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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.

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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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Where Research Begins: Choosing a Research Project That Matters to You (and the World) (Chicago Guides to Writing, Editing, and Publishing) First Edition

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Plenty of books tell you how to do research. This book helps you figure out WHAT to research in the first place, and why it matters.

The hardest part of research isn't answering a question. It's knowing what to do before you know what your question is . Where Research Begins tackles the two challenges every researcher faces with every new project: How do I find a compelling problem to investigate—one that truly matters to me, deeply and personally? How do I then design my research project so that the results will matter to anyone else?

This book will help you start your new research project the right way for you with a series of simple yet ingenious exercises. Written in a conversational style and packed with real-world examples, this easy-to-follow workbook offers an engaging guide to finding research inspiration within yourself, and in the broader world of ideas.

Read this book if you (or your students):

Under the expert guidance of award-winning researchers Thomas S. Mullaney and Christopher Rea, you will find yourself on the path to a compelling and meaningful research project, one that matters to you—and the world.

• ISBN-10 022681744X
• ISBN-13 978-0226817446
• Edition First Edition
• Publisher University of Chicago Press
• Publication date April 1, 2022
• Part of series Chicago Guides to Writing, Editing, and Publishing
• Language English
• Dimensions 5.5 x 0.7 x 8.5 inches
• Print length 218 pages
• See all details

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From the Publisher

Plenty of books tell you how to do research. this book helps you figure out what to research in the first place, and why it matters.

• have difficulty choosing a research topic
• know your topic, but are unsure how to turn it into a research project

• feel intimidated by or unqualified to do research
• worry that you’re asking the wrong questions about your research topic

• have plenty of good ideas, but aren’t sure which one to commit to
• feel like your research topic was imposed by someone else

• want to learn new ways to think about how to do research

This book is designed to be practical, first and foremost, providing specific and tested techniques to help you:

• choose a research topic;
• transform this topic into a set of concrete and compelling questions;
• identify the underlying problem motivating the questions you’re asking;
• deal with the assumptions, biases, and preconceived notions you might have about your topic;
• articulate the stakes involved in this problem and prioritize competing interests and concerns;
• approach and navigate the broader community of researchers who work on the same “topic” as you (that is, your “major” or “field”);
• discover and map out relevant researcher communities that exist beyond your field;
• find sources that will be useful to your research project;
• use the sources you find to refine your questions further (especially during the preliminary research stage);
• deal with mental roadblocks and keep up your momentum during the critical early stages of your project, when it’s easiest to feel lost;
• remain flexible, nimble, astute, and motivated as a researcher.

One of the many exercises you'll find inside:

Editorial Reviews

About the author, product details.

• Publisher ‏ : ‎ University of Chicago Press; First Edition (April 1, 2022)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• Paperback ‏ : ‎ 218 pages
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 022681744X
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0226817446
• Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 9.6 ounces
• Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.5 x 0.7 x 8.5 inches
• #14 in Research Reference Books
• #23 in Reference (Books)
• #594 in Unknown

About the authors

Thomas s. mullaney.

Thomas S. Mullaney is Professor of History at Stanford University, a Guggenheim Fellow, and the Kluge Chair in Technology and Society at the Library of Congress.

He is the author or lead editor of 7 books, including Where Research Begins: Choosing a Research Project that Matters to You (and the World), The Chinese Deathscape, The Chinese Typewriter (winner of the Fairbank prize), Your Computer is on Fire, Coming to Terms with the Nation: Ethnic Classification in Modern China, and the forthcoming The Chinese Computer—the first comprehensive history of Chinese-language computing.

His writings have appeared in dozens of outlets, including MIT Technology Review, The Boston Globe, Fast Company, South China Morning Post, the Journal of Asian Studies, Technology & Culture, Aeon, Foreign Affairs, and Foreign Policy, among others, and his work has been featured in the LA Times, The Atlantic, the BBC, and in invited lectures at Google, Microsoft, Adobe, and more.

He holds a PhD from Columbia University.

Christopher G. Rea

Christopher Rea is Professor of Chinese and former Director of the Centre for Chinese Research at the University of British Columbia.

Learn about his books and research at: https://asia.ubc.ca/profile/christopher-rea/

He is the creator of the Chinese Film Classics project, the world's largest collection of early Chinese films with English subtitles: chinesefilmclassics.org

Subscribe to his YouTube channel @ModernChineseCulturalStudies

"Where Research Begins," co-authored with Thomas S. Mullaney, is a guide for the researcher starting a new project. Editions forthcoming in Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Thai.

"Chinese Film Classics, 1922-1949" is an essential guide to 14 Chinese cinematic masterworks of the black-and-white era. Chinese edition forthcoming.

"The Book of Swindles" is a 400-year-old Chinese collection of stories about fraud, and especially the perils faced by merchants traveling in the southern reaches of empire during the late Ming dynasty. A second volume is under contract with Columbia University Press.

"The Age of Irreverence" is a history of how China laughed its way into the modern age. It traces an unruly current in modern Chinese culture, following the stories of whimsical poets, vaudevillian entrepreneurs, renowned revilers, twee essayists, winking farceurs, and self-promoting jokesters--as well as the vocal opponents who tried to tame them. The Association of Asian Studies awarded "The Age of Irreverence" the Joseph Levenson Book Prize (Post-1900 China) in 2017. A Taiwan edition was published by Rye Field (Maitian) in 2018; a PRC edition is forthcoming from Peking University Press.

"The Business of Culture" is a study of cultural entrepreneurship that traces the rise of cultural personalities, tycoons, and collective cultural enterprises in China and Southeast Asia, from Tianjin and Shanghai to Hong Kong and Singapore.

"Humans, Beasts, and Ghosts," is a translated collection of stories and essays by Qian Zhongshu, twentieth-century China's paragon of urbane wit and acerbic satire.

"China's Literary Cosmopolitans" offers a comprehensive survey of the literary oeuvres of two of China's leading scholar-writers, Qian Zhongshu and Yang Jiang, and explains their contributions to the notion of literary cosmopolitanism.

"Imperfect Understanding: Intimate Portraits of Modern Chinese Celebrities" features fifty witty and idiosyncratic pen sketches, written in English by a Cambridge-educated author born in the Dutch East Indies, of Chinese cultural celebrities in the 1930s.

"China's Chaplin: Comic Stories and Farces by Xu Zhuodai" is a humor anthology that will answer the questions that have been keeping you up at night, such as: What is a father’s duty when he and his son are courting the same prostitute? And why should you never, never, never pull a hair from a horse’s tail?

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Get Access To 1000+ Research Topic Ideas

If you’re trying to find a suitable research topic for your dissertation, thesis or research project, this is for you. Simply put, this mega list of research topic ideas will help stimulate your thinking and fast-track the topic ideation process.

The list provides 1000+ topic ideas across 25 research areas, including:

• Accounting & finance
• Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning
• Biotech and genetic engineering
• Blockchain and crypto
• Business, management and leadership
• Communication
• Cybersecurity
• Data science and analytics
• Education and training
• Engineering
• Environmental science and climate change
• Law and public policy
• Materials science
• Mental health
• Neuroscience
• Political science
• Psychology and sociology
• Public administration
• Public health and epidemiology
• Robotics and automation

Simply put, this is the largest single source of research topic inspiration you’ll find. Plus, you’ll get free access to our popular webinar , Research Topic Ideation 101, as well as our tried and trusted research proposal template . 

PS – You can also download our free dissertation template below 🙂

Selecting a Research Topic: Overview

• Refine your topic
• Background information & facts
• Writing help

Here are some resources to refer to when selecting a topic and preparing to write a paper:

• MIT Writing and Communication Center "Providing free professional advice about all types of writing and speaking to all members of the MIT community."
• Search Our Collections Find books about writing. Search by subject for: english language grammar; report writing handbooks; technical writing handbooks
• Blue Book of Grammar and Punctuation Online version of the book that provides examples and tips on grammar, punctuation, capitalization, and other writing rules.
• Select a topic

Choosing an interesting research topic is your first challenge. Here are some tips:

• Choose a topic that you are interested in! The research process is more relevant if you care about your topic.
• If your topic is too broad, you will find too much information and not be able to focus.
• Background reading can help you choose and limit the scope of your topic. 
• Review the guidelines on topic selection outlined in your assignment.  Ask your professor or TA for suggestions.
• Refer to lecture notes and required texts to refresh your knowledge of the course and assignment.
• Talk about research ideas with a friend.  S/he may be able to help focus your topic by discussing issues that didn't occur to you at first.
• WHY did you choose the topic?  What interests you about it?  Do you have an opinion about the issues involved?
• WHO are the information providers on this topic?  Who might publish information about it?  Who is affected by the topic?  Do you know of organizations or institutions affiliated with the topic?
• WHAT are the major questions for this topic?  Is there a debate about the topic?  Are there a range of issues and viewpoints to consider?
• WHERE is your topic important: at the local, national or international level?  Are there specific places affected by the topic?
• WHEN is/was your topic important?  Is it a current event or an historical issue?  Do you want to compare your topic by time periods?

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• Sources for facts - specific subjects

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• Last Updated: Jul 30, 2021 2:50 PM
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10 Best Research Books For Qualitative And Quantitative Research

Are you looking for the best research books? Take a look at some of the best books on research methods below.

Research methodology comes in many shapes and forms. Regardless of whether you are interested in qualitative or quantitative research, it is essential to find a book that can help you plan your research project adequately. Research design can vary from hard sciences to social sciences, but data analysis following a case study is usually similar. Therefore, you need a practical guide that can help you complete a research project and finish your research paper.

1. Qualitative Research: A Guide To Design And Implementation, 4th Edition

2. research design: qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches, 4th edition, 3. the research methods knowledge base, 3rd edition, 4. the craft of research, 5. doing your research project: open up study skills, 5th edition, 6. qualitative inquiry and research design: choosing among five approaches, 3rd edition, 7. the essential guide to doing your research project, 2nd edition, 8. introducing research methodology: a beginner’s guide to doing a research project, 2nd edition, 9. the sage handbook of qualitative research, 5th edition, 10. research methods in education, 7th edition, the final word on the best research books, what is the difference between quantitative research and qualitative research, how do i figure out which academic journal to publish my research in, further reading.

Unlimited access to more than 5,500 nonfiction bestsellers. Free trial available.

When someone talks about qualitative research in academia, they refer to research that focuses on overall concepts and takeaways instead of complex numbers. For those conducting academic research, understanding the basics of this process is critical. Qualitative Research: A Guide to Design and Implementation, by Sharan B. Merriam and Elizabeth J. Tisdell, 4th edition, is one of the best books available because it focuses on action research, mixed methods, online data sources, and some of the latest technology that people can use to complete their projects.

A significant portion of this book focuses on data analysis software packages, which have become critically important in an era where publishing in the best academic journals is critical for every successful researcher. Finally, this book explains topics so that nearly everyone can understand.

• Merriam, Sharan B. (Author)
• English (Publication Language)
• 368 Pages - 08/14/2015 (Publication Date) - John Wiley & Sons (Publisher)

Suppose you are looking for a book that can teach you the best research methodology. In that case, you will want to check out Research Design: Qualitative, Quantitative, and Mixed Methods Approaches by John W. Creswell, 4th edition. John Creswell is one of the most well-respected writers in case study research.

As books on how to research go, this one on quantitative and qualitative research methods is a great tool that will help you learn the basics of forming a research project in every field. This book covers philosophical assumptions and research projects, theory and research approaches, and conducts an effective literature review. These elements are also crucial in helping you form a step-by-step guide for your upcoming research project, and this book will teach you the basics of data analysis.

• Research Design
• Creswell, John W. (Author)
• 273 Pages - 05/14/2024 (Publication Date) - SAGE Publications, Inc (Publisher)

The first two editions were already solid, but the third edition of The Research Methods Knowledge Base, by William M.K. Trochim and James P. Donnelly, features many updates to quantitative and qualitative research methods, teaching graduate students the basics of data collection before diving into the details for more advanced learners.

One of the significant advantages of this text is that it is a comprehensive tool that can be used for both undergraduate and graduate-level courses. It has a relatively informal style and conversational feel, which means readers will not be intimidated by walls of text. The research methods it teaches are straightforward, applicable, and relevant to anyone looking to complete a research project in the current era.

• Mint Condition
• Dispatch same day for order received before 12 noon
• Guaranteed packaging
• No quibbles returns

The Craft of Research, by Wayne C. Booth, Gregory C. Colomb, and Joseph M. Williams, covers various research approaches that teach everyone the basics of forming a solid research project. In particular, this book focuses on what to do with the data after it has been collected.

People need to think about how their readers will interpret the structure of the paper, proactively anticipating questions they might have. By answering the reader’s questions in the initial version of the paper, it is easier to hold their attention from start to finish.

Of course, one of the most critical questions that must be asked when writing a research paper is, “so, what? Why does this information matter?” Researchers can keep this in mind while writing the introduction and conclusion of the paper so they will have an easier time constructing a powerful academic manuscript that is more likely to be accepted into the top academic journals.

• Booth, Wayne C. (Author)
• 336 Pages - 10/18/2016 (Publication Date) - University of Chicago Press (Publisher)

Doing Your Research Project: Open Up Study Skills, by Judith Bell, is a must-read for new researchers looking to make their way in academic research. This book is helpful because it teaches people how to conduct a research project using step-by-step advice. A research project can be daunting for new learners because it’s easy to focus on the final project and feel intimidated before taking the first step.

This book is indispensable because it teaches people everything they need to know to develop a research project, draft a hypothesis, carry out the project, and finalize a research paper after conducting detailed data analysis. Furthermore, this text will dive into common mistakes, pitfalls, and obstacles researchers need to overcome. Time is your most valuable resource, and nobody wants to spend time on trials that will not be relevant to the final project.

• Bell, Judith (Author)
• 296 Pages - 05/01/2010 (Publication Date) - Open University Press (Publisher)

Qualitative Inquiry And Research Design: Choose Among Five Approaches, 3rd Edition, Is The Latest In A Line Of Best-Selling Research Books From Creswell. This Book Ties Into People’s Philosophical Underpinnings When Developing A Research Project. It Also Looks At The History Of Various Research Projects, Which Serve As An Example For The Reader.

Overall, there are five traditions in qualitative research; grounded theory, phenomenology, narrative research, case study, and ethnography. Creswell uses an accessible writing style to help the reader understand when to use each of these narratives. Then, he dives into strategies for writing research papers using each of these approaches.

• Used Book in Good Condition
• 472 Pages - 03/14/2012 (Publication Date) - SAGE Publications, Inc (Publisher)

The Essential Guide To Doing Your Research Project by Zina O’Leary is geared more toward young learners. As books on how to research, it focuses on how to develop a research project, analyze data, and write up the results. Every stage of the book is clearly explained, with the author specifying why it is essential to carry out that step correctly.

It also focuses on practical tips and tricks that learners can use to successfully carry out their research projects. The book includes helpful chapter summaries, a complete glossary, and boxed definitions for essential terms that should not be overlooked. The author also has a variety of suggestions for further reading, which is helpful for more advanced learners who may want to pick up a text that is a bit more detailed. Finally, the book also comes with access to a companion website. The website includes journal articles, real projects, worksheets, and podcasts.

• O′Leary, Zina (Author)
• 384 Pages - 12/20/2013 (Publication Date) - SAGE Publications Ltd (Publisher)

Introducing Research Methodology: A Beginner’s Guide to doing a research project, by Uwe Flick is ideal for new researchers. the author guides readers through the fundamentals that underpin a strong research project. He focuses on essential steps, common mistakes, and ways to expedite the research process.

Then, the author dives into some of the most critical skills readers need to have if they want to collect and analyze data properly. he goes into basic organizational tactics that make data easier to interpret, explains how to shorten the analytical process, and dives into real-life quantitative and qualitative research methods. He uses his research as an example, explaining to people how to pull out the essential parts of the research project before writing them up.

• Flick, Uwe (Author)
• 320 Pages - 04/14/2015 (Publication Date) - SAGE Publications Ltd (Publisher)

The SAGE Handbook of Qualitative Research by Norman K. Denzin and Yvonna S. Lincoln focuses on global research. this text teaches readers how to synthesize existing literature, identify current research, and focus on caps that can be filled. the authors gather contributions from some of the most well-renowned researchers, addressing issues in research projects today. this text focuses more on research regarding social justice. therefore, this is better for people in the social sciences.

• Hardcover Book
• 992 Pages - 02/15/2017 (Publication Date) - SAGE Publications, Inc (Publisher)

Research Methods in Education, by Louis Cohen, Lawrence Manon, and Keith Morrison, is essential for students and professional researchers who want to learn how to create a comprehensive research project. It’s broken up into helpful chapters wrapped up by a convenient summary at the end, explaining to readers how to hit the high points.

Research Methods in Education also comes with a helpful companion website that contains PowerPoint slides for every chapter. This book can be read independently and discussed with a classroom full of students. The book has been written at a level that is accessible even to high school students, but the basics can be a helpful review for graduate researchers.

• Cohen, Louis (Author)
• 944 Pages - 10/27/2017 (Publication Date) - Routledge (Publisher)

Academic research comes in many shapes and forms, with qualitative and quantitative research having high points; however, the basics are the same across all fields. Researchers need to learn how to develop a hypothesis, put together a research methodology, collect their data, interpret it, and write up their findings.

It can be helpful to use the books about research above to refine your research methods . Each book focuses on a slightly different facet of academic research, so readers need to find the right book to meet their needs. With a substantial text, readers can avoid common mistakes, follow in the footsteps of successful researchers, and increase their chances of writing a solid research paper for school or getting their paper accepted into an academic journal.

Books About Research FAQs

Quantitative research focuses more on numbers and statistics. This type of research is more common in hard sciences such as biology, chemistry, and physics.

Qualitative research focuses more on overall meanings and concepts. This type of research is more common in social sciences such as anthropology, archaeology, and research topics focusing on social justice.

It would help compare prior articles in that academic journal to the article you have written. Most academic journals focus on a specific field, and you need to submit your article to a publication that shares research articles similar to your own. Be sure to consider the prestige of the journal before submitting your paper.

If you enjoyed this round-up of the best research books, you might also like our top 11 essay writing tips for students . 

You might also find our guide on essay topics for students  helpful. 

Bryan Collins is the owner of Become a Writer Today. He's an author from Ireland who helps writers build authority and earn a living from their creative work. He's also a former Forbes columnist and his work has appeared in publications like Lifehacker and Fast Company.

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Research Process

• Brainstorming
• Explore Google This link opens in a new window
• Explore Web Resources
• Explore Background Information

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• Explore Scholarly Articles
• Narrowing a Topic
• Primary and Secondary Resources
• Academic, Popular & Trade Publications
• Scholarly and Peer-Reviewed Journals
• Grey Literature
• Clinical Trials
• Evidence Based Treatment
• Scholarly Research
• Database Research Log
• Search Limits
• Keyword Searching
• Boolean Operators
• Phrase Searching
• Truncation & Wildcard Symbols
• Proximity Searching
• Field Codes
• Subject Terms and Database Thesauri
• Reading a Scientific Article
• Website Evaluation
• Article Keywords and Subject Terms
• Cited References
• Citing Articles
• Related Results
• Search Within Publication
• Database Alerts & RSS Feeds
• Personal Database Accounts
• Persistent URLs
• Literature Gap and Future Research
• Web of Knowledge
• Annual Reviews
• Systematic Reviews & Meta-Analyses
• Finding Seminal Works
• Exhausting the Literature
• Finding Dissertations
• Researching Theoretical Frameworks
• Research Methodology & Design
• Tests and Measurements
• Organizing Research & Citations This link opens in a new window
• Scholarly Publication
• Learn the Library This link opens in a new window

Books, similar to reference resources, can provide much needed background information and history on a topic. Books are comprehensive and offer a broad viewpoint that is different from articles. Examining the history of a potential topic is important because you may find that your potential study had already been done fifty years ago. Not only are books great sources for reading about a potential topic, but they are great sources for discovering entirely new topics. For instance, you may be very interested in psychology and mental disorders, but not know much about the type of research in that field regarding how it is conducted, what it entails, and what research remains to be uncovered.

Books give that broad subject overview and mention specific theories or research areas that you may want to pursue further. You will also identify some of the key researchers in the field (books on similar topics should be discussing the same researchers). These are researchers whose scholarly articles you will want to look for later.

It is important to keep in mind that books are often not peer reviewed. Therefore, read unedited books with caution; an edited book will list editors who are knowledgeable in the same field as the primary authors. Additionally, look for books published by university presses, as these books are reviewed by an editorial board and outside reviewers. Again, checking author submission guidelines can be helpful.

You’ll find thousands of e-books in the Library. Go to the Find an E-Book page to see a list of the Library's e-book databases. With thousands of e-books on many different subjects, Ebook Central is a great database to start your search.

For additional information, see the following Library FAQs:

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• Peer-Reviewed Books FAQ

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Table of Contents

Tip 1: Start with Your Positioning and Outline

Tip 2: make a research plan, tip 3: ask the internet, tip 4: read books, tip 5: talk to experts, tip 6: collect survey data, tip 7: keep everything organized.

• Tip 8: Set a Deadline & Stop Early

Tip 9: Write the First Draft

How to conduct research for your book: 9 tips that work.

If you’re like many first-time nonfiction writers, you’ve probably wondered, “How do I research for my book?”

I get this question a lot, and there are plenty of tips I can share. But before I dive into it, I’m going to throw you a curveball:

Don’t assume you have to do research for your book.

Because the purpose of nonfiction is to help the reader solve a problem or create change in their life (or both) by sharing what you know. If you can do this without a lot of research, then don’t do research.

We’ve had many Authors who knew their topic so inside and out that they didn’t need research. That is perfectly fine. They still wrote incredible books.

When it boils down to it, there are only 2 reasons to do research for your book:

• You know enough to write the book, but you want to add sources and citations to make the book more persuasive to a specific audience.
• You don’t know enough, and you need to learn more to make the book complete.

We’ve had many Authors who–despite knowing their stuff–wanted to include additional data, expert opinions, or testimonials to ensure that readers would find their arguments credible. This is important to consider if you’re writing for a scientific or technical audience that expects you to cite evidence.

Likewise, we see many Authors who know their industry but have a few knowledge gaps they’d like to fill in order to make their arguments more robust.

In fact, that’s the whole key to understanding how much research you should do. Ask yourself:

What evidence does a reader need to believe your argument is credible and trustworthy?

Research can be complicated, though. Many Authors don’t know where to start, and they get bogged down in the details. Which, of course, derails the book writing process and stalls them–or worse, it stops them from finishing.

The bad news? There’s no “right way” to make a book research plan.

The good news? The basic research tips apply for either person.

In this post, I’ll give you 9 effective research tips that will help you build a stronger, more convincing book.

More importantly, these tips will also show you how to get through the research process without wasting time.

9 Research Tips for Writing Your Book

Don’t jump into research blindly. Treat it like any other goal. Plan, set a schedule, and follow through.

Here are 9 tips that will help you research effectively.

Before you start researching or writing, you need to figure out two main things: your audience and your message.

This is called book positioning , and it’s an essential part of the book writing process.

Your job as an Author is to convince readers that your book will help them solve their problems.

Every piece of research you include in the book–whether it’s a survey, pie chart, or expert testimonial–should help you accomplish that.

Once your positioning is clear, you can put together your book outline.

Your outline is a comprehensive guide to everything in your book, and it is your best defense against procrastination, fear, and all the other problems writers face . It’s crucial if you don’t want to waste time on research you don’t need.

With an outline, you’ll already know what kind of data you need, where your information gaps are, and what kinds of sources might help you support your claims.

We’ve put together a free outline template to make the process even easier.

All this to say: without solid positioning and a comprehensive outline, you’ll wander. You’ll write, throw it away, write some more, get frustrated, and eventually, give up.

You’ll never finish a draft, much less publish your book .

If you don’t know your subject well enough to figure out your positioning and make a good outline, it means you don’t know enough to write that book—at least not right now.

Your plan will vary widely depending on whether you are:

• An expert who knows your field well
• Someone who needs to learn more about your field before writing about it

The majority of you are writing a book because you’re experts. So most of the information you need will already be in your head.

If you’re an expert, your research plan is probably going to be short, to the point, and about refreshing your memory or filling small gaps.

If you’re a non-expert, your research plan is probably going to be much longer. It could entail interviewing experts, reading lots of books and articles, and surveying the whole field you are writing about.

The outline should highlight those places where your book will need more information.

Are there any places where you don’t have the expertise to back up your claims?

What key takeaways require more evidence?

Would the book be stronger if you had another person’s point of view?

These are the kinds of gaps that research can fill.

Go back through your outline and find the places where you know you need more information. Next to each one, brainstorm ways you might fulfill that need.

For example, let’s say you’re writing a book that includes a section on yoga’s health benefits. Even if you’re a certified yoga instructor, you may not know enough physiology to explain the health benefits clearly.

Where could you find that information?

• Ask a medical expert
• A book on yoga and medicine
• A website that’s well respected in your field
• A study published in a medical journal

You don’t have to get too specific here. The point is to highlight where you need extra information and give yourself leads about where you might find it. ​

The kinds of research you need will vary widely, depending on what kind of nonfiction book you’re writing.

For example, if you’re giving medical advice for other experts, you’ll likely want to substantiate it with peer-reviewed, professional sources.

If you’re explaining how to grow a company, you might refer to statistics from your own company or recount specific anecdotes about other successful companies.

If you’re writing a memoir, you won’t need any quantitative data. You might simply talk with people from your past to fill in some gaps or use sources like Wikipedia to gather basic facts.

Different subject matter calls for different sources. If you’re having trouble figuring out what sources your subject needs, ask yourself the same question as above:

Ask yourself what evidence does a reader need to believe your argument is credible and trustworthy?

Generally speaking, an expert can do their research before they start writing, during, or even after (depending on what they need).

If you’re a non-expert, you should do your research before you start writing because what you learn will form the basis of the book.

It may sound obvious, but the internet is a powerful research tool and a great place to start. But proceed with caution: the internet can also be one of the greatest sources of misinformation.

If you’re looking for basic info, like for fact-checking, it’s fantastic.

If you’re looking for academic information, like scientific studies, it can be useful. (You might hit some paywalls, but the information will be there.)

If you’re looking for opinions, they’ll be abundant.

Chances are, though, as you look for all these things, you’re going to come across a lot of misleading sources—or even some that straight-up lie.

Here are some tips for making sure your internet research is efficient and effective:

• Use a variety of search terms to find what you need. For example, if you’re looking for books on childhood development, you might start with basic terms like “childhood development,” “child psychology,” or “social-emotional learning.”
• As you refine your knowledge, refine your searches. A second round of research might be more specific, like “Piaget’s stages of development” or “Erikson’s psychosocial theories.”
• Don’t just stop with the first result on Google. Many people don’t look past the first few results in a Google search. That’s fine if you’re looking for a recipe or a Wikipedia article, but the best research sources don’t always have the best SEO. Look for results that seem thorough or reputable, not just popular.
• Speaking of Wikipedia, don’t automatically trust it. It can be a great place to start if you’re looking for basic facts or references, but remember, it’s crowd-sourced. That means it’s not always accurate. Get your bearings on Wikipedia, then look elsewhere to verify any information you’re going to cite.
• Make sure your data is coming from a reputable source. Google Scholar, Google Books, and major news outlets like NPR, BBC, etc. are safe bets. If you don’t recognize the writer, outlet, or website, you’re going to have to do some digging to find out if you can trust them.
• Verify the credentials of the Author before you trust the site. People often assume that anything with a .edu domain is reputable. It’s not. You might be reading some college freshman’s last-minute essay on economics. If it’s a professor, you’re probably safe.

Using a few random resources from the internet is not equivalent to conducting comprehensive research.

If you want to dive deeper into a topic, books are often your best resources.

They’re reliable because they’re often fact-checked, peer-reviewed, or vetted. You know you can trust them.

Many Authors are directly influenced by other books in their field. If you’re familiar with any competing books, those are a great place to start.

Use the internet to find the best books in each field, and then dive into those.

Your book will have a different spin from the ones already out there, but think of it this way: you’re in the same conversation, which means you’ll probably have many of the same points of reference.

Check out the bibliographies or footnotes in those books. You might find sources that are useful for your own project.

You might want to buy the books central to your research. But if you aren’t sure if something’s going to be useful, hold off on hitting Amazon’s “one-click buy.”

Many Authors underestimate the power of their local libraries. Even if they don’t have the book you’re looking for, many libraries participate in extensive interlibrary loan programs. You can often have the books you need sent to your local branch.

Librarians are also indispensable research resources. Many universities have subject-specific research librarians who are willing to help you find sources, even if you aren’t a student.

Research doesn’t always require the internet or books. Sometimes you need an answer, story, or quotation from a real person.

But make sure you have a decent understanding of your field BEFORE you go to experts with your questions.

I’m an expert at writing nonfiction books, so I speak from personal experience. It’s annoying as hell when people come to you with questions without having done at least a little research on the topic beforehand—especially when you already have a 3,000 word blog post about it.

Experts love it when you’ve done some research and can speak their language. They hate it when you ask them to explain fundamentals.

But once you find a good expert, it condenses your learning curve by at least 10x.

To figure out who you need to talk to, think about the kind of nonfiction book you’re writing.

Is it a book about your own business, products, or methods? You may want to include client stories or testimonials.

In Driven , Doug Brackmann relied on his experience with clients to teach highly driven people how to master their gifts.

Is it a book that requires expert knowledge outside your own area of expertise (for example, a doctor, IT specialist, lawyer, or business coach)? You might want to ask them to contribute brief passages or quotations for your book.

Colin Dombroski did exactly that for his book The Plantar Fasciitis Plan . He consulted with various colleagues, each of whom contributed expert advice for readers to follow.

It’s much easier to contact people who are already in your network. If you don’t personally know someone, ask around. Someone you already know may be able to connect you with the perfect expert.

If that doesn’t work out, you can always try the cold call method. Send a polite email that briefly but clearly explains what your book is about and why you’re contacting them.

If you do this, though, do your research first. Know the person’s name. Don’t use “To whom it may concern.” Know their specialty. Know exactly what type of information you’re seeking. Basically, know why they are the person you want to feature in your book.

Some Authors like to collect surveys for their books. This is very optional, and it’s only applicable in certain books, so don’t assume you need this.

But if you want to include a section in your book that includes how people feel about something (for example, to back up a point you’re making), you might want to have survey data.

You might have access to data you can already cite. The internet is full of data: infographics, Pew data, Nielsen ratings, scholarly research, surveys conducted by private companies.

If you don’t have access to data, you can conduct your own surveys with an online platform like SurveyMonkey. Here’s how:

• Consider your research goals. What are you trying to learn?
• Formulate the survey questions. Most people prefer short, direct survey questions. They’re also more likely to answer multiple-choice questions.
• Invite participants. If you want a reliable survey, it’s best to get as many participants as possible. Surveying three family members won’t tell you much.
• Collect and analyze the data.

That will work for more informal purposes, but surveys are a science unto themselves. If you require a lot of data, want a large sample size, or need high statistical accuracy, it’s better to hire pros. Quantitative data is more effective and trustworthy when it’s properly conducted.

Don’t go overboard with statistics, though. Not all books need quantitative data. There are many other ways to convince readers to listen to your message.

Organize your research as you go. I can’t stress this enough.

If you research for months on end, you might end up with dozens of articles, quotations, or anecdotes. That’s a lot of material.

If you have to dig through every single piece when you want to use something, it’ll take you years to write.

Don’t rely on your memory, either. Three months down the line, you don’t want to ask, “Where did I find this piece of information?” or “Where did that quotation come from?”

I suggest creating a research folder on your computer where you collect everything.

Inside the main folder, create subfolders for each individual chapter (or even each individual subsection of your chapters). This is where your outline will come in handy.

In each folder, collect any pdfs, notes, or images relevant to that section.

Every time you download or save something, give the file a clear name.

Immediately put it into the correct folder. If you wait, you might not remember which part of your book you found it useful for.

Also, be sure to collect the relevant citation information:

• Author’s name
• Title of the book, article, etc.
• The outlet it appeared in (e.g., BBC or Wired) or, if it’s a book, the publisher
• The date it was published
• The page number or hyperlink

If you have photocopies or handwritten notes, treat them the same way. Label them, file them, and add the necessary citation information. This will save you a lot of time when you sit down to write.

Some Authors use programs like Scrivener or Evernote to keep track of their research. I personally use the software program Notion, which is similar to Evernote.

These programs allow you to collect references, notes, images, and even drafts, all in one convenient place.

They save you from having to create your own digital organizational system. They also make it easier to consult documents without opening each file individually.

Once you’ve got a system in place, don’t forget: back up your data. Put it on the cloud, an external hard drive, or both. There’s nothing worse than spending hours on research just to have it disappear when your computer crashes.

All of this takes time, and it may seem tedious. But trust me, it’s a lot more tedious when you’re racing toward your publication deadline, and you’re hunting down random data you quoted in your book.

Tip 8: Set a Deadline & Stop Early

Research is one of the most common ways Authors procrastinate.

When they’re afraid of writing or hit roadblocks, they often say, “Well, I just need to do a little more research…”

Fast-forward two years, and they’re still stuck in the same spiral of self-doubt and research.

Don’t fall into that trap. Learn when to stop.

When I’m writing, I set a research deadline and then stop EARLY. It’s a great way to beat procrastination , and it makes me feel like I’m ahead of the curve.

Here’s the thing: there’s always going to be more information out there. You could keep researching forever.

But then you’d never finish the book—which was the point of the research in the first place.

Plus, excessive research doesn’t make better books . No one wants to read six test cases when one would have worked.

You want to have enough data to convincingly make your case, but not so much that your readers get bogged down by all the facts.

So how will you know when you’ve done enough?

When you have enough data, anecdotes, and examples to address every point on your outline.

Your outline is your guide. Once it’s filled in, STOP .

Remember, the goal of data is to support your claims. You’re trying to make a case for readers, not bludgeon them with facts.

If you feel like you have to go out of your way to prove your points, you have 1 of 2 problems:

• You’re not confident enough in your points, or
• You’re not confident enough in your readers’ ability to understand your claims.

If you’re having the first problem, you may need to go back and adjust your arguments. All the research in the world won’t help support a weak claim.

If you’re having the second problem, ask yourself, If I knew nothing about this subject, what would it take to convince me? Follow through on your answer and trust that it’s enough.

When you think you have enough research, start writing your vomit draft.

If it turns out you’re missing small pieces of information, that’s okay. Just make a note of it. Those parts are easy to go back and fill in later.

Notice: I said “later.” Once you start writing, stop researching.

If you stop writing your first draft to look for more sources, you’ll break the flow of your ideas.

Research and writing are two completely different modes of thinking. Most people can’t switch fluidly between them.

Just get the first draft done.

Remember, the first draft is exactly that—the first draft. There will be many more versions in the future.

It’s okay to leave notes to yourself as you go along. Just be sure to leave yourself a way to find them easily later.

I recommend changing the font color or highlighting your comments to yourself in the draft. You can even use different colors: one for missing data and another for spots you need to fact-check.

You can also use the “insert comment” feature on Microsoft Word, Google Docs, or any other writing software you prefer.

Another useful tip is to simply type “TK.” There’s no word in the English language where those two letters appear together. That means, when you’re ready to go back through your draft, you can use the “Find” option (Control+F). It will take you back to all the spots you marked.

Whatever method you choose, don’t stop writing.

Also, don’t worry about how “good” or “bad” it is at this point. No one ever wrote an amazing first draft. Not even bestselling Authors.

Just keep at it until you have a complete first draft.

That won’t be hard because you won’t be missing any huge pieces. The whole point of the outline was to zero in on exactly what you want to write for the exact audience you want to reach. If you followed that outline when you researched, you’ll be able to stay on track during the writing process.

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Science is making anti-aging progress. But do we want to live forever?

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Mayflies live for only a day. Galapagos tortoises can reach up to age 170. The Greenland shark holds the world record at over 400 years of life. 

Venki Ramakrishnan, Nobel laureate and author of the newly released “ Why We Die: The New Science of Aging and the Quest for Immortality ,” opened his packed Harvard Science Book Talk last week by noting the vast variabilities of lifespans across the natural world. Death is certain, so far as we know. But there’s no physical or chemical law that says it must happen at a fixed time, which raises other, more philosophical issues.

The “why” behind these enormous swings, and the quest to harness longevity for humans, have driven fevered attempts (and billions of dollars in research spending) to slow or stop aging. Ramakrishnan’s book is a dispassionate journey through current scientific understanding of aging and death, which basically comes down to an accumulation of chemical damage to molecules and cells.

“The question is whether we can tackle aging processes, while still keeping us who we are as humans,” said Ramakrishnan during his conversation with Antonio Regalado, a writer for the MIT Technology Review. “And whether we can do that in a safe and effective way.”

Even if immortality — or just living for a very, very long time — were theoretically possible through science, should we pursue it? Ramakrishnan likened the question to other moral ponderings.

“There’s no physical or chemical law that says we can’t colonize other galaxies, or outer space, or even Mars,” he said. “I would put it in that same category. And it would require huge breakthroughs, which we haven’t made yet.”

In fact, we’re a lot closer to big breakthroughs when it comes to chasing immortality. Ramakrishnan noted the field is moving so fast that a book like his can capture but a snippet. He then took the audience on a brief tour of some of the major directions of aging research. And much of it, he said, started in unexpected places.

Take rapamycin, a drug first isolated in the 1960s from a bacterium on Easter Island found to have antifungal, immunosuppressant, and anticancer properties. Rapamycin targets the TOR pathway, a large molecular signaling cascade within cells that regulates many functions fundamental to life. Rapamycin has garnered renewed attention for its potential to reverse the aging process by targeting cellular signaling associated with physiological changes and diseases in older adults.

Other directions include mimicking the anti-aging effects of caloric restriction shown in mice, as well as one particularly exciting area called cellular reprogramming. That means taking fully developed cells and essentially turning back the clock on their development.

The most famous foundational experiment in this area was by Kyoto University scientist and Nobel laureate Shinya Yamanaka, who showed that just four transcription factors could revert an adult cell all the way back to a pluripotent stem cell, creating what are now known as induced pluripotent stem cells.

Ramakrishnan , a scientist at England’s MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, won the 2009 Nobel Prize in chemistry for uncovering the structure of the ribosome. He said he felt qualified to write the book because he has “no skin in the game” of aging research. As a molecular biologist who has studied fundamental processes of how cells make proteins, he had connections in the field but wasn’t too close to any of it.

While researching the book, he took pains to avoid interviewing scientists with commercial ventures tied to aging.

The potential for conflicts of interest abound.

The world has seen an explosion in aging research in recent decades, with billions of dollars spent by government agencies and private companies . And the consumer market for products is forecast to hit $93 billion by 2027 .

As a result, false or exaggerated claims by companies promising longer life are currently on the rise, Ramakrishnan noted. He shared one example: Supplements designed to lengthen a person’s telomeres, or genetic segments that shrink with age, are available on Amazon.

“Of course, these are not FDA approved. There are no clinical trials, and it’s not clear what their basis is,” he said.

But still there appears to be some demand.

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New Healthy Community Center transforms historic library into beacon of wellness

Senior Staff Writer, Photographer Ohio State Wexner Medical Center

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On a bright, sunny afternoon in early May , nearly 300 members of Columbus’ Near East Side gathered to celebrate their new community center. Among the first to arrive was Ann B. Walker, a centenarian deeply woven into the fabric of the neighborhood.

Seated in the front row at the ribbon-cutting ceremony of The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center Healthy Community Center, Walker looked thoughtfully at the transformation of the building located on Long Street in the historically Black neighborhood. Once bustling with readers as the Martin Luther King Jr. branch of the Columbus Metropolitan Library, the structure has been turned into a hub of health and wellness, thanks to a $5.1 million investment from The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center , which will operate the community center.

Walker, who will turn 101 this year, had good reason to reminisce. As an award-winning TV journalist, she once interviewed Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

“I was just thinking about how much things have changed,” Walker shares, her gaze lingering on an image of King Jr. installed in the building. “It’s great that it can now be used as a health center. There are people in the area who need services and don’t have access to them.”

The Healthy Community Center is more than just a building: it’s a hub for the neighborhood, focusing on promoting healthier lifestyles. With plans to host dietary and exercise workshops, health screenings  and educational health programming, it’s a gathering space that’s geared to meet the real needs of the community.

From books to health: A legacy reimagined

“The history of this place begins with a longing to learn,” says Joshua Joseph, MD , the center’s medical director, at the opening ceremony.

He shared the center’s journey from its origin as the city’s East Side library in the 1960s. He recalled the words of Martin Luther King Sr., who spoke at the library’s dedication in 1969:

“You have a beautiful space conducive to reading, but books are worth nothing unless you read them.”

Dr. Joseph says those words are reflected in the building’s new purpose: “It’s a beautiful building, but it means nothing if it’s not filled every day with programming and people improving health and wellness."

Read about the events and programming taking place at the Healthy Community Center

Programming geared for a healthy community

The transformation was a true community effort, says the center’s director, Javonte McDonald. It required a commitment to understanding and meeting community needs, which influenced every aspect of the center, from the state-of-the-art teaching kitchen for nutrition classes to the café that supports local entrepreneurs to an art gallery that spotlights area artists.

“It will help address pressing needs in creative and collaborative ways to improve the health of the communities that we serve,” says John J. Warner, MD, chief executive officer of the Ohio State Wexner Medical Center and executive vice president at Ohio State.

Local artists contribute artwork displayed in the Healthy Community Center.

The Healthy Community Center helps fill a gap in providing access to healthy foods to area residents.

A demonstration kitchen will be used to teach healthy cooking and nutrition skills to community members.

Members of the community and leaders from the Ohio State Wexner Medical Center cut the ribbon for the grand opening of the Healthy Community Center.

The Healthy Community Center honors the legacy of the building's former use as the Martin Luther King Jr. branch of the Columbus Metropolitan Library.

Community members at the grand opening of the Healthy Community Center.

Dr. Joseph says his team is working closely with community partners to match services with community needs. “Ohio State has a vested interest in supporting healthy lifestyle changes so everyone has the opportunity to lead longer, healthier lives,” he says.

The Healthy Community Center will have a café with indoor and outdoor seating. The space will serve as a business incubator for an independent restaurant owner. The center’s partners include the Mid-Ohio Food Collective, Partners Achieving Community Transformation and the Growing and Growth Collective.

Longtime resident Pamela Shields, who founded the Urban Aging Residents Coalition, emphasized the center’s role in bridging health disparities .

“Our focus is health, wealth and wellness. We aim to get African Americans, people of color and marginalized groups healthy, attending their medical appointments and involved in research studies,” she says.

A neighborhood cornerstone

As the community looks ahead, the Healthy Community Center is set to become a bedrock of the Near East Side.

“My greatest hope is that the entire community sees this center as a resource,” says Julialynne Walker, with the Bronzeville Growers Market. She’s also Ann B. Walker’s daughter. “If everyone welcomes, embraces and uses it fully, we will see a change in our community’s health over time.”

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Library 160: Introduction to College-Level Research

(8 reviews)

Iowa State University Library Instruction Services, Iowa State University

Copyright Year: 2021

Publisher: Iowa State University

Language: English

Formats Available

Conditions of use.

Learn more about reviews.

Reviewed by Morgan Montgomery, Assistant Library Director, Claflin University on 12/5/23

The book's table of contents made it easy to focus on the chapters that interested me the most. read more

Comprehensiveness rating: 5 see less

The book's table of contents made it easy to focus on the chapters that interested me the most.

Content Accuracy rating: 4

The book provided wonderful examples of scenarios in teaching and instruction of research.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

The contents of this textbook are timely and relevant. I will definitely be implementing it in to my information literacy lesson plans and instruction.

Clarity rating: 5

The book was easy to follow, the chapters flowed and it was brimming with examples.

Consistency rating: 4

The book is consistent with terminology and examples.

Modularity rating: 5

I like the fact that the topics ranging from locating primary sources to newspapers are broken down into sections. I would recommend a particular section to our English 101 professors.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

The book's structure and flow is easy to follow. It starts from the beginning explaining what is research to building up selecting searches and web (internet research).

Interface rating: 5

The book's interface and design made it easy to jump from chapter to chapter and focus on headings highlighted in the book.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

The book contained no errors.

Cultural Relevance rating: 4

This book is a natural fit for learning, improving, and implementing research building blocks into your information literacy classes. I well definitely be utilizing this book this semester.

Reviewed by Maletta Payne, Systems Administrator/Reference Librarian, Southern University on 11/14/23

The text appropriately covers all information literacy areas and provides a practical glossary. read more

The text appropriately covers all information literacy areas and provides a practical glossary.

The content is accurate, moderately error-free, and unbiased.

The text is up-to-date and reflects the current information landscape.

The clarity of language and accessibility of the prose, coupled with sufficient context for jargon and technical terminology, are commendable attributes of the information literacy text.

Consistency rating: 5

The book's consistency and framework make it an invaluable resource for undergraduate students seeking a structured and cohesive approach to understanding the research process.

The book's modularity is apparent, allowing readers to navigate the content in a flexible and personalized manner.

The text's topic is presented logically and clearly, with each section building on the appropriate research practices.

The interface is easy to navigate. Additionally, this textbook contains a video to guide users on the book layout and "Check your understanding" interactive elements for users to practice concepts outlined in the chapters.

Grammatical Errors rating: 4

There are very minimal grammatical errors in this textbook.

Cultural Relevance rating: 3

The textbook does not contain culturally insensitive or offensive materials; however, the book can benefit from images of various ethnicities.

Library 160: Introduction to College-Level Research consistency across chapters, in writing style and terminology, makes it a reliable guide for readers navigating the intricate landscape of information literacy.

Reviewed by Rachel Milani, Assistant Librarian, Minnesota North College on 12/6/22

This textbook comprehensively covers the research process in a concise, comprehensible format that should be easily understood by students at the community college level. This book additionally provides information on ethical use of information,... read more

This textbook comprehensively covers the research process in a concise, comprehensible format that should be easily understood by students at the community college level. This book additionally provides information on ethical use of information, resources for students who wish to learn how to develop a citation, and a brief overview of how research fits into the overall writing process. I also like that this book introduces the SIFT method and explains why the CRAAP method may no longer be the most effective evaluation tool. One critique would be that this book fails to mention that students should cite their sources as they find them so that they can more easily find those sources again if necessary and more effectively prevent plagiarism. Understanding when a source requires citation is one thing, but students often leave citing those sources until the very end of the writing process, which can lead to confusion and errors in citations.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

Content within this text is accurate and unbiased.

While this book was written for a specific institution and program, this text makes an effort to generalize certain topics (like database availability and selection) to be broadly applicable to other institutions that might utilize different platforms and tools or have other options available. This is something that can be easily customized by anyone with access to Pressbooks. This does detract slightly from the comprehensiveness of the book, but not by much. This book seems to be most relevant to an undergraduate "Introduction to College" course or to segments of a Freshman Composition course. That said, this book could also easily be incorporated into other courses that assign research papers.

Again, this textbook comprehensively covers the research process in a concise, comprehensible format that should be easily understood by students at the community college level. This book covers some complex concepts (like copyright and fair use) and makes them accessible to students.

The language, tone of voice, and terminology used within this text are consistent. The use of Glossary Terms easily enables students to learn the terminology and ensures continuity of terminology throughout the book, as well as clear definitions of each term.

At no point does this text refer the reader to another internal section. Each topic is further subdivided into smaller segments that could be utilized in a stand-alone manner as needed.

This text is organized in a linear, logical manner, proceeding from one step to the next logical area of consideration.

All aspects of the Pressbooks interface for this text seem to be free of navigation issues or distortions. The only potential issue could be that the "next page" button is a little easy to overlook, but that's nitpicking.

From what I could see, there were no blatant grammatical errors in this textbook.

