Need Help with a research topic
 

I'm completely blank right now.

Does anyone have any good ideas for a research paper? One that has a lot of non-Internet, non-encyclopedia sources. Anything you've done before, or something you think would be interesting to read.

Thanks for your suggestions.

the top of my head ->
The negative effects of prohibition and the foolish drug wars started in the 1920's/30's and how they created a huge black market (as well as the Kennedy Fortune) and so and so on......

The US war against the Barbary Pirates at the turn of the 19th century (1801 or so) and how happenings in the Middle East are still drawing US forces and attention.

This will teach you much about my beloved Marine Corps, that's for sure. It is a source of much pride among Marines, and the origin of the Mamaluke Sword carried by Marine Officers to this day.

Might make in interesting topic in itself (The Mamaluke Sword, that is).

May I suggest as an alternative, a little research into the Ten American Recipients of the Nobel Prize for literature? I did a few research papers on them throughout High School and really came away with a lot from them.

-bear

The 1830 Indian removal act

What domain/field? I mean, people here seemed to assume history.

No doubt. Ooh rah.

I just finished a report on the negative effects of prohibition and an increased beer tax. Use two internet, two newspaper, and three book.

Yakk, the field doesn't really matter, but there has to be some sort of argument.

An agrument huh?

How about the Kyoto Protocol, or the effectiveness of the Endangered Species Act vs. Private Conservation like Ducks Unlimted?

Perhaps Nature vs. Nurture...or even Roe vs. Wade?

What kind of hobbies do ~you~ have?

-bear

This i just my experience but I would steer clear of Roe v. Wade and other controversial topics. Theres always the chance that the teacher will grade you on his/her opinion of the topic an not the quality of the paper.

I wrote a research paper for high school history class on the constitutionality of the Clinton impeachment. To this day, I say its one of the best things I have ever written (and I'm a pretty much straight A student). My teacher, however, turned out to be a huge Republican (though to her credit se hid it pretty well during class) and gave me a C on it. The moral of the story: unless your sure of your teacher's view on a matter, steer clear of highly controversial topics

Why Patrick Stewart is better than William Shatner.

Bizaare laws. Did you know the "rule of thumb" comes from a real law where a man was allowed to beat his wife if the stick he used was not bigger than his thumb? Or did you see that episode of the Simpsons where Chief Wiggum found out that in Springfield it is illegal to put squirrels in your pants for the sake of gambling?

Victimless crime: do laws against drug use and prostitution help society, or do they hurt because of increased criminal activity (including murder and drug-money-fueled gangster activity) and corruption among law enforcement officers. Does the help outweigh the hurt, or vice versa.

I just finished a research paper on the negatives of animal research, and I'm currently working on a revision of the same paper presenting both sides of the issue. I didn't have trouble finding book sources as well as a couple newspaper articles.

I just finished a research paper on if athletes should be able to go straight from high school to the pros. There are lots of sources you can use and there is an argument. It turned out to be an easy paper for me to write.

I'll have to second the victimless crime paper~

playing off this a little you could do a paper about the masquito fleet created by jefferson, how inefective it was and how our money would have been better spent in ships of the constitution class, versus the need at the time since we had not been planning on its creation to be involved in the war of 1812

if you don't like that anythin about the gilded age with senators like calhoun (sp) and the like

another idea is thomas Jeffersons belief that all men are created equal yet he owned slaves

or youcould drop it back a couple years and go with strict interpritation of the constitution versus loose interpritation (hamiltan VS TJ)

i'm on a role tonight

i should go write a paper :thumbsup: