Choosing a Research Topic
What makes a good topic and how do you pick one?
Need a Topic Starter?
At a loss for where to start on your paper? Need a cool idea to get started? Want a book that you can hold in your hands?
Below are some ideas for broad topics based in our collection.
A Very Short Introduction To...
Use the ebooks online or visit to grab a print copy. Very Short Introductions deliver high-quality and in-depth scholarly overviews.
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Very Short Introductions This link opens in a new window
Use this to: get expert overviews of complex topics or new subjects.
Find: concise, easy-to-read books (200 pages and under) written by scholars that break down big ideas across a huge range of academic areas, including history, philosophy, science, religion, politics, economics, law, social sciences, and more.
Great for: starting research on a new topic, learning background information for papers or discussions, exploring subjects beyond class, or deciding if a field of study interests you.
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The History of Cinema: a Very Short Introduction
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Call Number: PN 1993.5 .A1 N693 2017ISBN: 9780198701774Publication Date: 2018-01-23 -
Drugs: a Very Short Introduction
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Call Number: RM 301.15 .I94 2016ISBN: 9780198745792Publication Date: 2016-09-01 -
Environmental Ethics: a Very Short Introduction
by
Call Number: GE 42 .A875 2018ISBN: 9780198797166Publication Date: 2019-02-13
What's on Your Mind?
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The Believing Brain: From Ghosts and Gods to Politics and Conspiracies
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Call Number: BF 773 .S54 2011ISBN: 9780805091250Publication Date: 2011-05-24 -
The Personality Brokers: The Strange History of Myer Briggs and Personality Testing
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ISBN: 9780385541909Publication Date: 2018-09-11 -
The Memory Illusion: Remembering, Forgetting, and the Science of False Memory
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Call Number: BF 371 .S478 2017ISBN: 9781847947611Publication Date: 2017-08-01
Media
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Gender, Race, and Class in Media
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Call Number: P 94.65 .U6 G46 2015ISBN: 9781452259062Publication Date: 2014-02-19 -
The Gender and Media Reader
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Call Number: P 96 .S45 G44 2012ISBN: 0415993466Publication Date: 2011-08-03 -
Male Myths and Icons
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Call Number: HQ 1090 .H67 1995ISBN: 0312126239Publication Date: 1995-09-25
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The 11 Myths of Media Violence
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Call Number: P 96 .V5 P68 2003ISBN: 0761927352Publication Date: 2002-10-23 -
Domestic Abuse and Sexual Assault in Popular Culture
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Call Number: P 96 .V52 U65 2016ISBN: 9781440837944Publication Date: 2016-04-18 -
Mythologies of Violence in Postmodern Media
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Call Number: PN 1995.9 .V5 M98 1999ISBN: 0814328792Publication Date: 1999-09-01
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Psychology at the Movies
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Call Number: PN 1995 .Y68 2012ISBN: 9780470971772Publication Date: 2012-04-09 -
Monsters and Mad Scientists
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Call Number: PN 1995.9 .H6 T78 1987ISBN: 063116992XPublication Date: 1991-01-08
Vaccines
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The Vaccine Debate
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Call Number: QR 189 .D38 2019ISBN: 9781440843532Publication Date: 2018-11-02 -
Vaccinated: One Man's Quest to Defeat the World's Deadliest Disease
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Call Number: QR 180.72 .H55 O33 2007ISBN: 9780061227950Publication Date: 2007-06-12
Climate Change
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Climate Change: What Everyone Needs to Know
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Call Number: RA 793 .R66 2018ISBN: 9780190866105Publication Date: 2018-05-01 -
The Layman's Guide to Climate Change by
Call Number: QC 981.8 .G56 F37 2018ISBN: 9781729081228Publication Date: 2018-10-22 -
The Madhouse Effect: How Climate Change Denial Is Threatening Our Planet, Destroying Our Politics, and Driving Us Crazy
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Call Number: QC 903 .M3625 2016ISBN: 9780231177863Publication Date: 2016-09-27
Conspiracy Theories
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Debunking 9/11 Myths
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Call Number: HV 6432.7 .D43 2006ISBN: 158816635XPublication Date: 2006-08-15 -
Denying Science: Conspiracy Theories, Media Distortions, and the War against Reality
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Call Number: Q 175.5 .G734 2011ISBN: 9781616143992Publication Date: 2011-08-23
Food
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Is Organic Food Better?
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Call Number: HD 9000.5 .I814 2011ISBN: 9780737751581Publication Date: 2011-03-29 -
The Food Chronology: A Food Lover's Compendium of Events and Anecdotes from Prehistory to the Present
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Call Number: TX 355 .T72 1997ISBN: 9780805052473Publication Date: 1997-05-01
The Internet
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The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains
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Call Number: QP 360 .C3667 2010ISBN: 9780393072228Publication Date: 2010-06-07 -
Consent of the Networked: The Worldwide Struggle for Internet Freedom
by
Call Number: HM 851 .M3327 2012ISBN: 0465024424Publication Date: 2012-01-31
