Nursing & Health: What Should I Research?

There is no one way to figure out what topic you want to research, but there are some strategies you can try. Below is a not exhaustive list of ways you can get started:

• Look through encyclopedia's like The Gale Encyclopedia of Nursing and Allied Health. Encyclopedia's provide background information and can give you a "lay of the (research) land" on particular topics.
• Listen to, read, or watch reputable news outlets for nursing and health related stories that spark your interests. If they are interviewing a professor or health care practitioner, do a quick search on that person, where they work, and what their research areas. Local public radio stations such as KUOW often have in depth interviews with health care researchers (sometimes they are from UW!). 
• Ask yourself questions like "What do I like about nursing? What areas of nursing would I like to see improved (for nurses and/or patients)? What communities do I want to work with?", etc. Your answers to these questions will likely lead you to  areas of research to explore and can help generate keywords for your searches. 
• Flag course readings and jot down notes from class discussions
• Talk to a librarian or your professor

Below are some worksheets that you can use to help you brainstorm a research question. 

• 5 W's Concept Map for Brainstorming (developed by Sarah Hood of Santa Fe Community College): Using who, what, where, when, and why questions to narrow down your topic
• Stop and Jot (developed by the University of Connecticut Library): Track good ideas or questions as you read
• Generating Keywords Worksheet (developed by the University of Connecticut Library): Once you have your question, you'll need to figure out how to search for peer-reviewed articles about it. This worksheet can help you breakdown your research question into keywords you can use for your search.