research title for english major students

100 Excellent English Research Topics and Ideas

Table of Contents

Are you confused about what topic to choose for English research? Don’t worry. When it comes to English, there are no boundaries to the subjects you can research. Moreover, the English research paper topic you pick should focus on answering a question based on your investigation. Usually, selecting a fascinating English research title that has the power to attract an audience and demonstrate your academic skills might be challenging. Therefore, in this blog, we have published a list of 100 excellent English research topics and ideas suggested by our team of experts. Additionally, we have also shared how to choose a good English research topic to get started.

If you have difficulty identifying a suitable study topic, explore this blog and get amazing ideas for English research.

Know How to Select a Perfect English Research Topic

It is important to possess the necessary knowledge to identify a topic for English research. In case, you struggle to choose a topic for your English research paper, follow these steps.

First, select a subject that interests you.
After doing a thorough background investigation, generate numerous English research ideas based on your interests.
List the different keywords that will help you concentrate on the main idea.
Examine a variety of perspectives on the topic you have chosen. Specifically, ask essential questions like what, who, why, who, and when to achieve this.
Outline the content’s structure depending on how you want it to appear and the questions you answered.
Pay close attention to the research paper’s length and due date.
Confirm that your topic meets all of your professor’s research guidelines and requirements.

Note that the research topic you choose will only be good if it appeals to both you and your audience. It is recommended that you choose a subject that is familiar to you and can support your research with adequate sources. So keep these in mind while you brainstorm ideas and topics for your English research paper.

Read More – Learn and Understand the Common English Techniques

List of the Best English Research Topics

English is a broad subject and so it contains several research topics to focus on. Especially, for English research, you may choose any topic that is related to categories such as drugs, politics, technology, drugs, religion, English literature, gender discrimination, and others.

If you are unsure what topic to choose for your English research paper, make use of the list published below. In the list, you will get 100 engaging English research questions, titles, and ideas on various themes.

Also read: Learn About Different Language Features in English

Simple English Research Topics

Examine the impact of social media on mental health.
Discuss the importance of symbolism in poetry.
Examine the role of social capital in community development.
Discuss the causes and effects of the Great Depression.
Explain how to enhance racial relations.
Conduct a literary analysis of ‘The Monk’ written by Matthew Lewis.
Examine the risks associated with organic food consumption.
Discuss the importance of imagination in poetry writing.
Explore the role of digital communication in learning the English language.
Discuss the effect of the mother tongue on learning the English language.
Explore the future of renewable energy.
Discuss the cultural impact of superhero movies in society.
Explore the importance of storytelling in human communication.
Explain how mental illness is portrayed in contemporary literature.
Discuss the psychology of motivation and goal-setting.

Interesting English Research Ideas

Analyze the effects of climate change on agriculture.
Focus on the representation of women in literature.
Investigate the role of AI in education.
Explore the role of women in historical events and movements.
Analyze the impact of books on political issues.
Examine the correlation between illegal immigration and terrorism.
Analyze the impact of the English language on other cultures.
Discuss romantic philosophy in Walt Whitman’s poetry.
Suggest the best methods to improve speaking attributes.
Explore how pronunciation varies in various learning cultures.
Explain the psychology of decision-making.
Focus on the Cultural Revolution in China.
Explain how the popular media represents race and ethnicity.
Examine the social effects of child work.
Focus on English language acquisition difficulties.

Outstanding English Research Paper Topics

Focus on the gender stereotypes in the workplace.
Analyze the influence of foreshadowing in Gothic literature.
Examine the effect of income inequality on social mobility.
Analyze different film techniques.
Examine the effects of terrorism on business.
Focus on the evolution of marriage in contemporary culture.
Discuss the risks of weight training for women.
Focus on obstacles in modern English literature.
Investigate the credibility of digital certification.
Explain how to build interview skills.
Discuss the use of animation and special effects in modern cinema.
Take a look at the rise of communism and the Russian Revolution.
Analyze the psychological and sociological effects of virtual reality technology.
Explain how dietary misconceptions are hurting health.
Investigate mercy killing incidents in the USA.

Amazing English Research Topics

Analyze the ethical implications of artificial intelligence.
Examine the significance of cryptography in modern society.
Investigate the impact of the Industrial Revolution on society and culture.
Discuss the influence of film noir on modern cinema.
Analyze the impact of texting and mobile devices.
Examine the negative effects of online dating apps.
Analyze the effects of the civil rights movement.
Discuss the Montessori Method of education.
Explore the role of kinesics in communication.
Analyze the impact of audiobooks in enhancing learning abilities.
Focus on the representation of historical events and figures in films.
Examine the impact of the Age of Exploration on world history.
Analyze the evolution of science fiction as a literary genre.
Take a look at the way of life in 18 th -century London.
Focus on the advantages of studying abroad.

Awesome English Research Topics

Take a look at the role of education in reducing poverty.
Focus on the theme of identity in Postcolonial literature.
Examine the causes and effects of the French Revolution.
Explore the significance of music in films.
Take a look at the place of technology in economics.
Examine the adverse impact of doing improper exercises.
Discuss the correlation between literature and psychology.
Discuss the legal consequences of plagiarism in academic writing.
Examine the scope of digital marketing for small businesses.
Explain how to learn time management skills.

Engaging Topics for English Research

Analyze the impact of globalization on cultural identity.
Explore the role of religion in literature.
Focus on the rise and fall of the Roman Empire.
Examine the correlation between music and emotions.
Focus on the modern literary allegories of the Bible.
Analyze the influence of Europe on global fashion.
Take a look at stream-of-consciousness writing style.
Explain how to develop positivity in college students.
Interpret American English drama.
Focus on positive learning techniques.

Top English Research Ideas

Explore the role of arts and culture in building strong communities.
Examine the impact of war on literature and culture.
Discuss the Holocaust’s legacy in modern society.
Focus on the evolution of the fashion industry.
Examine the negative aspects of a democratic government.
Discuss the consequences of bioterrorism.
Take a look at feminist perspectives in English literature.
Explore the role of leadership in handling real-world issues.
Analyze the impact of the internet on students’ psychology.
Examine the effects of tobacco advertising.

Also read: Top 12 Longest Words in the English Language

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Write an Exemplary English Research Paper: An All in One Guide for You

Table of Contents

English literature is probably the universal favourite subject. If it is not a favourite language, it can be considered the most known and used language worldwide.

And do you know what the irony is? Studies say there are more than 7000 languages in the world. However, English is considered the most widely used language even though it is the native language of fewer than 15 countries in the world among 195 countries.

This is because English is the official language of various nations. Owing to this, many people of non-English native origin must learn and communicate in English academically and professionally. The result is they require more guidance to write, communicate or generate ideas in English.

If you are a non-native or native English speaker pursuing a major in English and have to submit a research paper in English, for that reason, you are looking for the best English research paper topics to work on. Then you are at the right place.

Keep reading to find out why! But before that, let us check out the structure of an english essay writing .

Reading a book or watching a movie in English and majoring in English are two different worlds entirely, as are writing a journal and writing a research paper on English literature essay topics. Writing a research paper can be a daunting task, especially for non-native speakers of English.

However, with proper planning and organisation, anyone can write an effective research paper in English. You can refer to the English research paper examples and check out the structure used in those.

A. Title Page:

The research paper’s title page should include the paper’s title, the author’s name, the author’s institutional affiliation, and the date of submission.

B. Abstract:

The abstract is a brief summary of the paper, typically no more than 250 words. It should concisely overview the research question, methodology, results, and conclusions.

C. Introduction:

The introduction should provide a background to the research question, explaining why the topic is important and what previous research has been done in this area. It should also state the research question or hypothesis and explain the methodology used in the study.

D. Literature Review:

The literature review analyses previous research on the topic, highlighting key findings and identifying gaps in the existing research. This section should provide a critical literature analysis, identifying previous studies’ strengths and weaknesses.

E. Methodology:

The methodology section should describe the methods used in the study, including the research design, data collection procedures, and data analysis techniques. This section should be detailed enough that another researcher could replicate the study.

F. Results:

The results section should present the findings of the study clearly and concisely. Tables and figures can be used to present data in a more visual format.

G. Discussion:

The discussion section should interpret the study results, explaining what they mean in the context of previous research and the research question. This section should also identify any limitations of the study and suggest areas for future research.

H. Conclusion:

The conclusion should summarise the study’s main findings and restate the research question or hypothesis. It should also briefly discuss the implications of the findings and suggest areas for future research.

I. References:

The references section should list all sources cited in the paper, following a particular citation style (APA, MLA, etc.). All references should be accurate and complete.

In conclusion, writing a research paper in English requires careful planning and organisation. Following the above structure, you can create a well-written and well-structured research paper that effectively communicates your findings to your audience.

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The Secret to Higher Grades is Good English Research Paper Topics – Here’s Why!

Topics for research papers in English are the most crucial part of your research paper. It is that first that can make or break the gsame. Hence, choosing the right topic for your English research paper is critical to your academic success. It is the foundation on which your entire research paper will be built, and it will ultimately determine the quality of your work.

Here are some reasons why choosing the right English literature research paper topics is so important:

a) Interest and Motivation

Choosing a topic that you are genuinely interested in will make your research process much more enjoyable and rewarding. When you are passionate about a topic, you are more likely to stay engaged throughout the research and writing process. This interest and motivation will reflect in the quality of your research paper, making it more likely to be well received.

b) Originality and Creativity

An original and creative topic can set your research paper apart from others. Choosing a unique perspective on a topic, or exploring an aspect of a topic that has not been extensively researched, can make your research paper stand out. It will also demonstrate your ability to think critically and independently, an essential academic skill.

c) Relevance and Significance

Choosing a relevant and significant topic for your field of study is essential to ensure your research paper has value. Your research should be able to address a knowledge gap, contribute to ongoing debates or provide new insights into a topic. It should also be relevant to current events or societal issues that may be of interest to others in your field.

d) Feasibility and Manageability

Choosing a feasible and manageable topic within the given timeframe and resources is crucial. You should consider the availability of primary and secondary sources, the complexity of the topic, and the time required to analyse and interpret the data. It’s important to be realistic about what you can accomplish within the given constraints of your research project.

e) Career Advancement

Choosing a well-researched and well-written research paper can be an asset to your career advancement. A successful research paper can be used as a writing sample when applying for jobs or graduate school. It can also demonstrate your research and writing skills, which are highly valued in many fields.

Take the time to carefully consider your options and choose a topic you are passionate about that meets the criteria for a successful research paper.

How to Choose the Best English Research Topic?

Writing an English research paper is tough, but choosing the best English research topic can be an even more challenging task. That said it doesn’t have to be overwhelming. In fact, it can be an exciting opportunity to explore a subject that interests you and make a valuable contribution to the English language and literature field. Here are some tips to help you choose the best English research topic:

a) Follow your passion

Start by identifying your interests and passions. What aspects of the English language or literature do you find most intriguing? Do you enjoy reading novels or analysing language patterns? What kind of topics do you enjoy discussing with your peers or professors? Choosing a topic that resonates with your interests will motivate you to dive deep into the research and produce high-quality work.

b) Narrow your focus

Once you have a general idea of what you want to research, narrowing down your focus is important. A broad topic like “Shakespeare’s influence on English literature” may be too broad for a research project. Consider breaking it down into more specific subtopics such as “The use of language in Hamlet” or “The portrayal of women in Othello.” This will help you develop a clear and focused research question you can answer in your project.

c) Conduct preliminary research

Before finalising your research topic, conducting some preliminary research to see what has already been studied in the field is essential. This will help you to avoid choosing a topic that has already been extensively researched or one that has little existing literature. Use academic databases, search engines, and other research tools to find articles, books, and other sources related to your potential topic.

d) Consider the feasibility of your topic

It’s important to choose a topic that is feasible to research within the given timeframe and resources. Consider the availability of primary and secondary sources, the complexity of the topic, and the time required to analyse and interpret the data. Be realistic about what you can accomplish within the given constraints of your research project.

e) Seek feedback from others

Finally, seek feedback from your peers, professors, or mentors. They can provide valuable insights into your research topic, offer suggestions for improvement, and help you refine your research question. By receiving feedback from others, you can ensure that your research topic is relevant, meaningful, and impactful.

Keep these pointers in mind to choose a research topic that is engaging, relevant, and feasible and make a valuable contribution to the field of English language and literature.

1. Outstanding English Research Topics

The Impact of Social Media on Mental Health
The Effects of Climate Change on Agriculture
Gender Stereotypes in the Workplace
The Rise of Artificial Intelligence and Its Ethical Implications
The Role of Education in Reducing Poverty
The Relationship between Parental Involvement and Student Achievement
The Effectiveness of Online Learning vs. Traditional Classroom Learning
The Influence of Music on Mood and Memory
The Psychological Effects of Colour on Marketing
The Impact of Globalisation on Cultural Identity

2. Amazing English Research Topics

The Intersection of Race, Gender, and Class in Contemporary Society
The Future of Space Exploration and Colonization
The Ethics of Gene Editing and Genetic Enhancement
The Impact of Social Media on Political Discourse and Democracy
The Psychology of Motivation and Goal-Setting
The Relationship between Language and Thought
The Evolution of Human Rights and International Law
The Economics of Sustainable Development and Green Energy
The Role of Arts and Culture in Building Strong Communities
The History and Significance of Cryptography in Modern Society.

3. Excellent English Literature Topics

The Concept of the American Dream in Literature
The Significance of Symbolism in Poetry
The Representation of Women in Literature
The Use of Foreshadowing in Gothic Literature
The Portrayal of Mental Illness in Contemporary Fiction
The Influence of Shakespeare on Modern Literature
The Theme of Identity in Postcolonial Literature
The Role of Religion in Literature
The Evolution of Science Fiction as a Literary Genre
The Impact of War on Literature and Culture.

4. Best English Research Paper Topics

The Effects of Social Media on Body Image and Self-Esteem in Adolescents
Exploring the Relationship between Sleep Deprivation and Academic Performance
Analysing the Impact of Crypto currency on Financial Markets
The Psychological and Social Effects of Virtual Reality Technology
Investigating the Efficacy of Mindfulness-Based Interventions for Anxiety and Depression
The Ethics of Genetic Engineering and Gene Editing
Examining the Role of Social Capital in Community Development
The Representation of Race and Ethnicity in Popular Media
The Future of Autonomous Vehicles and Their Impact on Society
The Effects of Climate Change on Human Health and Well-Being
The Psychological Effects of Online Dating and Social Networking
Investigating the Role of Artificial Intelligence in Education
Analysing the Effects of Income Inequality on Social Mobility
The Significance of Storytelling in Human Culture and Communication.

4. English Research Paper Topics on Historical Events

The Causes and Consequences of World War I
The Impact of the Industrial Revolution on Society and Culture
The Civil Rights Movement in the United States
The Causes and Effects of the French Revolution
The Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire
The Reconstruction Era in American History
The Holocaust and its Legacy in Modern Society
The American Revolution and the Birth of a Nation
The Cold War and its Impact on International Relations
The Causes and Consequences of the Great Depression
The Age of Exploration and Its Impact on World History
The Renaissance: Art, Literature, and Scientific Advancement
The Russian Revolution and the Rise of Communism.
The Role of Women in Historical Events and Movements
The French Resistance during World War II
The Cultural Revolution in China
The Scramble for Africa and Its Consequences
The Cuban Missile Crisis and the Threat of Nuclear War.

5. English Research Topics on Films

The Evolution of the Film Industry: Past, Present, and Future
The Analysis of Film Techniques and Their Effect on Audience Perception
The Representation of Gender and Race in Contemporary Cinema
The Influence of Film Noir on Modern Cinema
The Portrayal of Mental Health in Film and Television
The Significance of Music in Film: Soundtracks, Scores, and Songs
The Cultural Impact of Superhero Movies on Society
The Role of Horror Films in Contemporary Culture
The Representation of Historical Events and Figures in Film
The Effects of the Pandemic on the Film Industry
The Portrayal of Science and Technology in Science Fiction Films
The Use of Animation and Special Effects in Modern Cinema

6. English Research Topics for College Students

Exploring the Link between Music and Emotion: An Interdisciplinary Study
The Future of Renewable Energy: Advancements and Challenges
Investigating the Effects of Meditation on Mental Health and Well-being
The Significance of Diversity and Inclusion in the Workplace
Examining the Role of Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare
The History and Evolution of the Fashion Industry
The Ethics of Animal Testing: Balancing Scientific Advancement and Animal Welfare
The Psychology of Decision Making: Theories and Applications
The Role of Education in Promoting Social Justice and Equity
Analysing the Effects of Social Support on Mental and Physical Health
The Impact of Globalisation on Cultural Identity and Diversity
Investigating the Efficacy of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for Anxiety and Depression

There are thousands of other English topics to write about all over the internet, but the above-mentioned are the best ones handpicked for you to score impressively with your research paper writing service . All the best!

English Research Paper Examples

Below are some sample parts of English Research Paper –

research title for english major students

Q2. What is the best way to narrow down a research topic in English?

Ans. To narrow down a research topic in English:

Start by brainstorming a list of potential subtopics related to your broader area of interest.
Evaluate the feasibility and significance of each subtopic, and determine which ones have the most potential for further exploration.
Conduct preliminary research on each subtopic to assess the availability of sources and existing scholarship.
Select the most promising subtopic for your research.

Q3. How do I structure an English research paper?

Ans. An English research paper should have a clear structure, including an introduction, literature review, methodology, results, discussion, and conclusion.

The introduction should provide background information and a clear thesis statement.
The literature review should summarise previous research on the topic.
The methodology should describe the methods used to conduct the research.
The results should present the findings, and the discussion should analyse and interpret the results.
The conclusion should summarise the key findings and implications of the research.

Q4. How do I write a strong thesis statement for my English research paper?

Ans. To write a strong thesis statement for an English research paper:

Start by identifying the main topic or question you want to address.
Craft a concise statement that presents your argument or perspective on the topic.
Make sure your thesis statement is clear, specific, and debatable.

It should also provide a roadmap for your paper and set the tone for your research.

Q5. Do I analyse data in an English research paper?

Ans. Whether or not you need to analyse data in an English research paper depends on your specific research question and methodology. If your research involves collecting and analyzing data, you must include a results section that presents and analyses your findings. However, if your research is more focused on literature analysis or other qualitative methods, you may not need to include a data analysis section.

Q6. How do I evaluate sources for my English research paper?

Ans. When evaluating sources for an English research paper, consider the following:

Relevance: Determine if the source is directly relevant to your research question and thesis statement.
Authority: Determine the credibility of the author and their expertise in the field. Check their credentials and look for signs of bias or conflicts of interest.
Currency: Determine how recent the source is and if it provides up-to-date information.
Accuracy: Determine if the information in the source is reliable, accurate, and supported by evidence.
Objectivity: Determine if the source presents a balanced perspective or if it is biased towards a particular viewpoint.
Audience: Determine the source’s intended audience and consider if it is appropriate for your research.
Accessibility: Determine if the source is accessible to you, both physically and legally.

Q7. How do I properly cite sources in my English research paper?

Ans. To properly cite sources in an English research paper, use a citation style such as MLA, APA, or Chicago. Include in-text citations whenever you use a direct quote, paraphrase, or summarise information from a source. Also, include a works cited or references page at the end of your paper that lists all sources cited in your paper. Be sure to follow the specific guidelines of your chosen citation style.

Q8. How do I write a literature review for my English research paper?

Ans. To write a literature review for an English research paper:

Start by identifying relevant sources related to your research topic.
Read and evaluate each source, noting important themes, arguments, and research findings.
Organise your literature review into sections that correspond to these themes, and use them to construct an overview of the current state of research in your field.
Cite all sources properly.

Q9. How do I write a strong conclusion for my English research paper?

Ans. To write a strong conclusion for an English research paper:

Summarise the key findings and implications of your research.
Restate your thesis statement and review the main points of your paper.
Reflect on the significance of your research and suggest areas for future study.
Avoid introducing new information in your conclusion, and make sure your final statements leave a lasting impression on your reader.

Q10. How can I effectively revise and edit my English research paper?

Ans. To effectively revise and edit your English research paper,

Start by taking a break after completing a draft to gain a fresh perspective.
Read your paper out loud and look for areas that need clarification, organisation, or improvement.
Check for grammar and spelling errors and ensure your formatting and citation style are correct.
Consider seeking feedback from peers or a writing centre, and make necessary revisions before submitting your final draft.

Hi, I am Mark, a Literature writer by profession. Fueled by a lifelong passion for Literature, story, and creative expression, I went on to get a PhD in creative writing. Over all these years, my passion has helped me manage a publication of my write ups in prominent websites and e-magazines. I have also been working part-time as a writing expert for myassignmenthelp.com for 5+ years now. It’s fun to guide students on academic write ups and bag those top grades like a pro. Apart from my professional life, I am a big-time foodie and travel enthusiast in my personal life. So, when I am not working, I am probably travelling places to try regional delicacies and sharing my experiences with people through my blog.

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101 English Research Paper Topics, Questions and Ideas

English Research Paper Topics and Ideas

When it comes to English, there is no limit to the topics you can research about. English research paper topic is the question you’re going to answer in your paper based on your research. However, choosing an interesting topic that will capture the attention of your readers and show your academic prowess can be challenging. The trick to getting an idea worth writing about which will also give you a good grade is to pick a topic that you’re interested in and that which you have some background knowledge. It must also be narrow yet have adequate research material and be related to the specific class you’re currently taking. If you’re having trouble finding a good research topic, here are helpful tools on how to get started.

How to Select the Best English Research Paper Topics? Here Is the Easiest Way

Knowing how to select the best research paper topic is an essential skill that every student must have. It is crucial not only for English courses but also for other assignment papers that you will need to write. Selecting a great paper topic starts with choosing a topic of interest. You then need to do background research and brainstorm different ideas.

During the research, you also need to note down various keywords which will help you narrow down your topic. Finally, you need to use the why, who, what and when questions to get different aspects of the topic and to create an outline of how your content is going to look like.

Even with all the information, keep in mind the length, due date and makes sure your topic meets all the assignment requirements. However, don’t be so focused on your topic that you fail to modify it based on the research. In most instances, during the research process, it is normal to find some other aspects of the topic that are more interesting. So be flexible!

List of English Research Paper Topics for All Students

Your ideal paper topic should be written as a thesis statement. The thesis statement should be between one and two sentences. Keep in mind that the title of your paper may not be the same as your thesis statement, but both should convey the purpose and focus of your research. In English literature, there are so many topics at your disposal that it might overwhelm you. The best way to go about choosing your topic is to look at the different categories.

Look at the similarities between the two genres in the story or what are the differences. Is one genre more effective than the other and how each genre is portrayed in the story? You can also explain how a particular genre emerged or literature in current society.

What issues do the characters try to bring out ion the story? Or how are the characters important to the novel and how do they reflect in real society? These are some of the research topics you can consider.

Gender Roles

How is the gender portrayed in the story? What are the roles of men and women in the novel? You can examine equality or gender expectations as part of your research topics.

Culture and Literature

What cultural issues is the book addressing?

Politics and Religion

In the novel is there any connection between politics and religion? What beliefs is the book promoting?

Interesting 101 English Research Paper Topics

Role of technology in economics
Advantages of studying internationally versus locally
Importance of teamwork collaboration for nurses
School-based mandatory student drug testing approach work to reduce illicit substance use in adolescents
Does pissing on demand: workplace drug testing and the rise of the detox industry by Kenneth D. Tunnell advocate for invasiveness?
Psychological factors that influence consumer choice
Should Drug testing be mandatory for student-athletes?
The benefits of drug testing for welfare individuals
Employee drug testing can result in business productivity
Biblical allegories in modern literature
Steinberg display hypocrisy of modern Christianity
In The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck, rose of Sharon’s baby is a symbol of hope or death
Important themes in The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck and their reflection in today’s society
Is The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck an educative classic novel or a controversial piece of writing?
Today’s immigrant can relate to the Joad family in The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
The issue of accessibility of contraceptives for high school students
Sexism in the media industry
Whether or not convicted criminals should be eligible for social welfare
How hunting can become a necessary means in some cases
Drawbacks of a democratic political system
The issue of firearms and whether or not they should be registered with the police
Effects of gangs in poor urban centers
The pros and cons of legalizing prostitution
How early modern treatment of extremes resonate in present-day culture in Excess and the Mean in Early Modern English Literature by Joshua Scodel
How individual freedom and modern English culture is portrayed in Excess and the Mean in Early Modern English Literature by Joshua Scodel
How the pleasure of literature can lead to a dark side? Use the book Futile Pleasures: Early Modern Literature and the Limits of Utility by Corey McEleney
In the book Animal Characters: Nonhuman Beings in Early Modern Literature by Bruce Thomas explain how animal characters relate to the emerging economy and culture of the European Renaissance
The relationship between literary form and code of conduct in the book Rhetoric and Courtliness in Early Modern Literature by Jennifer Richards
Importance of digitization of medical records
The issue of feminist women being too harsh on other women who don’t support the movement
Life in London in the 18 th century
Ethical use of stem cells
Golan Heights and its importance to the Israelites
Various conflicts that have revolved around the Golan Heights
The issue of who are the legal occupants of Golan Height
Strange medieval family laws and their influence on society
The significance of the little bird in Trifles by Susan Glaspell
Changes in the role of women from Susan Glaspell’s Trifles
Use The Monk by Matthew Lewis as a response to formal realism.
The role of feminine men and masculine men in The Monk by Matthew Lewis
Feminism in Susan Glaspell’s Trifles
The role of violence in Victorian society in Dover Beach by Matthew Arnold
Literary criticism of The Monk by Mathew Lewis
Sea symbolism in Dover Beach by Matthew Arnold
How is the Dover Beach by Matthew Arnold a presentation of a changing world?
Is Susan Glaspell’s trifle the ultimate women suffrage story?
The Dover Beach by Matthew Arnold is a mockery of the Victorian society
Compare and contrast the Dover Beach by Matthew Arnold and The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock by T.S Eliot
The perception of how women love in the legend of La Llorona
The expectation of women in Marge Piercy’s Barbie Doll
Unfair treatment of women in the poem A work of Artifice by Marge Piercy
Discuss the theme of industrialization, corruption, and capitalism using Williams Blake’s London
London in the eighteenth century by William Blake’s London
Criticism of gender roles in The Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw
Social distinction in The Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw
Dehumanization effects of colonialism in Heart of Darkness by Josef Conrad
The theme of racism in Heart of Darkness by Josef Conrad
How the characters portray differences in social class in Pamela by Samuel Richardson
Teachers using modern technology affect the quality of education
How modern-day heroes shape young people
How marriage has changed for modern society
The link between illegal immigration and terrorism
The drawbacks of online dating apps
European influence on fashion in the world
How myths about eating certain foods are affecting health
Are UFOS a reality or fiction?
Pros and Cons of e-learning
Is bodybuilding only for boosting ego or for health reasons
The America dream for immigrants and minorities
How technology is revolutionizing terrorism
Eliminating the SAT for college admission can make education better
How the role of women in the military and battlefield has changed?
How depression affects human behavior
The genetic link to optimism can shape attitudes. Explain
Violent discipline by caregivers affects a child’s mental growth
Therapy and how it can be an effective rehabilitation method for hardcore prisoners
Secondhand smoke is the major cause of lung cancer deaths
How alternative medicine for cancer is unsafe
Children should be taught at school about various types of sexual orientation
Cybercrime is the new terrorism
The impact of Bioterrorism
The refugee crisis is increasing terrorism
Social media and modeling industry: Is social media making it easy for models to become rich?
Industrialization and agricultural activities are the greatest contributors to climate change
Effects of commercialization of sports
Negative effects of doing the wrong exercises
Dangers of consuming organic foods
Dangers of weight lifting on women
Whether or not sports betting should be regulated
Should gambling addiction be ranked in the same category as hard drugs?
Athletes are excelling because of their professional trainers
The modern pop musician has more influence than musicians of 80s
The definition of feminism has changed since the 18th century
Going to music school influences the success of a modern musician
Tobacco advertising and its effects
How obsession with healthy eating can drive more people into anorexia
The link between Social media and suicide for teenagers and youths
Should it be mandatory for parents to control their kid’s social media accounts
The civil rights movement and the effects
Analysis of strategies used to alter consumer attitudes
Globalization and how it affects the economy

Examples of English Research Paper Questions

One of the main parts of writing English research paper is to define the research paper question. The question often leads to a hypothesis or thesis statement. Good research questions will generally be based on the who, why, how and what type of questions.

For example, what are the main questions that a reader might ask in this topic or what are your opinions about the topic and who is affected by it? How is the culture portrayed in that particular novel or book? Which political values is the novel questioning? What are the differences and similarities between the two characters?

Once you have a couple of various research questions, you can choose the top three questions and use them to generate a thesis statement. You can then construct your paper around good research questions. If you don’t have a clue what to write, here are a couple of questions to inspire you.

Is random drug testing in a workplace ethical and necessary?
Do pharmaceutical companies view Ebola vaccine as unprofitable?
Has the role of the first lady changed?
Does motivation play a role in human development?
Should the use of marijuana be regulated?
Have the effects of religious cults changed today as compared to those in ancient society?
Is technology affecting health management?
Is it ethical to wear fur coats?
If a college education is made free, will it be more or less qualitative?
Are standardized tests a good way to evaluate a student’s knowledge?

How to Come up with the Best English Research Paper Ideas

The main point of choosing a research topic is to go for aspects of the subjects that you understood better and that which interests you the most. What’s great about a teacher asking you to come up with a research topic is that you can go in any direction that you want. You can look at imagery within the novel, or discuss the allegory of two random but related novels.

However, the process of coming up with English research paper topic that will impress your lecturer is not easy. If you don’t understand your assignments, then don’t hesitate to use our services. Feel free to call us now, and we will help you narrow down good topics that your lecturer will love.

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1000+ FREE Research Topics & Title Ideas

If you’re at the start of your research journey and are trying to figure out which research topic you want to focus on, you’ve come to the right place. Select your area of interest below to view a comprehensive collection of potential research ideas.

Research Topic FAQs

What (exactly) is a research topic.

A research topic is the subject of a research project or study – for example, a dissertation or thesis. A research topic typically takes the form of a problem to be solved, or a question to be answered.

A good research topic should be specific enough to allow for focused research and analysis. For example, if you are interested in studying the effects of climate change on agriculture, your research topic could focus on how rising temperatures have impacted crop yields in certain regions over time.

To learn more about the basics of developing a research topic, consider our free research topic ideation webinar.

What constitutes a good research topic?

A strong research topic comprises three important qualities : originality, value and feasibility.

Originality – a good topic explores an original area or takes a novel angle on an existing area of study.
Value – a strong research topic provides value and makes a contribution, either academically or practically.
Feasibility – a good research topic needs to be practical and manageable, given the resource constraints you face.

To learn more about what makes for a high-quality research topic, check out this post .

What's the difference between a research topic and research problem?

A research topic and a research problem are two distinct concepts that are often confused. A research topic is a broader label that indicates the focus of the study , while a research problem is an issue or gap in knowledge within the broader field that needs to be addressed.

To illustrate this distinction, consider a student who has chosen “teenage pregnancy in the United Kingdom” as their research topic. This research topic could encompass any number of issues related to teenage pregnancy such as causes, prevention strategies, health outcomes for mothers and babies, etc.

Within this broad category (the research topic) lies potential areas of inquiry that can be explored further – these become the research problems . For example:

What factors contribute to higher rates of teenage pregnancy in certain communities?
How do different types of parenting styles affect teen pregnancy rates?
What interventions have been successful in reducing teenage pregnancies?

Simply put, a key difference between a research topic and a research problem is scope ; the research topic provides an umbrella under which multiple questions can be asked, while the research problem focuses on one specific question or set of questions within that larger context.

How can I find potential research topics for my project?

There are many steps involved in the process of finding and choosing a high-quality research topic for a dissertation or thesis. We cover these steps in detail in this video (also accessible below).

How can I find quality sources for my research topic?

Finding quality sources is an essential step in the topic ideation process. To do this, you should start by researching scholarly journals, books, and other academic publications related to your topic. These sources can provide reliable information on a wide range of topics. Additionally, they may contain data or statistics that can help support your argument or conclusions.

Identifying Relevant Sources

When searching for relevant sources, it’s important to look beyond just published material; try using online databases such as Google Scholar or JSTOR to find articles from reputable journals that have been peer-reviewed by experts in the field.

You can also use search engines like Google or Bing to locate websites with useful information about your topic. However, be sure to evaluate any website before citing it as a source—look for evidence of authorship (such as an “About Us” page) and make sure the content is up-to-date and accurate before relying on it.

Evaluating Sources

Once you’ve identified potential sources for your research project, take some time to evaluate them thoroughly before deciding which ones will best serve your purpose. Consider factors such as author credibility (are they an expert in their field?), publication date (is the source current?), objectivity (does the author present both sides of an issue?) and relevance (how closely does this source relate to my specific topic?).

By researching the current literature on your topic, you can identify potential sources that will help to provide quality information. Once you’ve identified these sources, it’s time to look for a gap in the research and determine what new knowledge could be gained from further study.

How can I find a good research gap?

Finding a strong gap in the literature is an essential step when looking for potential research topics. We explain what research gaps are and how to find them in this post.

How should I evaluate potential research topics/ideas?

When evaluating potential research topics, it is important to consider the factors that make for a strong topic (we discussed these earlier). Specifically:

Originality
Feasibility

So, when you have a list of potential topics or ideas, assess each of them in terms of these three criteria. A good topic should take a unique angle, provide value (either to academia or practitioners), and be practical enough for you to pull off, given your limited resources.

Finally, you should also assess whether this project could lead to potential career opportunities such as internships or job offers down the line. Make sure that you are researching something that is relevant enough so that it can benefit your professional development in some way. Additionally, consider how each research topic aligns with your career goals and interests; researching something that you are passionate about can help keep motivation high throughout the process.

How can I assess the feasibility of a research topic?

When evaluating the feasibility and practicality of a research topic, it is important to consider several factors.

First, you should assess whether or not the research topic is within your area of competence. Of course, when you start out, you are not expected to be the world’s leading expert, but do should at least have some foundational knowledge.

Time commitment

When considering a research topic, you should think about how much time will be required for completion. Depending on your field of study, some topics may require more time than others due to their complexity or scope.

Additionally, if you plan on collaborating with other researchers or institutions in order to complete your project, additional considerations must be taken into account such as coordinating schedules and ensuring that all parties involved have adequate resources available.

Resources needed

It’s also critically important to consider what type of resources are necessary in order to conduct the research successfully. This includes physical materials such as lab equipment and chemicals but can also include intangible items like access to certain databases or software programs which may be necessary depending on the nature of your work. Additionally, if there are costs associated with obtaining these materials then this must also be factored into your evaluation process.

Potential risks

It’s important to consider the inherent potential risks for each potential research topic. These can include ethical risks (challenges getting ethical approval), data risks (not being able to access the data you’ll need), technical risks relating to the equipment you’ll use and funding risks (not securing the necessary financial back to undertake the research).

If you’re looking for more information about how to find, evaluate and select research topics for your dissertation or thesis, check out our free webinar here . Alternatively, if you’d like 1:1 help with the topic ideation process, consider our private coaching services .

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Are There Research-Related Opportunities for English Majors?

This article was written based on the information and opinions presented by English majors Brooke Elkjer and Katie DiFrancesco in a CollegeVine livestream. You can watch the full livestream for more info.

What’s Covered

Working with professors, research projects, writing programs.

You might not think of English literature right away when you think about college research projects. It’s not as though English students are performing scientific experiments, after all. But the discipline does do interesting research work. For example, professors are examining and reexamining classic works constantly to figure out how best to analyze them. This article will show you how to get involved in English research and what exactly literature scholars look to study.

Just like biology professors need assistants for lab work, English professors look for assistants to help with their research. Most often, students interested in English research reach out to their instructors directly to see if they’re working on anything that requires assistance.

The University of Southern California , for example, offers programs called Student Opportunities for Academic Research (SOAR) and Summer Undergraduate Research Fund (SURF). You can apply to these and get grant money to assist a professor with their research. You’ll learn as you work and receive an income.

If you are fond of a professor or class, you can approach that instructor and ask them if they’re looking for student researchers. If they say yes, you can apply for those grants. It’s probably best suited to summer work than during the semester, as it can be quite intensive. It should feel exciting to do that kind of in-depth reading, especially in a subject that you’re passionate about and may not have had the chance to explore fully.

English research isn’t like STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) research. Instead of working in a laboratory, observing experiments, and recording data, you’ll be doing a deep dive into different literature. You’ll probably end up reading a good deal of literary theory too.

English professors working on independent research often end up developing their own theories. These can be used to analyze and provide a new lens on works of literature. You can think of these as a type of theme—they’ll look at important texts and try to come up with a new way to think about them or make new points about what they’re saying.

If you’re just applying to college, it can be difficult to understand exactly what this means. As you move through an English major, your analytical skills will develop and deepen.

A good example would be Judith Butler’s work on gender as performance. A research project may apply that concept to a work like Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night , where there are many characters who dress up as different genders, and conflicts happen as a result. You would then take Butler’s theories of gender to see how the characters are performing these roles and how those theories contribute to the overall narrative. This kind of research involves shedding a different light on classic literature.

At the University of Pennsylvania , there are a fair number of scholarships that enable students to do independent research. Many of these scholarships and research grants go toward the Kelly Writers House .

The Kelly Writers House is a physical space on campus (essentially a center) where you can find writing activities and coursework. Most writing classes take place there. There’s also a radio program, poetry readings, and other speaker events. Funding is provided if you would like to create a piece of writing—an article, essay, or work of fiction—that you would then present to some of your peers.

Travel stipends are also given out, so you could travel nationally or internationally to do whatever work your research entails. It’s mostly self-directed, so you’ll have a great deal of freedom in whatever you choose to pursue. If you’re interested in research that would involve creative writing, you might want to look at this program, as it could be a good fit for you.

English Literature Research Paper Topics

This guide, centered on English literature research paper topics , serves as a comprehensive resource for students seeking to delve deep into the diverse epochs, authors, and themes that have shaped English literary tradition. Navigating the intricate tapestry of English literature offers scholars a multitude of avenues for exploration. From the mystique of medieval tales to the introspective narratives of modernism, this guide not only provides a plethora of English literature research paper topics but also offers insights on choosing the ideal topic, structuring the research paper, and harnessing the unmatched writing services of iResearchNet. Dive in to unravel the rich heritage of English literature and discover the myriad opportunities it presents for academic exploration.

100 English Literature Research Paper Topics

Diving into English literature is like embarking on a journey through time and culture. From ancient ballads to modernist narratives, it offers a vast panorama of themes, styles, and societal reflections. Below is a comprehensive list of English literature research paper topics spanning across different eras and genres:

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Medieval Literature

The significance of chivalry in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight .
The Christian and Pagan elements in Beowulf .
Courtly love in The Knight’s Tale from Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales .
Dream visions in Pearl and Piers Plowman .
The role of fate and providence in The Consolation of Philosophy .
The art of storytelling in The Decameron vs. The Canterbury Tales .
The Seven Deadly Sins in Everyman .
The evolution of the English language: Old English vs. Middle English.
Religious allegory in The Second Shepherd’s Play .
Women and femininity in the Lais of Marie de France .

Renaissance and Elizabethan Age

Shakespeare’s portrayal of power in Macbeth .
Love and beauty in Sonnet 18 .
The idea of the “New World” in The Tempest .
The virtues in Spenser’s The Faerie Queene .
Magic and science in Doctor Faustus by Christopher Marlowe.
The pastoral settings of As You Like It .
The politics of gender in Twelfth Night .
Revenge and madness in Hamlet .
John Donne’s metaphysical poetry and its innovation.
The darker side of the Renaissance: The Duchess of Malfi by John Webster.

The Restoration and the 18th Century

The satirical world of Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels .
Class struggles in Daniel Defoe’s Moll Flanders .
Alexander Pope’s critique of society in The Rape of the Lock .
Aphra Behn and the emergence of the woman writer.
The wit and wisdom of Samuel Johnson’s essays.
The rise of the novel: Richardson vs. Fielding.
Sentimentality and society in Sterne’s Tristram Shandy .
Politics and plays: John Gay’s The Beggar’s Opera .
Women, education, and literature: Mary Wollstonecraft’s ideas.
The mock-heroic in English literature.

Romantic Period

Nature and transcendence in Wordsworth’s Tintern Abbey .
The Byronic hero in Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage .
Shelley’s Ozymandias and the ephemeral nature of power.
The Gothic romance of Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights .
George Gordon Lord Byron and the Romantic antihero.
The visionary world of William Blake’s poems.
The exotic and the familiar in Samuel Taylor Coleridge.
Keats’s exploration of beauty and mortality.
The industrial revolution’s reflection in literature.
Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and the dangers of ambition.

Victorian Era

Charles Dickens and his critique of Victorian society.
The challenges of morality in Thomas Hardy’s novels.
The bildungsroman in Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre .
The plight of women in George Eliot’s Middlemarch .
Oscar Wilde’s wit and irony in The Importance of Being Earnest .
The debate on science and religion in In Memoriam A.H.H by Alfred Lord Tennyson.
The mystery and suspense of Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes stories.
The “Woman Question” in Victorian literature.
The realism of Anthony Trollope’s Chronicles of Barsetshire.
Gothic elements in Dracula by Bram Stoker.
The fragmented narrative of Virginia Woolf’s To the Lighthouse .
T.S. Eliot’s The Waste Land and the disillusionment of the post-war era.
The struggles of the working class in D.H. Lawrence’s novels.
The impact of World War I on English poetry.
James Joyce’s revolutionary narrative techniques in A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man .
E.M. Forster’s exploration of social and racial themes.
The critique of colonialism in Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness .
W.B. Yeats and the Irish literary revival.
The emergence of the stream-of-consciousness technique.
The Jazz Age and decadence in the writings of F. Scott Fitzgerald.

The Gothic Tradition

Origins of Gothic fiction: Horace Walpole’s The Castle of Otranto .
The supernatural and macabre in Frankenstein by Mary Shelley.
Ann Radcliffe’s influence on the Gothic novel.
The role of the Byronic hero in The Vampyre by John Polidori.
Duality of human nature in The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde .
The haunting atmospheres in Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë.
Gender and sexuality in Carmilla by Sheridan Le Fanu.
Edgar Allan Poe’s influence on English Gothic literature.
Dracula by Bram Stoker: Themes of sexuality and fear of the unknown.
The Gothic novel as a reflection of societal fears and anxieties.

The Angry Young Men Era

Social criticism in John Osborne’s Look Back in Anger .
Exploring masculinity in Saturday Night and Sunday Morning by Alan Sillitoe.
The disillusionment of post-war Britain in The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner .
The class struggle in Kingsley Amis’s Lucky Jim .
Existential themes in John Wain’s Hurry on Down .
Feminine perspectives in the era: Shelagh Delaney’s A Taste of Honey .
The critique of academia in The History Man by Malcolm Bradbury.
The Angry Young Men and their influence on modern theater.
The transformation of British literature in the 1950s and 1960s.
The lasting legacy of the Angry Young Men movement in contemporary literature.

Postmodern British Literature

Metafiction in Julian Barnes’s Flaubert’s Parrot .
The playfulness of language in Salman Rushdie’s The Satanic Verses .
Intertextuality in Jeanette Winterson’s Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit .
The fragmented narrative in Graham Swift’s Waterland .
Reality and fiction in Ian McEwan’s Atonement .
Gender and postcolonial themes in Angela Carter’s The Passion of New Eve .
The exploration of identity in Zadie Smith’s White Teeth .
The deconstruction of traditional narrative in Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell.
Postmodern gothic in The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield.
Magical realism in The Porcelain Doll by Julian Barnes.

Contemporary English Literature

The multicultural London in Brick Lane by Monica Ali.
Exploring family dynamics in On Beauty by Zadie Smith.
The concept of time in Ian McEwan’s Amsterdam .
The role of history in Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall .
The exploration of love and loss in Julian Barnes’s The Sense of an Ending .
Postcolonial Britain in Andrea Levy’s Small Island .
The challenges of modern life in Nick Hornby’s High Fidelity .
The evolution of the English detective novel: Kate Atkinson’s Case Histories .
The legacy of the British Empire in The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai.
The digital age and its influence on literature: The Word Exchange by Alena Graedon.

English literature boasts a rich and varied tapestry of themes, periods, and genres. This comprehensive list is a testament to the dynamism and depth of the field, offering a myriad of research avenues for students. As they venture into each topic, they can appreciate the nuances and complexities that have shaped the literary tradition, making it an invaluable component of global culture and heritage.

English Literature and the Range of Topics It Offers

English literature, encompassing the vast historical, cultural, and artistic legacy of writings in the English language, boasts a rich tapestry of narratives, characters, and stylistic innovations. From the earliest Old English epic poems to the reflective and multifaceted postmodern novels, English literature offers an expansive array of topics for analysis, discussion, and research. The depth and breadth of this literary tradition are mirrored by the diverse range of English literature research paper topics it can inspire.

The Medieval Foundation

Diving into the early origins of English literature, we encounter works like Beowulf , an Old English epic poem of heroism, fate, and the struggle against malevolent forces. Medieval English literature, characterized by religious texts, chivalric romances, and philosophical treatises, sets the stage for the evolution of narrative styles and thematic explorations. The rich allegorical narratives, like Piers Plowman or Sir Gawain and the Green Knight , present intricate societal and spiritual commentaries that still resonate with readers today. These works invite inquiries into the socio-religious dynamics of medieval England, the evolution of the English language, and the literary techniques employed.

Renaissance and Enlightenment: A Burst of Creativity

The Renaissance and Elizabethan Age saw the emergence of revered playwrights like William Shakespeare and Christopher Marlowe, whose dramas, whether tragedies, comedies, or histories, plumbed the depths of human emotion, politics, and existence. The genius of Shakespeare’s Hamlet or Othello , juxtaposed against Marlowe’s Doctor Faustus , provides a fertile ground for investigating themes of ambition, betrayal, love, and existential angst. Moreover, with poets like Edmund Spenser and his epic The Faerie Queene , English literature expanded its horizons, both thematically and stylistically.

The subsequent Restoration and the 18th century ushered in a period of social and literary change. With authors like Jonathan Swift and Alexander Pope, satire became a powerful tool to critique society and politics. Furthermore, the emergence of the novel, as exemplified by Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe and Samuel Richardson’s Pamela , offered researchers a chance to explore the evolving societal values, gender norms, and narrative techniques.

Romanticism, Victorian Era to Modernism: A Spectrum of Emotion and Thought

The Romantic period, marked by poets like William Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, and John Keats, celebrated nature, emotion, and individualism. In contrast, the Victorian era, with novelists like Charles Dickens, Thomas Hardy, and the Brontë sisters, addressed societal change, morality, and industrialization. Both periods are a goldmine for English literature research paper topics around the individual vs. society, the role of nature, and the exploration of the self.

Modernism in English literature, with heavyweights like Virginia Woolf, James Joyce, and T.S. Eliot, revolutionized narrative structure and thematic depth. Works from this era, such as To the Lighthouse or The Waste Land , demand analysis on fragmented narrative, stream of consciousness, and the introspective exploration of the human psyche.

Contemporary Reflections

Contemporary English literature, shaped by postcolonial, feminist, and postmodern influences, gives voice to a plethora of perspectives. Authors like Salman Rushdie, Zadie Smith, and Julian Barnes tackle issues of identity, multiculturalism, history, and reality versus fiction. Such works present a plethora of avenues for research, from analyzing the postcolonial identity in Rushdie’s narratives to the intricate tapestries of familial and societal dynamics in Smith’s novels.

Concluding Thoughts

In essence, English literature is an evolving entity, reflecting and shaping societal, cultural, and individual values and challenges over the centuries. For students and researchers, the wealth of English literature research paper topics it offers ranges from historical and linguistic analyses to deep dives into thematic cores and stylistic innovations. Whether one wishes to explore the chivalric codes of medieval romances, the biting satires of the 18th century, the emotional landscapes of Romanticism, or the fragmented realities of postmodern narratives, English literature provides an inexhaustible reservoir of research opportunities.

How to Choose an English Literature Topic

Choosing a research paper topic, especially within the expansive field of English literature, can be a challenging endeavor. The centuries-spanning literature offers a treasure trove of stories, themes, characters, and socio-political contexts that beckon exhaustive exploration. As such, students often find themselves at a crossroads, wondering where to begin and how to narrow down their choices to find that one compelling topic. Here’s a detailed guide to streamline this process:

Align with Your Interests: Dive into periods, genres, or authors that genuinely intrigue you. If Victorian novels captivate your imagination or if Shakespearean dramas resonate with you, use that as your starting point. Genuine interest ensures sustained motivation throughout your research journey.
Evaluate Academic Relevance: While personal interest is vital, ensure your chosen topic aligns with academic goals and curriculum requirements. Some English literature research paper topics, while intriguing, might not offer substantial academic value for a particular course or level of study.
Seek Familiar Ground (But Not Too Familiar): Leverage your previous readings and coursework. Familiarity offers a foundation, but challenge yourself to explore uncharted territories within that domain. If you enjoyed Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice , maybe delve into its feminist interpretations or comparative studies with other contemporaneous works.
Embrace Complexity: Opt for English literature research paper topics that lend themselves to multifaceted exploration. Simple topics might not provide enough depth for comprehensive research papers. Instead of a general overview of Romantic poetry, explore the portrayal of nature in Wordsworth’s works versus Shelley’s.
Historical and Cultural Context: Literature isn’t created in a vacuum. Understand the historical and societal backdrop of a literary work. This context can offer a fresh perspective and can be an excellent lens for your research.
Contemporary Relevance: How does a particular work or literary period converse with today’s world? Exploring the modern implications or relevance of classic works can be both enlightening and academically rewarding.
Diverse Interpretations: Embrace English literature research paper topics open to various interpretations. Works like George Orwell’s 1984 or Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot can be analyzed from political, psychological, existential, or linguistic viewpoints.
Consult with Peers and Professors: Engage in discussions with classmates and seek advice from professors. Their feedback can provide new perspectives or refine your existing topic ideas.
Read Critiques and Literary Journals: Academic journals, critiques, and literary analyses offer insights into popular research areas and can help you identify gaps or lesser-explored aspects of a work or period.
Flexibility is Key: As you delve deeper into your research, be open to tweaking or even changing your topic. New findings or challenges might necessitate slight shifts in your research focus.

Choosing the right research topic in English literature requires a blend of personal passion, academic relevance, and the potential for in-depth exploration. By aligning your interests with academic goals, and being open to exploration and adaptation, you pave the way for a fulfilling and academically enriching research experience. Remember, the journey of researching and understanding literature can be as enlightening as the end result. Embrace the process, and let the vast ocean of English literature inspire and challenge you.

How to Write an English Literature Research Paper

Penning an English literature research paper is a task that demands meticulous planning, a deep understanding of the subject, and the ability to weave thoughts coherently. English literature, with its vast and rich tapestry, offers endless avenues for exploration, making it both an exciting and daunting endeavor. Below are step-by-step guidelines to craft a compelling research paper in this domain:

Understanding the Assignment: Before diving into the research phase, ensure you fully understand the assignment’s requirements. Is there a specific format? Are certain sources mandatory? What’s the word count? This foundational clarity sets the stage for efficient research and writing.
Preliminary Research: Start with a broad exploration of your topic. Read general articles, introductory chapters, or review papers. This will give you a general overview and can help narrow down your focus.
Thesis Statement Formulation: Your thesis is the backbone of your research paper. It should be clear, precise, and arguable. For instance, instead of writing “Shakespeare’s plays are influential,” you might specify, “ Macbeth illustrates the dire consequences of unchecked ambition.”
Diving Deeper – Detailed Research: With your thesis in hand, dive deeper into primary (original texts) and secondary sources (critiques, essays). Libraries, academic databases, and literary journals are treasure troves of valuable information.
Organize Your Findings: Use digital tools, index cards, or notebooks to categorize and annotate your findings. Grouping similar ideas together will make the writing process smoother.
Drafting an Outline: An organized structure is essential for clarity. Create an outline with clear headings and subheadings, ensuring a logical flow of ideas. This will serve as a roadmap as you write.
Introduction Crafting: Your introduction should be engaging, offering a glimpse of your thesis and the significance of your study. Remember, first impressions count!
Literary Analysis: Delve into the text’s intricacies – symbols, themes, character development, stylistic devices, and historical context.
Critiques and Counter-arguments: Discuss various interpretations of the text, and don’t shy away from addressing dissenting views. This lends credibility and depth to your paper.
Comparative Analysis (if applicable): Compare the chosen work with others, drawing parallels or highlighting contrasts.
Maintaining Coherence and Transition: Each paragraph should have a clear main idea and transition smoothly to the next, maintaining the paper’s flow and ensuring the reader’s engagement.
Conclusion Crafting: Reiterate your thesis and summarize your main findings. Discuss the broader implications of your study, potentially suggesting areas for further exploration.
Citing Your Sources: Always attribute ideas and quotations to their original authors. Depending on the assigned format (MLA, APA, etc.), ensure that in-text citations and the bibliography are correctly formatted.
Revision and Proofreading: Once your draft is complete, take a break before revisiting it. Read it aloud to catch awkward phrasings. Check for grammatical errors, consistency in argumentation, and clarity in presenting ideas. Consider seeking peer reviews or utilizing editing tools.
Seek Feedback: Before final submission, consider sharing your paper with a mentor, professor, or knowledgeable peer. Their insights can be invaluable in refining your research paper.