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

This book is not culturally insensitive or offensive in any way. It serves as a "how-to" manual regarding the steps of the research and citation process.

Reviewed by Annie Cifelli, Reference Librarian, Cape Cod Community College on 11/7/22

As an introductory text book, Library160 does a good job covering the basics. The 5 chapters address "Getting Started," "Locating Information," Search Techniques," "Evaluating Information," and "Using Information Ethically." Each chapter begins... read more

Comprehensiveness rating: 4 see less

As an introductory text book, Library160 does a good job covering the basics. The 5 chapters address "Getting Started," "Locating Information," Search Techniques," "Evaluating Information," and "Using Information Ethically." Each chapter begins with clearly stated learning objectives. The sub-sections within the chapters proceed in a logical and well-organized manner. There is a thorough glossary at the end.

The content in Library 160 is accurate; however, examples rely rather too-heavily on the authors' (Iowa State University Library Instruction Services) unique library features. Adapting this text book would require substantial editing. For example, some screen grabs are from ISU's specific search interface, record examples and unique “pay for” tools like Map It and Get It. But explanation of Library of Congress call numbers is quite good.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 4

Content is up-to-date. Again, using ISU's specific website to illustrate content may prove problematic in the future. Likewise, the database search pages change not infrequently and may not reflect what students see when they login to their own school's library page.

One of the strengths of Library 160 is the way in which it is written. The language used is accessible and friendly. I made note of several "real world" examples (like avoiding "BS") that help make the content real to students.

Library 160 does an excellent job using terminology consistently. One issue with information literacy classes is the lack of standard terms. For instance, faculty often use phrases like "scholarly articles,” "academic journals,” and "peer reviewed sources," interchangeably, which can be confusing for students new to the research process. Also, between disciplines what constitutes a primary source can vary. This textbook explains all of the "jargon" and offers clear visuals as to how the terms interrelate.

As mentioned above, the 5 chapters are each divided into smaller sub-sections. The Table of Contents is always on the left side of the screen, making it easy to move around between sections or return to previously covered content. Moving between pages is also straightforward--the arrows at the bottom of the screen show what's "previous" and what's "next."

Overall, the organization of Library 160 makes sense. However, the early mentions of "how to cite" work represent something of an issue. Ethical information use is covered in the last chapter book, but opportunities for additional coverage abound. The style guides (MLA, APA, Chicago) are only just mentioned. Likewise, fair use, copyright, plagiarism are all addressed but only in most generic terms.

The interface is fantastic! There are a lot of great visuals (bullet points, charts, graphs) and several embedded YouTube videos break up large sections of text. Plus, there are quizzes to check understanding. Yay quizzes!

I did not find any grammatical errors. At first, the use of the second person "You" seemed too informal for a textbook, but by the end of the book, it felt collaborative as "you" can be singular or plural--"you" the individual student as well as "you" all the students in this class.

There is one curse word in this book (BS), but in context and with a solid reason. I was surprised to see it, but not offended.

At the very end of Library 160, there is a small section on "Promoting Yourself as a Student Researcher." The idea of sharing student work through scholarly channels and encouraging students to think about themselves as “student researchers” is a powerful one. More energy should devoted to that concept in information literacy instruction. Too often students feel like they're just “pretending” to be scholars. Perhaps Library 160 can help change that!

Reviewed by Maribel Pagan, Librarian, Klamath Community College on 10/25/22

The book is extremely down-to-earth with easy to access chapters, sections, and information. read more

The book is extremely down-to-earth with easy to access chapters, sections, and information.

The book is very accurate to today's libraries, but I wish it covered a bit more about the CRAAP test which is still relevant in some libraries today.

This book uses information that tends to stay the same. For example, even with databases, boolean operators do not tend to change even when the databases do. This makes it easier to follow along and makes it accessible to all regardless of which databases they use.

The book is extremely accessible with its use of down-to-earth language that's extremely easy to understand. It feels wordy at times as a result, but I feel it also makes it more personable to both staff and students.

Very consistent in its explanations, its down-to-earth language, and all the steps needed to effectively conduct research.

Very easy to take out sections of it and utilize in a class section. The book often separated each section of a chapter into subsections, which makes it easy to adapt and utilize the text.

This book follows a clear organization and goes step by step, following all the outcomes that are first outlined in each chapter.

The interface is pretty interactive, allowing the user of this text to simply read or to also engage with the material through interactive activities.

Did not notice any grammatical errors in the text.

Did not notice any culturally insensitive aspects of the book and felt the piece was pretty inclusive.

The book is very down-to-earth, easy to read, and easy to utilize parts of. I love how the user of this text can simply read or also engage with the material through interactive activities, which I'll be sure to incorporate some of these interactive activities in my own information literacy classes. I wish they also adapted more visual learners by providing some linked videos or something akin to that. I also wish that the book had a print version that I could have at hand and offer students if they expressed any interest in learning more. Some students have come to me before asking for print copies of their books, and it would be nice to have a print copy at hand for students to pick up and look through.

The sections on teaching students strengths and weaknesses of each information source helps tremendously as well. It shows how one can evaluate different resources and understand the different types of sources that may come up. I feel there could be some additional coverage of how to utilize research for research powerpoints, presentations, etc.

Overall, a wonderfully written book that provides accessibility to all.

Reviewed by Stefania Hiltgen, Public Services Librarian at Newberry College, Newberry College on 3/9/22

This book goes into great detail and includes modern research concepts such as using Wikipedia for background information and how to search Google. read more

This book goes into great detail and includes modern research concepts such as using Wikipedia for background information and how to search Google.

I found no issues with accuracy.

The length was just right-not exhaustive, but inclusive of all topics needed to understand how to conduct modern-day research.

It also includes a helpful Glossary.

It is consistent in the terminology it uses.

It is organized in good-sized chunks.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 4

The fluid nature of research makes organizing it a little difficult. This is no fault of the authors; it is just a difficult subject to unravel linearly.

The e-book version flowed very well. Indid not take a look at the PDF version.

I found no grammatical errors.

I found no examples that were offensive or insensitive.

I found it very helpful and look forward to using it in the near future, myself.

Reviewed by Meridith Wolnick, Director of Teaching and Learning, University of Virginia on 12/16/21

Library 160: Introduction to College-Level Research is written for students attending a particular course at Iowa State University. It has a full table of contents and is easy to navigate. Sections are short and include clearly labeled... read more

Library 160: Introduction to College-Level Research is written for students attending a particular course at Iowa State University. It has a full table of contents and is easy to navigate. Sections are short and include clearly labeled subsections. While there is no index, the linked table of contents handily provides user-friendly navigation.

Generally, the text is accurate and unbiased. However, Web Search Engines are incorrectly identified as not having filters for advanced search or narrowing a search (Table 2.1, pg. 28). In the case of Google, there is a capacity for advanced search, searches can be narrowed by time, and images can be narrowed by type of image, usage rights, etc. This is something the authors acknowledge further in the text (Section 4.6, pg. 129).

The content is up-to-date and relevant to today’s readers. The text does link to tutorials and other resources from other universities. Given that those links are out of the hands of the authors and ISU, broken links may go unnoticed. Additionally, there are several figures that look like they are from the ISU Library catalog. While those helpfully illustrate the text, they may become dated as web pages change. That said, given their placement in the text, updates should be easy to make.

Clarity rating: 4

The text is clear and terms are defined for those new to the concepts. Each chapter includes learning outcomes that are achieved by the end of the chapter. Terms (like 'popular information' and 'peer review') are well-defined with examples. However, the use of bolding for terminology is not consistent throughout the book. Some terms (like 'thesis' and 'finding tools') are bolded and explained but others (like 'item records' and 'DOI') are just explained, not bolded. It also would be helpful to have bolded terms and concepts in a central list in the book for easy reference. In Section 1.4 (pg. 8), it’s not clear by Books whether the authors are referring to scholarly books or all books. Section 3.3 covering nesting and Boolean operators was complex compared to the rest of the text. It was helpful when the text differentiated between the ISU Quick Search function and a search engine. For instance, when discussing Boolean operators, the text identifies how to do a search similar to Quick Search in Google using a – instead of NOT.

The text is consistently written and cohesive.

The text is logically divided, and individual sections can be assigned independently. Sections are generally small and concise, easy to take in and understand. Page numbers did not consistently appear in the downloaded PDF.

The flow of the text is logical. The sequence of the sections, particularly illustrating the steps in beginning the research process, are clear and aligned with the student experience. The sections on Keywords are particularly organized and well-defined.

Interface rating: 4

Navigation throughout the text is easy and logical. A few things I noted that could be improved: Figure 1.1 on page 10 in the section defining journal articles/issues/volumes is mid-quality and not ultimately necessary for the text since it is well explained in the preceding section. It may become dated since the journal clearly shows publication dates.

I didn’t observe any grammatical errors.

While the examples used throughout the text assume some knowledge about the United States, they are inclusive and cover a wide range of topics. Since the book is clearly written specifically for ISU students, reliance on U.S. concepts is less of an issue. The sub-section on outdated and offensive subject headings (pg. 80) was a helpful addition to the text.

This text is written for students early in their college careers. It would be useful for any student undertaking academic research for the first time. The text adds helpful sections that go beyond basic research skills, such as the Did You Know section (pg. 30) about free accounts. There are interactive checks for understanding that are relevant to the subject matter being reviewed. They include the opportunity to retry if answered incorrectly and give immediate feedback to the student. In the PDF, the checks are labeled “An Interactive H5P element” which may cause a student who is unfamiliar with H5P to avoid clicking.

