How to select a research paper topic:
1. Doable/ plausible
2. Arguable/ debatable (avoid the factual and policy topics)
3. Easy to do (do not choose a PhD topic)
4. Researchable
5. Based on social sciences/ liberal arts/ humanities
6. Avoid the clichés and controversial ones (e.g. politics, religion, video games, Hindi serials,
sex)
7. Presentable
8. Interesting
9. Specific and narrow (not vague)
Methodology:
1. Primary research: doing the surveys/ Questionnaire/ asking people around/ interviewing
people/ collecting the data and interpreting the data
2. Secondary research: Online and offline sources (printed books/ magazines/ journals/
newspapers, etc.)
Assignment- 1:
Research Paper Topic: (in phrases)
Hypothesis (educated guess): (in one complete sentence)
1. Specific
2. Narrow
3. Focused
4. Assumption
5. Must have a reason
Research Questions:
1. Sequentially organized (from general to specific)
2. Mostly W-H questions
3. Broad
4. RQs are the questions that will help you investigate the hypothesis.
5. Combination of both the secondary research questions and primary research
questions
***Minimum 3 research questions and maximum 10 research questions
Example of your assignment-1:
Topic: The use of glossy lipsticks among the girls of NSU
Hypothesis: NSU business school girls wear more glossy lipsticks than NSU science school
girls because business school girls are entitled to be more presentable all the time.
Research questions:
1. What is a lipstick?
2. Who wears a lipstick?
3. Which age group does wear lipsticks more?
4. Do university girls wear lipsticks? If yes, why?
5. Is there any correlation between the disciplines that girls study at the university and the
tendency of those girls to wear lipsticks? If yes, why?
6. Do NSU girls wear lipsticks? If yes, why?
7. Do NSU business school girls and science school girls wear lipsticks? If yes, why?
8. Which school girls wear more glossy lipsticks at NSU? Why?