topics for research paper about language

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211 Research Topics in Linguistics To Get Top Grades

Many people find it hard to decide on their linguistics research topics because of the assumed complexities involved. They struggle to choose easy research paper topics for English language too because they think it could be too simple for a university or college level certificate.

All that you need to learn about Linguistics and English is sprawled across syntax, phonetics, morphology, phonology, semantics, grammar, vocabulary, and a few others. To easily create a top-notch essay or conduct a research study, you can consider this list of research topics in English language below for your university or college use. Note that you can fine-tune these to suit your interests.

Linguistics Research Paper Topics

If you want to study how language is applied and its importance in the world, you can consider these Linguistics topics for your research paper. They are:

An analysis of romantic ideas and their expression amongst French people
An overview of the hate language in the course against religion
Identify the determinants of hate language and the means of propagation
Evaluate a literature and examine how Linguistics is applied to the understanding of minor languages
Consider the impact of social media in the development of slangs
An overview of political slang and its use amongst New York teenagers
Examine the relevance of Linguistics in a digitalized world
Analyze foul language and how it’s used to oppress minors
Identify the role of language in the national identity of a socially dynamic society
Attempt an explanation to how the language barrier could affect the social life of an individual in a new society
Discuss the means through which language can enrich cultural identities
Examine the concept of bilingualism and how it applies in the real world
Analyze the possible strategies for teaching a foreign language
Discuss the priority of teachers in the teaching of grammar to non-native speakers
Choose a school of your choice and observe the slang used by its students: analyze how it affects their social lives
Attempt a critical overview of racist languages
What does endangered language means and how does it apply in the real world?
A critical overview of your second language and why it is a second language
What are the motivators of speech and why are they relevant?
Analyze the difference between the different types of communications and their significance to specially-abled persons
Give a critical overview of five literature on sign language
Evaluate the distinction between the means of language comprehension between an adult and a teenager
Consider a native American group and evaluate how cultural diversity has influenced their language
Analyze the complexities involved in code-switching and code-mixing
Give a critical overview of the importance of language to a teenager
Attempt a forensic overview of language accessibility and what it means
What do you believe are the means of communications and what are their uniqueness?
Attempt a study of Islamic poetry and its role in language development
Attempt a study on the role of Literature in language development
Evaluate the Influence of metaphors and other literary devices in the depth of each sentence
Identify the role of literary devices in the development of proverbs in any African country
Cognitive Linguistics: analyze two pieces of Literature that offers a critical view of perception
Identify and analyze the complexities in unspoken words
Expression is another kind of language: discuss
Identify the significance of symbols in the evolution of language
Discuss how learning more than a single language promote cross-cultural developments
Analyze how the loss of a mother tongue affect the language Efficiency of a community
Critically examine how sign language works
Using literature from the medieval era, attempt a study of the evolution of language
Identify how wars have led to the reduction in the popularity of a language of your choice across any country of the world
Critically examine five Literature on why accent changes based on environment
What are the forces that compel the comprehension of language in a child
Identify and explain the difference between the listening and speaking skills and their significance in the understanding of language
Give a critical overview of how natural language is processed
Examine the influence of language on culture and vice versa
It is possible to understand a language even without living in that society: discuss
Identify the arguments regarding speech defects
Discuss how the familiarity of language informs the creation of slangs
Explain the significance of religious phrases and sacred languages
Explore the roots and evolution of incantations in Africa

Sociolinguistic Research Topics

You may as well need interesting Linguistics topics based on sociolinguistic purposes for your research. Sociolinguistics is the study and recording of natural speech. It’s primarily the casual status of most informal conversations. You can consider the following Sociolinguistic research topics for your research:

What makes language exceptional to a particular person?
How does language form a unique means of expression to writers?
Examine the kind of speech used in health and emergencies
Analyze the language theory explored by family members during dinner
Evaluate the possible variation of language based on class
Evaluate the language of racism, social tension, and sexism
Discuss how Language promotes social and cultural familiarities
Give an overview of identity and language
Examine why some language speakers enjoy listening to foreigners who speak their native language
Give a forensic analysis of his the language of entertainment is different to the language in professional settings
Give an understanding of how Language changes
Examine the Sociolinguistics of the Caribbeans
Consider an overview of metaphor in France
Explain why the direct translation of written words is incomprehensible in Linguistics
Discuss the use of language in marginalizing a community
Analyze the history of Arabic and the culture that enhanced it
Discuss the growth of French and the influences of other languages
Examine how the English language developed and its interdependence on other languages
Give an overview of cultural diversity and Linguistics in teaching
Challenge the attachment of speech defect with disability of language listening and speaking abilities
Explore the uniqueness of language between siblings
Explore the means of making requests between a teenager and his parents
Observe and comment on how students relate with their teachers through language
Observe and comment on the communication of strategy of parents and teachers
Examine the connection of understanding first language with academic excellence

Language Research Topics

Numerous languages exist in different societies. This is why you may seek to understand the motivations behind language through these Linguistics project ideas. You can consider the following interesting Linguistics topics and their application to language:

What does language shift mean?
Discuss the stages of English language development?
Examine the position of ambiguity in a romantic Language of your choice
Why are some languages called romantic languages?
Observe the strategies of persuasion through Language
Discuss the connection between symbols and words
Identify the language of political speeches
Discuss the effectiveness of language in an indigenous cultural revolution
Trace the motivators for spoken language
What does language acquisition mean to you?
Examine three pieces of literature on language translation and its role in multilingual accessibility
Identify the science involved in language reception
Interrogate with the context of language disorders
Examine how psychotherapy applies to victims of language disorders
Study the growth of Hindi despite colonialism
Critically appraise the term, language erasure
Examine how colonialism and war is responsible for the loss of language
Give an overview of the difference between sounds and letters and how they apply to the German language
Explain why the placement of verb and preposition is different in German and English languages
Choose two languages of your choice and examine their historical relationship
Discuss the strategies employed by people while learning new languages
Discuss the role of all the figures of speech in the advancement of language
Analyze the complexities of autism and its victims
Offer a linguist approach to language uniqueness between a Down Syndrome child and an autist
Express dance as a language
Express music as a language
Express language as a form of language
Evaluate the role of cultural diversity in the decline of languages in South Africa
Discuss the development of the Greek language
Critically review two literary texts, one from the medieval era and another published a decade ago, and examine the language shifts

Linguistics Essay Topics

You may also need Linguistics research topics for your Linguistics essays. As a linguist in the making, these can help you consider controversies in Linguistics as a discipline and address them through your study. You can consider:

The connection of sociolinguistics in comprehending interests in multilingualism
Write on your belief of how language encourages sexism
What do you understand about the differences between British and American English?
Discuss how slangs grew and how they started
Consider how age leads to loss of language
Review how language is used in formal and informal conversation
Discuss what you understand by polite language
Discuss what you know by hate language
Evaluate how language has remained flexible throughout history
Mimicking a teacher is a form of exercising hate Language: discuss
Body Language and verbal speech are different things: discuss
Language can be exploitative: discuss
Do you think language is responsible for inciting aggression against the state?
Can you justify the structural representation of any symbol of your choice?
Religious symbols are not ordinary Language: what are your perspective on day-to-day languages and sacred ones?
Consider the usage of language by an English man and someone of another culture
Discuss the essence of code-mixing and code-switching
Attempt a psychological assessment on the role of language in academic development
How does language pose a challenge to studying?
Choose a multicultural society of your choice and explain the problem they face
What forms does Language use in expression?
Identify the reasons behind unspoken words and actions
Why do universal languages exist as a means of easy communication?
Examine the role of the English language in the world
Examine the role of Arabic in the world
Examine the role of romantic languages in the world
Evaluate the significance of each teaching Resources in a language classroom
Consider an assessment of language analysis
Why do people comprehend beyond what is written or expressed?
What is the impact of hate speech on a woman?
Do you believe that grammatical errors are how everyone’s comprehension of language is determined?
Observe the Influence of technology in language learning and development
Which parts of the body are responsible for understanding new languages
How has language informed development?
Would you say language has improved human relations or worsened it considering it as a tool for violence?
Would you say language in a black populous state is different from its social culture in white populous states?
Give an overview of the English language in Nigeria
Give an overview of the English language in Uganda
Give an overview of the English language in India
Give an overview of Russian in Europe
Give a conceptual analysis on stress and how it works
Consider the means of vocabulary development and its role in cultural relationships
Examine the effects of Linguistics in language
Present your understanding of sign language
What do you understand about descriptive language and prescriptive Language?

