Each time I teach GEOL-3160, there are one or more students who have trouble coming up with a research topic. Whether this is due to a lack of interest, a lack of imagination, poor search skills, a lack of familiarity with recent research in the geosciences, or some shortcoming on my part, I do not know. However, this document is intended to give you an idea of what kind of topic you are looking for, and how to choose a topic.

The most important criteria for selecting a topic are: (1) you should be interested in the subject, because you will be doing library research and a lot of reading and writing on this topic; (2) it should be a current topic, one that is actively being researched and published in geoscience  journals; (3) you should have ready access to the research journals where these articles are published, i.e. they should be available through Walker Library.

Part B of Exercise 1 is designed to make you familiar with whether the topic is current (#2 above), and whether our library can support research on a particular topic (#3 above). Only you can determine #1.

This class centers around writing a research review paper. Therefore, you must write about specific characteristics of your topic that were only recently determined and reported in geoscience journals. Suppose you decide on "methane hydrates" (a hot topic circa 2004) for your research. Do NOT base your paper on explaining what methane hydrates are, where they are found, and what they might be used for. That is what you do in high school for a book report.

Rather, discuss the latest research discoveries concerning "methane hydrates." Write about differences of opinion over how methane hydrates form, what compounds serve as their organic source, or their potential effects on global warming. Include detailed information about the science of your topic & support that detail with data from your research sources, as well as citing your sources. Include graphics and tables from your sources that support and clarify the information you write about. General concepts can be worked in around these major points, but they cannot be the bulk of your paper!

One other caveat: avoid choosing new techniques or technology (e.g. hydrofracturing) as the focus of your research. It is fine to research what was learned from USING that technology, but avoid the technology itself being the focus. That isn't science, it is engineering, and in my opinion, it makes for a boring paper and one that I will probably be resistant to. Focus instead on new knowledge: what we (scientists) learned and how we learned it.
 
 

A couple methods for locating a topic

One way to select a topic is to go to the stacks in the library and find several recent copies of the journal Geology or GSA Bulletin. Then begin looking through these until you find a paper that you think is interesting. Skim the paper, read at least the abstract and conclusions, and make sure it is something you would like to know more about.  Alternatively, thanks to how much research is now available to students through online databases in MTSU's Walker Library, you can take the same approach but do it from a computer terminal, rather than exerting the calories to walk to the Library and search the stacks. The choice is yours.  Once you find an interesting paper, then look at the bibliography (the references at the end of the paper). If you see several (at least 5 or 6) fairly recent citations (last 5 years or so), and they relate directly to your topic, and they are published in journals that are available through our library (either in print form -- such as Geology or GSA Bulletin, or via online databases) you may have found yourself a topic!

• Examples of research topics students have recently chosen:

1. Paleoseismicity of the Cascadia Subduction Zone
2. Recent discoveries by Martian remotely operated vehicles
3. Coral reef decline in the Central American Barrier Reef, Honduras and Belize
4. Glacial dynamics of the Larsen B Ice Shelf Collapse

• Examples of research topics that were too broad, or not current include:

1. San Andreas Fault (not current, too broad)
• more narrow alternative that might be viable: first motion studies associated with a particular geographic segment of the fault
2. Variations in the size of the ozone hole over Antarctica (not current, too broad)
• proposed new mechanism that better explains ozone hole dynamics
3. Theories for cave development in Tennessee (not current)
• proposed mechanism for development of newly discovered, exotic cave formations in Belize
4. Driving factors for the 1993 Puerto Rico landslide (too narrow, not current)
• new model(s) for predicting future failures on the western flank of the Cumbre Vieja, La Palma, Canary Islands

• Examples of student research topics that were appropriately narrow (and at the time, recent):

1. Character of fault movement associated with the Indonesian tsunami, Dec. 26, 2004 (getting a bit dated by now, but you get the idea).
2. Variation in gas composition associated with volcanic eruptions in the Soufriere Hills, Montserrat.
3. Revised formation theories for Cretaceous-age kimberlite diamonds from southern Africa