Need a Research Topic?
Photo courtesy of thetaxhaven
Do you need a topic for your research paper? Are you having difficulty thinking of a subject? There are a few places you can turn to garner some ideas. Medical/health news sites are good places to start. Check out what is making health news and see if anything sparks an interest or spawns an idea.
HealthNewReview is exactly what it sounds like; it is a blog that reviews health news from a number of media outlets that offer claims of effectiveness for various meds (including supplements) and treatments. Reviewers are a mix of journalists, medical personnel, and researchers.
MedPage Today is another option. Reviewers and staff post articles and news blurbs about the latest news in medicine and nursing. Content is divided into News and Specialties. The News link contains links to news about health policy and public health, which may be useful for the non-clinical folks. Nurses can check under the Specialties link at the top of the web page then chose the Nursing link for nursing specific entries.
Medscape is another news site brought to you by WebMD. Once again, info is broken out by specialty as well as drugs and diseases. There is a Nurses link in the left column towards the bottom for nursing specific information.
Virginia Henderson e-Repository is an archive of nursing research maintained by Sigma Theta Tau International (Nursing Honor Society). Peruse the contents of the archive for ideas.
Finally, again for the nurses, the ANA has a proposed research agenda that may spark an idea.
Keep in mind, with the exception of the Virginia Henderson Repository, these are POPULAR articles/materials, so you will not be able to use these sites for your actual literature; however, they may provide you with some ideas for what research topic you would like to focus on.
Happy Researching!
Jill
