Not sure what to write about? Sometimes the most difficult part of writing a paper is deciding on a topic. Make sure you choose a topic that interests you. The following sites are great for generating ideas.
AlterNet.org
http://www.alternet.org
This is a source that publishes articles from alternative and independent news sources. Their home page contains articles about current events, and their archives are available for free.
CNN.com
http://www.cnn.com
Select a topic such as business, sci-tech, or health to read current articles. Use interesting articles as a jumping off point for further research.
CQ Researcher
This publication provides a balanced report of a single "hot" issue in the news in depth each week. Topics range from social and teen issues to environment, health, education and science and technology.
Once you decide on a topic you will probably need to locate background information such as important terms and concepts, relevant names of people or places, and dates of specific events. The following encyclopedias can be great sources for finding this information.
Columbia Encyclopedia
http://www.bartleby.com/65/
Librarians' Index to the Internet
http://lii.org/
xrefer
http://www.xrefer.com
If you selected a broad topic, you will probably need to narrow your focus after you've gathered some background information. The best research topics usually study an effect or impact of one concept on a topic. For example, if you selected the broad topic of "manned space flight" you could focus the paper to study:
