I need someone to help starting a paper vicariously through me

November 23, 2010 7:15 AM

I have always had trouble writing academic papers as a student. I do fine once I have a plan for a paper in a topic I'm interested in, but I can't seem to be able to focus on finding one. Can anyone think of a cool topic for a coherent four page research paper written at the level of review on microbial evolution related to one of the themes inside?

I am a graduate student taking an advanced undergraduate level course in Microbial Evolution and I just need to pump out two papers. In High School I had an incredible amount of difficulty focusing on writing, spending days staring at blank screens, until I figured out that I could focus if only I found a topic that really intrigued or challenged me. Even if the papers didn't perfectly follow the directions they were generally good enough to work well anyway. This managed to get me to the point where now, for the most part, I only need to write about things I've found cool and challenging enough to work on for years.

So far I've finished about a third of a paper that, when finished, would be publishable, but I've realized that I don't have the time I'd need to spend in genbank doing the original research necessary to finish it, much less write a second paper like it. I need to be grabbing for much lower hanging fruit but I've forgotten, or never learned, how.

The assignment is to write something, anything coherent that uses primary literature, on one of the topics below that demonstrates an understanding of it. I think that if I just had some more structure to work with I would be less lost.

Gene Exchange
Genomes
Cooperation
Symbioses
Virulence
Greater Size and Complexity

Please hope me?

posted by Blasdelb to Education (5 answers total)

When I've had to throw together a paper from the primary literature with a wide-open topic, I like to hit the library, pull out a stack of 5-10 recent journals on the general subject, and then looks for articles that pique my interest. That way I already have one source when I pick my topic! It can be hard to think of something out of thin air, but if you look at what's actually available in the recent literature it might narrow your focus enough to give you some ideas.
posted by vytae at 7:35 AM on November 23, 2010

Does your university have a "writing center" or "learning center"? This seems like exactly the kind of query they could help you with (and perhaps also work with you on your long-standing paper-writing issues).
posted by purlgurly at 7:36 AM on November 23, 2010

Research first - then you see what others are writing about, find what interests you most, and you can easily come up with your own angle.

That's how I went about writing most of my papers in college - head over to JSTOR (Literature database - in your case you'd want something for sciences), search a couple of general keywords in your assignment (genomes, for example), and scan them for interest. Print the articles you find most interesting, and read more thoroughly, with highlighter in hand. Your topic will come to you pretty quickly.
posted by litnerd at 7:50 AM on November 23, 2010

Faculty of 1000 has been invaluable in helping me find interesting papers. Unfortunately, part of a graduate school education is synthesizing interesting conclusions from seemingly infinitely possibilities, so I don't feel comfortable providing you with more structure.
posted by fermezporte at 9:11 AM on November 23, 2010

Best answer: I would throw one of those topics with the word "review" into Web of Science, and pull up recent reviews until I found a topic that grabbed me. The review points you at a starting point for your bibliography.

You say this is actually upper-level undergraduate -- where did your readings over the semester come from?

You mention having a 1/3 complete paper which would be "publishable", but you don't have time to allot to the appropriate original research. The background/introduction to that publication -- the lit search -- would probably be appropriate. You might even ask your professor if she'll accept a project proposal as a paper (I would, and many of my graduate papers were actually project proposals.)

Another approach -- start outlining a paper in the form of a conversation with a friend. What was an interesting topic this semester, something that left you with questions?

I've had good luck looking at the material from a semester and writing on a topic that I had completely failed to understand during the course, and using the paper-writing as a tool for giving myself the permission to immerse myself sufficiently in the subject matter to understand it. Also, I find that most of the time, if I think something is "boring", it's because I don't understand it well enough. So, you might try picking the topic you thought was the LEAST interesting and spend some time trying to understand why people would devote their lives to that kind of research.
posted by endless_forms at 1:10 PM on November 23, 2010