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Research Topic Ideas

  • Picking a Topic
  • Area & Interdisciplinary Studies
  • Behavioral & Social Sciences
  • Business, Economics, & Management

Not Sure Which Topic to Choose?

Controversial issues and current events, related suggested databases, flint water crisis.

  • Education & Social Work
  • Health Sciences
  • Natural and Physical Sciences

Look at the "Picking a Topic" tab on this guide for help brainstorming your topic. Also, our Research Process guide can help you throughout your research process.

  • Research Process by Liz Svoboda Last Updated Nov 6, 2024 19790 views this year
  • Affirmative Action
  • Affordable Care Act
  • Alternative medicine
  • America's global influence
  • Artificial intelligence
  • Assisted suicide
  • Bilingual education
  • Black Lives Matter
  • Border security
  • Capital punishment
  • Charter schools
  • Childhood obesity
  • Civil rights
  • Climate change
  • Concussions in football
  • COVID restrictions
  • Cryptocurrency
  • Cyber bullying
  • Cybersecurity
  • Drug legalization
  • Early voting
  • Eating disorders
  • Equal Rights Amendment
  • Executive order
  • Factory farming
  • Foreign aid
  • Freedom of speech
  • General Data Protection Regulation
  • Genetic engineering
  • Gerrymandering
  • Green New Deal
  • Hate speech
  • Health insurance
  • Human trafficking
  • Immigration
  • Israel-Palestine relations
  • Judicial activism
  • Labor unions
  • Land acknowledgments
  • #MeToo movement
  • Minimum wage
  • Misinformation
  • Net neutrality
  • Nuclear energy
  • Offshore drilling
  • Online anonymity
  • Organic food
  • Outsourcing
  • Police reform
  • Political activism
  • Prescription drug addiction
  • Racial profiling
  • Reparations
  • Russian hacking
  • Sanctuary city
  • Screen addiction
  • Self-driving cars
  • Sex education
  • Smart speakers
  • Social Security reform
  • Standardized testing
  • Stimulus packages
  • Supreme Court confirmation
  • Syrian civil war
  • Title IX enforcement
  • Trade tariffs
  • Transgender rights
  • Ukraine and Russia
  • Urban agriculture
  • Vaccination mandates
  • Violence in the media
  • Voter ID laws
  • Voting fraud and security
  • White nationalism
  • Women's rights
  • Zero tolerance policies

These databases are geared towards exploring different sides of issues across society, culture, and politics. They will bring back not only some scholarly sources but other popular and news sources as well.

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Covers contemporary social issues with pro & con and background information. Also allows searching of the collection Global Issues.

Covers contemporary social issues, from Offshore Drilling to Climate Change, Health Care to Immigration. Helps students research, analyze and organize a broad variety of data for conducting research, completing writing assignments, preparing for debates, creating presentations, and more. This resource helps students explore issues from all perspectives, and includes: pro/con viewpoint essays, topic overviews, primary source documents, biographies of social activists and reformers, court-case overviews, periodical articles, statistical tables, charts and graphs, images and a link to Google Image Search, podcasts (including weekly presidential addresses and premier NPR programs), and a national and state curriculum standards search correlated to the content that allows educators to quickly identify material by grade and discipline. Keyword(s): United States

In-depth, unbiased coverage of health, social trends, criminal justice, international affairs, education, the environment, technology, and the economy.

1923-present. Each single-themed, 12,000-word report is researched and written by a seasoned journalist, and contains an introductory overview; background and chronology on the topic; an assessment of the current situation; tables and maps; pro & con statements from representatives of opposing positions; and bibliographies of key sources.

Balanced, accurate discussions of over 250 controversial topics in the news along with chronologies, illustrations, maps, tables, sidebars, contact info, and bibliographies, including primary source documents and news editorials.

Covers 1995-present. A Read Aloud button is available for text-to-speech for much of the content.

Series of short books that offer a balanced and authoritative treatment of current events and countries of the world.

What Everyone Needs to Know has short overviews designed to offer a balanced and authoritative treatment on complex current events and countries of the world. Includes books in these areas:

  • Arts & Humanities  
  • Medicine & Health  
  • Science & Mathematics  
  • Social Sciences  
  • Art as commentary
  • Early childhood development
  • Citizen scientists
  • Emergency manager law
  • Environmental health
  • Government regulations
  • Health care access
  • Infrastructure
  • Investigative journalism
  • Lead and Copper Rule
  • Lead toxicity
  • Volunteerism
  • Water filtration
  • Water Resource Development Act (S.2848)
  • Water rights
  • Water supply policy
  • Water supply regulation

Related subject guide

  • The Flint Water Crisis: A Guide to Information Resources by Paul Streby Last Updated Sep 30, 2024 727 views this year
  • << Previous: Business, Economics, & Management
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  • Last Updated: Nov 7, 2024 1:14 PM
  • URL: https://libguides.umflint.edu/topics