Dreaded research papers

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I've gone a month into college and doing well. But now I think the **** has just about hit the fan. Now I have to do a research paper. This was always the worst kind of assignment for me. I'll think for hours about what topic I would WANT to do it on. But when I finally decide on something, thinking I already completed the hardest aspect of the assignment, I discover that there is almost no credible information on the internet or library databases on it. So, out of frustration, I will pick something else and run into the same problem. I guess what I'm asking is: do you have any tips on what general subject areas are full of information from credible sources and which areas to just plain avoid? As far as I'm concerned, school work is school work. But this kind of thing produces frustration that makes me contemplate lowering my educational goals.

What class is the paper for? Does the topic have to fit into a certain general subject area, or are there no limitations?

College composition
Cause/Effect Essay; can focus primarily on cause, or effect, or both.
no limitations on subject area

tis is a classic example of AS impairment of executive functioning and what i term As inertia.....ltoo much to do, cant do it all, nothing gets done.

it is related to perfectionism and want ing to do everything as good as possible.

yes i too spend ages procrastinating over similar issues, and im doing a masters at the moment.

try this;

rip off a wiki tpoic on the same issue.

and then build on this by adding your own views.

by the end it wil be different enough to be your own work but i think that the initial start is what all AS need until they can work out iriginal ideation.

Do causes/effects of any major war if you're interested in history. WWI would be particularly good, as would the French Revolution.

What general subject interests you? History, science, what? Not much to go off of, but my gut instinct when I hear a paper about causes and effect and someone wanting easy access to plenty of sources is to point to WWI or the French Revolution. Libraries have been written on either topic. There are plenty of other ones that would also be easy to get sources for.

I guess I should also mention that we are supposed to have at least 5 sources cited in our research (at least 3 of which must be from somewhere other than the internet) And one of the professors mentioned very explicitly that Wikipedia is NOT a legitimate source by any standards. And the rough draft is due in a week (3-4 pages)

I agree with Orwell; start by choosing a topic of interest to you and go from there. You can find information on most subjects if you know where to look for it, but it won't do much good to research something that bores you completely.

My math prof links to Wikipedia all the time. How many pages are required? 5 sources should be easy to get.

Maybe for unofficial purposes, but wikipedia is a terrible idea for a research paper. However, one thing that it does make convenient is that it provides a general overview of an issue with links to outside sources; many of these are, in fact, valid research sources.

Well, any encyclopedia by its very nature is a terrible idea for a research paper. They are only intended to give you the basic overview and general background, not nearly detailed enough for a research paper. But I get sick of people ragging on Wikipedia so much when it is just as good as, if not better than, printed and bound encyclopedia's like World Book or Britannica.

Plus, Wiki does cite its sources as you said, which can give you some leads for where to look.

Wikipedia can be edited and altered by anybody whenever, this is a very valid reason for ragging on it. A bound encyclopedia is completely static and will only change with edition, so information can be properly cited and the professor is able to check your source if need be. A research paper needs to be sourced for a reason; if you provide wikipedia for a source and your instructor doubts your accuracy or accuses you of plaigarism, he needs to access your information exactly how you found it.



This is where it shines, you are presented with a general overview and links to the specifics. It makes finding data a lot easier.

The claim that "anyone can edit wikipedia" isn't entirely true, and most, if not all, vandalism is removed quickly.

As far as the citations and the prof checking your source, I already said that neither Wiki nor any other encyclopedia should be used as a source in academic papers, but Wiki does keep a record of what each page looked like on any given day. That's why, when you cite a source from the Internet, you include the date accessed.

How is it not true? I was reading an article once, found an error, and promptly fixed it without requiring any qualification on my part.



I completely agree, but wikipedia articles can, and have been altered multiple times in a given day. I'm not doubting that it provides valuable information, but that I understand how a professor would not allow it for a source on a research paper.