Writing an English literature research paper is as much an art as it is a science. While meticulous research and structured writing are crucial, allowing your passion for literature to shine through will elevate your paper. Remember, literature is about exploring the human experience, and as you dissect these masterpieces, you’re not just analyzing texts but delving into profound insights about life, society, and humanity. Embrace the journey, and let every step, from research to writing, be a process of discovery.

iResearchNet Writing Services for Custom English Literature Research Paper

For any student of English literature, the voyage through various eras, authors, and their imaginative universes is both exhilarating and overwhelming. Each period, from the mystical narratives of the Middle Ages to the raw modernism of the 20th century, has its distinctive character, themes, and voices. However, writing a research paper on such vast and diverseEnglish literature research paper topics can be challenging. This is where iResearchNet steps in, bridging the gap between intricate literary exploration and top-notch academic writing.

Expert Degree-Holding Writers: Our team consists of scholars who not only hold advanced degrees in English literature but are also passionate about their specialization. Whether you’re delving into Chaucer’s tales or Virginia Woolf’s modernist prose, rest assured, there’s an expert at iResearchNet familiar with the nuances of the topic.
Custom Written Works: Each paper is crafted from scratch, ensuring originality and authenticity. We understand that English literature is an interpretative art, and we strive to provide fresh insights tailored to your specific requirements.
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College of Arts & Sciences

Thesis Topics

You are invited to pursue any topic that falls under the English department’s purview, and the Honors Committee will assume that you will pursue it with scholarly rigor, intellectual seriousness, and artistic integrity. You should follow your own interests and commitments in defining your project, though you should avail yourself of the advice of those faculty members whose expertise will help you focus your ideas and give them depth. Again, we welcome critical, creative, interdisciplinary, mixed genre, and hybrid creative/critical projects. Most successful applicants have derived their projects from interests developed during their time as English majors at Georgetown. During the actual writing of the thesis, of course, you will work closely with a faculty mentor.

Here is a partial list of the kinds of literary and interdisciplinary topics that Honors students have pursued over the past few years:

Polyphony in the novels of Cormac McCarthy
Women in post-Stonewall gay male literature
Madness and skepticism in Hamlet and Don Quixote
Dialogism in Toni Morrison and Christa Woolf
The Booker Prize as post-colonial phenomenon
Jazz in the Harlem Renaissance
The scientific revolution and 18th-century narratives
Irvine Welsh and dialect writing
Sound and structure in scripts
Identity and memory in Maxine Hong Kingston
Influence of the internet on writing
The written legacy of oral narratives in Amerindian culture
Medieval women troubadours
African-American women writers and their Biblical heritage
Adult-child discourse in real-life conversation and classic children’s literature
The role of bible-making in the works of Blake, Wordsworth, and Hardy
Morality plays in the Middle Ages and the twentieth century

In addition, Honors students have written short story collections, memoirs, and collections of poetry. Students have also written hybrid creative/critical projects, such as a critique of postcolonial memoir within a postcolonial memoir. Those students who propose creative projects should have developed their skills through taking courses with the Georgetown English Department creative writing faculty or through participation in campus and professional journals and other creative venues.

Social Sciences

Research Topics in English Literature

Author: Lisa

Ideas for Writing English Papers

Research topics on English literature initially start off broad and then narrow down and you come up with your thesis. Using any of the research topics listed (gender, comparisons, historical background, politics, and religion) can take you almost anywhere. Choose your general topic based on the literature class you're writing for. If it's a class focused on gender, start there and then branch out to something like my example of how the roles of men and women are portrayed.

Knowing first your general topic and then what kind of essay or paper you're researching ( argumentative , persuasive, etc.) can help you decide what to do with it next when it comes to narrowing it down. Remember this isn't concrete. Your topic can grow and completely change as you research. Choosing the literature topic is just the key to getting started.

Finding and researching a good topic in English literature takes time and patience.

LisaKoski via Instagram

Topics for English Literature Research Essays

When it comes to English literature, there's no end to the topics that you can research for that novel or other piece that you've been reading. The easiest way to get an idea for that next research topic on English literature for your essay is to start broad and then work toward making it more specific and interesting for your readers. Here are a few examples of research topics in literature to get you started (for a more extensive list of research topics in literature, please check out the link that can be found at the bottom of this article):

1. Gender roles

How are the roles of men and women portrayed in the text? Are they distinctly different? Do they have equal rights? What gender expectations do they follow or fight against?

2. Comparisons between genres

How does each genre tell its story? What are the differences and similarities between the two? Is one more effective than the other?

3. Historical background

Who is the author and what is their story? Were there controversies associated with them or their work? What is the significance of this text in the time it was written? How does it reflect the society and beliefs of its time?

4. Politics

What issues in politics does this text address? Discrimination? Rights? Equality?

5. Religion

How is the text novel religious? What beliefs is it promoting or questioning?

6. Comparisons between two characters

This can be between characters in the same text or two different ones. How are their differences and similarities important to the text?

Wellington House: Britain's WW1 Propaganda Bureau

7. Comparisons between two texts

If the texts seem completely different but represent the same genre or come from the same time period, this may be something you want to explore.

8. Allusions within the text

What are some significant allusions within the text? These could be religious, refer to other texts or authors, etc. How is this important to understanding the text and its place in English literature?

9. Criticism

What are some of the most notable criticisms out there? What is your response and how does it compare to other critics out there?

10. Symbolism

What are important symbols in the text? How are they significant?

Researching for an English Literature essay can be tough but finding a topic you are really interested in helps make it easier.

Morten Oddvik via Flickr (CC License)

How to Find an English Topic to Research for Any Project

So, you’ve finally made it to your last year at your university and you’ve got one last thing to do before you leave: the dreaded Capstone Project. Have no fear; although it is time-consuming and stressful work, it is possible to turn all that work into something fun, as long as you choose the right topic in English literature to write about. The key to going out with a bang with a fantastic Capstone is to choose something you actually care about.

Of all the aspects of this project, choosing the right research topic is absolutely key. Choose the wrong one, and you may not meet the requirements or, worse, you may dislike it enough to have to change it halfway through the class.

For the first time in four years, teachers are giving you the reins and having you decide what you want to write about. No more prompts telling you what to do, except for the guidelines for your project, and no more focusing on the one aspect of a text that the professor tells you to.

So don’t freak out, think of it as the best part of your university experience yet. Now’s the time to show your stuff and let everyone see how much of a successful English literature nerd you’ve turned out to be. If you can do it yourself, you’ve proved yourself worthy of that snazzy degree they’re about to hand you in a couple of months. Of course, if you’ve made it to this point, there’s no way you’re not worthy.

Example of a Researched Essay in English Literature

My Capstone class was titled “The Age of Novels” and focused on the rise of the novel during the eighteenth century. Basically, we looked at how the novel developed into what we see as a novel today, considering how writers presented and executed their works of fiction, who influenced them, and how they influenced others. We also looked at literary techniques such as psychological realism and the differing roles of men and women in the formation of this most popular form of writing.

My class was focused on topics such as psychological realism and gender roles so this is something that I kept in the back of my mind as I read through the novel I chose to research.

How to Get Started on an English Literature Paper

I’m going to use my own experience in the Capstone Project as an example of how to choose a research topic in English literature.

I know your Capstone won’t be on the same topic, but it’s still important to know the basic focus of the class in order to get to your literature research topic. Look at the prompt for your English class and see what sticks out to you.

After reading through the required reading in my class, I decided to veer away from novels of formal realism and go into the Gothic realm with M.G. Lewis’s The Monk , which was completely unexplored in the class. Not only do I love Gothic literature, but this was a great way for me to draw comparisons with the books of the same period without doing the same old thing we were doing in the classroom. I was killing two birds with one stone, as they say; getting to read a novel in the genre I’m most interested in while still exploring the same prompts the class was focused on.

Sometimes, if you're stuck on an English literature research topic, starting at a completely new angle can help you find something really interesting to work on. After you get to know the ins and outs of what your class is about, it's easy to go off in another direction and work your way back into what you've been learning about. This journey can bring you into a whole new realm of possibilities to research.

Brainstorming ideas while researching topics in English Literature

How to Brainstorm Writing Ideas for Essays

Now, as you read the book of your choice (or your professor's), focus on one or more aspects of your English Literature class prompt so that your research topic relates to the actual class you’re taking. I decided to focus on chastity within the novel and how the gothic novel portrays male and female chastity versus the novels of formal realism. This English literature research topic took a lot of work to get to. Don't be afraid of setbacks or having to start over.

The best way initially is to write down a broad topic to research and then list any information relevant to that topic. It doesn’t matter how insignificant the piece of information may seem, list it. Then go through and see what interesting conclusions you can make from the information. Looking at gender, how are males portrayed versus females? Looking at genre, how is the gothic novel different from a formal realism novel?

Putting things out on paper is the best way to get it all out in the open and free your mind that’s jumbled with information. Once it's on paper, you can actually look at it all and piece it all into one neat picture (through words of course) that anyone can understand. Without doing this, it’s like trying to put together a puzzle with all of the pieces turned down, so you aren’t sure which ones actually go together.

Ideas on Getting a Research Topic

If the brainstorming step doesn't work for you, just write down any questions you have about the novel. If you noticed that there were a lot of religious references and ideas in the novel, maybe you'd be curious to know the author's biography and see how that plays a significant role in the piece.

For my own example, I could have asked myself "What is gothic" or "How did eighteenth-century England define chastity?" After this brief research, go back through your notes and see if you can come up with an interesting topic you can do further research on for that English literature essay.

Tips for Researching Topics on English Literature

Looking at what you’ve put together in your brainstorm, it’s easy to see where you need to do research on the novel. No one wants a paper full of generalizations so take each topic you can't automatically define and start researching it.

Do you know how to define gothic or formal realism? Research it. What were the gender expectations for this time? Research it. You want to go as in-depth into your topic as possible, which involves even more research than reading two or three novels.

It also doesn’t help to learn some background on the author. Were they a rebel or a strict conservative? Was this novel popular? How did it affect the readers of its time? For example, Lewis was actually brought to court for The Monk because it was seen as a bad influence on his female readers. This is something not only interesting but relevant to the topic of female chastity in my chosen English literature research topic for my essay.

Doing some background research on a novel like this can bring ideas together into a thesis for your paper and lead you in a solid direction for your actual research for your paper. If you haven’t finally figured something out by this point, you may have to consult your professor.

Outline of an Example for an English Research Essay

Thesis: Lewis’s novel completely undoes the plots, tropes, and principles of Richardson and Fielding’s formal realism, not only through its use of superstition and other Gothic elements but also in the development and resolution of each of these characters’ stories. Instead of providing a positive example, The Monk gives a horrifying one to instill fear in its readership to preserve the same virtue.

1. What is a gothic novel?

2. Pamela Andrews

3. Joseph Andrews

4. What is formal realism?

5. What is a gothic novel?

6. Gothic novel versus formal realism

7. Ambrosio

8. Joseph Andrews

10. Pamela Andrews

How Do You Know It's a Good Research Topic on English Literature?

Test it with an outline.

If you aren’t sure you’ve got the right topic to come up with a 20-some-odd-page essay, outline what you’ve got so far. I like to do a very basic outline, starting with my thesis (in its rough draft form of course) at the very top. Next, I write what each paragraph will be about. If it’s a 20-page paper, you may write about two to three paragraphs a page so you will need to have at least 10 paragraphs.

Knowing what each paragraph is supposed to be about makes writing their topic sentences a little easier. Sometimes you may find that a research topic is broad enough to be able to split into two paragraphs, this is handy if you couldn’t initially list at least ten topics. For example, just saying Pamela Andrews for one of my paragraph topics doesn't cover what I want to say. I may just give a brief overview of her character or provide why her character is significant to formal realism.

Example of a research topic turning into a topic sentence:

“It is important when studying this novel, to examine what defines a Gothic novel in relation to eighteenth-century definitions of novel-writing.”

This leads to questions of “Why is this important?” and, of course, “What is Gothic?” which brings you into the paragraph and gives you the first two major points you need to cover.

Just remember that the key to choosing a research topic for English literature is to start broad. Read the novel and remember to focus on your own class's focus or on whatever interests you most. From there, you can branch out to almost any research topic, it just takes some work to get there.

More on English Literature Essays

How to Analyze Characters in Literature Character analysis is an important part of any college freshman or sophomore literature class. But they aren't always the easiest things to do. Take some advice from an English teacher, and you'll be writing those character analyses in no time!
How to Analyze Two Books in an Essay Analyzing a book in an essay is hard enough, but comparing two books in one paper requires a little extra effort.
Comparing Two or More Poems for a Literature Essay Using a structured approach to compare and contrast two or more poems gives you a better chance of gaining top grades. This article will help you understand the meaning of comparison and show you how to shape an essay effectively.

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Please suggest me a topic for my m.phil thesis ( English literature)

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Then can anybody suggest me a topic for my master degree?

I'm the dire need of that.

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Please I need a suitable project topic to disapprove Okonkwo as a hero in Things Fall Apart as portrayed by Achebe

I wish to disagree with Achebe in Things Fall Apart that Okonkwo is a Hero. Could you please give me a suitable project topic for it?

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mgijimi on April 24, 2019:

I'm doing my thesis for my masters. I need help to rephrase my research topic below :

Mobile Banking application is the most preferred mode of banking compared to Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) banking in Gauteng

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I am lost over what to research on for my PhD research. My area of interests are 'concept of terror and horror', 'study of feminine space in novels', 'pschoanalysis'. From here i dont know how to proceed. It would be of great help if you could suggest any work or topic that i could look into.

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I read the novel "the great divorce" I am enthusiastic to in fantasy. How can I form the topic help me please

Ken on November 27, 2018:

Sulae on November 20, 2018:

rahul on October 31, 2018:

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thanks a lot

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George Orwell's animal equality and freedom

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Can anybody suggest me a topic for my PhD dissertation in English literature.My aim is to connect literature to education.A topic which can cover the literature and education area.

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Thank you so much

well I already choose my topic but my prof said that it's too broad and large to write a research project, so I changed it but I did not find yet a topic , I choose I novel (hard times by Charles dickens , but I do not know what is the suitable topic .. can you help please

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Helpful information to write a research paper.

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I want to slect symbolism in tale of two cities by Charles Dickens.

But couldn't find out the exact statement. .

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I need a current topic for research in English Language rather than Literature.

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I need a good topic on Literature. Please help me anyone..

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100 Good English Research Paper Topics & Ideas to Make Successful Submission

Working in the English language always creates a compelling experience in your learning. It will allow you to explore the language and its interesting features. Surprisingly, more than 1.35 billion people speak English globally. According to Statista 2021 findings, English is the most spoken language worldwide. Consider the facts in your mind while working on your English research papers. For that reason, pick the interesting English research paper topics and unbox your understanding smartly.

To make your learning more presentable, you should understand the significance of the English paper topics. If you pick a good topic for drafting your English research papers, you can easily advance your learning. It makes your academic writing more productive and credible. So, browse the suggestions for selecting the easy research paper topics for English projects.

Table of Contents

Educational English Research Paper Topics

To make your work more engaging, you should focus on topic selection. Go through the list of numerous topics for English research papers to expand your learning of the language.

Present a study on various credible sources of learning the English language.
Impact of grammatical mistakes on English writing skills.
Understanding of the English language for non-native speakers.
Difficulties faced by non-American students in English communication.
Role of poetry in learning English literature.
Reflects the interpretation of Shakespeare’s work.
Discuss mythology as literature.
How to correlate literature with psychology?
Discuss stream of consciousness writing style.
Is there any relation between literature and religion?
Glorification of romance in literature.
Feminist perspective in English literature.
Modern American English Literature.
Impact of language in society development.
Verbal English communication for teaching moral values.
Importance of imagination in poetry writing.
Fiction Vs Nonfiction: which one is keeping more interesting appeal.
Poetry work of Samuel Taylor Coleridge and William Wordsworth.
Romantic philosophy in Walt Whitman’s poetry.
Impact of counselling and guidance on scholars’ academic performance.
How to boost students’ interest in academic literature?
Creativity analysis on poetry composition.
Today’s communication language barrier.
Obstacles in modern English literature .
Explore easy poetic techniques for beginners.

Interesting English Research Paper Topics

Make your English research paper writing more interesting by picking an interesting topic. Unload your thoughts precisely and make your work more worthy to read. Consider good research paper topics for drafting good English projects.

Significance of distance education.
How to address learning disabilities in a college education?
Importance of sex education in college scholars.
Methods to discrimination in educational administration.
Effective college administration for successful placement.
Same-sex Vs mixed-sex education: which one is better?
Pensive analysis on No Child Left Behind Act.
Effectiveness of the federal education system as compared to other countries’ education systems.
Strong methodology to lower bullying in schools.
Online education Vs physical education: which one is more effective?
Analysis of the grading system on students’ learning.
Discuss Montessori Method of Education.
Examine Intensive English Programs (IEPs) in the US,
Discuss the role of postsecondary educational institutions in American literacy.
Legal consequences of plagiarism in academic writing.
Impact of tuition fees for home students.
Is student engagement with social media affecting their studies?
Methods to control sleeping disorders.
How to develop positivity in college students?
Role of leadership for handling real-life problems.
Psychology impacts of COVID on students.
Role of family relationship on students’ mental abilities.
Career prospects of literature students.
How to boost English communication skills for international students?

Research Paper Ideas For English Topics Related to Technology

Unimaginable changes are brought by technical advancement and it is hard to ignore. Capturing the advancement in your research topics for English papers allows you to expand your knowledge. So, think pensively on the following topic ideas.

Impact of over-used computers on students’ health.
Role of digital communication in learning the English language.
Stress management to advance learning abilities.
Technical barriers in oral and written communication in the English language.
Digital tools to advance English fluency.
Future of electric-vehicle.
Methods to improve speaking attributes.
Role of online classes in knowledge enhancement.
The credibility of digital certification.
How to search for credible resources for writing English papers?
Role of kinesics in communication.
Impact of technology exposure on students’ learning skills.
Importance of technical advancement in advancing academic progress.
Advantages as well as disadvantages of e-learning.
International Vs national learning: Pros and cons.
Scope of digital marketing for small businesses.
Use of modern technology to improve the quality of education.
Is social media increasing suicidal thoughts on students’ minds?
Role of mobile applications in advancing English verbal communication.
Is digital technology altering consumer attitudes?
Use of online assignment help in writing a good essay.
Impact of online tutoring in students’ knowledge enhancement.
Role of artificial intelligence in educational advancement.
Efficacy of digital tools to check plagiarism.
Future aspects of machine learning in the education sector.

English Research Paper Topics For Mini Projects

When you do not need to write lengthy papers, pick the easiest topic for your projects. So, modify your research for selecting appropriate topics for English research papers. It will help to prepare your mini projects and meet the deadlines.

Interpretation of American English Drama.
Role of English communication in business management.
Impact of the internet in students’ psychology.
Teaching methodology for the English language.
Significance of soft skills.
Differentiate between modern vs traditional classrooms.
Examine active listening techniques.
Impact of reading in English communication.
Effect of mother tongue on learning the English language.
How to control people management and leadership?
Socio-ideological values of television programs.
Role of functional English in daily routine.
Techniques to develop speaking attributes.
Ways to improve writing skills.
Tips to compose strong descriptive paragraphs.
How does pronunciation vary in different learning cultures?
How to develop interview skills?
Impact of audiobooks in enhancing learning abilities.
How to develop a positive mindset?
Ways to learn time management skills.
Influence of standardized tests for knowledge evaluation.
A key motivation for students’ knowledge enhancement.
Is it practicable to make college education free?
Positivity learning techniques.
How to prepare health management for students?

Also, Read: 100+ Compelling Linguistics Research Topics

Tips To Pick the Right Research Topics For English Papers

When it is about sharing your ideas on your research topics, you should be attentive. Your research writing reflects your critical thinking, writing abilities, and creative mindset. Therefore, you must concentrate on research paper ideas for the English projects. For that, go through the following tips to pick the English papers topics.

Understand your area of interest. If you pick the right topic according to interest, it will be easy for you to project your learning.
Do not jump straight to any research topic for English papers. Make sure to brainstorm the idea deeply so that you can unlayer your understanding properly.
Good research topics for English papers reflect your knowledge and time management skills. Choose the topic according to your project submission deadline.
Paying utmost attention to a particular idea while writing your papers can limit your creativity. So, absorb the other aspects of topics for writing compelling English research papers.
Before finalizing any English papers topic, make sure to look around. It means you need to write according to your audiences’ interests. Otherwise, you would fail to create a good impression.

Still In Doubts? Turn Your Attention To Expert’s Suggestion!

Are you feeling puzzled while selecting the English research paper topics? Holding your research paper for longer can hurt your performance. So, search for the solutions instead of creating tension in your mind. If you cannot focus on your English research paper writing, ask for experts’ help. Use our noteworthy paper help and share your concerns with our English writers. Their interpretation and proficiency in the English language will help you out. Under their guidance, you will find the right research.

By Alex Brown

I'm an ambitious, seasoned, and versatile author. I am experienced in proposing, outlining, and writing engaging assignments. Developing contagious academic work is always my top priority. I have a keen eye for detail and diligence in producing exceptional academic writing work. I work hard daily to help students with their assignments and projects. Experimenting with creative writing styles while maintaining a solid and informative voice is what I enjoy the most.

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Your chance of acceptance, your chancing factors, extracurriculars, research title examples for students—need inspiration.

I'm finalizing my research project for a class, and I'm really struggling to come up with a good, catchy title that's also informative. Is there a place I can go to browse examples of other students' research titles, or can you guys offer some inspiration or guidance on making mine stand out?

Coming up with a catchy and informative title can definitely be challenging. While it's important for the title to engage the reader, it should also provide a clear idea of what your research project is about. Here are some general tips and examples to help inspire you:

1. Start with a working title while you're researching and drafting, and refine it once your project is complete.

2. Make sure your title is specific, focused, and relevant to your research.

3. Use clear and straightforward language, avoiding jargon and acronyms.

4. Consider using a two-part title, with a catchy or creative part followed by a more descriptive explanation.

Here are some example research titles to give you an idea of what could work for different subjects:

- For a psychology paper: "Digital Detox: Evaluating the Effects of Social Media Abstinence on Mental Health"

- For a biology study: "Unearthing the Secrets: Investigating Soil Microbes and Their Influence on Plant Growth"

- For an economics research: "Trading Places: A Comparative Analysis of Online Retail vs. Brick-and-Mortar Storefronts"

- For a history project: "Stories Behind the Statues: Decoding the Hidden Narratives of Public Monuments"

Remember that every research topic and discipline may call for a slightly different approach. It's a good idea to look at published research articles in your field to get a sense of how others have crafted their titles. Often, academic journals have online archives, providing an excellent source of examples.

Ultimately, allow yourself some flexibility and creative freedom as you craft your research title. Keep it concise, informative, and engaging, and you'll be well on your way to a great title. Good luck!

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Home > HFA > ENGLISH > ENG_DISS

English Department Dissertations Collection

Current students, please follow this link to submit your dissertation.

