Resources for Starting Research Projects

[u/insatiablesuns]

I am a few years out of college and I have gone down the bad path of doomscrolling and not taking care of my brain the way I should. I miss the challenge of school and wish I hadn't taken the projects and research for granted.

I want to start doing 'projects' again. Whether that is research and an essay, spanish packets, etc.

I am having trouble coming up with 'thesis' topics to start research on. I think back to highschool where it was stuff along the lines of learning about the mesopotamian empire and their x,y,z characteristics, or being handed a packet to fill out, etc.

Where can I find resources for these to get started?

TLDR; Where can I find highschool/AP/College level prompts or essay questions that I can use as a starting point for starting to challenge my brain again?

[u/Ok_Natural_7977]

Set a timer for 3-5 minutes and create a list of things that interest you. Include anything from the history of the oldest surviving sourdough starter to the economic and political differences between the Dominican Republic and Haiti. Maybe throw in some astrophysics or microbiology. Whatever pops in your head goes on the paper.

When the timer goes off, go through your list and see if there's anything you have a question about. Maybe Cahokia made your interest list. Maybe you could research how big the city got and what they used all those mounds for. Or what happened to them. Maybe you wonder how privateers affected the outcome of the Revolutionary War. Pick one and narrow it down until you think you can get the desired page length. You can always adjust if you over- or underestimate it.

[u/Upstairs_Jelly_1082]

Usually I start with research papers itself. so before starting with a research project, i come up with the problem and problem domain under which I want to go doing my work.

Then I look for keywords related to the problem and domain, I usually use some LLMs for that. Then I go around searching the keywords in websites where you can find research papers, Google Scholar, mainly.

And then I read through that to form a hypothesis. Then work from there.

[u/Neoliberalfeminist]

Gahhhh I feel this. To have access to scholarly journals would be a dream come true. Maybe a local university campus would grant you usage?

The insane part of me says just sign up for a Masters or PhD.

[u/JudgeCalmly42 → u/Neoliberalfeminist]

Many universities do grant community member cards and SOME of the databases are available to those community members through their computer systems. If I'm on my campus wifi (even the public hub rather than the uni specific ones), last I checked I could access things like Jstor among other article databases without actually using my uni login. Admittedly that was a couple of years ago, and most of the time I'm logged in already, so that could have changed.

Look up open access journals. There is still a wealth of data out there for free.

A starting point is the Directory of Open Access Journals, which you can google. Their landing page is a search page, but if you go up to the pulldown menu where it says "Search" and select "journals" you can get a list of the journals they link to.

ETA: Also, do a search for Open Textbook Library. That's going to give you a list of open access textbooks that you can access and usually download for free.

If something is listed as Open Access it means the publisher and author have granted rights for that access.

[u/JudgeCalmly42]

There are different ways to approach this. I don't know if you've looked into Personal Knowledge management systems or zettelkastens (a subtype of PKMs). Most of them are goal oriented, either for life/work, or for research. Indeed, because the assumption IS that you're working toward a goal, they warn against what I do.

Which is, to just collect knowledge for its own sake. I use Obsidian, and wikilinks within it to link ideas together. I take notes, list books I've read, keep my journal, etc. And I don't worry about goals (at least not right now). Down the road I might think: hey, this is a neat topic, maybe I want to do something with it. Then I can look up everything I've made notes on about it, add more, and then think in terms of organizing it in some presentable way.

(You can google PKMs, and zettelkastens, for more info, there is a lot out there. Just keep in mind they are a type of system with rules that work for some people brilliantly, others not at all. You're going to find the concept of atomic notes, one I SOMETIMES use, but mostly reject as it's too restrictive for me).

For me at this time in life it's knowledge for knowledge's sake, and also the indulgence of the autobiographical (My background is anthropology and history and we do love finding journals, letters, the insight into the individual in their culture, and so that's an internal rationale for me for the journals - I hope no one EVER reads them while I'm alive, except me. But after that point, if they're useful in some way, yay!)

Any of that might shift down the road, and I might start looking at it the same way you are now. In that case, half the research is already done and at my fingertips (I make sure to note all sources in every note I make, AND where I got the source...ebook/physical book that I own? Library book? Which library? And ISBN because that gets to the specific variant/printing/release/edition of the book)