List of Research Topics in English Language

You may need English research topics for your next research. These are topics that are socially crafted for you as a student of language in any institution. You can consider the following for in-depth analysis:

Examine the travail of women in any feminist text of your choice
Examine the movement of feminist literature in the Industrial period
Give an overview of five Gothic literature and what you understand from them
Examine rock music and how it emerged as a genre
Evaluate the cultural association with Nina Simone’s music
What is the relevance of Shakespeare in English literature?
How has literature promoted the English language?
Identify the effect of spelling errors in the academic performance of students in an institution of your choice
Critically survey a university and give rationalize the literary texts offered as Significant
Examine the use of feminist literature in advancing the course against patriarchy
Give an overview of the themes in William Shakespeare’s “Julius Caesar”
Express the significance of Ernest Hemingway’s diction in contemporary literature
Examine the predominant devices in the works of William Shakespeare
Explain the predominant devices in the works of Christopher Marlowe
Charles Dickens and his works: express the dominating themes in his Literature
Why is Literature described as the mirror of society?
Examine the issues of feminism in Sefi Atta’s “Everything Good Will Come” and Bernadine Evaristos’s “Girl, Woman, Other”
Give an overview of the stylistics employed in the writing of “Girl, Woman, Other” by Bernadine Evaristo
Describe the language of advertisement in social media and newspapers
Describe what poetic Language means
Examine the use of code-switching and code-mixing on Mexican Americans
Examine the use of code-switching and code-mixing in Indian Americans
Discuss the influence of George Orwell’s “Animal Farm” on satirical literature
Examine the Linguistics features of “Native Son” by Richard Wright
What is the role of indigenous literature in promoting cultural identities
How has literature informed cultural consciousness?
Analyze five literature on semantics and their Influence on the study
Assess the role of grammar in day to day communications
Observe the role of multidisciplinary approaches in understanding the English language
What does stylistics mean while analyzing medieval literary texts?
Analyze the views of philosophers on language, society, and culture

English Research Paper Topics for College Students

For your college work, you may need to undergo a study of any phenomenon in the world. Note that they could be Linguistics essay topics or mainly a research study of an idea of your choice. Thus, you can choose your research ideas from any of the following:

The concept of fairness in a democratic Government
The capacity of a leader isn’t in his or her academic degrees
The concept of discrimination in education
The theory of discrimination in Islamic states
The idea of school policing
A study on grade inflation and its consequences
A study of taxation and Its importance to the economy from a citizen’s perspectives
A study on how eloquence lead to discrimination amongst high school students
A study of the influence of the music industry in teens
An Evaluation of pornography and its impacts on College students
A descriptive study of how the FBI works according to Hollywood
A critical consideration of the cons and pros of vaccination
The health effect of sleep disorders
An overview of three literary texts across three genres of Literature and how they connect to you
A critical overview of “King Oedipus”: the role of the supernatural in day to day life
Examine the novel “12 Years a Slave” as a reflection of servitude and brutality exerted by white slave owners
Rationalize the emergence of racist Literature with concrete examples
A study of the limits of literature in accessing rural readers
Analyze the perspectives of modern authors on the Influence of medieval Literature on their craft
What do you understand by the mortality of a literary text?
A study of controversial Literature and its role in shaping the discussion
A critical overview of three literary texts that dealt with domestic abuse and their role in changing the narratives about domestic violence
Choose three contemporary poets and analyze the themes of their works
Do you believe that contemporary American literature is the repetition of unnecessary themes already treated in the past?
A study of the evolution of Literature and its styles
The use of sexual innuendos in literature
The use of sexist languages in literature and its effect on the public
The disaster associated with media reports of fake news
Conduct a study on how language is used as a tool for manipulation
Attempt a criticism of a controversial Literary text and why it shouldn’t be studied or sold in the first place

Finding Linguistics Hard To Write About?

With these topics, you can commence your research with ease. However, if you need professional writing help for any part of the research, you can scout here online for the best research paper writing service.

There are several expert writers on ENL hosted on our website that you can consider for a fast response on your research study at a cheap price.

As students, you may be unable to cover every part of your research on your own. This inability is the reason you should consider expert writers for custom research topics in Linguistics approved by your professor for high grades.

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130+ Original Linguistics Research Topics: Ideas To Focus On

Linguistics is an exciting course to learn. Unfortunately, writing a research paper or essay or write my thesis in linguistics is not as easy. Many students struggle to find a good research topic to write about. Finding a good research topic is crucial because it is the foundation of your paper. It will guide your research and dictate what you write.

Creative Language Research Topics

Argumentative research titles about language, english language research topics for stem students, social media research topics about language, the best quantitative research topics about language, more creative sociolinguistics research topics, research topics in english language education for students, top thesis topics in language, creative language and gender research topics, language education research topics on social issues, research title about language acquisition.

Most students turn to the internet to find research paper topics. Sadly, most sources provide unoriginal and basic topics. For this reason, this article provides some creative sample research topics for English majors.

Linguistics is a fascinating subject with so many research topic options. Check out the following creative research topics in language

How you can use linguistic patterns to locate migration paths
Computers and their effect on language creation
The internet and its impacts on modern language
Has text messages helped create a new linguistic culture?
Language and change; how social changes influence language development
How language changes over time
How effective is non-verbal communication in communicating emotions?
Verbal communication and emotional displays: what is the link?
The negative power of language in internet interactions
How words change as society develops
Is the evolution of languages a scientific concept?
Role of technology in linguistics

Argumentative essay topics should state your view on a subject so you can create content to defend the view and convince others that it is logical and well-researched. Here are some excellent language research titles examples

Society alters words and their meanings over time
Children have a better grasp of new language and speech than adults
Childhood is the perfect time to develop speech
Individuals can communicate without a shared language
Learning more than one language as a child can benefit individuals in adulthood
Elementary schools should teach students a second language
Language acquisition changes at different growth stages
The impact of technology on linguistics
Language has significant power to capitalize on emotions
The proper use of language can have positive impacts on society

Research topics for STEM students do not differ much from those for college and high school students. However, they are slightly more targeted. Find an excellent research title about language for your paper below:

How does language promote gender differences?
Music and language evolution: the correlation
Slang: development and evolution in different cultures
Can language create bonds among cross-cultural societies?
Formal vs informal language: what are the differences?
Age and pronunciation: what is the correlation?
How languages vary across STEM subjects
Are STEM students less proficient in languages?
The use of language in the legal sector
The importance of non-verbal communication and body language
How politeness is perceived through language choices and use
The evolution of English through history

Did you know you can find excellent social media research topics if you do it right? Check out the following social media language research titles:

The role of the internet in promoting language acquisition
A look at changes in languages since social media gained traction
How social media brings new language
How effective are language apps in teaching foreign languages?
The popularity of language applications among learners
A study of the impact of the internet on the spreading of slang
Social media as a tool for promoting hate language
Free speech vs hate speech: what is the difference?
How social media platforms can combat hate language propagation
How can social media users express emotions through written language?
Political censorship and its impact on the linguistics applied in the media
The differences between social media and real-life languages

A language research title can be the foundation of your quantitative research. Find some of the best examples of research topics for English majors here:

Language barriers in the healthcare sector
What percentage of kids below five struggle with languages?
Understanding the increase in multilingual people
Language barriers and their impact on effective communication
Social media and language: are language barriers existent in social media?
Bilingualism affects people’s personalities and temperaments
Can non-native teachers effectively teach local students the English language?
Bilingualism and its impact on social perceptions
The new generative grammar concept: an in-depth analysis
Racist language: its history and impacts
A look into examples of endangered languages
Attitudes toward a language and how it can impact language acquisition

You can choose a research topic about language based on social issues, science concerns like biochemistry topics , and much more. Sociolinguistics is the study of the correlation between language and society and the application of language in various social situations. Here are some excellent research topics in sociolinguistics:

An analysis of how sociolinguistics can help people understand multi-lingual language choices
An analysis of sociolinguistics through America’s color and race background
The role of sociolinguistics in children development
Comparing sociolinguistics and psycholinguistics
Sociolinguistics and gender empowerment: an analysis of their correlation
How media houses use sociolinguistics to create bias and gain a competitive advantage
The value of sociolinguistics education in the teaching of discipline
The role played by sociolinguistics in creating social change throughout history
Research methods used in sociolinguistics
Different sociolinguistics and their role in English evolution
Sociolinguistics: an in-depth analysis
What is sociolinguistics, and what is its role in language evolution?

A good research topic in English will serve as the guiding point for your research paper. Find a suitable research topic for English majors below:

Types of indigenous languages
Language s an essential element of human life
Language as the primary communication medium
The value of language in society
The negative side of coded language
School curriculums and how they influence languages
Linguistics: a forensic language
Elements that influence people’s ability to learn a new language
The development of the English language
How the English language borrows from other languages
Multilingualism: an insight
The correlation between metaphors and similes

Many students struggle to find good thesis topics in language and linguistics. As you read more on the thesis statement about social media , make sure you also understand every thesis title about language from the following examples:

The classification of human languages
The application of different tools in language identification
The role of linguists in language identification
The contributions of Greek philosophers to language development
The origin of language: early speculations
The history of language through the scope of mythology
Theories that explain the origin and development of language
Is language the most effective form of communication
The impact of brain injuries on language
Language impacts on sports
Linguistics intervention that won’t work in this century
Language as a system of symbols

Just like economic research paper topics , gender and language topics do not have to stick to the norms or the standards by which all students write. You can exercise some creativity when creating your topic. Discover a topic about language and gender from this list:

Language and gender: what is the correlation?
How different genders perceive language
Does a kid’s gender influence their grasp of languages?
Men vs Women: a statistical overview of their multilingual prowess.
The perception of language from the female standpoint
The difference between female and male language use
The use of language as a tool for connection between females and males
Does gender have an impact on efficient communication
Does gender impact word choices in conversations?
Females have an easier time learning two or more languages
What makes female and male language choices differ?
Are females better at communicating using spoken language?

There are many social issues related to language education that you can cover in your research paper. Check out the following topics about language related to social issues research topics for your research:

Language translation: what makes it possible
How does the mother tongue influence pronunciation?
Issues that encourage people to learn different languages
Sign language: origin and more
Role of language in solving conflicts
Language and mental health: a vivid analysis
The similarities between English and French languages
Language disorders: an overview
Common barriers to language acquisition
The impact of mother tongue on effective communication
Reasons you should learn two or more languages
The benefits of multilingualism in the corporate world
Language and identity: what is the correlation?

Language acquisition is the process by which people gain the ability to understand and produce language. Like anatomy research paper topics , language acquisition is a great area to focus your linguistics research. Here are some research questions that bring the focus of the study of linguistic and language acquisition:

Language acquisition: an overview
What attitudes do people have about language acquisition
How attitude can impact language acquisition
The evolution of language acquisition over time
Language and ethnicity: their correlation
Do native English speakers have an easier time acquiring new languages?
A case study on political language
Why is language acquisition a key factor in leadership
Language acquisition and mother tongue pronunciation: the link
Ambiguity as a barrier to language acquisition
How words acquire their meanings

While a good topic can help capture the reader and create a good impression, it is insufficient to earn you excellent grades. You also need quality content for your paper to get perfect grades. However, creating a high-quality research paper takes time, effort, and skill, which most students do not have.

For these reasons, we offer quality research paper writing services for all students. We guarantee quality papers, timely deliveries, and originality. Reach out to our writers for top linguistics research papers today!

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100 best linguistic research topics.

November 26, 2020

Some learners struggle to choose linguistic research topics to research and write about. That’s because linguistics is interesting to learn about yet challenging to write papers and essays about. Some students stay up at night learning about phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, and semantics. Unfortunately, they still struggle to write quality papers and essays on linguistic topics in these areas. If looking for ideas to form the basis of your paper or essay, here is a list of research topics in linguistics to consider.

Linguistic Research Topics in Discourse Studies

Discourse studies provide fascinating details about individuals, culture, technology, movements, and changes that take place over time. If looking for linguistics topics that relate to discourse studies, here are some of the best ideas to consider. You can also check out our communication research topics .

Childhood is the time when speech is made or broken
Cultivation of politicians’ buzzword through linguistic analysis
How linguistic patterns are sued to locate migration paths
How computers affect modern language negatively
How text messaging has created a new linguistic subculture
How the brain works when it comes to learning a new language
How words change over time
How effective is non-verbal communication when it comes to displaying emotions?
How effective is verbal communication when it comes to displaying feelings?
How society alters words and their meanings
How the negative power of a word be reduced by neuro-linguistic programming for trauma victims
Is verbal communication more effective than non-verbal communication?
How individuals communicate without a shared language
How beneficial is learning more than one language during childhood?
Why should Elementary School teach students a second language?
Explain the acquisition of a language at different growth stages
How global leaders use language ethics to change the emotional views of the masses
Explain the power of a language in capitalizing on emotions
How technology alters the communication
How proper use of a language makes a person better in society

A learner should pick a linguistics topic in this category if it piques their interest. That’s because writing a great paper or essay requires a student to explore an idea that they are interested in. Essentially, a learner should research and write about something that they find enjoyable.

Interesting Linguistic Topics for Research

Some topics in linguistics are very interesting to research. These are ideas that most people in society will find enjoyable to read about. Here is a list of the most interesting linguistics topics that students can choose for their papers and essays.

Explain how sociolinguistics help people understand multi-lingual language choices
A study of differences and similarities of Post-Tudor English
How language encourages gender differences
Understanding socio-linguistics via color and race background in America
Vowel pronunciation in the UK- A systematic review
The role of music in language evolution
Explain the development and evolution of slangs
A study of the connection between perception and language
How language creates bonds among cross-cultural communities
Language review in informal and formal settings
How age affects English pronunciation
A phonological treatment based review for English-French load words
How sociolinguistics influence gender empowerment
How words can be used to master legal settings
How the media use sociolinguistics to gain a competitive edge and create bias
Exploratory analysis of the impact and importance of body language
Importance of sociolinguistics education in discipline development
How genders perceive politeness via language use
A study of social change through history via sociolinguistics
An evaluation of English evolution via a focus on different sociolinguistics

The vast majority of topics in this category touches on language and society. That’s why papers and essays about these linguistic research topics will most likely impress many readers.

Applied Linguistics Research Paper Topics

Applied linguistics focus on finding meaningful language solutions to real-world issues. Some of the best linguistic paper topics to consider in this category include the following.

The beauty idea and its expression verbally
A detailed evaluation of hate language
What are the key determinants of hate language propagation?
A literature-based review that explores eye-tracking technology and its implication for applied linguistics advancement
A detailed evaluation of research methods for applied linguistics
How relevant is the development of applied linguistics?
Discuss the impacts of the language used in social media on the current generation
An essay on the impact of using proper linguistic communication in social media
Are applied linguistics relevant in the current digitalized world?
How political oppression affect the linguistic used in the media
How important is applied linguistics vocationally?
The major differences between spoken and written language via linguistics evaluation
Is multilingualism a possibility that follows bilingualism?
What is the contribution of a language to national identity within a multicultural society?
How effective is healthcare delivery when there are language barriers?
Is the language barrier relevant in social media?
How bilingualism enriches the personality of an individual
Discuss language cognition and perceptions during the learning process
Discuss the learning mechanisms when it comes to a foreign language
Explain how a non-native teacher can teach local students the English language

These can also be great dissertation topics in linguistics. That’s because they require extensive research and analysis of facts to write brilliant papers. So, if struggling to find an idea for your dissertation, consider one of these thesis topics in applied linguistics.

Great Linguistics Essay Topics

Perhaps, you’re looking for a list of English linguistics research topics from which you can get ideal for your essay. In that case, consider these amazing research proposal topics in linguistics.

Discuss the new generative grammar concept
Analysis of pragmatics and semantics in two texts
Identity analysis in racist language
Do humans have a predisposition to learn a language?
English assessment as a second language
Endangered languages and language death causes
Attitudes towards a language and childhood language acquisition
Mixing modern language and code-switching
Linguistic turn and cognitive turn
What is computational linguistics?
Linguistic and cultural diversity as an educational issue
Differences between adults and childhood language learning
Factors that affect the ability to learn a language
A forensic assessment of linguistics
Lexical and grammatical changes
How important is a language?
What are the effects of language on human behavior?
English or indigenous languages?
Is language an essential element of human life?
Is language the primary communication medium?

These can be great topics for short essays. However, they can also be PhD thesis topics in linguistics where learners will have to conduct extensive and detailed research. The most important thing is to gather relevant and new information that will interest the readers.

Research Topics in Cognitive Linguistics

Students that want to explore questions in cognitive linguistics should consider topics in this category. Here are some of the most interesting topics in linguistics for research papers that also touch on cognition. If these ideas seem a bit complicated, use our writing services .

How grammatical phrasing affects compliance with prescriptions, prohibitions, or suggestions
Latest research findings into cognitive literacy in Indian English poetry
Conceptual metaphor: Does the activation of a single-source domain activates the multiple target concepts?
Multilingualism: Does L2 modulate L1/L2 organization in the brain?
Can task-based language teaching perception be measured?
Are there prominent cognitive-linguistic books for students?
What role does cognitive linguistics play in the acquisition of a second language?
Is word meaning a concept that is advocated for by some scholars?
Which linguistic experiments can be used to understand how the right and left hemispheres work?
Discuss the relationship between metaphors and similes

Computational Linguistics Research Topics

Computational linguistics is an interdisciplinary field that deals with rule-based or statistical modeling of the natural language from the computational perspectives. Here are some of the best topics for research in this field.

Using supervised learning to analyze Medieval German poetry
Which computer-assisted program is best for phonetic comparison of different dialects and why?
How and where can Danish verbs be extracted?
Can computational linguistic suggest an intra-lingual contrastive corpus analysis?
Where can the Schizophrenia text dataset be found?
Discuss the techniques used for meaning or semantic representation in the natural language processing
Describe performance measures for speech recognition
How to extract the introduction, development, and conclusion of a text
Discuss the addition of matrices in a dictionary in python
Explain the definition and characterization of linguistic dimensions in a multidimensional analysis

Students that are struggling to choose what to write about can pick any topic in this list that they find interesting, research, and write about it. Taking the time to research extensively and write quality papers or essays is what will earn learners their desired grades.

topics for research paper about language

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100+ Linguistic Topics for Excellent Research Papers

13 December, 2021

12 minutes read

Author: Donna Moores

Linguistics is an English language category that deals with logical dialectal analysis and interpretation. It seeks to reveal the form, meaning, and context of language. While most college students may perceive linguistics as a simple subject, it is pretty complex. English tutors might issue topics in linguistics in various disciplines like phonology or semantics, which leaves many learners grappling to tackle the research papers.

When analyzing language, you should write a paper that clarifies the nature, classification, and proper identification tools. Therefore, your linguistics topics must be relevant and within the research purpose. It is essential to pick an appropriate topic to allow the audience to understand the fundamental research.

With numerous dialects across the globe, identifying a worthy topic should be a simple task. We have compiled lists of engaging topic ideas to help you craft an outstanding research paper and inspire your academic projects.

Linguistics Research Paper: Definition, Explanation, Examples

Any linguistics paper should comprise an in-depth analysis of language development and acquisition. The subject explores various aspects of different dialects and their meanings. It also covers style and form to develop comprehensive arguments under various contexts.

That is why English professors test students with various academic projects to measure their comprehension levels. Thus, learners should ensure they select good linguistics research paper topics. Here is an overview example of the paper structure.

Introduction

Background information.
Hypothesis.
Literature review.

Methodology

Data sources.
Data organization.
Analysis/Findings.
Paraphrase hypothesis.
Significance of the study.
Recommendations.

Therefore, ensure your paper meets the specified academic standards. You must read the requirements keenly to craft an outstanding paper that meets the tutor’s expectations. If you encounter challenges, you can research further online or seek clarification from your professor to know how you will approach the research question.

Choosing A Good Linguistic Topic Isn’t Hard – Here’s How To Do It

Struggling to pick a relevant topic for your research paper? Fret not. We will help you understand the steps to identify an appropriate topic. Most students often underestimate the significance of the pre-writing stages, which entails topic selection. It is a vital phase where you need to choose relevant linguistics topics for your research paper. Hence, ensure you read the research question carefully to understand its requirements.

Carry out an extensive brainstorming session to identify relatable themes within the subject area. Avoid selecting a broad theme, but if you do, break it into minor sub-topics. This will help you during the research phase to get adequate information. Use different websites to get verifiable academic sources and published papers from reputable scholars.

Don’t forget to make your linguistics research paper topics catchy and exciting to capture your readers’ attention. No one wants to read a dull paper.

Finally, follow all the academic requirements for research paper writing – proper grammar, style, correct citation, etc. College tutors often award well-written, original papers.

However, if you still find it challenging to move beyond topic selection, you can reach out to one of our subject-oriented experts for assistance.

We are here to offer the following:

Quality-approved papers.
100% authentic papers.
One-on-one personalized learning.
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Therefore, do not endure the academic pressure alone. Talk to us we will help you select unique linguistic research topics.

15 Interesting Sociolinguistics Topic Ideas

Need help with your sociolinguistics research paper? Here are interesting topics in linguistics to jumpstart your writing.

An in-depth theoretical analysis of language development.
Explore dialect as a communication tool.
How brain injuries influence language and speech.
Language is a symbolic system: Discuss.
Examine the different linguistic disorders and challenges.
The impact of mother tongue on effective communication.
The importance of learning more than one dialect.
Evaluate mother tongue pronunciation and language fluency.
Compare and contrast the English and French languages.
Why do people communicate in different languages?
The role of Greek philosophers in language formation.
Language origination as an unfathomable issue.
Discuss language as a national identity in a multicultural nation.
Is there a difference between adult and child language acquisition?
Discuss the challenges in language development.

15 Good Applied Linguistics Topics

Applied linguistics is an essential discipline that allows learners to comprehend effective communication. Below are interesting linguistics topics to help you during writing.

What is applied linguistics?
Evaluate applied linguistics in a technological environment.
Discuss the intricacies of spoken and written language.
Explore bilingualism and multilingualism.
An analysis of communication barriers in delivering health services.
The influence of identity in a multicultural society.
Discuss dialect barriers in social media networks.
An in-depth analysis of hate speech.
The importance of applied linguistics development.
The adverse effects of social media on effective communication.
The impact of culture on multilingualism.
An in-depth evaluation of applied linguistics.
The influence of politics on linguistic media.
An analysis of practical research methods on linguistics.
How bilingualism enhances human personality.

15 Computational Linguistics Research Paper Topics

Computational linguistics involves technology in translation and other language-enhancing tools. Below are compelling linguistics thesis topics for your research compositions.

What is computational linguistics?
The impact of technology in speech recognition.
The evolution of the translation industry in enhancing communication.
Does translation cause communication barriers?
An analysis of audiovisual translation.
Discuss the effectiveness of supervised learning.
An analysis of effective programs for phonetic comparison of dialects.
Speech recognition: description of dialect performance.
An analysis of linguistic dimensions using technology.
Effective methods of text extraction.
Discuss the reasons for learning computational linguistics.
The influence of modern communication on computational linguistics.
Discuss the different approaches to effective learning.
An analysis of speech synthesis.
Discuss the benefits of machine translation.

15 Engaging Comparative Linguistics Research Paper Topics

Looking for winning research topics in linguistics? Search no more. Here are impressive comparative topic ideas for your research compositions:

Compare and contrast English and Latin.
A comparative study of speech physiology and anatomy.
An evaluation of the Ape language.
What is folk speech?
An analysis of historical linguistics.
An in-depth study of ethnographic semantics.
The connection between culture and linguistics.
A comparative analysis of phonetics in linguistics.
The influence of computers on dialect development.
Analyze communication in a paralinguistic dialect.
English popularity: A comparative study of the world.
Does accent fluency boost effective communication?
Neologism: An analysis of UK English.
Discuss the idioms of Australian English compared to American.
A comparative study of the Anglo-Saxon dialects.

15 Interesting Historical Linguistics Topic Ideas

Let us explore historical linguistics essay topics that will translate into remarkable papers with impressive literary arguments.

Discuss the significance of the Greek philosophers in language development.
An analysis of the preserved cuneiform writings.
Evaluate the origin of language theories.
Discuss the history of language in mythology.
An analysis of language translation.
A critical analysis of language development.
How speech impacts human interaction.
An analysis of modern communication evolution.
Discuss the history of written communication.
Analyze the different linguistics theories.
Why some dialects are challenging to learn.
What is structuralism in linguistics?
The effectiveness of mother tongue in linguistics.
The ancient relationship between French and English.
Is English considered indigenous?

15 Compelling Stylistics Linguistics Research Paper Topics

The following are interesting linguistics topics to help in crafting unique research papers. Peruse and pick one that suits your paper’s requirements.

Analyze the stylistic features of a business letter.
A comparative study of newspaper advertisement style.
An analysis of public speeches style
The forms and function of legal documents.
Discuss the functions of different newspaper genres.
The influence of ethnicity on linguistics.
Explore the effectiveness of spoken vs. written communication.
How effective is language translation?
Persuasive linguistics: An analysis of different strategies in politics.
The pros and cons of colonialism and the effects on African languages.
Discuss practical strategies for language acquisition.
Evaluate the social factors impacting language variation.
Discuss the various attitudes in society to language.
The impact of language on cultural identity.
The role of linguistics in different communities.

Having Problems with Your Paper? Our Experts Are Available 24/7

Research paper writing requires dedication in terms of time and effort. Most learners get stuck because of a lack of time and complex topics to handle. But with the correct strategy, you can simplify the entire composition. Let us look at some of the tips and tricks to help you compose an exceptional paper.

Read the essay prompt carefully

Take adequate time to acquaint yourself with the research prompt. What does your tutor expect from you? Read the assignment carefully before moving ahead with the research writing.

Choose a topic

Identify an appropriate topic through an extensive brainstorming exercise. It is pretty simple once you have the required themes in place.

Conduct comprehensive research

Carry out intense research on the topic you have selecting taking careful consideration about the relevant information. Use multiple trusted sources to extract adequate research content regarding the theme.

Develop a thesis

Organize your research and develop a powerful thesis statement. It gives your target audience an idea of the paper’s direction.

Design an outline

As per your paper requirements, design an appropriate outline that captures your entire research logically. Include an introduction, main body, and conclusion.

Writing process

Finally, start writing and make sure your arguments flow logically and clearly without any vague explanation in each paragraph.

Thorough editing and proofreading

Edit your work thoroughly and proofread for errors. Make sure it follows all the academic standard rules before turning in the paper to your tutor.

Need help with your research paper? Relax and let our qualified experts assist you in getting top-notch results. There is no need to struggle alone when our writers are available 24/7, ready to provide professional writing help. We have a team of skilled experts who are highly knowledgeable in diverse disciplines. Moreover, you will enjoy a personalized learning experience with our pro essay writers .

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55 Top-Rated Research Topics in Linguistics For an A+

The field of linguistics is one of the easiest yet challenging subjects for college and university students. Areas such as phonology, phonetics, syntax, morphology, and semantics in linguistics can keep you up all night.

That is why we came up with these quality language research topics.

What are the Linguistics Research Topics?

To understand this better, we’d have first to define the term linguistics.

Language in context ,
Language form, and
Language meaning.

The researcher will have to determine the interplay between sound and meaning when presented with this subject. A linguistics research paper will, therefore, deal with the following:

The nature of language
How human languages are classified
Tools used in language identification

Language entices researchers as it draws significant and sustained attention with the reader. With the numerous languages in the world now, you cannot miss finding an area or two to write on this topic.

However, we endeavor to make this task quick and easy for you by shooting up 55 research topics in linguistics.

How To Write Linguistic Topics For Your Dissertation

Are you having trouble coming up with a research topic for your research paper? Here are the top expert recommendations:

Brainstorm ideas on your own and with your friends
Pick a broad topic and free-write specific sub-topics on it
Get inspiration from other available linguistics research paper topics

After coming up with a topic that interests you, check to ensure that it meets your assignment criteria.

So let’s get started!

History of Language Research Topics

The contribution of Greek philosophers to language
Significance of the over 30,000 preserved cuneiform writings to language
Early speculations about the origin of language
The long history of language as rooted in mythology
Why the origin of language is an unanswerable problem
A critical analysis of theories that explain the origin and development of language

Argumentative College Linguistic Research Topics

Is language the only way we can use to communicate?
Does a brain injury have an impact on language?
Should we refer to the language as a mere system of symbols?
Do language disorders make it a difficult subject to study?
Does the mother tongue have an impact on efficient communication?
Should we learn two or more languages?

Linguistics Research Topics – Tough Questions

Why is there a similarity among many English and French words?
What makes people speak different languages?
Why does the mother tongue always interfere with one’s pronunciation?
What makes it possible for language translation?
Is sign language only a matter of making signs with the hands?
Why are some languages difficult to learn than others?

Sociolinguistic Research Topics

Social factors that necessitate language variation and varieties
What are the attitudes to language among different societies?
The relationship between language and identity
A critical evaluation of language and ethnicity
Analyzing language attrition among most English speakers
Distinct functions of language among different communities

Interesting Topics in Linguistics

Salient factors that contribute to language shift and death
Why nobody can claim to know a certain language in its entirety
Why is written communication more precise than spoken one?
Problems of ambiguity during language translation
Does language influence society, or vice versa, is it true?
The effectiveness of language support and subject teaching

Linguistics Paper Topics on Politics

Persuasive language strategies and techniques in political speeches
Why politicians use culturally used languages when addressing indigenous communities?
The place of colonial rule in African politics
A case study of effective political communication
Understanding the changing landscape of political communication
The use of buzz words and tag lines in political speeches

Linguistics Research Paper Topics on Semantics

How does meaning work in language analysis and interpretation?
How can the meanings of words relate to each other?
Ways in which sentences are related to one another
What causes ambiguity to arise in language?
How do different speakers acquire a sense of meaning?
A critical analysis of language use and language acquisition

Linguistic Topics on Translation

The role of the latest technologies in the translation industry
Is the translator training and pedagogy producing efficient translators?
Are translations the cause of misunderstanding between different languages?
What is the effectiveness of audiovisual translation?
Is literary translation causing more harm than good in communication?
What is the relationship between translation and popular culture?

Interesting Linguistics Topics on Language Disorders

Causes of receptive language disorders among children
Mental formation of language disorders during a child’s development
Symptoms of language disorder and how to deal with them
What is the effectiveness of psychotherapy in dealing with language disorders?
Why is autism spectrum disorder common among most children?
What causes problems with the sentence and word flow?
Why children of 1 and 2 years of age have trouble with p, b, m, h, and w sounds

For top grades, aim for a specific and original linguistic topic. If the task seems daunting and tedious to you, then professional thesis writing help is all you need. The service is available at cheap rates with guaranteed top quality.

Have a professional complete your linguistics research paper today!

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News and Comment

Time to revise the terminology we use to regulate water management practices.

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Is boredom a source of noise and/or a confound in behavioral science research?

Behavioral researchers tend to study behavior in highly controlled laboratory settings to minimize the effects of potential confounders. Yet, while doing so, the artificial setup itself might unintentionally introduce noise or confounders, such as boredom. In this perspective, we draw upon theoretical and empirical evidence to make the case that (a) some experimental setups are likely to induce boredom in participants, (b) the degree of boredom induced might differ between individuals as a function of differences in trait boredom, (c) boredom can impair participants’ attention, can make study participation more effortful, and can increase the urge to do something else (i.e., to disengage from the study). Most importantly, we argue that some participants might adjust their behavior because they are bored. Considering boredom’s potential for adding noise to data, or for being an unwanted confound, we discuss a set of recommendations on how to control for and deal with the occurrence and effects of boredom in behavioral science research.

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Exploration of the social and philosophical underpinning of ‘the patient’—what this means for people with a long-term condition

Should healthcare professionals use the term ‘patient’? A patient is a social construct, in a biomedical model, in which each actor has their role to play. This model has been criticised as belonging to an era of medical hegemony and (mis)represents an individual seeking healthcare as one who is simply a passive participant and recipient of care. The ‘Language Matters’ campaign, for people living with diabetes, has sought to address the role of language in interactions between healthcare providers. A key point raised in the campaign is whether someone who feels well, but has ongoing healthcare input, should be referred to as a patient? In this article, we address the concept of a patient and how its use can belie a particular mindset (or ‘discourse’) in which power is established in a relationship and can lead to individuals being defined by their condition. However, for some linguistic communities (such as nurses and doctors), a patient may be considered less as one over whom they have dominion, but rather someone for whom they have specific responsibilities and duty of care. Drawing upon the philosophical theories of language—that the meaning and inference of a word is dependent on its use—we argue that the context in which use of the term patient occurs is crucial. Without more fundamental cultural disruption of the biomedical model, word substitution, in itself, will not change perception.

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The usefulness of ChatGPT for psychotherapists and patients

ChatGPT is a chatbot based on a large language model. Its application possibilities are extensive, and it is freely accessible to all people, including psychotherapists and individuals with mental illnesses. Some blog posts about the possible use of ChatGPT as a psychotherapist or as a supplement to psychotherapy already exist. Based on three detailed chats, the author analyzed the chatbot’s responses to psychotherapists seeking assistance, to patients looking for support between psychotherapy sessions, during their psychotherapists’ vacations, and to people suffering from mental illnesses who are not yet in psychotherapy. The results suggest that ChatGPT offers an interesting complement to psychotherapy and an easily accessible, good (and currently free) place to go for people with mental-health problems who have not yet sought professional help and have no psychotherapeutic experience. The information is, however, one-sided, and in any future regulation of AI it must also be made clear that the proposals are not only insufficient as a psychotherapy substitute, but also have a bias that favors certain methods while not even mentioning other approaches that may be more helpful for some people.

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Top 50+ linguistics research topics for your paper.

Are you a student or a graduate of linguistics? If yes, there is no doubting the fact that research topics in linguistics are your bread and butter. You can escape them in school. Write within the confines of the topics in linguistics and get your grade without stress. However, linguistics is a wide field and it can be hard to pick one of the many linguistic topics for your research. Sometimes, the problem is not in picking a topic. The problem is that despite the wide scope of linguistics, you don’t know how to form linguistics research topics.

