How do I start brainstorming ideas for an independent research study? Answered
Hey guys, I have just recently learned about getting involved with an independent research study while still in high school. I am currently a freshman in high school in Massachusetts and have always loved researching and writing papers on topics for History and English. No joke I always find myself going home and further researching my papers just for the fun of it. The thing is I haven't been able to pinpoint a specific topic to research. To be honest, I don't know how these studies work exactly, but I do know I would need to present a professor/mentor with an idea, which is something I don't have. A lot of the context in which research studies are talked about has to do with STEM, which I don't have any particular interest or specialty in. As I said earlier I love researching for History and English, but I don't have a specific historical event or book that I want to learn more about. I am kind of at a loss of what my next step should be. If anyone on here has any advice/has gotten involved with this type of thing in high school I would love to hear about your experience and what I should do.
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Hi! I think it's great that you're thinking about doing research while in high school. One way to start is by thinking about what interests you that you don't know that much about. Or something you know a bit about that you want to look at from a different lens. For example you could start by thinking about the role of women in the US during the First World War. Since that's a topic that's been heavily researched you could think about how you could put a different spin on it, maybe thinking about how the new roles that women were filling changed women's fashions (I studied fashion so I had to thought hat in there haha). If you can't think of anything on your own, it might be worth it to talk to your history teacher, let them know that you're interested in doing history research and ask them if they could help you brainstorm.
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This was so helpful! I emailed my history teacher to chat with her after school about a potential topic, I think my main issue was I needed an example (which you helpfully provided!) to inspire me. Thank you very much <333