Tips for Locating a Research Topic of Interest

• Look in some of your psychology textbooks. Choose the chapters or sections that you find interesting. Start by browsing the experiments, then think of how you could devise an experiment related to some of the questions your text asks. The reference section at the back of your textbook can also serve as a great source for additional reference material.


• Brainstorm with your classmates to gather outside ideas and perspectives. Get together with a group of students and make a list of interesting ideas, subjects, or questions you have.


• Taking a closer look at a classic psychology experiment can be an excellent way to trigger some unique and thoughtful ideas of your own. To start, you could try conducting your own version of a famous experiment or even updating a classic experiment to assess a slightly different question.


• If you have a general idea about what topic you'd like to experiment, you might want to spend a little time doing a brief literature review before you start designing. Use the databases suggested on the first page of this guide.


• Try searching in subject encyclopedias and dictionaries for background information.


• Scan American Psychological Association’s list of Psychology Topics.


• Look at previous research conducted nationally in Dissertations & Theses and at Washington University.


• Try observing human behavior that you find interesting. Think about problems or situations from your own life.


• BrowZine is a great way to pull together a list of Experimental Psychology Journals that you can browse for ideas.


• Check out the research being conducted in the Psychological & Brain Science Research Labs.


• Wikipedia can be a reasonable way to learn about a topic, as long as you follow the references cited.


• Psychology Blogs, Podcasts, and RSS feeds can provide inspiration, too.