We noticed these problems with students and decided to help. Our solution is to compile a list of 50 linguistic research topics for linguistics students. These topics could form the basis of your linguistics research paper topics. You don’t have to worry anymore about topics for master thesis in linguistics. We have you covered for all English linguistics research topics. Let’s dive in!

Check Our 50 Linguistics Research Topics

There are linguistics research topics in abundance. If you search online, you would find more than a few examples. However, you need to know the aspect of linguistics you want to use for your linguistics paper topics. It would make no sense to have a list of thesis topics in applied linguistics and want to write on topics in cognitive linguistics. While they are all under the broad body of linguistics, they are quite different from each other.

So, the first step in finding the perfect linguistics essay topics is to choose the aspect of linguistics you want. After you have made a choice you can now look into linguistics topics in that aspect. We have made finding interesting linguistics topics in any aspect you chose easier by grouping our 50 linguistics research topics. All you have to do is search under the aspect of your choice.

Interesting Linguistics Research Topics

If you don’t only want to write a research paper but you want to find every minute of it intriguing, these interesting topics in linguistics are the ones for you.

What makes written communication more precise compared to spoken communication?
How to spot language disorders and deal with them
What contributes to the prevalent language shift and death in our society today?
The language of feminism: How formalized is it and how does it affect society?
Why is it impossible to claim to know a language entirely?
What salient factors cause ambiguity in language translation?
An in-depth analysis of feminism in Africa
Language vs Society: Which one influences the other? How does it affect the members?
How effective are subject teaching and language support?
What factors affect language choice in multilingual societies? (Study of selected communities)
The real functions of language

Linguistics Topics on Translation

If you want the latest research topics in applied linguistics, the topics under the following subheadings would help you. You just have to look for the aspect that you have an interest in and look at linguistics in that light.

How has technology affected translation at this age and time?
Is translation the cause of misunderstandings between speakers of different languages?
How effective is an audiovisual translation in revolutionizing the translation industry?
Does literal translation do more harm than good?
How has the translator training and pedagogy faired in the production of efficient translators?
How does translation relate to popular culture?

Translation is essential in this century with people of different languages communicating and coming together in a global economy. These topics look into the issues that translation encounter at this time.

Linguistics Topics on Politics

Politics is an ever-present phenomenon in any society. These dissertation topics in linguistics examine the issues surrounding language in the field of politics. We have explained samples of Ph.D. thesis topics in linguistics in this field.

The reality of hate speech in selected communities
The use of persuasive language strategies and tools in political speech
How colonial rule affected African politics and language
Why do politicians use indigenous languages to address communities?
A critical analysis of the changing political communication landscape
Effective political communication: A case study of selected politicians
How tag lines and buzz words are used to enhance political speeches

Sociolinguistics Research Topics

This aspect of linguistics examines how issues surrounding how language works in society. These research topics for English linguistics focus on how people in society use language and its effects on society.

What are the social factors that necessitate language varieties?
How does language affect identity?
An in-depth analysis of language attrition common to most English speakers
A critical evaluation of the difference in attitudes towards language in different societies
The differences in language functions in selected communities
How ethnicity affect language and vice versa

Argumentative Linguistics Research Topics

These topics in linguistics for research papers argue on issues surrounding language. You can use these topics if you want to show different sides of an argument in your research.

Is language the best way to communicate?
Can we say that language is merely a system of symbols
Do language disorders cause difficulties in the study of language?
Does brain injury lead to issues in language capacities?
Do mother tongue inflection and accent impact efficient communication?
Is it advisable to learn more than one language?

Linguistics Research Topics on History

Language was not a concept that started a few years ago. People have been communicating for centuries and centuries. These topics look at the history of language, sometimes about this age.

How Greek philosophy contributes to language
What are the early speculations scientists had about the origin of language?
Analysis of the history of language as explained in mythology
How do the 3,000 preserved cuneiform writings affect language?
A critical evaluation of different theories on the origin and development of language
Why has the question of language origin remained unanswerable?

Linguistics Research Topics on Semantics

Language is nothing without meaning. These interesting linguistic topics show how meaning and language mix and relate. You can research any one of these topics to understand how this field.

How does meaning affect language analysis and interpretation?
What is the major cause of language ambiguity?
How do sentences relate to one another?
How do speakers of different languages acquire a sense of meaning in conversation?
How can the meaning of words relate?
An in-depth analysis into how language is used and acquired in different communities

Tough Linguistics Research Topics

Do all the topics above seem too easy for you? Do you want something more challenging? We have a few topics for you. These topics would give you that challenge you want. Ensure that you do enough research on topics before you embark on them.

Why do people speak different languages?
What makes language translation possible?
What makes some languages harder to learn than others?
Why are English and French words similar?
Why does the mother tongue always affect pronunciation?
Does sign language only involve the hands?

How to Choose A Perfect Linguistics Topic for You

There are different aspects of linguistics. If you check online, you would find linguistic anthropology research topics, computational linguistics research topics, and much more. However, not all these aspects of linguistics would be perfect for your dissertation or thesis.

In selecting or creating the perfect linguistic topic for you, here are some of the tips from our experts in paper writing you should take into consideration.

Pick an aspect that interest you . Linguistics apply to different walks of life. Therefore, there are varied topics for your linguistics research. It can make choosing a topic quite stressful. What you do is find what interests you and find topics in that aspect. Start by looking for a broad aspect then narrow it down to a part of the field. For instance, you can start with applied linguistics and move on to linguistics in politics.
Brainstorm with friends . After you have chosen the aspect you like, you can pick a list of topics in linguistics for research papers and bounce off ideas from the topics with your friends. You can even write out your ideas from your brainstorming and ask your friends what they think about them. The topic that you notice that you and your friends keep going back to is possibly the best one for you. If you find a lot of things to talk about it, you would possibly find a lot of things to write about it.
Research the topics . Talk is cheap though. If you want to write on a topic, ensure that there are enough materials to support your claims. After you and your friends decide on a topic, research the topic before you start writing. Once you find that there are enough materials, you can start.

Linguistics has different aspects. If you check online and on our list, you would find different topics in these aspects, including topics related to linguistic diversity. Follow our guide and list to find the best linguistic topic for you!

100+ Compelling Linguistics Research Topics for University Students

Confused while selecting the interesting linguistics research topics to pen down your thoughts on a piece of paper? So, bounce back to this article and pick the best linguistics research paper topics and boost your grades.

Un-layering the essence of teaching-learning methodology demonstrates the development of linguistic theories. Linguistics is a science of language in which fact-finding is done through some rational and systematic study. While digging into the information about the history of linguistics, two perspectives on languages are unveiled: prescriptive and descriptive views.

The linguistic analysis uncovers the following areas: phonetics, phonology, syntax, morphology, semantics, and pragmatics. Furthermore, the scrutinization of linguistics helps you to know about every aspect of languages as well as methods for studying them.

Table of Contents

How To Choose the Right Linguistics Research Topics?

Stress work is the indication of degraded academic performance and lower grades even if we talk about a linguistics research paper. Make your every endeavor effective and energetic by applying the right strategy. Therefore, make the right selection for your academic writing that starts from the interesting topic selection in linguistics.

Moreover, take advantage of research paper help and discuss your concerns with professional writers. As a suggestion, you can choose the right linguistics research topics by keeping the following points in your mind:

Find your interest: Linguistics uncover various aspects of language learning and allow you to expand your mind capabilities. So, try to explore the depth of the subject and find your area of interest. It will make your academic writing more interesting and enthralling.

Brainstorm the ideas: Picking the interesting linguistics topics demands your knowledge and expertise. Therefore, you need to take the advantage of brainstorming and collect various ideas to explore the concept of linguistics.

Perform pensive research : When you are keen to score high marks, you need to have sufficient knowledge. Conduct insightful research and uncover the pensive ideas for your research paper topics in linguistics.