Dissertations from 2023 2023

In Search of Middle Paths: Buddhism, Fiction, and the Secular in Twentieth-Century South Asia , Crystal Baines, English

Save Our Children: Discourses of Queer Futurity in the United States and South Africa, 1977-2010 , Jude Hayward-Jansen, English

Epistemologies of the Unknowable in Nineteenth-Century U.S. Literature , Maria Ishikawa, English

Revenge of the Nerds: Tech Masculinity and Digital Hegemony , Benjamin M. Latini, English

The Diasporic Mindset and Narrative Intersections of British Identity in Transnational Fiction , Joseph A. Mason, English

A 19TH CENTURY ETHNOGRAPHIC EXHIBIT UN/CAGED: NARRATIVES OF INFORMAL EMPIRE, AFROLATINIDAD, AND CONTEMPORARY ARTISTIC (RE)FRAMINGS , Celine G. Nader, English

Dissertations from 2022 2022

Writing the Aftermath: Uncanny Spaces of the Postcolonial , Sohini Banerjee, English

Science Fiction’s Enactment of the Encouragement, Process, and End Result of Revolutionary Transformation , Katharine Blanchard, English

LITERARY NEGATION AND MATERIALISM IN CHAUCER , Michelle Brooks, English

TRANSNATIONAL POLITICAL AND LITERARY ENCOUNTERS: THE IDEA OF AMERÍKA IN ICELANDIC FICTION, 1920–1990 , Jodie Childers, English

When Choices Aren't Choices: Academic Literacy Normativities in the Age of Neoliberalism , Robin K. Garabedian, English

Redefining Gender Violence: Radical Feminist Visions in Contemporary Ethnic American Women’s Fiction and Women of Color Activism 1990-2010 , Hazel Gedikli, English

Stories Women Carry: Labor and Reproductive Imaginaries of South Asia and the Caribbean , Subhalakshmi Gooptu, English

The Critical Workshop: Writing Revision and Critical Pedagogy in the Middle School Classroom , Andrea R. Griswold, English

Racial Poetics: Early Modern Race and the Form of Comedy , Yunah Kae, English

At the Limits of Empathy: Political Conflict and its Aftermath in Postcolonial Fiction , Saumya Lal, English

The Burdens and Blessings of Responsibility: Duty and Community in Nineteenth- Century America , Leslie Leonard, English

No There There: New Jersey in Multiethnic Writing and Popular Culture Since 1990 , Shannon Mooney, English

Ownership and Writer Agency in Web 2.0 , Thomas Pickering, English

Combating Narratives: Soldiering in Twentieth-Century African American and Latinx Literature , Stacy Reardon, English

“IT DON’T ‘MEAN’ A THING”: TIME AND THE READER IN JAZZ FICTIONAL NARRATIVE , Damien C. Weaver, English

SATURNINE ECOLOGIES: ENVIRONMENTAL CATASTROPHE IN THE EARLY MODERN WORLD, 1542-1688 , John Yargo, English

Dissertations from 2021 2021

"On Neptunes Watry Realmes": Maritime Law and English Renaissance Literature , Hayley Cotter, English

Theater of Exchange: The Cosmopolitan Stage of Jacobean London , Liz Fox, English

“The Badge of All Our Tribe”: Contradictions of Jewish Representation on the English Renaissance Stage , Becky S. Friedman, English

On Being Dispersed: The Poetics of Dehiscence from "We the People" to Abolition , Sean A. Gordon, English

Echoing + Resistant Imagining: Filipino Student Writing Under American Colonial Rule , Florianne Jimenez, English

When Your Words Are Someone Else's Money: Rhetorical Circulation, Affect, and Late Capitalism , Kelin E. Loe, English

Indigenous Impositions in Contemporary Culture: Knotting Ontologies, Beading Aesthetics, and Braiding Temporalities , Darren Lone Fight, English

NEGRITUDE FEMINISMS: FRANCOPHONE BLACK WOMEN WRITERS AND ACTIVISTS IN FRANCE, MARTINIQUE, AND SENEGAL FROM THE 1920S TO THE 1980S , Korka Sall, English

Negotiating Space: Spatial Violation on the Early Modern Stage, 1587-1638 , Gregory W. Sargent, English

Stranger Compass of the Stage: Difference and Desire in Early Modern City Comedy , Catherine Tisdale, English

Dissertations from 2020 2020

AFFECTIVE HISTORIES OF SOUTHERN TRAUMA: SHAME, HEALING, AND VULNERABILITY IN US SOUTHERN WOMEN’S WRITING, 1975–2006 , Faune Albert, English

Materially Queer: Identity and Agency in Academic Writing , Joshua Barsczewski, English

ANGELS WHO STEPPED OUTSIDE THEIR HOUSES: “AMERICAN TRUE WOMANHOOD” AND NINETEENTH-CENTURY (TRANS)NATIONALISMS , Gayathri M. Hewagama, English

WRITING AGAINST HISTORY: FEMINIST BAROQUE NARRATIVES IN INTERWAR ATLANTIC MODERNISM , Annaliese Hoehling, English

Passing Literacies: Soviet Immigrant Elders and Intergenerational Language Practice , Jenny Krichevsky, English

Lisa Ben and Queer Rhetorical Reeducation in Post-war Los Angeles , Katelyn S. Litterer, English

Daring Depictions: An Analysis of Risks and Their Mediation in Representations of Black Suffering , Russell Nurick, English

From Page to Program: A Study of Stakeholders in Multimodal First-Year Composition Curriculum and Program Design , Rebecca Petitti, English

Forms of the Future: Indigeneity, Blackness, and the Visioning Work of Aesthetics in U.S. Poetry, 1822-1863 , Magdalena Zapędowska, English

Dissertations from 2019 2019

Black Men Who Betray Their Race: 20TH Century Literary Representations of the Black Male Race Traitor , Gregory Coleman, English

“The Worlding Game”: Queer Ecological Perspectives in Modern Fiction , Sarah D'Stair, English

Afrasian Imaginaries: Global Capitalism and Labor Migration in Indian Ocean Fictions, 1990 – 2015 , Neelofer Qadir, English

Divided Tongues: The Politics and Poetics of Food in Modern Anglophone Indian Fiction , Shakuntala Ray, English

Globalizing Nature on the Shakespearean Stage , William Steffen, English

Gilded Chains: Global Economies and Gendered Arts in US Fiction, 1865-1930 , Heather Wayne, English

“ÆTHELTHRYTH”: SHAPING A RELIGIOUS WOMAN IN TENTH-CENTURY WINCHESTER , Victoria Kent Worth, English

Dissertations from 2018 2018

Sex and Difference in the Jewish American Family: Incest Narratives in 1990s Literary and Pop Culture , Eli W. Bromberg, English

Rhetorical Investments: Writing, Technology, and the Emerging Logics of the Public Sphere , Dan Ehrenfeld, English

Kiskeyanas Valientes en Este Espacio: Dominican Women Writers and the Spaces of Contemporary American Literature , Isabel R. Espinal, English

“TO WEIGH THE WORLD ANEW”: POETICS, RHETORIC, AND SOCIAL STRUGGLE, FROM SIDNEY’S ARCADIA TO SHAKESPEARE’S THEATER , David Katz, English

CIVIC DOMESTICITY: RHETORIC, WOMEN, AND SPACE AT HULL HOUSE, 1889-1910 , Liane Malinowski, English

Charting the Terrain of Latina/o/x Theater in Chicago , Priscilla M. Page, English

The Politics of Feeling and the Work of Belonging in US Immigrant Fiction 1990 - 2015 , Lauren Silber, English

Turning Inside Out: Reading and Writing Godly Identity in Seventeenth-Century Narratives of Spiritual Experience , Meghan Conine Swavely, English

Dissertations from 2017 2017

Tragicomic Transpositions: The Influence of Spanish Prose Romance on the Development of Early Modern English Tragicomedy , Josefina Hardman, English

“The Blackness of Blackness”: Meta-Black Identity in 20th/21st Century African American Culture , Casey Hayman, English

Waiting for Now: Postcolonial Fiction and Colonial Time , Amanda Ruth Waugh Lagji, English

Latina Identities, Critical Literacies, and Academic Achievement in Community College , Morgan Lynn, English

Demanding Spaces: 1970s U.S. Women's Novels as Sites of Struggle , Kate Marantz, English

Novel Buildings: Architectural and Narrative Form in Victorian Fiction , Ashley R. Nadeau, English

CATCH FEELINGS: CLASS AFFECT AND PERFORMATIVITY IN TEACHING ASSOCIATES' NARRATIVES , Anna Rita Napoleone, English

Dialogue and "Dialect": Character Speech in American Fiction , Carly Overfelt, English

Materializing Transfer: Writing Dispositions in a Culture of Standardized Testing , Lisha Daniels Storey, English

Theatres of War: Performing Queer Nationalism in Modernist Narratives , Elise Swinford, English

Dissertations from 2016 2016

Multimodal Assessment in Action: What We Really Value in New Media Texts , Kathleen M. Baldwin, English

Addictive Reading: Nineteenth-Century Drug Literature's Possible Worlds , Adam Colman, English

"The Book Can't Teach You That": A Case Study of Place, Writing, and Tutors' Constructions of Writing Center Work , Christopher Joseph DiBiase, English

Protest Lyrics at Work: Labor Resistance Poetry of Depression-Era Autoworkers , Rebecca S. Griffin, English

From What Remains: The Politics of Aesthetic Mourning and the Poetics of Loss in Contemporary African American Culture , Kajsa K. Henry, English

Minor Subjects in America: Everyday Childhoods of the Long Nineteenth Century , Gina M. Ocasion, English

Enduring Affective Rhetorics: Transnational Feminist Action in Digital Spaces , Jessica Ouellette, English

The School Desk and the Writing Body , Marni M. Presnall, English

Sustainable Public Intellectualism: The Rhetorics of Student Scientist-Activists , Jesse Priest, English

Prosthetizing the Soul: Reading, Seeing, and Feeling in Seventeenth-Century Devotion , Katey E. Roden, English

Dissertations from 2015 2015

“As Child in Time”: Childhood, Temporality, and 19th Century U.S. Literary Imaginings of Democracy , Marissa Carrere, English

A National Style: A Critical Historiography of the Irish Short Story , Andrew Fox, English

Homosexuality is a Poem: How Gay Poets Remodeled the Lyric, Community and the Ideology of Sex to Theorize a Gay Poetic , Christopher M. Hennessy, English

Affecting Manhood: Masculinity, Effeminacy, and the Fop Figure in Early Modern English Drama , Jessica Landis, English

Who Do You Think You Are?: Recovering the Self in the Working Class Escape Narrative , Christine M. Maksimowicz, English

Metabolizing Capital: Writing, Information, and the Biophysical World , Christian J. Pulver, English

Audible Voice in Context , Airlie S. Rose, English

The Role of Online Reading and Writing in the Literacy Practices of First-Year Writing Students , Casey Burton Soto, English

Dissertations from 2014 2014

RESURRECTION: REPRESENTATIONS OF THE BLACK CHURCH IN CONTEMPORARY POPULAR CULTURE , Rachel J. Daniel, English

Seeing Blindness: The Visual and the Great War in Literary Modernism , Rachael Dworsky, English

HERE, THERE, AND IN BETWEEN: TRAVEL AS METAPHOR IN MIXED RACE NARRATIVES OF THE HARLEM RENAISSANCE , Colin Enriquez, English

Interactive Audience and the Internet , John R. Gallagher, English

Down from the Mountain and into the Mill: Literacy Sponsorship and Southern Appalachian Women in the New South , Emma M. Howes, English

Transnational Gestures: Rethinking Trauma in U.S. War Fiction , Ruth A.H. Lahti, English

"A More Natural Mother": Concepts of Maternity and Queenship in Early Modern England , Anne-Marie Kathleen Strohman, English

Dissertations from 2013 2013

Letters to a Dictionary: Competing Views of Language in the Reception of Webster's Third New International Dictionary , Anne Pence Bello, English

Staging the Depression: The Federal Theatre Project's Dramas of Poverty, 1935-1939 , Amy Brady, English

Our Story Has Not Been Told in any Moment: Radical Black Feminist Theatre From The Old Left to Black Power , Julie M Burrell, English

Writing for Social Action: Affect, Activism, and the Composition Classroom , Sarah Finn, English

Surviving Domestic Tensions: Existential Uncertainty in New World African Diasporic Women's Literature , Denia M Fraser, English

From Feathers to Fur: Theatrical Representations of Skin in the Medieval English Cycle Plays , Valerie Anne Gramling, English

The Reflexive Scaffold: Metatheatricality, Genre, and Cultural Performance in English Renaissance Drama , Nathaniel C. Leonard, English

The World Inscribed: Literary Form, Travel, and the Book in England, 1580-1660 , Philip S Palmer, English

Shakespearean Signifiers , Marie H Roche, English

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211 Research Topics in Linguistics To Get Top Grades

Many people find it hard to decide on their linguistics research topics because of the assumed complexities involved. They struggle to choose easy research paper topics for English language too because they think it could be too simple for a university or college level certificate.

All that you need to learn about Linguistics and English is sprawled across syntax, phonetics, morphology, phonology, semantics, grammar, vocabulary, and a few others. To easily create a top-notch essay or conduct a research study, you can consider this list of research topics in English language below for your university or college use. Note that you can fine-tune these to suit your interests.

Linguistics Research Paper Topics

If you want to study how language is applied and its importance in the world, you can consider these Linguistics topics for your research paper. They are:

An analysis of romantic ideas and their expression amongst French people
An overview of the hate language in the course against religion
Identify the determinants of hate language and the means of propagation
Evaluate a literature and examine how Linguistics is applied to the understanding of minor languages
Consider the impact of social media in the development of slangs
An overview of political slang and its use amongst New York teenagers
Examine the relevance of Linguistics in a digitalized world
Analyze foul language and how it’s used to oppress minors
Identify the role of language in the national identity of a socially dynamic society
Attempt an explanation to how the language barrier could affect the social life of an individual in a new society
Discuss the means through which language can enrich cultural identities
Examine the concept of bilingualism and how it applies in the real world
Analyze the possible strategies for teaching a foreign language
Discuss the priority of teachers in the teaching of grammar to non-native speakers
Choose a school of your choice and observe the slang used by its students: analyze how it affects their social lives
Attempt a critical overview of racist languages
What does endangered language means and how does it apply in the real world?
A critical overview of your second language and why it is a second language
What are the motivators of speech and why are they relevant?
Analyze the difference between the different types of communications and their significance to specially-abled persons
Give a critical overview of five literature on sign language
Evaluate the distinction between the means of language comprehension between an adult and a teenager
Consider a native American group and evaluate how cultural diversity has influenced their language
Analyze the complexities involved in code-switching and code-mixing
Give a critical overview of the importance of language to a teenager
Attempt a forensic overview of language accessibility and what it means
What do you believe are the means of communications and what are their uniqueness?
Attempt a study of Islamic poetry and its role in language development
Attempt a study on the role of Literature in language development
Evaluate the Influence of metaphors and other literary devices in the depth of each sentence
Identify the role of literary devices in the development of proverbs in any African country
Cognitive Linguistics: analyze two pieces of Literature that offers a critical view of perception
Identify and analyze the complexities in unspoken words
Expression is another kind of language: discuss
Identify the significance of symbols in the evolution of language
Discuss how learning more than a single language promote cross-cultural developments
Analyze how the loss of a mother tongue affect the language Efficiency of a community
Critically examine how sign language works
Using literature from the medieval era, attempt a study of the evolution of language
Identify how wars have led to the reduction in the popularity of a language of your choice across any country of the world
Critically examine five Literature on why accent changes based on environment
What are the forces that compel the comprehension of language in a child
Identify and explain the difference between the listening and speaking skills and their significance in the understanding of language
Give a critical overview of how natural language is processed
Examine the influence of language on culture and vice versa
It is possible to understand a language even without living in that society: discuss
Identify the arguments regarding speech defects
Discuss how the familiarity of language informs the creation of slangs
Explain the significance of religious phrases and sacred languages
Explore the roots and evolution of incantations in Africa

Sociolinguistic Research Topics

You may as well need interesting Linguistics topics based on sociolinguistic purposes for your research. Sociolinguistics is the study and recording of natural speech. It’s primarily the casual status of most informal conversations. You can consider the following Sociolinguistic research topics for your research:

What makes language exceptional to a particular person?
How does language form a unique means of expression to writers?
Examine the kind of speech used in health and emergencies
Analyze the language theory explored by family members during dinner
Evaluate the possible variation of language based on class
Evaluate the language of racism, social tension, and sexism
Discuss how Language promotes social and cultural familiarities
Give an overview of identity and language
Examine why some language speakers enjoy listening to foreigners who speak their native language
Give a forensic analysis of his the language of entertainment is different to the language in professional settings
Give an understanding of how Language changes
Examine the Sociolinguistics of the Caribbeans
Consider an overview of metaphor in France
Explain why the direct translation of written words is incomprehensible in Linguistics
Discuss the use of language in marginalizing a community
Analyze the history of Arabic and the culture that enhanced it
Discuss the growth of French and the influences of other languages
Examine how the English language developed and its interdependence on other languages
Give an overview of cultural diversity and Linguistics in teaching
Challenge the attachment of speech defect with disability of language listening and speaking abilities
Explore the uniqueness of language between siblings
Explore the means of making requests between a teenager and his parents
Observe and comment on how students relate with their teachers through language
Observe and comment on the communication of strategy of parents and teachers
Examine the connection of understanding first language with academic excellence

Language Research Topics

Numerous languages exist in different societies. This is why you may seek to understand the motivations behind language through these Linguistics project ideas. You can consider the following interesting Linguistics topics and their application to language:

What does language shift mean?
Discuss the stages of English language development?
Examine the position of ambiguity in a romantic Language of your choice
Why are some languages called romantic languages?
Observe the strategies of persuasion through Language
Discuss the connection between symbols and words
Identify the language of political speeches
Discuss the effectiveness of language in an indigenous cultural revolution
Trace the motivators for spoken language
What does language acquisition mean to you?
Examine three pieces of literature on language translation and its role in multilingual accessibility
Identify the science involved in language reception
Interrogate with the context of language disorders
Examine how psychotherapy applies to victims of language disorders
Study the growth of Hindi despite colonialism
Critically appraise the term, language erasure
Examine how colonialism and war is responsible for the loss of language
Give an overview of the difference between sounds and letters and how they apply to the German language
Explain why the placement of verb and preposition is different in German and English languages
Choose two languages of your choice and examine their historical relationship
Discuss the strategies employed by people while learning new languages
Discuss the role of all the figures of speech in the advancement of language
Analyze the complexities of autism and its victims
Offer a linguist approach to language uniqueness between a Down Syndrome child and an autist
Express dance as a language
Express music as a language
Express language as a form of language
Evaluate the role of cultural diversity in the decline of languages in South Africa
Discuss the development of the Greek language
Critically review two literary texts, one from the medieval era and another published a decade ago, and examine the language shifts

Linguistics Essay Topics

You may also need Linguistics research topics for your Linguistics essays. As a linguist in the making, these can help you consider controversies in Linguistics as a discipline and address them through your study. You can consider:

The connection of sociolinguistics in comprehending interests in multilingualism
Write on your belief of how language encourages sexism
What do you understand about the differences between British and American English?
Discuss how slangs grew and how they started
Consider how age leads to loss of language
Review how language is used in formal and informal conversation
Discuss what you understand by polite language
Discuss what you know by hate language
Evaluate how language has remained flexible throughout history
Mimicking a teacher is a form of exercising hate Language: discuss
Body Language and verbal speech are different things: discuss
Language can be exploitative: discuss
Do you think language is responsible for inciting aggression against the state?
Can you justify the structural representation of any symbol of your choice?
Religious symbols are not ordinary Language: what are your perspective on day-to-day languages and sacred ones?
Consider the usage of language by an English man and someone of another culture
Discuss the essence of code-mixing and code-switching
Attempt a psychological assessment on the role of language in academic development
How does language pose a challenge to studying?
Choose a multicultural society of your choice and explain the problem they face
What forms does Language use in expression?
Identify the reasons behind unspoken words and actions
Why do universal languages exist as a means of easy communication?
Examine the role of the English language in the world
Examine the role of Arabic in the world
Examine the role of romantic languages in the world
Evaluate the significance of each teaching Resources in a language classroom
Consider an assessment of language analysis
Why do people comprehend beyond what is written or expressed?
What is the impact of hate speech on a woman?
Do you believe that grammatical errors are how everyone’s comprehension of language is determined?
Observe the Influence of technology in language learning and development
Which parts of the body are responsible for understanding new languages
How has language informed development?
Would you say language has improved human relations or worsened it considering it as a tool for violence?
Would you say language in a black populous state is different from its social culture in white populous states?
Give an overview of the English language in Nigeria
Give an overview of the English language in Uganda
Give an overview of the English language in India
Give an overview of Russian in Europe
Give a conceptual analysis on stress and how it works
Consider the means of vocabulary development and its role in cultural relationships
Examine the effects of Linguistics in language
Present your understanding of sign language
What do you understand about descriptive language and prescriptive Language?

List of Research Topics in English Language

You may need English research topics for your next research. These are topics that are socially crafted for you as a student of language in any institution. You can consider the following for in-depth analysis:

Examine the travail of women in any feminist text of your choice
Examine the movement of feminist literature in the Industrial period
Give an overview of five Gothic literature and what you understand from them
Examine rock music and how it emerged as a genre
Evaluate the cultural association with Nina Simone’s music
What is the relevance of Shakespeare in English literature?
How has literature promoted the English language?
Identify the effect of spelling errors in the academic performance of students in an institution of your choice
Critically survey a university and give rationalize the literary texts offered as Significant
Examine the use of feminist literature in advancing the course against patriarchy
Give an overview of the themes in William Shakespeare’s “Julius Caesar”
Express the significance of Ernest Hemingway’s diction in contemporary literature
Examine the predominant devices in the works of William Shakespeare
Explain the predominant devices in the works of Christopher Marlowe
Charles Dickens and his works: express the dominating themes in his Literature
Why is Literature described as the mirror of society?
Examine the issues of feminism in Sefi Atta’s “Everything Good Will Come” and Bernadine Evaristos’s “Girl, Woman, Other”
Give an overview of the stylistics employed in the writing of “Girl, Woman, Other” by Bernadine Evaristo
Describe the language of advertisement in social media and newspapers
Describe what poetic Language means
Examine the use of code-switching and code-mixing on Mexican Americans
Examine the use of code-switching and code-mixing in Indian Americans
Discuss the influence of George Orwell’s “Animal Farm” on satirical literature
Examine the Linguistics features of “Native Son” by Richard Wright
What is the role of indigenous literature in promoting cultural identities
How has literature informed cultural consciousness?
Analyze five literature on semantics and their Influence on the study
Assess the role of grammar in day to day communications
Observe the role of multidisciplinary approaches in understanding the English language
What does stylistics mean while analyzing medieval literary texts?
Analyze the views of philosophers on language, society, and culture

English Research Paper Topics for College Students

For your college work, you may need to undergo a study of any phenomenon in the world. Note that they could be Linguistics essay topics or mainly a research study of an idea of your choice. Thus, you can choose your research ideas from any of the following:

The concept of fairness in a democratic Government
The capacity of a leader isn’t in his or her academic degrees
The concept of discrimination in education
The theory of discrimination in Islamic states
The idea of school policing
A study on grade inflation and its consequences
A study of taxation and Its importance to the economy from a citizen’s perspectives
A study on how eloquence lead to discrimination amongst high school students
A study of the influence of the music industry in teens
An Evaluation of pornography and its impacts on College students
A descriptive study of how the FBI works according to Hollywood
A critical consideration of the cons and pros of vaccination
The health effect of sleep disorders
An overview of three literary texts across three genres of Literature and how they connect to you
A critical overview of “King Oedipus”: the role of the supernatural in day to day life
Examine the novel “12 Years a Slave” as a reflection of servitude and brutality exerted by white slave owners
Rationalize the emergence of racist Literature with concrete examples
A study of the limits of literature in accessing rural readers
Analyze the perspectives of modern authors on the Influence of medieval Literature on their craft
What do you understand by the mortality of a literary text?
A study of controversial Literature and its role in shaping the discussion
A critical overview of three literary texts that dealt with domestic abuse and their role in changing the narratives about domestic violence
Choose three contemporary poets and analyze the themes of their works
Do you believe that contemporary American literature is the repetition of unnecessary themes already treated in the past?
A study of the evolution of Literature and its styles
The use of sexual innuendos in literature
The use of sexist languages in literature and its effect on the public
The disaster associated with media reports of fake news
Conduct a study on how language is used as a tool for manipulation
Attempt a criticism of a controversial Literary text and why it shouldn’t be studied or sold in the first place

Finding Linguistics Hard To Write About?

With these topics, you can commence your research with ease. However, if you need professional writing help for any part of the research, you can scout here online for the best research paper writing service.

There are several expert writers on ENL hosted on our website that you can consider for a fast response on your research study at a cheap price.

As students, you may be unable to cover every part of your research on your own. This inability is the reason you should consider expert writers for custom research topics in Linguistics approved by your professor for high grades.

6 Important Tips on Writing a Research Paper Title

When you are searching for a research study on a particular topic, you probably notice that articles with interesting, descriptive research titles draw you in. By contrast, research paper titles that are not descriptive are usually passed over, even though you may write a good research paper with interesting contents. This shows the importance of coming up with a good title for your research paper when drafting your own manuscript.

Importance of a Research Title

The research title plays a crucial role in the research process, and its importance can be summarized as follows:

Why do Research Titles Matter?

Before we look at how to title a research paper, let’s look at a research title example that illustrates why a good research paper should have a strong title.

Imagine that you are researching meditation and nursing, and you want to find out if any studies have shown that meditation makes nurses better communicators. You conduct a keyword search using the keywords “nursing”, “communication”, and “meditation.” You come up with results that have the following titles:

Benefits of Meditation for the Nursing Profession: A Quantitative Investigation
Why Mindful Nurses Make the Best Communicators
Meditation Gurus
Nurses on the Move: A Quantitative Report on How Meditation Can Improve Nurse Performance

All four of these research paper titles may describe very similar studies—they could even be titles for the same study! As you can see, they give very different impressions.

Title 1 describes the topic and the method of the study but is not particularly catchy.
Title 2 partly describes the topic, but does not give any information about the method of the study—it could simply be a theoretical or opinion piece.
Title 3 is somewhat catchier but gives almost no information at all about the article.
Title 4 begins with a catchy main title and is followed by a subtitle that gives information about the content and method of the study.

As we will see, Title 4 has all the characteristics of a good research title.

Characteristics of a Good Research Title

According to rhetoric scholars Hairston and Keene, making a good title for a paper involves ensuring that the title of the research accomplishes four goals as mentioned below:

It should predict the content of the research paper .
It should be interesting to the reader .
It should reflect the tone of the writing .
It should contain important keywords that will make it easier to be located during a keyword search.

Let’s return to the examples in the previous section to see how to make a research title.

Title	Predicts content?	Interesting?	Reflects tone?	Important keywords?
	Yes	No	No	Yes
	No	Yes	Yes	No
	No	Yes	No	No
	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes

As you can see in the table above, only one of the four example titles fulfills all of the criteria of a suitable research paper title.

Related: You’ve chosen your study topic, but having trouble deciding where to publish it? Here’s a comprehensive course to help you identify the right journal .

Tips for Writing an Effective Research Paper Title

When writing a research title, you can use the four criteria listed above as a guide. Here are a few other tips you can use to make sure your title will be part of the recipe for an effective research paper :

Make sure your research title describes (a) the topic, (b) the method, (c) the sample, and (d) the results of your study. You can use the following formula:

[ Result ]: A [ method ] study of [ topic ] among [ sample ] Example : Meditation makes nurses perform better: a qualitative study of mindfulness meditation among German nursing students

Avoid unnecessary words and jargons. Keep the title statement as concise as possible. You want a title that will be comprehensible even to people who are not experts in your field. Check our article for a detailed list of things to avoid when writing an effective research title .
Make sure your title is between 5 and 15 words in length.
If you are writing a title for a university assignment or for a particular academic journal, verify that your title conforms to the standards and requirements for that outlet. For example, many journals require that titles fall under a character limit, including spaces. Many universities require that titles take a very specific form, limiting your creativity.
Use a descriptive phrase to convey the purpose of your research efficiently.
Most importantly, use critical keywords in the title to increase the discoverability of your article.