Reviewed by Elena Rodriguez, Research and Instruction Librarian, College of Charleston on 9/28/21

The Introduction to College-Level Research provides a straightforward and thorough review of the research process. The five chapters cover the primary elements students should be considering as they become proficient in locating, evaluating, and... read more

The Introduction to College-Level Research provides a straightforward and thorough review of the research process. The five chapters cover the primary elements students should be considering as they become proficient in locating, evaluating, and using information. Being a student centered textbook, I can understand why there isn't any mention of the ACRL Framework for Information Literacy or a specific section that discusses why this book was created, but these are elements that would be helpful for instructors using this textbook outside of the institution. Additionally, as this appears to be for a specific course, including a glossary of terms would be helpful as a reference. While definitions are provided throughout each chapter, they can get lost in the text.

The content appears to be accurate, error-free and unbiased. Any included references were relevant and functioned properly. I appreciated that, in the section concerning Wikipedia, the authors did address the issue that the majority of editors are male and there are inherent biases and exclusions in those articles.

Given that these chapters cover topics with a general approach, it is unlikely that this content will be obsolete in the near future. However, some of the images from the institution's interface may become outdated.

The authors clearly define concepts and terms, and provide excellent examples throughout. Some of these examples, however, may edge into the overwhelming for novice researchers. A particular example is the graphic provided in the Boolean Operators section, 3.2. The very detailed search example (that includes AND, OR, and NOT with nesting) is simultaneously effective and a lot to take in. I very much appreciated their approach of including "strengths" and "weaknesses" at the end of certain section; this summarized information very concisely and helps demonstrate that there isn't one source or tool that is perfect.

Despite being written and compiled by the Library Instruction Services unit, this book manages to have a consistent voice and approach to how each chapter and subsequent section is presented.

Keeping to 5 chapters with quick subsections makes this book easy to use and read, either as a professor assigning work or a student using it as a resource. The sections are, for the most part, very reasonable in length, and the ones that verge on being too long are appropriately divided. I did not find the text to be disruptive.

The book is thoughtfully organized with a clear and simple structure. The order of the chapters is logical and follows a typical research process.

No issues noted with the interface. The occasional “check your understanding” quizzes were very effective and added to the overall experience of using the textbook online.

I did not note any grammatical errors during my review of the text.

The text did not appear to be culturally insensitive or offensive in any way. Generally, all their examples and screenshots were very generic and represented authors from different backgrounds and fields of study. However, there is certainly opportunity to provide more inclusive examples or to discuss critical information literacy and social justice.

Overall, a good resource for an introductory college research course. It is simple in its approach, which makes the material approachable for novice researchers. For instructors not at the home institution wanting to use this book, certain sections may be confusing for students given the very specific screenshots, but this is expected given it’s attachment to the 160 course offered at Iowa State University. It would be useful to have more details about the course itself and the institution, as well as the makeup of the Instruction Services team that authored this source.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: Getting started with research

Chapter 2: Locating information

Chapter 3: Search techniques

Chapter 4: Evaluating information

Chapter 5: Using information ethically

Ancillary Material

About the book.

You will learn how scholarly information is produced, organized, and accessed; how to construct and use effective search strategies in a variety of web tools and scholarly databases; how to choose finding tools appropriate to the type of information you need; critical thinking skills in the evaluation of resources; and best practices in the ethical use of information.

About the Contributors

Iowa State University Library Instruction Services , Iowa State University

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The Problem With America’s Protest Feedback Loop

Mass demonstrations are becoming more frequent but less effective.

The country is stuck in a protest feedback loop. In recent months, students opposed to the Israel-Gaza war have occupied lawns and buildings at college campuses across the country. Emulating climate activists who have stopped traffic on crucial roadways , pro-Palestine demonstrators have blocked access to major airports. For months, the protests intensified as university, U.S., and Israeli policies seemed unmoved. Frustrated by their inefficacy, the protesters redoubled their efforts and escalated their tactics.

Read: Can protest be too peaceful?

The lack of immediate outcomes from the Gaza protests is not at all unusual. In a new working paper at the National Bureau of Economic Research, Amory Gethin of the Paris School of Economics and Vincent Pons of Harvard Business School analyzed the effect of 14 social movements in the United States from 2017 to 2022. They varied in size: About 12,000 people marched against a potential war with Iran in January 2020; 4.2 million turned out for the first Women’s March. Pons told me that these large social movements succeeded in raising the general public’s awareness of their issues, something that he and Gethin measured through Google Trends and data from X.

Yet in nearly every case that the researchers examined in detail—including the Women’s March and the pro–gun control March for Our Lives, which brought out more than 3 million demonstrators—they could find no evidence that protesters changed minds or affected electoral behavior.

As the marginal cost of reaching hundreds of thousands, even millions, of potential protesters drops to zero, organizers have mastered the art of gaining attention through public demonstrations. Mass actions no longer require organized groups with members who pay dues, professional staffers who plan targeted actions, and designated leaders who can negotiate with public officials. They just need someone who can make a good Instagram graphic. But notwithstanding the clear benefits of social media for protest participants, the lure of racking up views on TikTok or X and getting on the homepage of major news sites can overwhelm other strategic goals. Protests are crowding out the array of other organizing tools that social movements need in order to be successful—and that has consequences for our entire political system.

The contours of mass protest have evolved over time. Researchers have found that since roughly 2010 —perhaps not coincidentally, when smartphone adoption spiked—political protests have become more frequent around the world, particularly in middle- and high-income countries. The “size and frequency of recent protests,” one analysis claims, “eclipse historical examples of eras of mass protest, such as the late-1960s, late-1980s, and early-1990s.”

Movements learn. Over the years, social movements have internalized the strategic superiority of nonviolence: More people are willing to join a peaceful march than are willing to join one that includes violent confrontations. The UC Berkeley professor Omar Wasow’s research bolsters the argument for strategic adoption of nonviolence by looking at Black-led protests from 1960 to 1972. Wasow found that violent protests increased Republican support in the electorate and may have even tipped the 1968 presidential election toward Richard Nixon and against Hubert Humphrey, the lead author of the Civil Rights Act.

Much of the academic literature on mass protest focuses on movements, in countries around the globe, seeking to topple a government or win independence. According to the Harvard political scientist Erica Chenoweth, violent insurgencies against state power have declined, while nonviolent movements have become more common. (Chenoweth defines violent resistance as including not just “bombings, shootings [and] kidnappings” but also “physical sabotage such as the destruction of infrastructure, and other types of physical harm of people and property.”)

Yet seeking change through peaceful persuasion has also become less effective. Since 2010, Chenoweth wrote in a 2020 essay in the Journal of Democracy , fewer than a third of nonviolent campaigns, and just 8 percent of violent ones, have been successful—down from about two-thirds of nonviolent insurgencies and one-quarter of violent ones in the 1990s.

Mass struggles have come to rely too much on street protests, Chenoweth observes, and to neglect the “quiet, behind-the-scenes planning and organizing that enable movements to mobilize in force over the long term, and to coordinate and sequence tactics in a way that builds participation, leverage, and power.” Past research by the sociologist Kenneth Andrews on the Mississippi civil-rights movement and the War on Poverty found that counties with “strong movement infrastructures” yielded greater funding for anti-poverty programs; activists in these areas had better access to decision-making bodies and more influence over how social programs worked. “Movements were most influential,” Andrews explained, “when they built local organizations that allowed for an oscillation between mass-based tactics and routine negotiation with agency officials.”

Even under the most favorable circumstances, public protest will never be perfectly orderly. As the prominent sociologist Charles Tilly once wrote , a social movement is not unitary. It’s a “cluster of performances,” a “loosely-choreographed dance,” or even a “jam session with changing players”—all of which, he says, “have well-defined structures and histories, but not one of them is ipso facto a group, or even the actions of a single group.”

Many critics of modern protests are fixated on a picturesque, Tocquevillian vision of democracy—an imaginary world where interest groups always argue respectfully and compromise amiably. This vision isn’t aspirational; it’s fundamentally at odds with how human beings normally behave. Real-life democracy is a marketplace of ideas and emotions and arguments bouncing off one another, scrabbling for purchase in the hearts of voters, the minds of the cultural elite, and the press clippings skimmed by harried politicians.

Read: Do protests even work?

The Gethin and Pons study about the inefficacy of modern American mass movements identified one glaring exception: the protests over George Floyd’s murder. In the summer of 2020, nearly 2 million people participated in more than 5,000 separate racial-justice protests in the United States. Gethin and Pons found that after the protests, Americans expressed “more liberal answers on racial issues.” They also appeared more likely to vote in the upcoming presidential election and less likely to vote for then-President Donald Trump. This finding about the effectiveness of the 2020 anti-racism protests on the American public is supported by other research .

Policy change did occur in the aftermath of these protests. The Brennan Center for Justice found that, in the year following Floyd’s death, half of American states enacted legislation regarding use-of-force standards, police-misconduct policies, or both.

The Black Lives Matter protests during that period were different in part because they defied the caricature of protesters as radical college students with nothing but time. According to a study led by the Johns Hopkins economist Nick Papageorge , on factors such as gender and race, the demographics of the protests were actually more representative of the American public than the 2020 presidential electorate was.

What’s more striking is that a full third of protest participants identified as Republicans. Underscoring the ideological diversity of the movement, 30 percent of summer 2020 protesters in the researchers’ survey sample had attended BLM rallies as well as demonstrations seeking less stringent pandemic precautions—even though the two causes were widely characterized as coming from opposite sides of the political spectrum.

Another reason the BLM protests succeeded is that they were overwhelmingly peaceful—despite some high-profile outbreaks of violence in cities such as Minneapolis, Seattle, and Portland, Oregon. According to research by Chenoweth and the political scientist Jeremy Pressman, more than 96 percent of the 2020 racial-justice protests resulted in no property damage or police injury, while nearly 98 percent resulted in zero reports of injuries among participants, bystanders, and police.