Interesting Topics in Linguistics

Linguistics is the foundation of language knowledge. Linguistics theories indeed are interrelated to learning the English language. When you have to boost your grades, your selection for linguistics research paper topics makes a huge difference. Some of the interesting linguistics research topics are:

Explain the significance of music in the evolution of language.
Does age really impact English pronunciation?
What is the role of sociolinguistics education in creating discipline?
What is the significance of language in creating teaching methodology?
Analysis of verbal and written communication based on language usage.
Is it important to have expertise in several languages?
Explain the issues related to receptive language disorder and its impact on brain development.
How do you correlate sentence-making and word flow in linguistics?
Discuss the comparability between English and French languages.
Factors responsible for different spoken languages.
The impact of slang in the development of languages.
Is text messaging creating a revolutionary subculture in the new linguistic scenario?
How are linguistic patterns helpful in locating migration roadways?
What are factors affecting the capability of learning a language?
Explain the role of language in building a national identity for developing a multicultural society.
Digital Revolution: impact of computers in modern language
A systematic review on vowel pronunciation in the American Schools.
Significance of language in creating cross-cultural communities: A comprehensive review
Elucidate the impact of language on one’s perception.
Textual and Linguistic analysis for housing studies.

Stimulating Research Paper Topics In Sociolinguistics

While seeking linguistics research topics for your assignments or research paper, you may find sociolinguistics interesting to explore. Sociolinguistics demonstrates the impact of language on our society. When you are keen to explore the effect of language in different aspects of society (including cultural values and expectations), you need to do an in-depth analysis of sociolinguistics.

For building a good foundation on sociolinguistics, you can select the following linguistics paper topics:

How would you define linguistic practices in specific communities?
An elaborative approach for code-switching and code-mixing
Explain the impact of dialect on gender.
A correlational study to share the relationship between language, social class, and cognition.
In-depth study of interactional sociolinguistics in the 21st Century.
A comprehensive analysis on accountability and aptness of dialect.
Evaluate the education of language in the U.S.
The role of languages in controlling emotions.
Effectiveness of verbal communication in expressing one’s feelings: A competitive analysis.
A literature review on communication with a precise comparison of verbal and non-verbal communication
Difference between advanced placement (AP) English literature and language.
What is the relationship between language and one’s personality?
A critical analysis on the relation of language and ethnicity.
Describe the attitudes to various languages among societies.
A comprehensive approach on dialect variations in American English-speaking people.
Scrutinize linguistic variation on language loyalty.
Develop a good understanding of sociological variations to languages.
Impact of the generation gap on language usage.
Examine the impact of various factors (social tension, media, racism, and entertainment) on the utilization of languages.
Is there a difference between linguistic practices among men and women?

Also, Read: 150+ Business Research Topics

Interesting Research Topics in Applied Linguistics

Are you looking for linguistics research topics to advance your learning abilities? In such a case, you have to learn about “Applied Linguistics.” It is the branch of linguistics in which one can understand the practical applications of language studies such as speech therapy, language teaching, and more.

In other words, applied linguistics offers solutions to deal with language-related real-life problems. Imperative academic areas where you can find the applications of applied linguistics are psychology, education, sociology, communication research, and anthropology. Some applied linguistics research paper topics:

Discuss the expansion of learning a second language through reading.
Share your learning on the critical period hypothesis for the acquisition of the second language.
Impact of bilingualism on an individual’s personality.
Linguistics evaluation on the difference between written and spoken language.
Describe language cognition and perceptions in a learning process.
Impact of language barriers on healthcare delivery.
Detailed analysis on various methodologies to learn applied linguistics.
Discuss the relationship between empathy and language proficiency in learners of adult language.
Detailed analysis on multilingualism and multiculturalism.
Impact of extended instructions on the use of passive voices, modals, and relative clauses: A critical analysis.
Explain digitally-mediated collaborative writing for ESL students.
How do we evaluate self-efficacy in students who speak low-level English language?
Elucidate the significance of phrasal verbs in creating technical documents.
Expectations of American Students while taking Japanese language classes.
A detailed study on American deaf students in English as a Non-Native Language (ENNL) classes.
How do you understand by modeling music with Grammars?
The cognitive development of expertise as an ESL teacher: An insightful analysis.
Sound Effects: Gender, Age, and Sound symbolism in American English.
Importance of applied linguistics in today’s digital world.

Also, Read: Modern Literature

Interesting Research Topics in Semantics

The study of reference, meaning, and the truth is covered under semantics or semiotics, or semasiology. A comprehensive analysis of semantics reflects the essence of compositional semantics and lexical semantics. The combination of words and their interaction to form larger experiences like sentences comes under compositional semantics. Whereas, the notion of words is shared under lexical semantics.

Some academic disciplines in linguistic semantics are conceptual semantics, cognitive semantics, formal semantics, computational semantics, and more. Linguistic research paper topics on Semantics are as follows:

Examine meaning work in language interpretation and scrutinization
A critical evaluation of language acquisition and language use.
Challenges in the study of semantic and pragmatic theory.
Discuss semantics lessons and paragraph structure in written language.
How do you explain the semantic richness effects in the recognition of visual words?
How richness of semantics affects the processing of a language.
Semantic generation to action-related stimuli: A neuroanatomical evaluation of embodied cognition.
Examine the understanding of blind children for reading phonological and tactual coding in Braille.
Explain a semantic typology of gradable predicates.
A comparison of between blind and sighted children’s memory performance: the reverse-generation effect.
Clinical research for designing medical decision support systems.
Discuss word recognition processes in blind and sighted children.
A corpus-based study on argumentative indicators.
The typology of modality in modern West Iranian languages.
A critical analysis on changes in naming and semantic abilities in different age groups.
Explain the multidimensional semantics of evaluative adverbs.
A comprehensive analysis on procedural meaning: problems and perspectives.
Cross-cultural and cross-linguistic perspectives on figurative language.
Elucidate semantic and pragmatic problems in discourse and dialogue.

Topics For Linguistics Essays

A curiosity of exploring the various concepts in linguistics leads you to work on essays. Projecting your thoughts in writing linguistics essays makes you understand the structure and changes in human languages. In a case, if you are searching for the best topics in linguistics, go through the following list of linguistics essays:

Difference between human language and artificial language.
Classification of writing systems based on various stages of development.
The laws of language development
Culture and language: impact on reflections.
Methodology of reading and writing for children by Albert James.
Significance of phoneme and phonological matters
The complexity of human language: the specific cases of the apes
Explain the development of languages and derivational morphology.
Detailed analysis on language extinction.
Investigate the peculiarities of English-Chinese and Chinese-English translations.
A comprehensive overview on the acquisition of English as a second language by Mid-Eastern students.
Discuss semiology in language analysis.
Impact of blogging on learning languages.
Linguistics: grammar and language teaching.
English Language: Explain its standard and non-standard types.
Discuss speech community as linguistic anthropology.
A systematic review on linguistic diversity in modern culture.
Similarities and differences between language and logic.
What is the impact of language on digital communication?
Listening comprehension: a comparative analysis of the articles.

Computational Linguistics Research Topics

Analysis and synthesis of language and speech using the techniques of computer science share the significance of computational linguistics. This branch of linguistics reflects the study of computational modeling of natural language. It also describes the computational approaches to answering the linguistic questions.

Under computational linguistics, you can explore different concepts such as artificial intelligence, mathematics, computer science, cognitive science, neuroscience, anthropology. More interesting computational linguistics research topics are:

Explain the factors measuring the performance of speech recognition.
Discuss word sense disambiguation.
Detailed analysis on dependency parsing based on graphs and transitions.
A multidimensional analysis on linguistic dimensions
Analyze Medieval German poetry through supervised learning.
Extraction of Danish verbs.
Analysis of Schizophrenia text dataset.
An intra-lingual contrastive corpus analysis based on computational linguistics.
Discuss various methods to introduce, create, and conclude a text.

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Language and Social Interaction Research Paper Topics

Accounting Research
Action-Implicative Discourse Analysis
Apologies and Remedial Episodes
Argumentative Discourse
Broadcast Talk
Business Discourse
Cognitive Approaches to Discourse
Communication Accommodation Theory
Communities of Practice
Conversation Analysis
Deception in Discourse
Design Theory
Discourse in the Law
Discourse Markers
Discursive Psychology
Doctor–Patient Talk
Emotion and Discourse
English-Only Movements
Erving Goffman
Ethnography of Communication
Ethnomethodology
Gaze in Interaction
Gender and Discourse
Gestures in Discourse
Identities and Discourse
Interactional Sociolinguistics
Intimate Talk with Family and Friends
Language and Social Psychology
Language Varieties
Linguistic Pragmatics
Meta-Discourse
Microethnography
Mikhail Bakhtin
Power and Discourse
Public Meetings
Questions and Questioning
Small Talk and Gossip
Speech Codes Theory
Storytelling and Narration
Support Talk
Technologically Mediated Discourse
Telephone Talk
Transcribing and Transcription
Voice, Prosody, and Laughter

Approaches to Language and Social Interaction

Approaches to LSI come in flavors. The three most prominent are: (1) Conversation Analysis (CA): Developed by sociologist Harvey Sacks (1992), CA is committed to building an observational science of social life. CA’s first step is to collect tapes of ordinary talk and create detailed transcripts that capture as many features of talk as possible. Then CA seeks to identify interaction patterns. (2) Ethnography of Communication (EOC): Extending the anthropological work of Dell Hymes, EOC shows how a community of people speak, interpret others’ actions, and, more broadly, understand what it means to be a person and have relationships. Gerry Philipsen’s (1975) study of ways to “speak like a man” in a working-class Chicago community was key in bringing the EOC tradition to communication.

