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Possible Research Paper Topics

The best research papers are the ones which come out of your heart—the ones you have some personal attraction to. Here are some random ideas from my own recent reading (and I assume I will come up with more). You are welcome to use any of them.

Studebaker-Packard: Two independent automobile manufacturers you haven’t heard of. Following WWII, they were small, but cutting-edge in technology, with very good products and devoted customers. Neither had enough dealers of their own, so they merged, then went bankrupt. Why?

Compass Coffee: This was a Washington DC area company which had dozens of locations, a plan to replace Starbucks (at least in the DC metro area) and multi-million dollar financial backing. Now it is bankrupt and the two guys who started it are suing each other. How did that happen?

Artificial Intelligence and Bitcoin: Both take absolutely enormous amounts of electricity and water (for cooling the servers). How much? And what do they do to the environment?

Computers Take Away Our Skills: Modern college freshmen find it nearly impossible to read a clock or a map. What is happening to our basic manual skills? Should we be concerned?

Analog Renaissance: Vinyl records, CDs, DVDs, all seem to be coming back. Fountain pens and typewriters have devoted followers, and the Blackwing pencil (the “writer’s pencil”) sells for eleven times as much as a common yellow pencil. Several “sub-computers” are available—all they can do is basic word processing without any ads or social media or even a spelling checker. Who buys these things and why?

New Steam Locomotives: Steam power pretty much disappeared from railroads by 1956, yet world-wide several volunteer groups are building new ones. Right here in Ohio, a group is building a new Pennsylvania T1, which will weigh around 944,000 pounds. Why? What does it take?

Denmark ditches computers in schools: The country is reversing its “digital first” strategy, going back to paper textbooks, banning phones in school, and generally restricting digital usage. The aim is to combat declining student performance and poor mental health health. Did it work?

Black Education: Leaders from Frederick Douglass on down have touted the value of education for their people, and many Black leaders today echo that idea; however, an extremely common experience is that Black teenagers do poorly in school and often drop out. When they arrive in college, they are very often poorly prepared and must struggle to deal with academics. Research the causes.

Anti Vaxx: There is an enormous subculture which refuses to believe statements which many of us take to be established facts: value of vaccines, results of elections, and so forth. Their slogan is “do your research,” which usually means “look things up on Facebook.” The result is a huge market for alternative medicine such as essential oils and a crowd that believes the 2020 election was stolen. Where did all this distrust for factual reporting come from?

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