming from Georgia Tech and three from Kennesaw State University.

Since its establishment, over 1,000 students have participated in the ORS program, with nearly twice as many ORS Ph.D. graduates going on to a career in a academics than the general ECE Ph.D. population, according to Rajaraman.

All the pictures from the symposium can viewed here.

The 2024 winners were:

Best Paper Award

From left to right: Emma McClelion, Hannah Xiao, Viktor Raykov

From left to right: Avanish Narumanchi, Seongjin Kim, William Montello, Md. Nahid Haque Shazon (Mentor)

Title: Investigating the Impacts of Device Geometry and an Alternative Write Current Scheme on Write Time and Switching Energy of SOT-MRAMs Student Researchers: Seongjin Kim, William Montello, Avanish Narumanchi, Md. Nahid Haque Shazon Faculty Advisor: Azad Naemi

From left to right: Karsten Richardson, Cullen Lonergan, Luke Hanks

Title: Analog High-Level Synthesis for Field Programmable Analog Arrays Student Researchers: Luke Hanks, Cullen Lonergan, Karsten Richardson, Afolabi Ige, Pranav Mathews Faculty Advisor: Jennifer Hasler

People’s Choice Award

From left to right: Emma McClelion, Hannah Xiao, Viktor Raykov

Title: Rectenna Characterized Under Varying 2-D Transmitter Positions & Power Beaming Amplitude Levels at 5.8 GHz Student Researchers: Hanna Xiao, Emma McClelion, Victor Raykov, Hanna Xiao, Kaitlyn Graves Faculty Advisor: Greg Durgin

Welsh leads equity-centered research practice partnership to reduce racial disparities in school discipline

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May 13, 2024, 11:51 AM

By Jenna Somers

Last year, Richard Welsh reported findings on the persistence of racial disparities in exclusionary school discipline practices. Despite suspensions declining over the past decade as schools reformed their policies, exclusionary disciplinary rates remained higher for African American students. Across the South, in-school suspensions (ISS) are particularly prevalent and disruptive to the education of racially minoritized students. Given these facts, Welsh has embarked on a new co-design process of ISS that leverages an existing research-practice partnership with a school district in Georgia to crack the code on truly resolving racial inequities in school discipline policies and practices.

Supported by a $474,178 grant from the William T. Grant Foundation and a $125,000 grant from the American Institutes of Research Equity Initiative, Welsh is leading a three-year project with the school district to understand the role of race and power in equity-centered research-practice partnerships, how the dynamics of the partnership affect partnership activities, and how these activities influence research use by school administrators, district leaders, and school board members.

“These are the three key decisionmakers who can advance racial equity in school districts through policies, programs, and personnel. They make decisions about codes of conduct, which disciplinary programs to implement, and who to hire, including behavioral specialists to support students’ social-emotional development,” said Welsh, associate professor of education and public policy at Vanderbilt Peabody College of education and human development.

“Improving the use of research evidence among education leaders via equity-centered research-practice partnerships can possibly lead to disruptive decisions necessary to addressing persistent racial inequities in school discipline. Also, turning the analytical lens on ourselves to examine how inequities might manifest in the partnership has implications for partnership and student outcomes,” Welsh added.

The research team will analyze their interviews with key decision makers, research-practice partnership primary investigators, and co-design team members. They will also observe school board meetings, school discipline committee meetings, and partnership meetings, as well as co-design workshops, district- and school-level documents, and materials to record the partnering process as well as the use of research evidence and disruptive decision-making. By engaging in cycles of disciplined inquiry to improve ISS processes, the partnership aims to reach its goal of improving youth outcomes.

The co-design process includes working with a team of school leaders and school personnel at three middle schools to analyze and reimagine their ISS process and infrastructure.

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Richard Welsh
Vanderbilt Peabody College of education and human development

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What I’ve Learned From My Students’ College Essays

The genre is often maligned for being formulaic and melodramatic, but it’s more important than you think.

An illustration of a high school student with blue hair, dreaming of what to write in their college essay.

By Nell Freudenberger

Most high school seniors approach the college essay with dread. Either their upbringing hasn’t supplied them with several hundred words of adversity, or worse, they’re afraid that packaging the genuine trauma they’ve experienced is the only way to secure their future. The college counselor at the Brooklyn high school where I’m a writing tutor advises against trauma porn. “Keep it brief , ” she says, “and show how you rose above it.”