Resources for Further Reading

In addition to the tips above, there are many resources online that you can use to help write your research title. Here is a list of links that you may find useful as you work on creating an excellent research title:

The University of Southern California has a guide specific to social science research papers: http://libguides.usc.edu/writingguide/title
The Journal of European Psychology Students has a blog article focusing on APA-compliant research paper titles: http://blog.efpsa.org/2012/09/01/how-to-write-a-good-title-for-journal-articles/
This article by Kristen Hamlin contains a step-by-step approach to writing titles: http://classroom.synonym.com/choose-title-research-paper-4332.html

Are there any tips or tricks you find useful in crafting research titles? Which tip did you find most useful in this article? Leave a comment to let us know!

Hairston, M., & Keene, M. 2003. Successful writing . 5th ed. New York: Norton.
University of Southern California. 2017. Organizing your social sciences research paper: choosing a title . [Online] Available at: http://libguides.usc.edu/writingguide/title

Thank you so much:) Have a nice day!

Thank you so much, it helped me.. God bless..

Thank you for the excellent article and tips for creating a research work, because I always forget about such an essential element as the keywords when forming topics. In particular, I have found a rapid help with the formation of informative and sound titles that also conforms to the standards and requirements.

I am doing a research work on sales girls or shop girls using qualititative method. Basicly I am from Pakistan and writing on the scenario of mycountry. I am really confused about my research title can you kindly give some suggestions and give me an approperaite tilte

Hi Zubair, Thank you for your question. However, the information you have provided is insufficient for drafting an appropriate title. Information on what exactly you intend to study would be needed in order to draft a meaningful title. Meanwhile, you can try drafting your own title after going through the following articles our website: https://www.enago.com/academy/top-10-tips-on-choosing-an-attractive-research-title/ , https://www.enago.com/academy/writing-a-good-research-title-things-to-avoid/ , https://www.enago.com/academy/write-irresistible-research-paper-title/ We would be happy to give you feedback and suggest changes if required. Did you get a chance to install our free Mobile App? https://www.enago.com/academy/mobile-app/ . Make sure you subscribe to our weekly newsletter https://www.enago.com/academy/subscribe-now/ .

thanks for helping me like this!!

Thank you for this. It helped me improve my research title. I just want to verify to you the title I have just made. “Ensuring the safety: A Quantitative Study of Radio Frequency Identification system among the selected students of ( school’s name ).

(I need your reply asap coz we will be doing the chap. 1 tomorrow. Thank u in advance. 🙂 )

I am actually doing a research paper title. I want to know more further in doing research title. Can you give me some tips on doing a research paper?

Hi Joan, Thank you for your question. We are glad to know that you found our resources useful. Your feedback is very valuable to us. You can try drafting your own title after going through the following articles on our website: https://www.enago.com/academy/top-10-tips-on-choosing-an-attractive-research-title/ , https://www.enago.com/academy/writing-a-good-research-title-things-to-avoid/ , https://www.enago.com/academy/write-irresistible-research-paper-title/

We would be happy to give you feedback and suggest changes if required. Did you get a chance to install our free Mobile App? https://www.enago.com/academy/mobile-app/ . Make sure you subscribe to our weekly newsletter https://www.enago.com/academy/subscribe-now/ .

That really helpful. Thanks alot

Thank you so much. It’s really help me.

Thanks for sharing this tips. Title matters a lot for any article because it contents Keywords of article. It should be eye-catchy. Your article is helpful to select title of any article.

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i’m found in selecting my ma thesis title ,so i’m going to do my final research after the proposal approved. Your post help me find good title.

I need help. I need a research title for my study about early mobilization of the mechanically ventilated patients in the ICU. Any suggestions would be highly appreciated.

Thank you for posting your query on the website. When writing manuscripts, too many scholars neglect the research title. This phrase, along with the abstract, is what people will mostly see and read online. Title research of publications shows that the research paper title does matter a lot. Both bibliometrics and altmetrics tracking of citations are now, for better or worse, used to gauge a paper’s “success” for its author(s) and the journal publishing it. Interesting research topics coupled with good or clever yet accurate research titles can draw more attention to your work from peers and the public alike. You can check through the following search results for titles on similar topics: https://www.google.com/search?q=early+mobilization+of+the+mechanically+ventilated+patients+in+the+icu&rlz=1C1GCEU_enIN907IN907&oq=&aqs=chrome.0.69i59.4920093j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8 .

We hope this would be helpful in drafting an attractive title for your research paper.

Please let us know in case of any other queries.

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In case the topic is new research before you’re writing. And then to stand out, you end up being different.and be inclined to highlight yourself.

There are many free directories, and more paid lists.

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How to Write a Great Title

Maximize search-ability and engage your readers from the very beginning

Your title is the first thing anyone who reads your article is going to see, and for many it will be where they stop reading. Learn how to write a title that helps readers find your article, draws your audience in and sets the stage for your research!

How your title impacts the success of your article

Researchers are busy and there will always be more articles to read than time to read them. Good titles help readers find your research, and decide whether to keep reading. Search engines use titles to retrieve relevant articles based on users’ keyword searches. Once readers find your article, they’ll use the title as the first filter to decide whether your research is what they’re looking for. A strong and specific title is the first step toward citations, inclusion in meta-analyses, and influencing your field.

What to include in a title

Include the most important information that will signal to your target audience that they should keep reading.

Key information about the study design

Important keywords

What you discovered

Writing tips

Getting the title right can be more difficult than it seems, and researchers refine their writing skills throughout their career. Some journals even help editors to re-write their titles during the publication process!

Keep it concise and informative What’s appropriate for titles varies greatly across disciplines. Take a look at some articles published in your field, and check the journal guidelines for character limits. Aim for fewer than 12 words, and check for journal specific word limits.
Write for your audience Consider who your primary audience is: are they specialists in your specific field, are they cross-disciplinary, are they non-specialists?
Entice the reader Find a way to pique your readers’ interest, give them enough information to keep them reading.
Incorporate important keywords Consider what about your article will be most interesting to your audience: Most readers come to an article from a search engine, so take some time and include the important ones in your title!
Write in sentence case In scientific writing, titles are given in sentence case. Capitalize only the first word of the text, proper nouns, and genus names. See our examples below.

Don’t

Write your title as a question In most cases, you shouldn’t need to frame your title as a question. You have the answers, you know what you found. Writing your title as a question might draw your readers in, but it’s more likely to put them off.
Sensationalize your research Be honest with yourself about what you truly discovered. A sensationalized or dramatic title might make a few extra people read a bit further into your article, but you don’t want them disappointed when they get to the results.

Examples…

Format: Prevalence of [disease] in [population] in [location]

Example: Prevalence of tuberculosis in homeless women in San Francisco

Format: Risk factors for [condition] among [population] in [location]

Example: Risk factors for preterm births among low-income women in Mexico City

Format (systematic review/meta-analysis): Effectiveness of [treatment] for [disease] in [population] for [outcome] : A systematic review and meta-analysis

Example: Effectiveness of Hepatitis B treatment in HIV-infected adolescents in the prevention of liver disease: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Format (clinical trial): [Intervention] improved [symptoms] of [disease] in [population] : A randomized controlled clinical trial

Example: Using a sleep app lessened insomnia in post-menopausal women in southwest United States: A randomized controlled clinical trial

Format (general molecular studies): Characterization/identification/evaluation of [molecule name] in/from [organism/tissue] (b y [specific biological methods] )

Example: Identification of putative Type-I sex pheromone biosynthesis-related genes expressed in the female pheromone gland of Streltzoviella insularis

Format (general molecular studies): [specific methods/analysis] of organism/tissue reveal insights into [function/role] of [molecule name] in [biological process]

Example: Transcriptome landscape of Rafflesia cantleyi floral buds reveals insights into the roles of transcription factors and phytohormones in flower development

Format (software/method papers): [tool/method/software] for [what purpose] in [what research area]

Example: CRISPR-based tools for targeted transcriptional and epigenetic regulation in plants

Tip: How to edit your work

Editing is challenging, especially if you are acting as both a writer and an editor. Read our guidelines for advice on how to refine your work, including useful tips for setting your intentions, re-review, and consultation with colleagues.

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Student Research

English majors can participate in academic research in many ways: taking classes focused on research practices and methodologies, working on faculty-led research projects, developing independent research projects, or writing honors theses.

Research-Intensive Classes. Research experience is an integral part of the English major. And while students in the major engage in a variety of research experiences throughout their English classes, the department also offers several research-intensive courses, including a required Capstone course (which requires the completion of a major research or creative project). Students interested in pursuing research in literature, language, writing, or rhetoric more deeply may consider one of our designated research-intensive classes.

ENGL 4400 Opening the Archive
ENGL 4410 Research in Rhetoric and Writing
ENGL 4710 Capstone Seminar (topics vary)
ENGL 4992 Directed Study

September 24, 2013 - English professor Marina Leslie taught her class, "Opening the Archive," using maps from the Arader Galleries Collection in Snell Library.

Independent Research Projects. Students have several opportunities to engage in research through coursework. For example, in ENGL 2991, students engage in independent or group research under the supervision of a faculty member. CSSH students in the University Honors Program have the opportunity to carry out independent research projects of significant scope. Undergraduate students can also receive Honors Distinction in the major on their transcripts by successfully completing a CSSH honors research project in their junior of senior year.

ENGL 2991 - Research Practicum (2-4 credits)
University Honors
College Honors

English major Laura Packard (BA '19) engaged in groundbreaking research with English Professor Erika Boeckeler on the Dragon Prayer Book project, a study of Northeastern's lone medieval manuscript.

Departmental Research Opportunities. Students who qualify for work-study may apply directly through the Student Employment website to work as a research assistant for a professor. Students can also fulfill their co-op experience by conducting research for a faculty member at Northeastern or elsewhere. Students seeking this option should first identify a professor who is working on a topic that they are interested in and qualified to assist with before presenting a plan to the co-op advisor. Our faculty are leading exciting projects and working with affiliated centers on research year-round.

Assessing Multilingual Writing - Mya Poe & Qianqian Zhang-Wu
Digital Archive of American Indian Languages Preservation and Perseverance - Ellen Cushman
Digital Transgender Archive - K.J. Rawson
Dragon Prayer Book Project - Erika Boeckeler
Early Caribbean Digital Archive - Nicole Aljoe & Elizabeth Maddock Dillon
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Thoreau's Journal Drawings - Kathleen Kelly
Women Writers Project - Julia Flanders
Writing Program Digital Archive - Neal Lerner

September 6, 2019 - Sarah Connell, Assistant Director of the Women Writers Project, and Julia Flanders, Director and Professor, compare their transcription to an original text.

University-wide Research Opportunities. Students can explore an extensive range of research opportunities across the entire University on the Office of Undergraduate Research & Fellowships website. This site also includes helpful resources and application deadlines.

The annual RISE (Research Innovation Scholarship Entrepreneurship) Awards serve as a large-scale effort to support Northeastern's commitment to use-inspired research and solution-focused innovation. Hundreds of students and faculty showcase their research at this event each year.

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80+ Great Research Titles Examples in Various Academic Fields

Coming up with a research title for an academic paper is one of the most challenging parts of the writing process. Even though there is an unlimited quantity of research titles to write about, knowing which one is best for you can be hard. We have done the research for you and compiled eighty examples of research titles to write on. Additionally, we have divided the research titles examples into sections to make them easier to choose.

Research Study Examples of Current Events

Examples of research topics on ethics, title of research study examples on health, research paper title examples on social concerns, examples of research title on art and culture, example of research interest in religion, samples of research study topics on technology, research examples of environmental studies, good research title examples on history, specific topic examples regarding education, research title examples for students on family, food, and nutrition, research problems examples computer science, samples of research title about business marketing and communications, sample of research study topics in women’s studies, research problem example on politics, what are some examples of research paper topics on law, final words about research titles.

When it comes to choosing a good sample research title, research is one of the best tips you can get. By reading widely, including your school notes and scholarly articles, you will have a problem/line of interest examples in research. Then, you can derive any question from areas that appear to have a knowledge gap and proceed with researching the answer. As promised, below are eighty research title examples categorized into different areas, including social media research topics .

Discuss the peculiar policies of a named country – for example, discuss the impacts of the one-child policy of China.
Research on the influence of a named political leader, say a president, on the country they governed and other countries around. For instance, you can talk about how Trump’s presidency has changed international relations.
Conduct an analysis of a particular aspect of two named countries – for example, the history of the relationship between the U.S. and North Korea.
Compare the immigration laws in two or more named countries – for example, discuss how the immigration laws in the U.S. compares with other countries.
Discuss how the Black Lives Matter movement has affected the view and discussions about racism in the United States.
Enumerate the different ways the government of the United States can reduce deaths arising from the unregulated use of guns.
Analyze the place of ethics in medicine or of medical practitioners. For instance, you can discuss the prevalence of physician-assisted suicides in a named country. You may also talk about the ethicality of such a practice and whether it should be legal.
Explain how recent research breakthroughs have affected that particular field – for instance, how stem cell research has impacted the medical field.
Explain if and why people should be able to donate organs in exchange for money.
Discuss ethical behaviors in the workplace and (or) the educational sector. For example, talk about whether or not affirmative action is still important or necessary in education or the workplace.
Weigh the benefits and risks of vaccinating children and decide which one outweighs the other. Here, you might want to consider the different types of vaccinations and the nature and frequency of associated complications.
Investigate at least one of the health issues that currently pose a threat to humanity and which are under investigation. These issues can include Alzheimer’s, cancer, depression, autism, and HIV/AIDS. Research how these issues affect individuals and society and recommend solutions to alleviate cost and suffering.
Study some individuals suffering from and under treatment for depression. Then, investigate the common predictors of the disease and how this information can help prevent the issue.

Tip : To make this example of a research title more comprehensive, you can focus on a certain age range – say, teenagers.

Discuss whether or not free healthcare and medication should be available to people and the likely implications.
Identify and elucidate different methods or programs that have been most effective in preventing or reducing teen pregnancy.
Analyze different reasons and circumstances for genetic manipulation and the different perspectives of people on this matter. Then, discuss whether or not parents should be allowed to engineer designer babies.
Identify the types of immigration benefits, including financial, medical, and education, your country provides for refugees and immigrants. Then, discuss how these benefits have helped them in settling down and whether more or less should be provided.
Discuss the acceptance rate of the gay community in your country or a specific community. For example, consider whether or not gay marriage is permitted if they can adopt children, and if they are welcome in religious gatherings.
Explore and discuss if terrorism truly creates a fear culture that can become a society’s unintended terrorist.
Consider and discuss the different techniques one can use to identify pedophiles on social media.

Tip : Social issues research topics are interesting, but ensure you write formally and professionally.

Investigate the importance or lack of importance of art in primary or secondary education. You can also recommend whether or not it should be included in the curriculum and why.

Tip : You can write on this possible research title based on your experiences, whether positive or negative.

Discuss the role of illustration in children’s books and how it facilitates easy understanding in children. You may focus on one particular book or select a few examples and compare and contrast.
Should the use of art in books for adults be considered, and what are the likely benefits?
Compare and contrast the differences in art from two named cultural Renaissance – for instance, the Northern Renaissance and the Italian Renaissance.
Investigate how sexism is portrayed in different types of media, including video games, music, and film. You can also talk about whether or not the amount of sexism portrayed has reduced or increased over the years.
Explore different perspectives and views on dreams; are they meaningful or simply a game of the sleeping mind? You can also discuss the functions and causes of dreams, like sleeping with anxiety, eating before bed, and prophecies.
Investigate the main reasons why religious cults are powerful and appealing to the masses, referring to individual cases.
Investigate the impact of religion on the crime rate in a particular region.

Tip : Narrow down this research title by choosing to focus on a particular age group, say children or teenagers, or family. Alternatively, you can focus on a particular crime in the research to make the paper more extensive.

Explore reasons why Martin Luther decided to split with the Catholic church.
Discuss the circumstances in Siddhartha’s life that led to him becoming the Buddha.

Tip : It is important to remove sentiments from your research and base your points instead on clear evidence from a sound study. This ensures your title of research does not lead to unsubstantiated value judgments, which reduces the quality of the paper.

Discuss how the steel sword, gunpowder, biological warfare, longbow, or atomic bomb has changed the nature of warfare.

Tip : For this example of the research problem, choose only one of these technological developments or compare two or more to have a rich research paper.

Explore the changes computers, tablets, and smartphones have brought to human behaviors and culture, using published information and personal experience.

Tip : Approach each research study example in a research paper context or buy research paper online , giving a formal but objective view of the subject.

Are railroads and trains primary forces in the industrialization, exploitation, and settlement of your homeland or continent?
Discuss how the use of fossil fuels has changed or shaped the world.

Tip : Narrow down this title of the research study to focus on a local or particular area or one effect of fossil fuels, like oil spill pollution.

Discuss what progress countries have made with artificial intelligence. You can focus on one named country or compare the progress of one country with another.
Investigate the factual status of global warming – that is, is it a reality or a hoax? If it is a reality, explore the primary causes and how humanity can make a difference.
Conduct in-depth research on endangered wildlife species in your community and discuss why they have become endangered. You can also enumerate what steps the community can take to prevent these species from going extinct and increase their chances of survival.
Investigate the environmental soundness of the power sources in your country or community. Then, recommend alternative energy sources that might be best suited for the area and why.
Consider an area close to wildlife reserves and national parks, and see whether oil and mineral exploration has occurred there. Discuss whether this action should be allowed or not, with fact-backed reasons.
Investigate how the use and abolishment of DDT have affected the population of birds in your country.

Tip : Each example research title requires that you consult authoritative scientific reports to improve the quality of your paper. Furthermore, specificity and preciseness are required in each example of research title and problem, which only an authority source can provide.

Discuss the importance of a major historical event and why it was so important in the day. These events can include the assassination of John F. Kennedy or some revolutionary document like the Magna Carta.
Consider voyagers such as the Vikings, Chinese, as well as native populations and investigate whether Columbus discovered America first.
Choose a named historical group, family, or individual through their biographies, examining them for reader responses.
Research people of different cultural orientations and their responses to the acts of others who live around them.
Investigate natural disasters in a named country and how the government has responded to them. For example, explore how the response of the New Orleans government to natural disasters has changed since Hurricane Katrina.

Tip : Focus this research title sample on one particular country or natural disaster or compare the responses of two countries with each other.

Explore the educational policy, “no child left behind,” investigating its benefits and drawbacks.
Investigate the concept of plagiarism in the twenty-first century, its consequences, and its prevalence in modern universities. Take a step further to investigate how and why many students don’t understand the gravity of their errors.
Do in-depth research on bullying in schools, explaining the seriousness of the problem in your area in particular. Also, recommend actions schools, teachers, and parents can take to improve the situation if anything.
Explore the place of religion in public schools; if it has a place, explain why, and if it does not, explain why not.
Does a student’s financial background have any effect on his or her academic performance? In this sample research title, you can compare students from different financial backgrounds, from wealthy to average, and their scores on standardized tests.
Is spanking one’s child considered child abuse; if so, why? In this research problem example for students, consider whether or not parents should be able to spank their children.
Investigate the relationship between family health and nutrition, focusing on particular nutrition. This example of the title of the research study, for instance, can focus on the relationship between breastfeeding and baby health.
Elucidate on, if any, the benefits of having a home-cooked meal and sitting down as a family to eat together.
Explore the effect of fast-food restaurants on family health and nutrition, and whether or not they should be regulated.
Research local food producers and farms in your community, pinpointing how much of your diet is acquired from them.

Tip : These are great research titles from which you can coin research topics for STEM students .

Compare and contrast the two major operating systems: Mac and Windows, and discuss which one is better.

Tip : This title of the research study example can lead to strong uninformed opinions on the matter. However, it is important to investigate and discuss facts about the two operating systems, basing your conclusions on these.

Explain the effect of spell checkers, autocorrect functions, and grammar checkers on the writing skills of computer users. Have these tools improved users’ writing skills or weakened them?

Tip : For this example of title research, it is better to consider more than one of these tools to write a comprehensive paper.

Discuss the role(s) artificial intelligence is playing now or will likely play in the future as regards human evolution.
Identify and investigate the next groundbreaking development in computer science (like the metaverse), explaining why you believe it will be important.
Discuss a particular trendsetting technological tool, like blockchain technology, and how it has benefited different sectors.

Tip : For this research title example, you may want to focus on the effect of one tool on one particular sector. This way, you can investigate this example of research and thesis statement about social media more thoroughly and give as many details as possible.

Consider your personal experiences as well as close friends’ and families experiences. Then, determine how marketing has invaded your lives and whether these impersonal communications are more positive than negative or vice versa.
Investigate the regulations (or lack thereof) that apply to marketing items to children in your region. Do you think these regulations are unfounded, right, or inadequate?
Investigate the merits and demerits of outsourcing customer services; you can compare the views of businesses with those of their customers.
How has the communication we do through blog sites, messaging, social media, email, and other online platforms improved interpersonal communications if it has?
Can understanding culture change the way you do business? Discuss how.

Tip : Ensure you share your reasoning on this title of the research study example and provide evidence-backed information to support your points.

Learn everything you can about eating disorders like bulimia and anorexia, as well as their causes, and symptoms. Then, investigate and discuss the impact of its significance and recommend actions that might improve the situation.
Research a major development in women’s history, like the admission of women to higher institutions and the legalization of abortion. Discuss the short-term and (or) long-term implications of the named event or development.
Discuss gender inequality in the workplace – for instance, the fact that women tend to earn less than men for doing the same job. Provide specific real-life examples as you explain the reasons for this and recommend solutions to the problem.
How have beauty contests helped women: have they empowered them in society or objectified them?

Tip : You may shift the focus of this topic research example to female strippers or women who act in pornographic movies.

Investigate exceptional businesswomen in the 21st century; you can focus on one or compare two or more.

Tip : When writing on the title of a research example related to women, avoid using persuasion tactics; instead, be tactful and professional in presenting your points.

Discuss the unique nature and implications of Donald Trump’s presidency on the United States and the world.
Investigate the conditions and forces related to the advent and rise of Nazi Germany. Shift the focus of this title research example on major wars like WWI or the American Civil War.
Is the enormous amount of money spent during election campaigns a legitimate expense?
Investigate a named major political scandal that recently occurred in your region or country. Discuss how it started, how its news spread, and its impacts on individuals in that area.
Discuss the impacts British rule had on India.
Investigate the rate of incarceration in your region and compare it with that of other countries or other regions.
Is incarcerating criminals an effective solution in promoting the rehabilitation of criminals and controlling crime rates?
Consider various perspectives on the issue of gun control and coin several argumentative essay topics on the matter.
Why do drivers continue to text while driving despite legal implications and dire consequences?
Discuss the legality of people taking their own lives due to suffering from a debilitating terminal disease.

Each example of the research title provided in this article will make for a rich, information-dense research paper. However, you have a part to play in researching thoroughly on the example of the research study. To simplify the entire process for you, hiring our writing services is key as you wouldn’t have to worry about choosing topics. Our team of skilled writers knows the right subject that suits your research and how to readily get materials on them.

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Sat / act prep online guides and tips, 113 great research paper topics.

General Education

One of the hardest parts of writing a research paper can be just finding a good topic to write about. Fortunately we've done the hard work for you and have compiled a list of 113 interesting research paper topics. They've been organized into ten categories and cover a wide range of subjects so you can easily find the best topic for you.

In addition to the list of good research topics, we've included advice on what makes a good research paper topic and how you can use your topic to start writing a great paper.

What Makes a Good Research Paper Topic?

Not all research paper topics are created equal, and you want to make sure you choose a great topic before you start writing. Below are the three most important factors to consider to make sure you choose the best research paper topics.

#1: It's Something You're Interested In

A paper is always easier to write if you're interested in the topic, and you'll be more motivated to do in-depth research and write a paper that really covers the entire subject. Even if a certain research paper topic is getting a lot of buzz right now or other people seem interested in writing about it, don't feel tempted to make it your topic unless you genuinely have some sort of interest in it as well.

#2: There's Enough Information to Write a Paper

Even if you come up with the absolute best research paper topic and you're so excited to write about it, you won't be able to produce a good paper if there isn't enough research about the topic. This can happen for very specific or specialized topics, as well as topics that are too new to have enough research done on them at the moment. Easy research paper topics will always be topics with enough information to write a full-length paper.

Trying to write a research paper on a topic that doesn't have much research on it is incredibly hard, so before you decide on a topic, do a bit of preliminary searching and make sure you'll have all the information you need to write your paper.

#3: It Fits Your Teacher's Guidelines

Don't get so carried away looking at lists of research paper topics that you forget any requirements or restrictions your teacher may have put on research topic ideas. If you're writing a research paper on a health-related topic, deciding to write about the impact of rap on the music scene probably won't be allowed, but there may be some sort of leeway. For example, if you're really interested in current events but your teacher wants you to write a research paper on a history topic, you may be able to choose a topic that fits both categories, like exploring the relationship between the US and North Korea. No matter what, always get your research paper topic approved by your teacher first before you begin writing.

113 Good Research Paper Topics

Below are 113 good research topics to help you get you started on your paper. We've organized them into ten categories to make it easier to find the type of research paper topics you're looking for.

Arts/Culture

Discuss the main differences in art from the Italian Renaissance and the Northern Renaissance .
Analyze the impact a famous artist had on the world.
How is sexism portrayed in different types of media (music, film, video games, etc.)? Has the amount/type of sexism changed over the years?
How has the music of slaves brought over from Africa shaped modern American music?
How has rap music evolved in the past decade?
How has the portrayal of minorities in the media changed?

