Research Paper Ideas

cracklingkraken, ASN, RN · Jun 1, 2014

I think you need to give more detail as to what the guidelines of the research paper are so we can guide you in the right direction.

LEOWifey · Jun 1, 2014

I think you need to give more detail as to what the guidelines of the research paper are so we can guide you in the right direction.

Ok! We have actually been given a very broad subject area, ANYTHING pharmacology related. It has to be minimum 4 peer reviewed articles written within the past 5 years, and 5-7 page total submission. That is it.

RunBabyRN · Jun 1, 2014

Are there any meds for epilepsy with which you have experience? Any controversy surrounding them? Anything you can tease out into a research paper?

The other idea is keeping the topic broad for now, and seeing where your research takes you. Most of my papers have morphed some after doing some research.

LEOWifey · Jun 2, 2014

Thank you so much for your input. The new thing right now that I thought was most controversial was the use of thc in children with epilepsy. It would have been some great research but NO peer reviewed stuff. I am going to make a list of all the meds we have been on and go from there. Thanks again and hope you have a great week :)

nurseprnRN, BSN, RN · Jun 2, 2014

Immediately do two things for your own safety: Change your posting name to something anonymous, and change your avatar so it's not your own photograph. Lest you think this is too cranky of me, take a moment to search the threads on why you should be anonymous on AllNurses. If you can't do it yourself, ask the mods for help.

As to your paper question, I would suggest you take a topic that has nothing to do with your children's medications. And there's a reason why there's no peer reviewed stuff on THC for children's epilepsy. It would not have been "great research," oy. It would have made you an example of noncritical student thinking, though.

Part of this exercise will also teach you how to look for real critical-thinking papers and evidence-based practice. HInt: Do NOT ever start with websites run by advocacy groups or fringe theorists. You will be more dispassionate, less biased, and learn more about how to do this kind of study (which is, in large part, the reason for the assignment, not merely to learn about the topic of your paper per se).

Episteme · Jun 3, 2014

THC has until recently been illegal. It's still officially illegal per the Feds. Most research funding comes from the Feds, ergo.....

Episteme · Jun 3, 2014

OP: Is this paper just a scholarly review? Or do you have to propose a research topic based upon your review of the literature?

ThatBigGuy · Jun 3, 2014

Go to scholar.google.com. This is like a normal Google search, but it only searches scholarly articles. I typed in "epilepsy medications for children" and got 124,000 results. You can use a filter on the left side of the page to set a custom range of publish dates to get rid of anything before 2011. That still leaves me with 17,300 results. Just browse the first couple of pages for anything that strikes your eye. Then try a different search term. I found 2,640 results for the search term "epilepsy marijuana," all since 2011.

Like RunBabyRun, most of my research papers had no direction until I started reading articles from different searches. After awhile, you get a feel for what particular focus has the support necessary to compose a paper.

LEOWifey · Jun 3, 2014

Thank you for your concern. Very valid. Info changed :)

LEOWifey · Jun 3, 2014

THANK YOU!

LEOWifey · Jun 3, 2014

Yes, just scholarly.