I started volunteering in New York City schools in my 20s, before I had kids of my own. At the time, I liked hanging out with teenagers, whom I sometimes had more interesting conversations with than I did my peers. Often I worked with students who spoke English as a second language or who used slang in their writing, and at first I was hung up on grammar. Should I correct any deviation from “standard English” to appeal to some Wizard of Oz behind the curtains of a college admissions office? Or should I encourage students to write the way they speak, in pursuit of an authentic voice, that most elusive of literary qualities?

In fact, I was missing the point. One of many lessons the students have taught me is to let the story dictate the voice of the essay. A few years ago, I worked with a boy who claimed to have nothing to write about. His life had been ordinary, he said; nothing had happened to him. I asked if he wanted to try writing about a family member, his favorite school subject, a summer job? He glanced at his phone, his posture and expression suggesting that he’d rather be anywhere but in front of a computer with me. “Hobbies?” I suggested, without much hope. He gave me a shy glance. “I like to box,” he said.

I’ve had this experience with reluctant writers again and again — when a topic clicks with a student, an essay can unfurl spontaneously. Of course the primary goal of a college essay is to help its author get an education that leads to a career. Changes in testing policies and financial aid have made applying to college more confusing than ever, but essays have remained basically the same. I would argue that they’re much more than an onerous task or rote exercise, and that unlike standardized tests they are infinitely variable and sometimes beautiful. College essays also provide an opportunity to learn precision, clarity and the process of working toward the truth through multiple revisions.

When a topic clicks with a student, an essay can unfurl spontaneously.

Even if writing doesn’t end up being fundamental to their future professions, students learn to choose language carefully and to be suspicious of the first words that come to mind. Especially now, as college students shoulder so much of the country’s ethical responsibility for war with their protest movement, essay writing teaches prospective students an increasingly urgent lesson: that choosing their own words over ready-made phrases is the only reliable way to ensure they’re thinking for themselves.

Teenagers are ideal writers for several reasons. They’re usually free of preconceptions about writing, and they tend not to use self-consciously ‘‘literary’’ language. They’re allergic to hypocrisy and are generally unfiltered: They overshare, ask personal questions and call you out for microaggressions as well as less egregious (but still mortifying) verbal errors, such as referring to weed as ‘‘pot.’’ Most important, they have yet to put down their best stories in a finished form.

I can imagine an essay taking a risk and distinguishing itself formally — a poem or a one-act play — but most kids use a more straightforward model: a hook followed by a narrative built around “small moments” that lead to a concluding lesson or aspiration for the future. I never get tired of working with students on these essays because each one is different, and the short, rigid form sometimes makes an emotional story even more powerful. Before I read Javier Zamora’s wrenching “Solito,” I worked with a student who had been transported by a coyote into the U.S. and was reunited with his mother in the parking lot of a big-box store. I don’t remember whether this essay focused on specific skills or coping mechanisms that he gained from his ordeal. I remember only the bliss of the parent-and-child reunion in that uninspiring setting. If I were making a case to an admissions officer, I would suggest that simply being able to convey that experience demonstrates the kind of resilience that any college should admire.

The essays that have stayed with me over the years don’t follow a pattern. There are some narratives on very predictable topics — living up to the expectations of immigrant parents, or suffering from depression in 2020 — that are moving because of the attention with which the student describes the experience. One girl determined to become an engineer while watching her father build furniture from scraps after work; a boy, grieving for his mother during lockdown, began taking pictures of the sky.

If, as Lorrie Moore said, “a short story is a love affair; a novel is a marriage,” what is a college essay? Every once in a while I sit down next to a student and start reading, and I have to suppress my excitement, because there on the Google Doc in front of me is a real writer’s voice. One of the first students I ever worked with wrote about falling in love with another girl in dance class, the absolute magic of watching her move and the terror in the conflict between her feelings and the instruction of her religious middle school. She made me think that college essays are less like love than limerence: one-sided, obsessive, idiosyncratic but profound, the first draft of the most personal story their writers will ever tell.

Nell Freudenberger’s novel “The Limits” was published by Knopf last month. She volunteers through the PEN America Writers in the Schools program.