The Floyd protests did not materialize out of nowhere. The intellectual foundation had been laid by years of previous protests that created some organizational infrastructure and steadily increased the public’s support for the BLM movement until it surged upward in June 2020. Perhaps the other movements in the Gethin and Pons sample will prepare the way for future actions when the circumstances are ripe.

Still, many movements seeking to capitalize on public attention find themselves trampled underneath its power. Media attention flocks to the most radical and provocative elements and emboldens the voices on the fringes. Movement leaders have lost their ability to promote an overall message. Not surprisingly, despite the full slate of potential reforms that could have gained traction after Floyd’s murder, the slogan that everyone remembers is “Defund the police”—a policy demand that represented just a minority of voters’ views even as the majority of Americans were calling for far-reaching reforms of police departments . Who can credibly claim to speak for the campus protesters who oppose the war in Gaza?

Even though nobody knows who the leaders are, some of the protesters’ positions do seem to resonate off campus: Morning Consult polling from late last month suggests that 60 percent of Americans support a cease-fire, 58 percent support humanitarian aid to Palestinians, and fewer than half of voters support military aid to Israel.

Still, other stances taken by protesters—such as pushing universities to divest from companies with ties to Israel or, in some cases, calling for an end to Israeli statehood—have scant support among the general public. And the college protests themselves are widely frowned upon: In another poll from May 2, when asked whether college administrators had responded too harshly to college protesters, just 16 percent of respondents said administrators had responded too harshly; 33 percent thought they weren’t harsh enough.

While even entirely nonviolent protests cannot count on public support, escalatory actions such as trespassing, vandalism, and property destruction undermine and distract from broadly shared goals. People in left-leaning movements know full well that some of their own supporters are undermining message discipline and strategic imperatives. Groups critical of Israel have tried to organize boycotts of a handful of companies that, in their view, have been complicit in harming Palestinians. But among sympathizers on social media, perhaps the most prominent boycott target has been Starbucks , which is not on the list.

Tyler Austin Harper: America’s colleges are reaping what they sowed

Yet even as the burden is on protest organizers to articulate clear, feasible policy and persuade their fellow citizens to go along, everyone should be concerned if protesters whose demands have substantial support fail time and again to register gains in Washington. Civil unrest is inherently delegitimizing to a government. Protests are in part a rejection of traditional methods of registering opinion. Their increasing regularity indicates that people believe voting and calling their representatives are insufficient. In fact, many people who participated in the 2020 protests—both the Floyd ones and the anti-lockdown ones—did not end up voting in the presidential election that year.

In remarks about the campus demonstrations last week, President Joe Biden offered a tepid defense of nonviolent protest , saying, “Peaceful protest is in the best tradition of how Americans respond to consequential issues.” Later on, he added that “dissent must never lead to disorder.”

But the disorder that Biden warned against is not just a matter of college students getting graduation canceled this year; it’s also a matter of some Americans deciding over time that voting may not be worthwhile. Polls suggest that the public is deeply dissatisfied with how the U.S. political system is working. A feedback loop in which demonstrations proliferate to little effect, while radicalized protesters become ever more disillusioned with democracy, is a dangerous one. If you’re worried about the disorder on college campuses now, imagine if Americans lose faith in the power of democratic voice altogether.

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Research: Negotiating Is Unlikely to Jeopardize Your Job Offer

• Einav Hart,
• Julia Bear,
• Zhiying (Bella) Ren

A series of seven studies found that candidates have more power than they assume.

Job seekers worry about negotiating an offer for many reasons, including the worst-case scenario that the offer will be rescinded. Across a series of seven studies, researchers found that these fears are consistently exaggerated: Candidates think they are much more likely to jeopardize a deal than managers report they are. This fear can lead candidates to avoid negotiating altogether. The authors explore two reasons driving this fear and offer research-backed advice on how anxious candidates can approach job negotiations.

Imagine that you just received a job offer for a position you are excited about. Now what? You might consider negotiating for a higher salary, job flexibility, or other benefits , but you’re apprehensive. You can’t help thinking: What if I don’t get what I ask for? Or, in the worst-case scenario, what if the hiring manager decides to withdraw the offer?

• Einav Hart is an assistant professor of management at George Mason University’s Costello College of Business, and a visiting scholar at the Wharton School. Her research interests include conflict management, negotiations, and organizational behavior.
• Julia Bear is a professor of organizational behavior at the College of Business at Stony Brook University (SUNY). Her research interests include the influence of gender on negotiation, as well as understanding gender gaps in organizations more broadly.
• Zhiying (Bella) Ren is a doctoral student at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Her research focuses on conversational dynamics in organizations and negotiations.

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Credit: Will Kirk / Johns Hopkins University

Hopkins, Morgan State students collaborate on Black Panther exhibit at The Peale

Their free exhibit, "revolution in our lifetime: the black panther party and political organizing in baltimore, 1968-1974," is open through may 26.

By Rebecca Shillenn

Visit the Peale museum in downtown Baltimore, and you'll find the first floor teeming with newsprint, bold illustrations, and photographs of Black men, women, and children. These artifacts make up the complex exhibit Revolution in Our Lifetime: The Black Panther Party and Political Organizing in Baltimore, 1968-1974 . Free and open through May 26 with plans to be extend it into the summer, the exhibit tells a deeper story about the local Black Panther Party's work, impact, and political organization. The show was curated by students from Johns Hopkins University and Morgan State University, with Krieger School faculty members Stuart Schrader , associate research professor in the Center for Africana Studies, and Victoria Harms , senior lecturer in the Department of History.

"Our team, though all in different ways and at different times, relied on sources not often broadcast in traditional narratives about the Panthers or even Baltimore," says one of the student curators, Emma Petite, A&S '23. "The value of our exhibit is that it gives attendees a chance to encounter new sources, take in their value, and walk away with their minds open to new sources of information."

Image caption: From left: Stuart, Gerardo, Emma (first row), Kristian, Victoria (first row), and Kai

Image credit : Sherella Cupid

Interlocking research

"Revolution in Our Lifetime" is an exhibit in four parts, each one curated by a single student researcher. That team includes Petite, Hopkins junior Gerardo Fontes, Morgan State graduate student Kai Clemons, and Morgan State junior Kristian Whitehead. Their yearlong research projects received guidance from Harms, Schrader, and Heather Furnas, librarian for History, Africana Studies, and History of Science & Technology at JHU's Sheridan Libraries. Clemons and Whitehead are also fellows at the Krieger School's Inheritance Baltimore project.

Each student curator explored archived materials such as newspapers and personal letters related to aspects of the Baltimore Black Panther Party's work. The exhibit is built around those artifacts, highlighting the chapter's support for local youth, prisoners' rights, international collaboration, and local organization.

The Sheridan Libraries' The Black Panther newspaper collection, acquired in 2022, was a key resource for the students.

"I really felt like a kid in a candy store. There was just so much rich information on youth," says Clemons, who researches the cultivation and sustainability of Black identity among Black youth. Her section of the exhibit focuses on how the chapter worked with children—whom it considered vital comrades in the fight for revolution—and the local political repercussions of that stance.

A different perspective

Petite also expanded her previous research using the Panther newspapers. "What kept sticking out to me was how many letters there were from jails and prisons," she says. It connected with her sophomore-year project on prison conditions during COVID, sourced from the American Prison Writing Archive , which is housed at Johns Hopkins. The articles and letters she selected for this exhibit provide perspectives from Baltimore jails in the 1960s that counter dominant thinking about prison uprisings and incarcerated people's rights.

Fontes' research shows the Baltimore chapter's local connections through its relationship with Johns Hopkins chaplain emeritus Chester Wickwire. Fontes was already working on a project on Wickwire's civil rights work, but was surprised to learn the depth of his partnership with the Panthers. Wickwire invited Black Panthers to speak at the then-YMCA in Levering Hall, protested alongside them, and even negotiated with Baltimore Gas and Electric after the FBI had secretly facilitated an electricity shut-off at the Panthers' headquarters.

"The Panthers were not an isolated group in the city that was perceived as too radical or violent," Fontes says. "They had relationships, connections, and networks with activism across the city."

Whitehead's research further illustrates these networks with exhibit materials about the Black Panthers' interest in Maoist teachings and trips to China to learn from foreign revolutionaries. She also compiled local newsreel clips about Baltimore in 1968 and 1970, the Panthers, and their repression, which visitors can view in the exhibition.

While the students chose and led their own research projects, Schrader says it was rewarding to help them use primary resources to tell a history of Baltimore that has been largely misunderstood or erased. The goal from the outset of the project was to find a way to elevate the voices of Baltimoreans who fought for Black liberation in a crucial period of the city's history.

"Although the history of the Black Panther Party in Baltimore is a difficult one, with many tragic aspects, there is a great deal to celebrate," Schrader says. "The students found ways to move beyond sensationalism and existing condemnations to reveal other aspects of the history."

The students hope this exhibit encourages people to get involved in political organizing in the present. "The most important thing you can do is join a revolutionary organization," says Whitehead. "It would behoove anyone interested in advancing working class, internationalist politics such as the Panthers adhered to, to join collectives no matter where you are."

Revolution in Our Lifetime is free and open at The Peale museum through May 26. The exhibit is supported by Inheritance Baltimore: Humanities and Arts Education for Black Liberation; the Chloe Center for the Critical Study of Racism, Immigration, and Colonialism; and the Center for Africana Studies at Johns Hopkins University. It draws on the holdings of the Johns Hopkins University Sheridan Libraries, University of Baltimore Special Collections and Archives, University of Maryland Baltimore County Special Collections, Goucher College Special Collections & Archives, the Maryland Center for History and Culture, and others. The show was installed by the Peale's Accomplished Arts Apprentices—Baltimore youth who are paid to learn exhibit installation and historic renovation skills.

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Tagged krieger school

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