Current Events

What have been the impacts of China's one child policy?
How have the goals of feminists changed over the decades?
How has the Trump presidency changed international relations?
Analyze the history of the relationship between the United States and North Korea.
What factors contributed to the current decline in the rate of unemployment?
What have been the impacts of states which have increased their minimum wage?
How do US immigration laws compare to immigration laws of other countries?
How have the US's immigration laws changed in the past few years/decades?
How has the Black Lives Matter movement affected discussions and view about racism in the US?
What impact has the Affordable Care Act had on healthcare in the US?
What factors contributed to the UK deciding to leave the EU (Brexit)?
What factors contributed to China becoming an economic power?
Discuss the history of Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies (some of which tokenize the S&P 500 Index on the blockchain) .
Do students in schools that eliminate grades do better in college and their careers?
Do students from wealthier backgrounds score higher on standardized tests?
Do students who receive free meals at school get higher grades compared to when they weren't receiving a free meal?
Do students who attend charter schools score higher on standardized tests than students in public schools?
Do students learn better in same-sex classrooms?
How does giving each student access to an iPad or laptop affect their studies?
What are the benefits and drawbacks of the Montessori Method ?
Do children who attend preschool do better in school later on?
What was the impact of the No Child Left Behind act?
How does the US education system compare to education systems in other countries?
What impact does mandatory physical education classes have on students' health?
Which methods are most effective at reducing bullying in schools?
Do homeschoolers who attend college do as well as students who attended traditional schools?
Does offering tenure increase or decrease quality of teaching?
How does college debt affect future life choices of students?
Should graduate students be able to form unions?

What are different ways to lower gun-related deaths in the US?
How and why have divorce rates changed over time?
Is affirmative action still necessary in education and/or the workplace?
Should physician-assisted suicide be legal?
How has stem cell research impacted the medical field?
How can human trafficking be reduced in the United States/world?
Should people be able to donate organs in exchange for money?
Which types of juvenile punishment have proven most effective at preventing future crimes?
Has the increase in US airport security made passengers safer?
Analyze the immigration policies of certain countries and how they are similar and different from one another.
Several states have legalized recreational marijuana. What positive and negative impacts have they experienced as a result?
Do tariffs increase the number of domestic jobs?
Which prison reforms have proven most effective?
Should governments be able to censor certain information on the internet?
Which methods/programs have been most effective at reducing teen pregnancy?
What are the benefits and drawbacks of the Keto diet?
How effective are different exercise regimes for losing weight and maintaining weight loss?
How do the healthcare plans of various countries differ from each other?
What are the most effective ways to treat depression ?
What are the pros and cons of genetically modified foods?
Which methods are most effective for improving memory?
What can be done to lower healthcare costs in the US?
What factors contributed to the current opioid crisis?
Analyze the history and impact of the HIV/AIDS epidemic .
Are low-carbohydrate or low-fat diets more effective for weight loss?
How much exercise should the average adult be getting each week?
Which methods are most effective to get parents to vaccinate their children?
What are the pros and cons of clean needle programs?
How does stress affect the body?
Discuss the history of the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians.
What were the causes and effects of the Salem Witch Trials?
Who was responsible for the Iran-Contra situation?
How has New Orleans and the government's response to natural disasters changed since Hurricane Katrina?
What events led to the fall of the Roman Empire?
What were the impacts of British rule in India ?
Was the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki necessary?
What were the successes and failures of the women's suffrage movement in the United States?
What were the causes of the Civil War?
How did Abraham Lincoln's assassination impact the country and reconstruction after the Civil War?
Which factors contributed to the colonies winning the American Revolution?
What caused Hitler's rise to power?
Discuss how a specific invention impacted history.
What led to Cleopatra's fall as ruler of Egypt?
How has Japan changed and evolved over the centuries?
What were the causes of the Rwandan genocide ?

Why did Martin Luther decide to split with the Catholic Church?
Analyze the history and impact of a well-known cult (Jonestown, Manson family, etc.)
How did the sexual abuse scandal impact how people view the Catholic Church?
How has the Catholic church's power changed over the past decades/centuries?
What are the causes behind the rise in atheism/ agnosticism in the United States?
What were the influences in Siddhartha's life resulted in him becoming the Buddha?
How has media portrayal of Islam/Muslims changed since September 11th?

Science/Environment

How has the earth's climate changed in the past few decades?
How has the use and elimination of DDT affected bird populations in the US?
Analyze how the number and severity of natural disasters have increased in the past few decades.
Analyze deforestation rates in a certain area or globally over a period of time.
How have past oil spills changed regulations and cleanup methods?
How has the Flint water crisis changed water regulation safety?
What are the pros and cons of fracking?
What impact has the Paris Climate Agreement had so far?
What have NASA's biggest successes and failures been?
How can we improve access to clean water around the world?
Does ecotourism actually have a positive impact on the environment?
Should the US rely on nuclear energy more?
What can be done to save amphibian species currently at risk of extinction?
What impact has climate change had on coral reefs?
How are black holes created?
Are teens who spend more time on social media more likely to suffer anxiety and/or depression?
How will the loss of net neutrality affect internet users?
Analyze the history and progress of self-driving vehicles.
How has the use of drones changed surveillance and warfare methods?
Has social media made people more or less connected?
What progress has currently been made with artificial intelligence ?
Do smartphones increase or decrease workplace productivity?
What are the most effective ways to use technology in the classroom?
How is Google search affecting our intelligence?
When is the best age for a child to begin owning a smartphone?
Has frequent texting reduced teen literacy rates?

How to Write a Great Research Paper

Even great research paper topics won't give you a great research paper if you don't hone your topic before and during the writing process. Follow these three tips to turn good research paper topics into great papers.

#1: Figure Out Your Thesis Early

Before you start writing a single word of your paper, you first need to know what your thesis will be. Your thesis is a statement that explains what you intend to prove/show in your paper. Every sentence in your research paper will relate back to your thesis, so you don't want to start writing without it!

As some examples, if you're writing a research paper on if students learn better in same-sex classrooms, your thesis might be "Research has shown that elementary-age students in same-sex classrooms score higher on standardized tests and report feeling more comfortable in the classroom."

If you're writing a paper on the causes of the Civil War, your thesis might be "While the dispute between the North and South over slavery is the most well-known cause of the Civil War, other key causes include differences in the economies of the North and South, states' rights, and territorial expansion."

#2: Back Every Statement Up With Research

Remember, this is a research paper you're writing, so you'll need to use lots of research to make your points. Every statement you give must be backed up with research, properly cited the way your teacher requested. You're allowed to include opinions of your own, but they must also be supported by the research you give.

#3: Do Your Research Before You Begin Writing

You don't want to start writing your research paper and then learn that there isn't enough research to back up the points you're making, or, even worse, that the research contradicts the points you're trying to make!

Get most of your research on your good research topics done before you begin writing. Then use the research you've collected to create a rough outline of what your paper will cover and the key points you're going to make. This will help keep your paper clear and organized, and it'll ensure you have enough research to produce a strong paper.

What's Next?

Are you also learning about dynamic equilibrium in your science class? We break this sometimes tricky concept down so it's easy to understand in our complete guide to dynamic equilibrium .

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Want to know the fastest and easiest ways to convert between Fahrenheit and Celsius? We've got you covered! Check out our guide to the best ways to convert Celsius to Fahrenheit (or vice versa).

These recommendations are based solely on our knowledge and experience. If you purchase an item through one of our links, PrepScholar may receive a commission.

Christine graduated from Michigan State University with degrees in Environmental Biology and Geography and received her Master's from Duke University. In high school she scored in the 99th percentile on the SAT and was named a National Merit Finalist. She has taught English and biology in several countries.

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THESIS PROPOSAL Title: An Investigation of English major students' Vocabulary Learning Strategies and Motivation Orientations at Luong Van Tuy Gifted High School

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How to Write a Literature Review | Guide, Examples, & Templates

How to Write a Literature Review | Guide, Examples, & Templates

Published on January 2, 2023 by Shona McCombes . Revised on September 11, 2023.

What is a literature review? A literature review is a survey of scholarly sources on a specific topic. It provides an overview of current knowledge, allowing you to identify relevant theories, methods, and gaps in the existing research that you can later apply to your paper, thesis, or dissertation topic .

There are five key steps to writing a literature review:

Search for relevant literature
Evaluate sources
Identify themes, debates, and gaps
Outline the structure
Write your literature review

A good literature review doesn’t just summarize sources—it analyzes, synthesizes , and critically evaluates to give a clear picture of the state of knowledge on the subject.

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What is the purpose of a literature review, examples of literature reviews, step 1 – search for relevant literature, step 2 – evaluate and select sources, step 3 – identify themes, debates, and gaps, step 4 – outline your literature review’s structure, step 5 – write your literature review, free lecture slides, other interesting articles, frequently asked questions, introduction.

Quick Run-through
Step 1 & 2

When you write a thesis , dissertation , or research paper , you will likely have to conduct a literature review to situate your research within existing knowledge. The literature review gives you a chance to:

Demonstrate your familiarity with the topic and its scholarly context
Develop a theoretical framework and methodology for your research
Position your work in relation to other researchers and theorists
Show how your research addresses a gap or contributes to a debate
Evaluate the current state of research and demonstrate your knowledge of the scholarly debates around your topic.

Writing literature reviews is a particularly important skill if you want to apply for graduate school or pursue a career in research. We’ve written a step-by-step guide that you can follow below.

Receive feedback on language, structure, and formatting

Professional editors proofread and edit your paper by focusing on:

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See an example

Writing literature reviews can be quite challenging! A good starting point could be to look at some examples, depending on what kind of literature review you’d like to write.

Example literature review #1: “Why Do People Migrate? A Review of the Theoretical Literature” ( Theoretical literature review about the development of economic migration theory from the 1950s to today.)
Example literature review #2: “Literature review as a research methodology: An overview and guidelines” ( Methodological literature review about interdisciplinary knowledge acquisition and production.)
Example literature review #3: “The Use of Technology in English Language Learning: A Literature Review” ( Thematic literature review about the effects of technology on language acquisition.)
Example literature review #4: “Learners’ Listening Comprehension Difficulties in English Language Learning: A Literature Review” ( Chronological literature review about how the concept of listening skills has changed over time.)

You can also check out our templates with literature review examples and sample outlines at the links below.

Download Word doc Download Google doc

Before you begin searching for literature, you need a clearly defined topic .

If you are writing the literature review section of a dissertation or research paper, you will search for literature related to your research problem and questions .

Make a list of keywords

Start by creating a list of keywords related to your research question. Include each of the key concepts or variables you’re interested in, and list any synonyms and related terms. You can add to this list as you discover new keywords in the process of your literature search.

Social media, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, TikTok
Body image, self-perception, self-esteem, mental health
Generation Z, teenagers, adolescents, youth

Search for relevant sources

Use your keywords to begin searching for sources. Some useful databases to search for journals and articles include:

Your university’s library catalogue
Google Scholar
Project Muse (humanities and social sciences)
Medline (life sciences and biomedicine)
EconLit (economics)
Inspec (physics, engineering and computer science)

You can also use boolean operators to help narrow down your search.

Make sure to read the abstract to find out whether an article is relevant to your question. When you find a useful book or article, you can check the bibliography to find other relevant sources.

You likely won’t be able to read absolutely everything that has been written on your topic, so it will be necessary to evaluate which sources are most relevant to your research question.

For each publication, ask yourself:

What question or problem is the author addressing?
What are the key concepts and how are they defined?
What are the key theories, models, and methods?
Does the research use established frameworks or take an innovative approach?
What are the results and conclusions of the study?
How does the publication relate to other literature in the field? Does it confirm, add to, or challenge established knowledge?
What are the strengths and weaknesses of the research?

Make sure the sources you use are credible , and make sure you read any landmark studies and major theories in your field of research.

You can use our template to summarize and evaluate sources you’re thinking about using. Click on either button below to download.

Take notes and cite your sources

As you read, you should also begin the writing process. Take notes that you can later incorporate into the text of your literature review.

It is important to keep track of your sources with citations to avoid plagiarism . It can be helpful to make an annotated bibliography , where you compile full citation information and write a paragraph of summary and analysis for each source. This helps you remember what you read and saves time later in the process.

To begin organizing your literature review’s argument and structure, be sure you understand the connections and relationships between the sources you’ve read. Based on your reading and notes, you can look for:

Trends and patterns (in theory, method or results): do certain approaches become more or less popular over time?
Themes: what questions or concepts recur across the literature?
Debates, conflicts and contradictions: where do sources disagree?
Pivotal publications: are there any influential theories or studies that changed the direction of the field?
Gaps: what is missing from the literature? Are there weaknesses that need to be addressed?

This step will help you work out the structure of your literature review and (if applicable) show how your own research will contribute to existing knowledge.

Most research has focused on young women.
There is an increasing interest in the visual aspects of social media.
But there is still a lack of robust research on highly visual platforms like Instagram and Snapchat—this is a gap that you could address in your own research.

There are various approaches to organizing the body of a literature review. Depending on the length of your literature review, you can combine several of these strategies (for example, your overall structure might be thematic, but each theme is discussed chronologically).

Chronological

The simplest approach is to trace the development of the topic over time. However, if you choose this strategy, be careful to avoid simply listing and summarizing sources in order.

Try to analyze patterns, turning points and key debates that have shaped the direction of the field. Give your interpretation of how and why certain developments occurred.

If you have found some recurring central themes, you can organize your literature review into subsections that address different aspects of the topic.

For example, if you are reviewing literature about inequalities in migrant health outcomes, key themes might include healthcare policy, language barriers, cultural attitudes, legal status, and economic access.

Methodological

If you draw your sources from different disciplines or fields that use a variety of research methods , you might want to compare the results and conclusions that emerge from different approaches. For example:

Look at what results have emerged in qualitative versus quantitative research
Discuss how the topic has been approached by empirical versus theoretical scholarship
Divide the literature into sociological, historical, and cultural sources

Theoretical

A literature review is often the foundation for a theoretical framework . You can use it to discuss various theories, models, and definitions of key concepts.

You might argue for the relevance of a specific theoretical approach, or combine various theoretical concepts to create a framework for your research.

Like any other academic text , your literature review should have an introduction , a main body, and a conclusion . What you include in each depends on the objective of your literature review.

The introduction should clearly establish the focus and purpose of the literature review.

Depending on the length of your literature review, you might want to divide the body into subsections. You can use a subheading for each theme, time period, or methodological approach.

As you write, you can follow these tips:

Summarize and synthesize: give an overview of the main points of each source and combine them into a coherent whole
Analyze and interpret: don’t just paraphrase other researchers — add your own interpretations where possible, discussing the significance of findings in relation to the literature as a whole
Critically evaluate: mention the strengths and weaknesses of your sources
Write in well-structured paragraphs: use transition words and topic sentences to draw connections, comparisons and contrasts

In the conclusion, you should summarize the key findings you have taken from the literature and emphasize their significance.

When you’ve finished writing and revising your literature review, don’t forget to proofread thoroughly before submitting. Not a language expert? Check out Scribbr’s professional proofreading services !

This article has been adapted into lecture slides that you can use to teach your students about writing a literature review.

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If you want to know more about the research process , methodology , research bias , or statistics , make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples.

Sampling methods
Simple random sampling
Stratified sampling
Cluster sampling
Likert scales
Reproducibility

Statistics

Null hypothesis
Statistical power
Probability distribution
Effect size
Poisson distribution

Research bias

Optimism bias
Cognitive bias
Implicit bias
Hawthorne effect
Anchoring bias
Explicit bias

A literature review is a survey of scholarly sources (such as books, journal articles, and theses) related to a specific topic or research question .

It is often written as part of a thesis, dissertation , or research paper , in order to situate your work in relation to existing knowledge.

There are several reasons to conduct a literature review at the beginning of a research project:

To familiarize yourself with the current state of knowledge on your topic
To ensure that you’re not just repeating what others have already done
To identify gaps in knowledge and unresolved problems that your research can address
To develop your theoretical framework and methodology
To provide an overview of the key findings and debates on the topic

Writing the literature review shows your reader how your work relates to existing research and what new insights it will contribute.

The literature review usually comes near the beginning of your thesis or dissertation . After the introduction , it grounds your research in a scholarly field and leads directly to your theoretical framework or methodology .

A literature review is a survey of credible sources on a topic, often used in dissertations , theses, and research papers . Literature reviews give an overview of knowledge on a subject, helping you identify relevant theories and methods, as well as gaps in existing research. Literature reviews are set up similarly to other academic texts , with an introduction , a main body, and a conclusion .

An annotated bibliography is a list of source references that has a short description (called an annotation ) for each of the sources. It is often assigned as part of the research process for a paper .

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Student Success
Academic Life

Program Innovations: Promoting Success in Student Research

To enhance the student experience and increase access to experiential learning, colleges and universities have gotten creative with undergraduate research experiences.

By Ashley Mowreader

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A group of students and a professor meet in a research laboratory. All are wearing lab coats.

Undergraduate research can provide students with hands-on experience in a lab environment, as well as help them determine career opportunities they might not otherwise consider.

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Undergraduate research opportunities are one way to provide experiential learning in many disciplines, introducing learners to research methods under the supervision of a faculty member and providing experience for a résumé.

A 2021 study from the University of Central Florida found student researchers are more likely to have higher grade point averages and graduation rates, and higher matriculation into graduate school, as well as life skills such as analyzing literature critically, observing and collecting data and communication.

However, not every student has equal access to undergraduate research opportunities. The study found non-STEM students, transfer students and part-time students are less likely to participate in research compared to their peers.

To increase student participation in undergraduate research and boost skill development among student researchers, institutions have created innovative models of work. Here are seven examples.

Survey Says

Around three in 10 students say they are required to participate in undergraduate research, according to a winter 2023 Student Voice survey from Inside Higher Ed , and a slightly smaller number (27 percent) believe that undergraduate research should be required in their program.

Four-year students are more likely to say undergraduate research is required in their program (32 percent) compared to their two-year peers (15 percent).

First-year research opportunities—University of Missouri

Career exposure in the first year can help students feel confident about their paths throughout college and provide a head start in building their résumés.

Mizzou is known for its Interdisciplinary Plant Group that hosts research scholars exploring innovations in plant biology and a first-year program that provides young researchers a leg up in their work, giving them research time with more experienced researchers and mentorship.

FRIPS, short for Freshman Research in Plants , supports 10 to 15 students annually, who work alongside a faculty member and their research group on plant biology. Students also meet regularly with their FRIPS scholars cohort and gain professional development training.

Each student’s work is funded by grant dollars from the National Science Foundation (NSF).

Graduates of FRIPS often go on to become Goldwater Scholars and NSF graduate research fellows. The program also creates a place of belonging and community for new students to the university.

Underrepresented minority students—Davidson College

Some students face systemic disadvantages in participating in co-curricular experiences because they may lack the social capital or be unfamiliar with the norms of higher ed to identify and participate in a faculty-led research experience.

At Davidson College in North Carolina, rising sophomores can participate in a four- to six-week summer intensive research fellowship program called RISE (Research in Science Experience) . This program is designed for students from historically marginalized groups including low-income and first-generation students.

The goal of RISE is to equip students to take on larger, more intensive academic-year and summer experiences for later in their college career. Each student receives $2,500 in scholarships and funds to cover on-campus housing, which the college arranges for all participants.

Jacquelline Nyakunu , a rising junior at Davidson, spent the summer with chemistry professor Cindy Hauser researching hookah, studying the smoking of shisha and the chemical composition of the tobacco. Nyakunu wrote in a blog post that the experience taught her about her passion for chemistry, built her research skills and solidified her career path as a pre-medicine student.

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Transfer students—University of California, Los Angeles

Transferring into a new institution can be a challenge for many students, and finding ways to get plugged in and connected to one’s field of interest can be just as hard.

UCLA offers an initiative exclusively for transfer students to both promote their academic success at the university and expose them to undergraduate research opportunities, the Transfer Research Entry Program (TREP).

To participate, each student must be an incoming transfer student with at least two years remaining at UCLA and be considering a career in research. Participants attend a one-week virtual bootcamp about research, which covers careers in research and how to write a cover letter and curriculum vitae. The program also provides networking opportunities for transfer students and academic survival skills for the transition to UCLA.

There’s no obligation to take a research role after the bootcamp, but students are encouraged to do so and given guidance on how to find their areas of interest, the application and interview process as well.

Financial support—University of Texas at El Paso

Financial need can be a barrier to participation for some students. The University of Texas at El Paso is a Hispanic Serving Institution (84 percent Hispanic), commuter school with a large population of Pell-eligible students (60 percent) and first-generation learners. Many students are working to support themselves and their families, explains Lourdes E. Echegoyen, director of the Campus Office of Undergraduate Research Initiatives.

As a result, UTEP staff realized a need to provide financial assistance through employment to give students high-impact activities.

University staff have identified grant funding from federal agencies, including the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, the Department of Education, and private foundations.

Students can receive financial support through stipends or tuition scholarships. The university’s student employment program also provides employment positions for undergraduate researchers across disciplines.

“Generally, full time students are supported to conduct research during the academic year from 10 to 19 hours per week—depending on the program—thus allowing students to remain on campus and be mentored as research trainees,” Echegoyen says.

UTEP leaders have seen the benefits of undergraduate research on retention and persistence among students, with one program focused on biomedical research having a 98 percent retention rate among students across four years, compared to a 37 percent retention rate among their peers who did not participate.&

Community partnerships—Roosevelt University

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Roosevelt University in Chicago partnered with The Field Museum to digitize and analyze data collected at the museum. Visitors had measured specimens of liverworts, but the data needed to be sorted and inaccurate measurements eliminated from the set to be most useful to scientists.

Students wrote code to screen and clean the data, helping set the researchers up for success and teaching students firsthand about research processes in a remote setting.

Career development—Elon University

At Elon in North Carolina, returning students can participate in undergraduate research over the summer in between academic terms, funded by the university. While career readiness is a natural component of research experiences, leaders at the university wanted to bolster student skills beyond the laboratory, says Eric Hall, professor of exercise and director of undergraduate research at Elon.

Now, student researchers attend regular professional-development workshops that inform and establish career competencies. The workshops are co-led by other campus partners, including the writing center, career services, the fellowships office and librarians, Hall says.

For the 2024 session, workshops include a session on LinkedIn on how the fellowships office can support student goals, professional writing for graduate school and industry, and navigating academic publishing.

The new initiative is still being evaluated, with formal data collection underway, but anecdotal evidence from post-assessments shows students enjoy and learn from the experiences.

Research in the classroom—California State Polytechnic University, Pomona

Cal Poly Pomona leaders wanted to expose more learners to undergraduate research, understanding that first-generation, Pell-eligible or historically underserved students have lower access to research opportunities, says Winny Dong, faculty director for the office of undergraduate research.

Rather than asking students to squeeze an additional responsibility into their schedules, faculty members brought research to the classroom, embedding experiences into required general education courses.

The initiative makes it so all students are exposed to research and required to participate in some capacity, helping build their skills and pique interest for those who may consider a career in research.

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Out of Crisis Comes Opportunity

Colleges should strongly consider commissioning external reviews of their responses to campus protests, Timothy J.

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Published: 18 September 2021

Challenges, coping responses and supportive interventions for international and migrant students in academic nursing programs in major host countries: a scoping review with a gender lens

Lisa Merry 1 , 2 , 3 ,
Bilkis Vissandjée 1 , 2 , 4 &
Kathryn Verville-Provencher 1

BMC Nursing volume 20 , Article number: 174 ( 2021 ) Cite this article

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Metrics details

International and migrant students face specific challenges which may impact their mental health, well-being and academic outcomes, and these may be gendered experiences. The purpose of this scoping review was to map the literature on the challenges, coping responses and supportive interventions for international and migrant students in academic nursing programs in major host countries, with a gender lens.

We searched 10 databases to identify literature reporting on the challenges, coping responses and/or supportive interventions for international and migrant nursing students in college or university programs in Canada, the United-States, Australia, New Zealand or a European country. We included peer-reviewed research (any design), discussion papers and literature reviews. English, French and Spanish publications were considered and no time restrictions were applied. Drawing from existing frameworks, we critically assessed each paper and extracted information with a gender lens.

One hundred fourteen publications were included. Overall the literature mostly focused on international students, and among migrants, migration history/status and length of time in country were not considered with regards to challenges, coping or interventions. Females and males, respectively, were included in 69 and 59% of studies with student participants, while those students who identify as other genders/sexual orientations were not named or identified in any of the research. Several papers suggest that foreign-born nursing students face challenges associated with different cultural roles, norms and expectations for men and women. Other challenges included perceived discrimination due to wearing a hijab and being a ‘foreign-born male nurse’, and in general nursing being viewed as a feminine, low-status profession. Only two strategies, accessing support from family and other student mothers, used by women to cope with challenges, were identified. Supportive interventions considering gender were limited; these included matching students with support services' personnel by sex, involving male family members in admission and orientation processes, and using patient simulation as a method to prepare students for care-provision of patients of the opposite-sex.

Future work in nursing higher education, especially regarding supportive interventions, needs to address the intersections of gender, gender identity/sexual orientation and foreign-born status, and also consider the complexity of migrant students’ contexts.

Peer Review reports

In 2017, there were over 5 million international students worldwide (i.e., individuals pursuing educational activities in a country that is different than their country of residence) and this number is increasing annually [ 1 ]. This is largely due to a growing demand from students for higher education (college/vocational and university degrees) and the limited capacity in certain countries to meet this need. International experience is also highly valued by many employers and thus studying abroad makes new graduates more competitive in the workforce [ 2 , 3 ]. On the pull-side, academic institutions are wanting to draw the most talented candidates and are looking to increase their student enrollment and revenues [ 2 , 3 ]. Most international students are from Asia, in particular China, India, South Korea and Middle Eastern countries, while top destinations for these students are the US, the UK, France, Australia, Canada and Germany [ 3 ]. These same countries are also primary resettlement sites, and have substantial numbers of migrants (e.g., immigrants, refugees), especially from low and middle-income countries, enrolled in their colleges and universities [ 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 ]. This is driven by migrants who desire, or who are required to supplement their previous education in order to integrate into the local workforce, and by the expectations of many migrants for their children (including the 1.5 generation) to obtain an academic degree. Academic institutions in these major host countries are therefore needing to respond to and serve a more diverse student clientele.