How To Stand Out In The Ivy League During Your Freshman Year

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This spring, many students felt the relief and exuberance that comes with an acceptance letter from one’s dream school. Many students attending Ivy League and other top universities are valedictorians and leaders in their high school communities; they excelled throughout their high school careers and graduated with the accolades to prove it. Yet, these students are often in for a rude awakening when they arrive on campus. Though they were exceptional at their high schools, they are a dime a dozen in the Ivy League. This realization can cause many students to feel imposter syndrome and wonder how they can stand out and make an impression on their professors and peers in such a competitive environment.

The more that students prepare themselves for this adjustment, the better. Standing out in college is a different endeavor than standing out in high school—it requires time, intentionality, and a willingness to be uncomfortable and challenge yourself. Most importantly, it takes practice, and if students seek to hone this skill from their first semester on campus, they will set themselves up for success for the next four years.

For students preparing for their first semester in college, here are five strategies to navigate the transition into the Ivy League with confidence, purpose, and distinction:

1. Make your voice heard in the classroom

At Ivy League and many other top schools, faculty-to-student ratios and class sizes tend to be small, allowing greater opportunity for you to establish yourself in the classroom and engage with your professors directly. Many students are weighed down by self-doubt and the desire to avoid making mistakes in their first semester, and as such, they are reluctant to raise their hands or offer their input. But one of the best ways to establish connections with professors is to use your voice in the classroom—college is about learning and growing, so don’t be afraid to get a question wrong or develop your ideas through conversation. Doing so will allow you to connect with others in class, build your intellectual skill set, and demonstrate your curiosity and earnest desire to learn.

2. Engage in activities outside of the classroom

Beyond academics, the Ivy League is known for vibrant opportunities to learn and connect with others outside of the classroom. Whether you're interested in student government, the performing arts, guest lectures, community service, or intramural athletics, there’s an opportunity to explore your passions. Join clubs and organizations that align with your interests and values, and consider taking on leadership roles to showcase your initiative and organizational skills. Engaging in extracurricular activities will not only enrich your college experience but also afford you the opportunity to get to know people outside of your major or residence hall.

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Biden vs. trump 2024 election polls: biden losing support among key voting blocs, japanese fans are puzzled that yasuke is in assassin s creed shadows, 3. cultivate your network.

One of the most valuable assets you'll gain during your time in the Ivy League is your network of peers, professors, and mentors. Take the time to connect with your classmates and professors, attend faculty office hours, and engage in meaningful discussions. One of the best ways to build your network is to simply put yourself out there—a student’s college years are the prime opportunity to connect with even the most distinguished scholars in their field, as they not only likely have connections through their institution, but professors (even at other universities) are more likely to respond to students who reach out for their advice. If one knowledgeable person doesn’t respond or have the bandwidth to advise you on a particular project or query, move on to the next person on your list!

4. Pursue Research, Internship, and Study Abroad Opportunities

The Ivy League offers unparalleled access to research, internship, and study abroad opportunities that can complement your academic studies and expand your horizons. For instance, Harvard offers a multitude of distinguished research positions for undergraduates, ranging from thesis research to research assistantships. The University of Pennsylvania sent students to 48 countries through their study abroad offerings in the 2022-2023 academic year. Meanwhile, Princeton offers more than 400 programs in 140 countries through which students may study abroad. Whether conducting groundbreaking research in your field of study or gaining real-world experience through internships, the plethora of opportunities available to you at an Ivy League university will not only enhance your resume but also deepen your understanding of your chosen field and prepare you for future success.

5. Carve out your niche

Finally, just as high school is a time to hone your passions and demonstrate them in action in your community, college is a more rigorous opportunity to identify and make a name for yourself within a niche industry or discipline. The best way to begin doing so is to have conversations with professors, graduate students, and older students in your field. Ask them questions like: Where do you see the field expanding or moving in the next five years? What are the most significant recent developments in this profession/field? What subjects do you think have been largely unexplored? What advice would you give to emerging scholars in this discipline? While pursuing a subject of true interest to you is indeed important, it is also important to consider how you will contribute uniquely to your subject of interest, and thereby maximize your odds of success in the job market.

Finally, keep in mind that you can (and should) begin practicing these skills in high school. The more you engage in these activities, the more natural they will be when you are on campus at a top university.

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