[Sixxer]

Hello,
I am a nursing student entering my last year. I am going to be writing a research paper and currently looking for topics. I am looking for something that I am passionate about to make this paper interesting to me, but having trouble coming up with ideas. Preferrably the topic will be a real life issues that pediatric nurses face.

Here are my only thoughts:
I am very interested in breastfeeding, but not sure what specifically I should research. Possibly the success rates with a lactation consultant.

Adolescents smoking and the nurses role or parental smoking and the effects on a child?

I need to be very specific on the research topic and would appreciate any feedback about where more research could be useful.

[llg]

I suggest that you go to the library and start browsing the journals and the articles related to the 2 general fields you mentioned -- breastfeeding and adolescent smoking. Too many students wait too long before beginning to explore the literature. They feel they have to begin by picking the "perfect topic" on their own -- and then cross their fingers that they will be able to find literature on that specific topic. They get in trouble (and very frustrated) when they discover that they can't find the literature they need to do their paper on their "first choice, ideal" topic.

It's better to begin as you have already begun -- with some general topic areas. Then browse the relevant literature and see what is available. See what scholars have been discussing and what research has been done before finalizing your choice of a topic. That's the way experienced researchers do it. They let their work build on the work previously done by others, breaking new ground with each new study. They read what other people have written on their general topics of interest and let their new projects flow from the existing literature and the suggestions of the authors for questions that still remain to be answered. Good researchers do not go off in isolation and ignore what other people have done.

So ... as a student ... let the literature help you focus you in on some specific aspect of one of those general fields. The literature will help you become familiar with the work that has been done and the work that remains to be done. Exploring it will better familiarize you with "what is out there and what is not." Use that knowledge to help you choose a topic so that you will be sure to have the literature you need to write your paper.

llg