Nursing is one of the many disciplines with an increasing number of foreign-born students. There are several benefits to the globalization of nursing education, including strengthening the healthcare workforce capacity (front-line workers, administrators, policy-makers, academics as well as researchers), increasing the linguistic and cultural diversity of nursing professionals, and the sharing of new ideas across countries toward the improvement of nursing practice [ 8 , 9 ]. Increasing the level of education among nurses also improves health outcomes, enhances gender equality and contributes to economic growth, especially in low-and-middle-income countries [ 10 , 11 ]. The course of study and clinical training in academic nursing programs however, are demanding and can affect the well-being of students and result in mental health problems [ 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 ]. Stress in turn can result in failure or students deciding to withdraw from their studies.

The stresses experienced by foreign-born nursing students are magnified due to factors related to their international/migrant status [ 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 ]. Challenges associated with living in a new country, including financial concerns, discrimination (perceived or actual), adapting to a new culture and language, loss of social support and unfamiliarity with the education, health and other systems, may affect education experiences and compound psychological distress. The challenges experienced and impacts may be patterned by gender. Gender is defined as the ‘socially constructed roles, behaviors, activities and attributes that a given society considers appropriate for men, women, boys and girls’ [ 21 ]. The migration process itself is influenced by gender as the opportunity and the level of control over the decision to migrate typically differs between men and women. Fear of being persecuted because of one’s ‘gender identity’ (i.e., a person’s individual experience of gender, which may or may not correspond to one’s biological sex) [ 22 ], may also be the reason one decides to migrate. Transit and post-migration experiences also diverge along gender lines, for example risks for gender-based violence, perceptions by the receiving-country society and integration outcomes often vary between male and female migrants and also by sexual orientation or gender identity (e.g., if one identifies as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and/or intersex) [ 23 ]. Moreover, international female students compared to male students, have reported facing greater expectations to balance home/childcare responsibilities [ 24 , 25 ], experiencing more value conflicts regarding gender roles [ 26 , 27 ], and having stronger emotional and physiological reactions to stress [ 28 , 29 ]. In contrast, male students have expressed feeling stress associated with social status loss and due to traditional expectations to financially provide for the family, and they have been shown to be more likely to process their stress in solitude [ 30 ]. Gender norms can also affect both male and female students’ abilities to relate to members of the opposite sex in academic and clinical settings [ 27 , 31 ]. To effectively support and promote the success of foreign-born nursing students, academic institutions should therefore ensure that approaches and resources not only take into account the foreign-born context, but also consider the gender dynamics that are shaping students’ experiences.

There is an extensive body of literature on foreign-born nursing students [ 17 , 32 , 33 , 34 ], however, we did not identify any review that assessed the literature with a gender lens. Within the nursing education literature, reviews that have examined gender have primarily focused on the experiences of male students in general without any mention of a migrant or international background [ 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 , 39 ]; more recent reviews have considered the experiences of nursing students with diverse sexual and gender identities, although the research in this area remains scarce and also does not refer to foreign-born students [ 40 , 41 , 42 ]. In parallel, other literature has reviewed or discussed the intersection of gender or gender identity/sexual orientation and international status in relation to students’ experiences and its implications for academic institutions and educators, but none of these address the context of nursing or other healthcare professional education [ 43 , 44 , 45 ]. We therefore conducted a scoping review to address this gap. The objective of this scoping review was to map the literature on the challenges, coping responses and supportive interventions for international and migrant nursing students in academic institutions in major host countries with a gender lens.

A scoping review is commonly used to explore and summarize what is known on a particular topic [ 46 ]. This methodology was therefore selected since our goal was to describe what is known about gender and foreign-born nursing students’ experiences and supportive interventions across a broad array of existing literature while applying a gender lens. We used the Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) methodology for scoping reviews to guide our approach [ 46 ].

Search strategy

We consulted a university librarian to assist us in selecting the databases and in developing the search strategies. We searched 10 electronic databases including CINAHL, Embase, Cochrane, Medline, Web of Science, the Joanna-Briggs institute EBP database, Psych-Info, Eric, Sociological abstracts and ProQuest. Search terms (subject headings/descriptors, keywords) included those related to international and migrant students and to nursing education; the strategy was adapted for each database and the AND/OR Boolean operators were applied accordingly. Keywords were searched in the titles, abstracts, keywords and subject fields. No language or time restrictions were applied. In order to refine the searches and adjust them for the various platforms, we first conducted test searches in two databases (CINAHL and Medline). An example of one of the search strategies (CINAHL) is presented in Table 1 . Additional papers were identified through the examination of the reference lists of literature review papers that met the inclusion criteria.

Literature selection

We included peer-reviewed research (qualitative, quantitative or mixed methods), discussion papers and literature reviews. Study protocols, abstracts, books and dissertations/theses were excluded. English, French, and Spanish publications were considered. Literature was included if it discussed or reported on challenges, coping responses and/or supportive interventions for foreign-born students studying in an academic nursing program in Canada, the US, Australia, New Zealand or a European country (i.e., high-income countries according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development that receive large numbers of migrants and international students and that have similar sociocultural norms and political systems) [ 47 ]. Challenges were defined as any difficulties experienced by the students; coping responses referred to any strategies that were used by the students to help overcome, minimize or tolerate challenges; while supportive interventions were policies, programs, or strategies meant to address challenges, enhance coping and improve students’ overall experiences. Challenges, coping and/or interventions could have been examined from the perspective of students and/or educators and administrators or could have just been described and discussed generally. Papers that reported on the evaluation or testing of an intervention were also included.

‘International students’ were defined as individuals with student visas but excluding exchange students and those completing only part of their degree abroad. ‘Migrant students’ were defined as individuals born in another country who moved with the intention of resettling in the new country; this includes immigrants, refugees, and asylum-seekers (i.e., individuals in the process of making a refugee claim) who could have migrated as children or as adults (second generation migrants were excluded). We included literature that focused on ‘English-as a second/additional-language’ (ESL/EAL) students without specifying the countries of origin, since foreign-born students often comprise a significant proportion of ESL/EAL students. Papers that focused on ‘minority’ or non-traditional nursing students were also kept if foreign-born or ESL/EAL students were clearly included and there were results and/or implications specific to this population. Similarly, if a paper included or discussed nursing students generally, it was retained if there were study results and/or implications relevant to foreign-born or ESL/EAL students. Literature that included internationally-trained nurses was considered if the nurses were studying in an academic nursing program; we excluded papers that examined internationally-trained nurses who were completing a transition/integration program.

Lastly, ‘Academic nursing program’ was defined as any program leading to a post-secondary degree including college/vocational, bachelor and graduate degrees in nursing. Papers that studied or discussed students from other healthcare disciplines were only kept if there were results and/or implications that referred to nursing students. Papers could have pertained to students in the context of clinical, theoretical and/or research education and training.

The database searches yielded 8269 records (see Additional file 1 for the search results by database). All citations were downloaded and managed using Endnote. We first removed duplicates and then screened titles to remove citations that clearly did not meet the inclusion/exclusion criteria. We then reviewed abstracts to further eliminate papers that did not meet all of the criteria. For the remaining citations we retrieved and reviewed the full-texts ( n = 266) in order to confirm eligibility. The screening and selection process was led by KPV and supported by LM and BV via ongoing discussions to ensure that the criteria were being correctly and consistently applied. Articles at this step were mainly excluded because they did not have results and/or implications specific to foreign-born/ESL/EAL students or to nursing students (i.e., all healthcare professionals were examined and discussed together), or because they were theses/dissertations or descriptions of nursing programs that were intended to be advertisements to recruit new students. When there was uncertainty regarding the eligibility of an article, LM independently reviewed it and a decision on whether to include it was made through joint discussion with the other authors. Twenty-three additional papers were identified by examining the reference lists of included review papers. LM read all of the papers and confirmed the final selection (see Fig. 1 for the PRISMA flow diagram).

PRISMA Flow diagram. Moher D, Liberati A, Tetzlaff J, Altman DG, Prisma Group. Preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses: the PRISMA statement. PLoS medicine. 2009 Jul 21;6 (7):e1000097

Data extraction, analysis and synthesis

For all eligible papers, we extracted and stored data in an excel file including: 1) paper characteristics (publication type, year, and language); and 2) study/review/discussion paper information. For the latter this included the paper objective, the location(s) of the study/discussion/review, the foreign-born student population(s) of interest in the paper (international students and/or migrants and their countries/regions of origin and length of time in the country; for migrants we also sought information on immigration status), the educational context, whether or not the perspectives of educators and/or administrators were considered/discussed, and information on challenges, coping responses and supportive interventions. For studies, we also extracted information on the research design and data collection methods, and for reviews, we recorded the type of review conducted, the number and type of sources (e.g., articles, books), and the process used to identify sources.

To address the review objective, we critically assessed each paper and recorded information related to gender. To do this, we drew on existing frameworks used to conduct gender analyses in health research [ 48 , 49 ] and LM and BV developed key questions to help guide the assessment. These included the following:

Was sex included or addressed by the authors/researchers?

Was gender explicitly considered by the authors/researchers through use of a framework or lens?

Was gender identity/sexual orientation included or addressed by the authors/researchers?

Was sex and/or gender considered as a variable in analyses?

Were findings and/or implications reported separately by sex and/or gender?

Based on the results and/or discussion points of the papers:

Did sex or gender (appear to) play a role in the challenges experienced by students? For example, at the intersection of sex and gender such as roles within the family, cultural/religious conventions that dictate how men and women should behave, differential access to resources, and experiences of discrimination.

Did coping responses (appear to) differ by sex or gender?

Did interventions (appear to) consider gender roles, norms and expectations?

Did interventions (appear to) consider diversity in gender identities/sexual orientations?

KPV was responsible for extracting the paper characteristics and information; LM verified all data extraction. The assessment of papers for gender related information was conducted by two research assistants. To ensure consistency in the process, 20 papers were reviewed by both research assistants. LM independently assessed all papers. All information collected was collated and synthesized into summary tables and text.

One hundred and fourteen articles were included in the scoping review. A summary of the literature is reported in Table 2 . All of the papers were published in English, 12 were discussion papers, 20 were reviews and 82 were research studies. The publication period spanned 39 years (1981–2019) and just over a quarter of papers ( n = 30, 26%) were published within the last 5 years. Two-thirds of the research were qualitative studies.

Focus of the research, discussion papers and reviews

Twenty-two of the research papers primarily focused on highlighting challenges faced by foreign-born students; nine of these included the perspectives of educators (Table 2 ). Seventeen research papers aimed to identify or examine coping responses and factors that facilitated success among foreign-born students, while 24 papers generally explored students’ and/or educators’ experiences. Twelve research articles described and reported the findings of evaluations of support programs, courses or other strategies meant to support foreign-born/ESL/EAL students and seven other papers were intervention studies (including qualitative and quantitative), which mostly sought to help students’ overcome learning difficulties due to language barriers.

The discussion papers and reviews had similar foci (Table 2 ). Three discussion papers provided tips on how educators and institutions can support foreign-born/ESL/EAL students, five discussed challenges, implications and strategies to address these, and four other papers described programs, frameworks or approaches to promote the success of students. Among the 20 review papers, all but three included a mix of qualitative, quantitative and other types of literature and only three specifically named the type of review being conducted. Most ( n = 12) aimed to synthesize the literature on foreign-born/ESL/EAL students’ challenges and support strategies for these students, while five were reviews of the literature of foreign-born/ESL/EAL students’ general experiences, and two focused on interventions including mobile applications to support ESL students’ learning, and programs to improve clinical placement outcomes of international students.

Locations, educational contexts and populations

The majority of the research (57%) was conducted in the United States; four studies were conducted in non-English speaking countries (Norway and Finland) (Table 3 ). All but three of the discussion papers, and one review were also specific to the United States context. Several of the research papers pertained to more than one level of education; overall bachelor or college level studies were included in 90%, and graduate level education in 42%, of studies (Table 3 ). Four discussion papers were limited to bachelor level, four were focused on graduate level, and four others were relevant to nursing education in general. The literature reviews tended to be non-specific, however one and two papers respectively focused on bachelor and doctorate level education. The clinical learning environment was mentioned in two-thirds of the research papers, although was the primary focus in 18% of the research (Table 3 ). The clinical context was also the main focus in six of the reviews.

Across the literature students were described using different terms including ‘foreign-born’, ‘ESL’, ‘EAL’, ‘culturally-and-linguistically diverse (CALD)’, ‘international students’, ‘non-English-speaking background’, ‘immigrants’, and ‘minority or non-traditional students’; in other instances, students were described based on their ethnic background or origin. Length of time in the host country was generally not highlighted; just over a third (34%) of studies with student participants mentioned some information on length of time. International students were the main population of focus in almost half of the studies (Table 3 ). Similarly, they were also the main focus in seven discussion papers and eight of the literature reviews. Thirteen studies, three discussion papers and one review focused specifically on migrants. The remaining literature examined a mix of international students and migrants or were non-specific in their description of the student population (i.e., described as foreign-born or ESL students).

For migrant students, migration history or status were not reported in the description of the participants in any of the research papers nor were they mentioned or discussed in the review and discussion papers. There were five studies however, that implied based on other sections of the paper that they may have included student participants with a refugee or difficult migration background (i.e., political unrest in their country) [ 57 , 77 , 84 , 104 ]. Only one research paper explicitly mentioned students with a refugee background in the introduction and discussion sections [ 57 ].

In the research studies with student participants ( n = 73), students were mainly from East Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa and South East Asia; top source countries in descending order, were China, Vietnam, the Philippines, Korea, India and Taiwan. Asian students (Taiwan = 1, India = 1, China = 1, and one unspecified) were also the population of interest in two discussion papers and two reviews. Instructors/educators were participants in 34% of studies (Table 3 ) and their perspectives were also explicitly mentioned in two of the literature reviews.

General overview of challenges, coping responses and supportive interventions

Language and communication barriers, including oral and written expression and comprehension, were the challenges highlighted most often in the literature [ 9 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 33 , 34 , 37 , 42 , 50 , 51 , 52 , 53 , 55 , 57 , 58 , 59 , 60 , 61 , 62 , 63 , 64 , 65 , 67 , 68 , 69 , 70 , 71 , 72 , 73 , 74 , 75 , 76 , 78 , 79 , 80 , 81 , 82 , 83 , 84 , 85 , 86 , 87 , 88 , 89 , 90 , 91 , 92 , 93 , 94 , 95 , 96 , 97 , 98 , 99 , 100 , 101 , 102 , 103 , 104 , 105 , 106 , 107 , 108 , 109 , 110 , 111 , 112 , 113 , 115 , 117 , 118 , 119 , 120 , 121 , 122 , 123 , 125 , 126 , 127 , 128 , 129 , 130 , 131 , 133 , 134 , 136 , 139 , 141 , 142 , 143 , 145 , 146 , 147 , 148 , 150 , 151 , 152 , 153 , 154 ]. Language and communication issues occur in academic and clinical settings as well as in social contexts. Learning nursing and medical terminology and colloquial expressions and adapting to a ‘low context communication’ style, were noted as particularly difficult. At the graduate level, academic writing was the major issue, including demonstrating critical analysis [ 71 , 79 , 80 , 115 , 130 , 146 , 148 ].

Cultural barriers were also frequently noted [ 9 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 34 , 42 , 51 , 52 , 53 , 54 , 55 , 56 , 59 , 63 , 64 , 67 , 68 , 71 , 73 , 74 , 75 , 76 , 77 , 79 , 80 , 82 , 83 , 84 , 85 , 86 , 87 , 89 , 96 , 97 , 100 , 101 , 102 , 103 , 105 , 106 , 107 , 111 , 112 , 115 , 117 , 119 , 120 , 122 , 124 , 125 , 127 , 129 , 132 , 136 , 138 , 139 , 142 , 143 , 145 , 147 , 148 , 150 , 152 , 153 , 154 ]. These included, for example, divergent views regarding the role of nurses in patient care, and different styles of relating socially whether it be with friends or in care-provider-patient interactions. Difficulties with the supervisory-graduate student relationship were identified as well, as international students often expect structured guidance and for supervisors to be readily available to them based on the supervisory styles they have observed in their home countries [ 56 , 80 , 146 ]. The most apparent cultural challenges described were in the classroom milieu; a number of papers reported that foreign-born students struggle with ‘Western’ learning, teaching and evaluation methods (e.g., self-directed and interactive learning, critical analysis and debating). Self-guided learning and conducting independent research were particular concerns for doctoral students [ 56 , 146 ]. All these issues are due to the fact that many foreign-born students come from cultures where teaching is primarily didactic, rote learning is encouraged and students are expected to be passive and to not question instructors. Educators and clinical preceptors are equally challenged in this dynamic and feel unable to assess whether students have understood content and instructions, especially when language barriers are significant [ 65 , 74 , 79 , 94 , 112 , 126 , 150 ]. In the clinical context this also raises concerns about patient safety [ 50 , 74 , 99 , 112 , 150 ]. Overall, educators/supervisors and preceptors expressed feeling that they have insufficient time and resources to adequately support foreign-born students [ 65 , 74 , 79 , 94 , 112 , 126 , 150 ].

In addition to cultural issues, foreign-born students also struggle with the unfamiliarity of the healthcare system and clinical setting [ 9 , 19 , 20 , 37 , 42 , 65 , 92 , 96 , 99 , 100 , 102 , 112 , 115 , 129 , 132 , 146 ]. For graduate students, often they are unable to work clinically in the receiving-country and so they grapple in making links between the theory/research and practice. Regardless of the education level, for students who return to their home country post-graduation, the course content and skills learned, and for graduate students, the research conducted, are not always relevant and applicable to their context [ 53 , 54 , 75 , 84 , 85 , 129 , 148 ]. Conducting research internationally is also not always feasible due to a lack of funding and/or supervisory support abroad [ 148 ].

Other challenges experienced by foreign-born students included loneliness, social exclusion/isolation, discrimination, resettlement issues (e.g., immigration, housing), financial concerns and maintaining a work-life balance [ 9 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 33 , 34 , 37 , 42 , 52 , 53 , 55 , 59 , 65 , 68 , 71 , 73 , 74 , 75 , 77 , 79 , 80 , 82 , 83 , 84 , 87 , 89 , 91 , 93 , 94 , 95 , 96 , 97 , 100 , 103 , 105 , 106 , 107 , 109 , 111 , 113 , 115 , 120 , 121 , 122 , 123 , 127 , 128 , 129 , 138 , 139 , 142 , 143 , 145 , 146 , 147 , 148 , 150 , 152 , 153 , 154 ]. Access to research funding, limited interaction with student peers and transitioning from a leadership role (held in their home country) to a student position, were challenges specifically noted by international graduate students [ 79 , 80 , 148 ]. Feeling inadequately prepared or overwhelmed and unable to optimize their skills upon return to the home country, were also highlighted as particular issues at the graduate level [ 56 , 75 , 79 , 148 ]. Mental health problems, including stress, feeling pressure to succeed, depression, a loss of self-esteem, feelings of guilt (for leaving their families) and anxiety, were commonly reported across the literature irrespective of the level of education [ 9 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 33 , 55 , 65 , 68 , 71 , 75 , 76 , 79 , 80 , 82 , 84 , 86 , 89 , 91 , 93 , 94 , 95 , 97 , 98 , 100 , 102 , 105 , 106 , 111 , 112 , 115 , 117 , 122 , 126 , 127 , 128 , 130 , 134 , 138 , 139 , 142 , 143 , 145 , 146 , 148 , 152 , 153 , 154 ].

The main coping responses used by foreign-born nursing students to overcome challenges, included accessing support (emotional, practical and/or informational) from family and friends, especially student peers with a similar cultural or linguistic background, and staying focused and determined to succeed [ 18 , 20 , 34 , 52 , 53 , 54 , 66 , 73 , 76 , 79 , 80 , 81 , 82 , 89 , 91 , 93 , 94 , 95 , 96 , 103 , 105 , 106 , 107 , 111 , 115 , 117 , 121 , 122 , 123 , 127 , 128 , 129 , 130 , 141 , 142 , 143 , 145 , 146 , 148 , 151 , 152 , 153 , 154 ]. Maintaining their culture and values, but also accepting and being open to differences, were identified as coping mechanisms to deal with cultural barriers, while positive thinking and celebrating successes, were highlighted as ways that students boost their sense of self-worth and reduce stress [ 20 , 34 , 56 , 64 , 71 , 73 , 79 , 80 , 85 , 89 , 91 , 93 , 96 , 107 , 123 , 127 , 145 , 152 , 153 , 154 ]. Numerous papers also reported that students use various strategies (e.g., asking for clarifications, using non-verbal communication, doing additional reading), and actively develop their skills, in order to gain confidence and overcome language and academic barriers [ 18 , 20 , 61 , 71 , 73 , 75 , 76 , 80 , 82 , 84 , 88 , 90 , 92 , 93 , 98 , 99 , 101 , 103 , 104 , 105 , 106 , 107 , 109 , 111 , 113 , 115 , 117 , 120 , 123 , 127 , 128 , 129 , 130 , 133 , 146 , 151 , 152 , 153 ].

There were several interventions that were described or suggested in the literature as being potentially helpful to foreign-born students (reported in Table 4 ); the vast majority of these were based on anecdotal evidence. At the structural level, it was recommended that institutions be actively committed, in the form of mission statements, action plans and dedicated resources, to cultivating an inclusive and equitable education environment [ 17 , 20 , 33 , 37 , 50 , 51 , 53 , 63 , 64 , 68 , 74 , 79 , 80 , 82 , 92 , 94 , 95 , 96 , 103 , 106 , 108 , 110 , 112 , 113 , 115 , 117 , 119 , 120 , 121 , 125 , 126 , 127 , 129 , 132 , 138 , 139 , 141 , 145 , 146 , 147 , 148 , 149 , 150 , 151 , 152 , 153 , 154 ]. Equally noted was the importance of promoting diversity and fostering a sense of belonging [ 17 , 37 , 108 , 127 , 145 , 146 , 148 , 151 , 152 , 153 , 154 ]. It was also recommended that educators and preceptors receive training to ensure that they are aware of the challenges that many foreign-born students encounter and to provide them strategies and tools for teaching a multi-lingual and culturally diverse student population [ 17 , 18 , 33 , 34 , 37 , 50 , 60 , 63 , 64 , 65 , 68 , 71 , 73 , 74 , 75 , 76 , 77 , 78 , 79 , 80 , 81 , 82 , 83 , 84 , 85 , 87 , 88 , 89 , 91 , 92 , 93 , 94 , 95 , 96 , 103 , 106 , 107 , 108 , 111 , 112 , 113 , 115 , 117 , 120 , 121 , 123 , 125 , 126 , 127 , 128 , 131 , 138 , 139 , 141 , 143 , 145 , 146 , 147 , 149 , 150 , 151 , 152 , 153 , 154 ]. It was also suggested that instructors have smaller classes, clinical groups and student-supervisory ratios, and more time allotted to devote to foreign-born students [ 20 , 50 , 51 , 64 , 65 , 74 , 79 , 104 , 108 , 112 , 120 , 121 , 127 , 129 , 139 , 147 , 149 , 150 , 151 , 153 ].

According to the literature it may also be beneficial if students have more time to complete their degree, or if the program is adapted to better suit their needs (e.g., an additional session or qualifying year to take pre-requisites, a transition semester with courses modified to allow students to acclimate to their new environment, and/or extra clinical training) [ 37 , 60 , 71 , 79 , 102 , 103 , 104 , 108 , 126 , 133 , 138 , 139 , 148 , 151 , 153 ]. Screening students at the point of admission may also ensure that those who need supplementary support are identified immediately and referred without delay [ 34 , 37 , 73 , 74 , 79 , 92 , 93 , 94 , 108 , 110 , 113 , 119 , 125 , 126 , 131 , 135 , 138 , 139 , 143 , 148 , 149 , 151 , 152 ]. It was also suggested that offering a range of services and resources throughout the academic trajectory could aid students in overcoming a variety of challenges. These included orientation sessions to the institution and clinical settings, workshops to develop writing, critical analysis and test-taking skills, language courses (specific to nursing), writing/editing support (especially at the graduate level), tutoring services, practical assistance including access to financial aid, scholarships and research funding, social activities, peer support initiatives, a mentorship program and counselling/psychological services [ 9 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 33 , 34 , 37 , 50 , 51 , 52 , 53 , 55 , 60 , 61 , 63 , 64 , 65 , 68 , 69 , 71 , 73 , 74 , 75 , 76 , 77 , 79 , 80 , 82 , 83 , 84 , 85 , 87 , 88 , 89 , 92 , 93 , 94 , 95 , 96 , 97 , 98 , 99 , 100 , 101 , 102 , 103 , 104 , 105 , 107 , 108 , 109 , 110 , 113 , 114 , 115 , 116 , 117 , 118 , 119 , 120 , 121 , 123 , 125 , 126 , 127 , 128 , 129 , 130 , 131 , 132 , 133 , 138 , 139 , 141 , 142 , 143 , 145 , 146 , 147 , 148 , 149 , 150 , 151 , 152 , 153 , 154 ].

