Help with Topic

How to choose a good topic:

1. Identify 3 or 4 areas of interest that seem interesting to you. (E.g. Are you more interested in babies than school-aged children? Teenagers? Post-op care? Psycho-social topics? etc. In other words, what sorts of things might be of interest to you?)

2. Go to a nursing library and browse the literature on those topics. Browse issues of journals related to the fields you picked, pediatrics, etc. Pay attention to what types of articles are available on those topics. Has research been done on those topics? etc. (You can do that either in a brick and mortar library or online, assuming you know how to search the literature.

3. Identify the topic fits these 2 criteria: (1) It was on you list of topics that interests you, and (2) You were easily able to find they type of research articles you will need to fit the requirements of your school project.

Another way to find a good topic is to go to search the literature for strong literature reviews or practice guidelines based on strong lit reviews. Pick one on a topic that seems interesting to you. Half the work will already have been done for you by the author of the published lit review.

A bad way to pick a topic: Pick a topic that sounds good to you without first looking to see if the literature you need is available. It is very frustrating to get into the middle of the project only to discover that the research you need to complete the project has never been done.