There were also a number of approaches at the curricular/instructor level that were proposed to help students overcome language and cultural barriers and to facilitate learning whether it be in a classroom, clinical or research supervisory context. For example, using audio-visual material, providing information and expectations in writing, giving frequent and detailed feedback, debriefing one on one with students, speaking more slowly and avoiding colloquial language, verifying understanding, using storytelling, audio-taping lectures, and providing more structured guidance (e.g., writing examples for assignments, standardized forms for clinical documentation) [ 9 , 17 , 18 , 20 , 33 , 34 , 37 , 50 , 51 , 52 , 60 , 61 , 62 , 63 , 64 , 65 , 68 , 69 , 71 , 73 , 74 , 75 , 76 , 77 , 79 , 80 , 81 , 82 , 83 , 84 , 85 , 87 , 88 , 90 , 92 , 93 , 94 , 95 , 98 , 99 , 100 , 101 , 102 , 103 , 105 , 106 , 107 , 108 , 110 , 111 , 112 , 115 , 120 , 122 , 123 , 124 , 125 , 126 , 127 , 128 , 129 , 130 , 131 , 136 , 137 , 138 , 139 , 140 , 141 , 142 , 143 , 145 , 146 , 147 , 148 , 149 , 150 , 151 , 152 , 153 , 154 ]. Evaluations, including assignments and tests could also be modified to accommodate students, for example allowing more time to complete an exam or the opportunity to submit an initial draft of an assignment for feedback before submitting the final version that is to be graded [ 17 , 34 , 37 , 60 , 63 , 64 , 69 , 73 , 74 , 76 , 81 , 84 , 87 , 93 , 100 , 104 , 110 , 111 , 125 , 127 , 128 , 139 , 140 , 143 , 147 , 151 , 152 ]. Course content, evaluations, research topics and clinical experiences may also be adapted to make them more culturally relevant, particularly if students plan to return to work in their country of origin following their graduation [ 17 , 34 , 37 , 60 , 64 , 65 , 68 , 71 , 77 , 87 , 92 , 93 , 95 , 111 , 125 , 127 , 128 , 131 , 136 , 139 , 141 , 142 , 143 , 145 , 147 , 148 , 152 , 154 ]. Equally emphasized was the importance to provide content and an opportunity to learn more about the host country’s healthcare system and approach to nursing practice [ 37 , 63 , 65 , 74 , 80 , 82 , 87 , 92 , 95 , 115 , 129 , 136 , 138 , 140 , 143 , 152 ]. For doctoral students, offering leadership training and opportunities to network and develop their research identity and skills (e.g., conferences, student seminars, research groups, research activities like publishing, committees, joining professional organizations), were also deemed essential [ 65 , 80 , 146 , 148 , 149 ]. Lastly, to increase foreign-born students’ confidence and feelings of inclusion, it was recommended that instructors foster peer to peer learning and positive interactions between students, show interest in foreign-born students (know their name, relate to them on a personal and emotional level) and be encouraging and respectful [ 9 , 17 , 20 , 33 , 34 , 37 , 51 , 52 , 53 , 55 , 65 , 69 , 70 , 71 , 73 , 74 , 75 , 79 , 80 , 81 , 82 , 83 , 84 , 87 , 88 , 89 , 90 , 91 , 93 , 94 , 95 , 96 , 97 , 100 , 103 , 106 , 107 , 112 , 113 , 115 , 117 , 120 , 121 , 122 , 123 , 124 , 125 , 127 , 128 , 130 , 131 , 132 , 136 , 138 , 139 , 140 , 141 , 142 , 143 , 145 , 146 , 147 , 148 , 149 , 150 , 151 , 152 , 153 , 154 ].

Applying a gender lens

Gender was not explicitly used as a guiding framework or lens, nor was it defined, in any of the studies, literature reviews or discussion papers. Among the research papers that included student participants, 29% did not specify the sex of participants, and although male students were included in 59% of the research (Table 3 ), overall there were many more female participants compared to male participants across and within studies -over three quarters of the studies with both male and female participants clearly had more females than males. Other gender identities/sexual orientations (e.g., lesbian, gay, non-binary, transgender) were not identified or named in any of the study samples. One study, however, acknowledged that there was a lack of gender diversity among their participants [ 95 ].

Of all the studies that included both men and women, only one reported results for the foreign-born students by sex. This study, which examined predictors of success among a cohort of Saudi Arabian students enrolled in an accelerated bachelor program (a collaborative initiative between Saudi Arabia and a US University), showed that the mean graduating grade point average (GPA) varied among female students depending on whether or not they were married or had family present with them in the United States- i.e., single females and women who had no family in the US had lower GPAs compared to their respective counterparts, but these variations were not observed among the male students [ 66 ]. One other study and two reviews, which focused on ‘non-traditional students’, also reported results for male nurses, and reported that men tended to feel excluded and delegated to certain roles because of their gender, and felt they were stereotyped as being homosexual [ 37 , 42 , 70 ]. These findings however, did not pertain specifically to foreign-born/ESL/EAL students.

Four quantitative studies included sex as a variable in their analyses with foreign-born students. The study by Carty et al. (2007) showed that overall male students had a higher graduating GPA compared to their female counterparts. A study in Finland with international students found that female students were more likely than male students to perceive cultural diversity in the clinical placement as causing negative consequences, however there were no differences between men and women regarding their perceptions of the impacts of language barriers on their clinical training [ 109 ]. Another study, conducted in the US, found sex to not be predictive of attrition among ESL students studying in pre-licensure programs in the state of Texas [ 72 ]. Similarly, the fourth study found no association between sex and academic or clinical placement stress among international students studying nursing at the undergraduate level in programs across Australia [ 100 ].

With respect to challenges, we identified several papers that reported results and/or that discussed issues related to gender roles and expectations. In one study, conducted more than 30 years ago, a female student participant expressed that it was initially disconcerting, and that it required significant adaptation to come to terms with the idea that women should be assertive and outspoken when interacting with physicians [ 54 ]. Similarly, in another study, timidity and not wanting to speak up, was noted to be more challenging for female ESL students compared to male students [ 84 ]. In another older study, male students from Saudi Arabia who were studying in the US, found it challenging to have mixed-gender classes, to socialize with female students, to learn about women’s health and to care for female patients in the clinical setting, particularly hygiene and bathing (these same results were also highlighted in a review paper) [ 17 , 64 ]. Likewise, in another US study (and review), Omani women found it challenging to adapt to openness between sexes, going out alone and independent decision-making [ 107 , 153 ]. Similar findings were also shown in a study in the UK, where Middle-Eastern women who were completing a doctoral degree, reported finding it difficult to manage everything on their own as they were used to being surrounded by extended family and doing daily activities collectively; consequently these women also reported feeling very lonely [ 80 ].

Other difficulties related to gender norms and the mixing of men and women were also reported/discussed, including a hesitation among students to form friendships with the opposite sex because it was deemed inappropriate [ 81 ]; male students feeling uncomfortable receiving input or direction from female instructors [ 84 ]; female students feeling it is inappropriate to be in ‘intimate’ contact with patients [ 86 ]; and women finding it challenging to relate to their native-born female colleagues due to different value systems [ 97 ]. The review by Olson (2012) suggested that some female students may not be supported by family during their studies because male family members felt threatened by the possibility that their wives/daughters may earn more income than them [ 34 ]. One study also found that female international students more than male students, faced additional challenges professionally post-graduation, irrespective of whether or not they returned to their country of origin, and that these challenges were rooted in the divergent and conflictual cultural norms and expectations of women between the host country and country of origin [ 84 ]. Another study supported this notion as it found that international female students from Canada or Europe studying in the US seemed to have less difficulty adjusting to the US compared to other international students due to a greater resemblance in gender norms across the US, Canada and Europe [ 96 ].

Managing family/childcare and household responsibilities while studying, and feeling pressure to ascribe to a ‘traditional’ female role, were described as challenges for women in a number of papers [ 34 , 74 , 82 , 83 , 86 , 102 , 122 , 152 , 153 ]. In one study (but highlighted in four different papers), a woman reported significant stress due to her husband and in-laws who disapproved of her studying and who felt that she was a ‘bad wife and mother’ for pursuing her studies [ 34 , 82 , 83 , 153 ]. Feeling guilty about leaving children behind also appeared to be a concern particularly affecting women [ 89 , 128 ]. In contrast, a male student, in the study by Gardner (2005), reported feeling immense pressure to succeed, because he was recognized as a leader in his community in his home country and he felt he needed to return with a nursing degree so that he could help his community [ 83 ].

Perceived discrimination was noted in four papers; in one (a research study), an instructor participant reported that a student had shared with her that a patient had said that he did not like the student because the student was ‘a man and foreign’ [ 74 ]. In another study, women reported discrimination due to wearing a hijab and being Arab [ 115 ]. This latter issue was further highlighted in two review papers [ 145 , 153 ].

Nursing being perceived as a feminine profession and low status employment was also highlighted as an issue. In one study, a male student participant shared that he felt that his father had concerns about him pursuing nursing as a profession because of his gender [ 76 ]. In another study, women from non-English speaking background cultures reported not being supported by their family to pursue their studies in nursing as the profession was deemed to be the type of work that is only done by “loose women or prostitutes” [ 86 ].

We did not identify many results or discussion points related to gender and coping. One recent US study, suggests that female students who were mothers found mutual understanding and support from other female students who also had children [ 76 ]. Extended family support also seems to be source of help for female students who are trying to balance studying with home/family obligations [ 34 ]; in one study a student sent her child to India to be cared for while she completed her studies; providing a better life for her daughter was also a motivating factor that kept her going [ 83 ]. Family back home, calling male family members, was also identified as a source of support for the Omani nursing students in the US who were not used to being alone and who found making decisions on their own, challenging [ 107 ]. Although not a coping mechanism per se, a number of papers also mentioned that female international students had increased confidence over time and enjoyed the new independence that they had gained while living and studying in the host country [ 75 , 80 , 101 , 115 , 128 , 153 ].

A handful of papers made reference to gender in relation to supportive interventions. One study described a female educator calling on a male colleague to intervene with a male international student on a sensitive topic in order to make the student more comfortable since he was from a cultural background where women usually do not have authoritative roles [ 84 ]. Sending letters or involving family members in the orientation was recommended in one study and two reviews, as an approach to enhance family support and understanding for female students who face challenges balancing their studies with family and household responsibilities [ 34 , 83 , 152 ]. Similarly, including fathers and husbands in the admission process was a strategy described in the paper by Robinson et al. (2006) to ensure support for Indian women who wished to pursue their studies in an American university [ 138 ]. In the same paper, female applicants were interviewed by women during the recruitment process, and gender dynamics (in reference to male dominance) was considered when pairing female students with community supports once arrived in the US [ 138 ]. Matching advisors and international students by sex was also discussed in the paper by Thompson (2012) as an approach to promote comfort for students who are not used to receiving advice from or confiding in someone of the opposite sex [ 141 ]. In the study by King et al. (2017), a standardized simulation patient was used as a method to give EAL students an opportunity to get used to providing care to patients of the opposite sex [ 101 ]. And avoiding gender bias when presenting exemplars, was given as teaching tip when teaching international students, in the paper by Henderson (2016), [ 136 ].

Lastly, gender identity/sexual orientation was not considered or highlighted in any of the results or discussions related to challenges, coping responses or interventions across the literature. The review by Greene et al. (2012) which outlines strategies for promoting the success of international students, however, recommended that students be exposed to and learn how to care for patients with different backgrounds, including different sexual orientations, although no details were provided on how this should be done [ 33 ]. The review by Koch et al. (2015) also reported on the clinical placement experiences of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer/questioning (LGBTQ) nursing students, but this was for nursing students in general and not specific to foreign-born/ESL/EAL students [ 42 ]. The review highlighted that overall there is very little known about the experiences of LGBTQ nursing students.

Overall, the literature mostly reflects women’s experiences, there was less focus on men, and students who identify as other genders/sexual orientations were not visible in the research and discussions. Our review shows that international and migrant nursing students face a number of challenges associated with different cultural roles, norms and expectations for men and women; other challenges included perceived discrimination, and in general nursing being viewed as a feminine, low-status profession. We only identified a couple of strategies, accessing support from family and other student mothers, used specifically by female students to cope with some of the challenges associated with gender roles and norms, and we found nothing regarding men’s coping responses. Supportive interventions that considered gender were limited; these included matching students with support persons and advisors by sex, involving male family members in admission and orientation processes, and using patient simulation as a method to prepare students for care-provision of patients of the opposite-sex. Taken together, the results reveal that sex, gender and gender identity/sexual orientation have been under examined and discussed in the literature on international and migrant nursing students in academic institutions in major host countries.

Equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) are fundamental to the nursing profession and its practice as nurses interface with individuals, families and communities in very intimate ways (physically, psychologically, socially and spiritually/existentially) and during the most vulnerable moments of life, which are greatly influenced by one’s social group memberships/identities such as gender, culture, religion, ethnicity and sexuality. Therefore in order to promote the health and well-being for all, nurses must be prepared to respond to the needs of diverse populations and to provide care that is safe and that addresses inequities. It also requires a workforce that reflects the population demographics. Despite there being a movement towards inclusivity, the profession, however, remains predominantly Caucasian (in high-income countries) and heteronormative, especially at the leadership levels, and gender and gender identity/sexual orientation discrimination are still prevalent [ 39 , 155 , 156 , 157 , 158 ]. Rectifying this problem begins with nursing education programs that are inclusive, fair, and that celebrate diversity within the curriculum, and among the student, faculty and administrative bodies. EDI are currently top priority for many academic institutions in major migrant/international student receiving-countries [ 159 , 160 , 161 ]. Many have developed strategic plans and have a mandate to implement strategies to reduce discrimination and bias and create more respectful learning environments where the presence and expression of differences are valued and supported and everyone feels they belong and can thrive. Gender issues in higher education and the need for gender-sensitive interventions at the structural and curricular levels in order to attract and retain students, have been identified in both the nursing and international education literature, respectively [ 25 , 30 , 31 , 36 , 162 , 163 , 164 ]; more recently, there has also been greater attention given to gender identity/sexual orientation [ 40 , 41 , 43 , 45 , 165 ]. To further develop EDI best practices, and to advance the profession and practice, future research and discussion papers in nursing higher education must also address the intersections of gender, gender identity/sexual orientation and foreign-born status.

The review also highlights that a variety of terms have been used in the literature to describe foreign-born students, and that although migrant students have been included to some extent, the role of migration history/status and length of time in country have not been considered, making it difficult to tease out information about groups in more vulnerable contexts. More recently-arrived migrants are more likely compared to more established migrants to experience cultural barriers, be unfamiliar with a host country’s systems and have difficulty accessing services. Many refugees and asylum-seekers have experienced trauma and difficult migration trajectories that can exacerbate mental health issues and further complicate adjustment to a new academic environment [ 166 , 167 , 168 ]. Refugees and asylum-seekers are also more likely compared to other migrants and international students to have experienced disruptions in their education and to face language barriers and social-economic disadvantages during resettlement [ 166 , 167 , 168 ]. They are also more likely to experience family separation and may feel greater pressure to succeed especially if family members in the home country are financially dependent on them. Asylum-seekers also are commonly excluded from social programs and have the added strain of not knowing what their future holds. Therefore to have a more nuanced understanding of foreign-born nursing students’ challenges and coping responses, and to better identify supportive interventions, future work should take into account not only gender and gender identity/sexual orientation, but also the migration context (status and length of time), which should be clearly defined [ 41 , 169 , 170 , 171 , 172 ].

The results of the review show that generally there is an abundance written on supportive interventions for foreign-born nursing students in academic institutions, however it remains mostly descriptive and anecdotal. The results raise a number of questions regarding the specifics on how institutions and educators can best be supportive. For example, language and communication remain significant issues yet it is unclear what level of language ability should be required upon admission- high level requirements restrict access while a low level requirement puts undue stress on students, particularly since nursing requires knowledge of specific terminology. Likewise, to what extent should educators adapt teaching approaches and evaluations to facilitate adjustment to the new academic milieu and how can educators effectively provide emotional support whilst maintaining their professional stance? Furthermore, what should the role of institutions be in ensuring that foreign-born students are adequately prepared for work post-graduation, whether they stay in the host country or decide to return to their country of origin, especially when increasingly these institutions are integrating notions of EDI in their mandates? For example, should institutions provide additional support to prepare foreign-born students for the licensure exam in the host country? Alternatively, should institutions provide training within the program that is relevant to international students’ country of origin context and/or provide re-entry programs prior to students’ return home? It would be timely to also study and debate these broader questions related to supportive interventions.

Limitations and strengths

We purposely chose to not use ‘gender’, ‘gender identity’ or related terms in our search strategy so that our search would be broad, however, this exclusion may have contributed to missing some literature. We did not include grey literature, which may explain the lack of language diversity (French and Spanish publications), and consequently the small number of papers on students’ experiences in non-English speaking host countries. Due to the scoping nature of the review we did not closely analyze or report on the evidence related to the identified challenges, coping responses and supportive interventions (e.g., prevalence of challenges, evaluations of interventions). We also did not report on the overall benefits or positive experiences of foreign-born nursing students, which would have been informative. Nevertheless, the review was very thorough and provides a comprehensive overview with a gender lens, of the challenges, coping strategies and supportive interventions that have been studied and discussed over a 39 year period. The results also highlight gaps in the literature, especially with regards to gender.

Future research

Future research on challenges, coping responses and supportive interventions for international and migrant students in academic nursing programs in major host countries, should include sex and gender-based analyses; an intersectionality-based approach, including gender, gender identity/sexual orientation, migration/international status and context, as well as other identity markers (e.g., race, religion) is warranted. Additional reviews on existing gender and gender-identity/sexual orientation sensitive interventions in nursing/healthcare education in general, and for foreign-born students across a variety of disciplines, would also be informative. Overall, more studies that test and evaluate supportive interventions for international and migrant nursing students, at both the structural and curricular levels are needed; a systematic review would be useful as well to provide a better evidence base for academic institutions to draw from. Since most of the literature to date has focused on the US context, and much more has been written on undergraduate students, more research in non-English speaking countries, and with graduate students, especially at the doctoral level, would also be worthwhile.

The literature on the challenges, coping responses and supportive interventions for international and migrant students in academic nursing programs in major host countries, has significant gaps with regards to how it addresses the contributions and consequences of sex, gender and gender identity/sexual orientation related experiences. To draw and retain a diversity of candidates to the nursing profession, and to create more inclusive and equitable learning environments, future work, especially with respect to supportive interventions, needs to address the intersections of gender, gender identity/sexual orientation and foreign-born status, and also consider the complexity of migrant students’ contexts.

Availability of data and materials

All data generated and analysed during this study are included in this published article and the original sources.

Abbreviations

Culturally and linguistically diverse

Cumulative Index to Nursing & Allied Health Literature

English as an additional language

Evidence-based practice

Equity, diversity and inclusion

Excerpta Medica dataBASE

Education Resources Information Centre

English as a second language

Grade point average

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer/questioning

United Kingdom

United States

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Acknowledgements

We would like to acknowledge and thank Assia Mourid, the librarian for allied health sciences at the University of Montreal for her assistance in developing the database search strategies and support in conducting the database searches. We would also like to thank Ye Na Kim for her help with the data extraction and Aracely Estefania Rodriguez Espinosa and Kassandre Thériault for their support in the assessment of the literature for gender related information.

This work was supported by the SHERPA research centre, the University Institute with regards to cultural communities of the CIUSSS West-Central Montreal and by the Quebec Population Health Research Network (QPHRN). LM was supported by a research scholar junior 1 award from The Fonds de recherche du Québec- Santé (FRQS) .

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LM and BV conceived the idea for the review, obtained funding and supervised the literature search, review and selection process. KPV developed the database search strategies (with assistance from a librarian), conducted the searches, reviewed and selected the literature, and extracted the data and created the summary tables; KPV also aided in the writing of the methods section of the manuscript. LM drafted the manuscript. BV contributed to the results and discussion sections and critically revised the manuscript for intellectual content. All authors read and approved the final version of the manuscript.

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Merry, L., Vissandjée, B. & Verville-Provencher, K. Challenges, coping responses and supportive interventions for international and migrant students in academic nursing programs in major host countries: a scoping review with a gender lens. BMC Nurs 20 , 174 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12912-021-00678-0

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COVID-19 pandemic triggers 25% increase in prevalence of anxiety and depression worldwide

Wake-up call to all countries to step up mental health services and support.

In the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, global prevalence of anxiety and depression increased by a massive 25%, according to a scientific brief released by the World Health Organization (WHO) today. The brief also highlights who has been most affected and summarizes the effect of the pandemic on the availability of mental health services and how this has changed during the pandemic.

Concerns about potential increases in mental health conditions had already prompted 90% of countries surveyed to include mental health and psychosocial support in their COVID-19 response plans, but major gaps and concerns remain.

“The information we have now about the impact of COVID-19 on the world’s mental health is just the tip of the iceberg,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General. “This is a wake-up call to all countries to pay more attention to mental health and do a better job of supporting their populations’ mental health.”

Multiple stress factors

One major explanation for the increase is the unprecedented stress caused by the social isolation resulting from the pandemic. Linked to this were constraints on people’s ability to work, seek support from loved ones and engage in their communities.

Loneliness, fear of infection, suffering and death for oneself and for loved ones, grief after bereavement and financial worries have also all been cited as stressors leading to anxiety and depression. Among health workers, exhaustion has been a major trigger for suicidal thinking.

Young people and women worst hit

The brief, which is informed by a comprehensive review of existing evidence about the impact of COVID-19 on mental health and mental health services, and includes estimates from the latest Global Burden of Disease study, shows that the pandemic has affected the mental health of young people and that they are disproportionally at risk of suicidal and self-harming behaviours. It also indicates that women have been more severely impacted than men and that people with pre-existing physical health conditions, such as asthma, cancer and heart disease, were more likely to develop symptoms of mental disorders.

Data suggests that people with pre-existing mental disorders do not appear to be disproportionately vulnerable to COVID-19 infection. Yet, when these people do become infected, they are more likely to suffer hospitalization, severe illness and death compared with people without mental disorders. People with more severe mental disorders, such as psychoses, and young people with mental disorders, are particularly at risk.

Gaps in care

This increase in the prevalence of mental health problems has coincided with severe disruptions to mental health services, leaving huge gaps in care for those who need it most. For much of the pandemic, services for mental, neurological and substance use conditions were the most disrupted among all essential health services reported by WHO Member States. Many countries also reported major disruptions in life-saving services for mental health, including for suicide prevention.

By the end of 2021 the situation had somewhat improved but today too many people remain unable to get the care and support they need for both pre-existing and newly developed mental health conditions.

Unable to access face-to-face care, many people have sought support online, signaling an urgent need to make reliable and effective digital tools available and easily accessible. However, developing and deploying digital interventions remains a major challenge in resource-limited countries and settings.

WHO and country action

Since the early days of the pandemic, WHO and partners have worked to develop and disseminate resources in multiple languages and formats to help different groups cope with and respond to the mental health impacts of COVID-19. For example, WHO produced a story book for 6-11-year-olds, My Hero is You, now available in 142 languages and 61 multimedia adaptations, as well as a toolkit for supporting older adults available in 16 languages.

At the same time, the Organization has worked with partners, including other United Nations agencies, international nongovernmental organizations and the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, to lead an interagency mental health and psychosocial response to COVID-19. Throughout the pandemic, WHO has also worked to promote the integration of mental health and psychosocial support across and within all aspects of the global response.

WHO Member States have recognized the impact of COVID-19 on mental health and are taking action. WHO’s most recent pulse survey on continuity of essential health services indicated that 90% of countries are working to provide mental health and psychosocial support to COVID-19 patients and responders alike. Moreover, at last year’s World Health Assembly, countries emphasized the need to develop and strengthen mental health and psychosocial support services as part of strengthening preparedness, response and resilience to COVID-19 and future public health emergencies. They adopted the updated Comprehensive Mental Health Action Plan 2013-2030, which includes an indicator on preparedness for mental health and psychosocial support in public health emergencies.

Step up investment

However, this commitment to mental health needs to be accompanied by a global step up in investment. Unfortunately, the situation underscores a chronic global shortage of mental health resources that continues today. WHO’s most recent Mental Health Atlas showed that in 2020, governments worldwide spent on average just over 2% of their health budgets on mental health and many low-income countries reported having fewer than 1 mental health worker per 100 000 people.

Dévora Kestel, Director of the Department of Mental Health and Substance Use at WHO, sums up the situation: ”While the pandemic has generated interest in and concern for mental health, it has also revealed historical under-investment in mental health services. Countries must act urgently to ensure that mental health support is available to all.”

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Welcome to the Purdue Online Writing Lab
Mission. The Purdue On-Campus Writing Lab and Purdue Online Writing Lab assist clients in their development as writers—no matter what their skill level—with on-campus consultations, online participation, and community engagement. The Purdue Writing Lab serves the Purdue, West Lafayette, campus and coordinates with local literacy initiatives.
Challenges, coping responses and supportive interventions for
International and migrant students face specific challenges which may impact their mental health, well-being and academic outcomes, and these may be gendered experiences. The purpose of this scoping review was to map the literature on the challenges, coping responses and supportive interventions for international and migrant students in academic nursing programs in major host countries, with a ...
COVID-19 pandemic triggers 25% increase in prevalence of anxiety and
Español. In the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, global prevalence of anxiety and depression increased by a massive 25%, according to a scientific brief released by the World Health Organization (WHO) today. The brief also highlights who has been most affected and summarizes the effect of the pandemic on the availability of mental health ...

100 Excellent English Research Topics and Ideas

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List of the Best English Research Topics

Simple English Research Topics

Interesting English Research Ideas

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Write an Exemplary English Research Paper: An All in One Guide for You

A. Title Page:

B. Abstract:

C. Introduction:

D. Literature Review:

E. Methodology:

F. Results:

G. Discussion:

H. Conclusion:

I. References:

The Secret to Higher Grades is Good English Research Paper Topics – Here’s Why!

a) Interest and Motivation

b) Originality and Creativity

c) Relevance and Significance

d) Feasibility and Manageability

e) Career Advancement

How to Choose the Best English Research Topic?

a) Follow your passion

b) Narrow your focus

c) Conduct preliminary research

d) Consider the feasibility of your topic

e) Seek feedback from others

Top Picks of English Research Paper Topics for You

1. Outstanding English Research Topics

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4. English Research Paper Topics on Historical Events

5. English Research Topics on Films

6. English Research Topics for College Students

English Research Paper Examples

Most Popular Questions Searched By Students

Q2. What is the best way to narrow down a research topic in English?

Q3. How do I structure an English research paper?

Q4. How do I write a strong thesis statement for my English research paper?

Q5. Do I analyse data in an English research paper?

Q6. How do I evaluate sources for my English research paper?

Q7. How do I properly cite sources in my English research paper?

Q8. How do I write a literature review for my English research paper?

Q9. How do I write a strong conclusion for my English research paper?

Q10. How can I effectively revise and edit my English research paper?

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101 English Research Paper Topics, Questions and Ideas

English Research Paper Topics and Ideas

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How to Come up with the Best English Research Paper Ideas

1000+ FREE Research Topics & Title Ideas

Research Topic FAQs

What constitutes a good research topic?

What's the difference between a research topic and research problem?

How can I find potential research topics for my project?

How can I find quality sources for my research topic?

How can I find a good research gap?

How should I evaluate potential research topics/ideas?

How can I assess the feasibility of a research topic?

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