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(3) The third tradition, Discourse Analysis (DA), is actually better thought of as an umbrella for multiple LSI approaches that are neither conversation analysis nor EOC. DA includes Discursive Psychology, an approach initially developed by Jonathan Potter and colleagues that explores how everyday psychological terms are used and how psychological matters are managed rhetorically. Two DA approaches developed by communication scholars are “Action-implicative Discourse Analysis,” developed by Karen Tracy, which focuses on explicating the problems of a practice, the conversational strategies of key participants, and participants’ normative beliefs about good conduct; and “Design Theory,” developed by Mark Aakhus and Sally Jackson, which integrates linguistic pragmatic ideas and ideas from argument theory to consider how participation and conduct in a range of communicative practices ought to be designed.

In addition to the above most prominent approaches LSI research is informed by ideas from communities of practice, a tradition developed by Jean Lave and Etienne Wenger that studies how people pursue a common activity; “speech acts theory” developed by philosopher John Austin to dispute other philosophers who treated the purpose of language as making representational statements about the world; “politeness theories,” which explains why communicators deviate from maximally efficient communication, of which Brown and Levinson’s version is the most well-known; and “Critical Discourse Analysis” (Tracy et al. 2011), which studies texts, usually written ones, with the goal of exposing how power gets naturalized and how discourse practices are marshaled to suggest objectivity while all the time systematically advantaging those who have power. Finally, the ideas of Mikhail Bakhtin, who wrote in the early years of the twentieth century, have been influential, especially his notion of the utterance as the basic unit of interaction. LSI work has primarily been interested in what happens in interaction among people – not what goes on in their minds, but this scholarly tendency has been changing in recent years.

Basic Concepts and Findings

LSI examines people talking with others in a range of social occasions to accomplish complementary and antagonistic purposes. LSI studies typically accomplish three things: (1) they identify distinctive features of language and/or interaction; (2) they describe the interpersonal, organizational, or political functions that talk is serving; and (3) they show how the particulars of (1) and (2) come together to create interactional sites that are communicatively distinctive.

(1) Among the features of language dialect has received particular attention from researchers. When people speak a language, they always speak a particular dialect or variety of it whether the language be Korean or English. Features of pronunciation and grammar, for instance, are used differently by communicators of different geographic regions. Another small bit of talk that is ubiquitous, likely to appear at interactionally sensitive moments, is the metadiscursive comment. Metadiscourse labels communicative acts (e.g., ‘an argument’) and makes visible speakers’ beliefs about how communication is working. If one were to tally what aspects of talk have been studied particularly extensively, the most researched unit would undoubtedly be questions (Freed & Ehrlich 2010). Besides the rather obvious goal of gaining information, questions are how speakers claim status for self or give deference to the conversational partner. Another interesting, multipurpose unit of talk is the narrative. Narratives are extended talk units and they are often used to do sensitive actions such as disagreeing, giving advice, or advancing an argument.

(2) By and large LSI researchers have been especially interested in understanding how people design and vary speech acts that are sensitive. Studied acts have included directives, apologies, and accounts. Although information giving is recognized as an important function of talk, it is the less visible functions that have been given the most attention. Less obvious functions include the way talk in workplace settings strengthens bonds of connection among people or gives support for managing difficult moments. ‘Supportive talk,’ for example, is designed to avoid offending, and LSI scholars have been interested in design features of this kind of talk. Another function of talk is identity-work (Tracy & Robles 2013). A speaker’s talk inevitably presents the kind of person the speaker is and altercasts the other as well.

Of all the kinds of identity that have been examined, none has received as much attention as what it means to talk like a woman or a man. Much recent work shows how the performance of gender is strongly shaped by a speaker’s social class, race, and national culture. LSI scholars also see it as important to problematize generalizations about power. Among the vast number of talk features that could be attributed to power differences, they might also be accomplishing different functions. When we attend to discourse functions at societal and institutional levels, we notice a range of different aims served by talk, with one being the enactment of democracy; it is through talk that democracy touches down and becomes a concrete practice.

(3) Interaction has a distinctive shape and set of problems in each institutional setting. Healthcare settings have been studied extensively, as have courtroom discourse, broadcast talk, and political exchange. Ilie (2010), for instance, examined the discourse strategies of speakers in European parliaments. Language and social interaction is a distinctive area of communication study. Its trademark is the use of excerpts of talk to make claims about important units of interaction, the structure of social action, how identities and institutions are constructed, how culture is displayed discursively, and so on.

References:

Fitch, K. & Sanders, R. E. (eds.) (2005). Handbook of language and social interaction. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Freed, A. F. & Ehrlich, S. (eds.) (2010). “Why do you ask?” The functions of questions in institutional discourse. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Ilie, C. (2010). European parliaments under scrutiny: Discourse strategies and interaction practices. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Philipsen, G. (1975). Speaking “like a man” in Teamsterville: Cultural patterns of role enactment in an urban neighborhood. Quarterly Journal of Speech, 61, 13–22.
Sacks, H. (1992). Lectures on conversation. Oxford: Blackwell.
Tracy, K., Martinez-Guillem, S., Robles, J. S., & Casteline, K. E. (2011). Critical discourse analysis and (US) communication scholarship: Recovering old connections, envisioning new ones. In C. Salmon (ed.), Communication yearbook 35. Los Angeles, CA: Sage, pp. 239–286.
Tracy, K, and Robles, J. S. (2013). Everyday talk: Building and reflecting identities, 2nd edn. New York: Guilford.

Back to Communication Research Paper Topics .

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Key Topics in Second Language Acquisition

Vivian Cook and David Singleton
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Language: English
Publisher: Multilingual Matters
Copyright year: 2014
Main content: 168
Published: April 2, 2014
ISBN: 9781783091812

Choose Your Test

Sat / act prep online guides and tips, 113 great research paper topics.

General Education

One of the hardest parts of writing a research paper can be just finding a good topic to write about. Fortunately we've done the hard work for you and have compiled a list of 113 interesting research paper topics. They've been organized into ten categories and cover a wide range of subjects so you can easily find the best topic for you.

In addition to the list of good research topics, we've included advice on what makes a good research paper topic and how you can use your topic to start writing a great paper.

What Makes a Good Research Paper Topic?

Not all research paper topics are created equal, and you want to make sure you choose a great topic before you start writing. Below are the three most important factors to consider to make sure you choose the best research paper topics.

#1: It's Something You're Interested In

A paper is always easier to write if you're interested in the topic, and you'll be more motivated to do in-depth research and write a paper that really covers the entire subject. Even if a certain research paper topic is getting a lot of buzz right now or other people seem interested in writing about it, don't feel tempted to make it your topic unless you genuinely have some sort of interest in it as well.

#2: There's Enough Information to Write a Paper

Even if you come up with the absolute best research paper topic and you're so excited to write about it, you won't be able to produce a good paper if there isn't enough research about the topic. This can happen for very specific or specialized topics, as well as topics that are too new to have enough research done on them at the moment. Easy research paper topics will always be topics with enough information to write a full-length paper.

Trying to write a research paper on a topic that doesn't have much research on it is incredibly hard, so before you decide on a topic, do a bit of preliminary searching and make sure you'll have all the information you need to write your paper.

#3: It Fits Your Teacher's Guidelines

Don't get so carried away looking at lists of research paper topics that you forget any requirements or restrictions your teacher may have put on research topic ideas. If you're writing a research paper on a health-related topic, deciding to write about the impact of rap on the music scene probably won't be allowed, but there may be some sort of leeway. For example, if you're really interested in current events but your teacher wants you to write a research paper on a history topic, you may be able to choose a topic that fits both categories, like exploring the relationship between the US and North Korea. No matter what, always get your research paper topic approved by your teacher first before you begin writing.

113 Good Research Paper Topics

Below are 113 good research topics to help you get you started on your paper. We've organized them into ten categories to make it easier to find the type of research paper topics you're looking for.

Arts/Culture

Discuss the main differences in art from the Italian Renaissance and the Northern Renaissance .
Analyze the impact a famous artist had on the world.
How is sexism portrayed in different types of media (music, film, video games, etc.)? Has the amount/type of sexism changed over the years?
How has the music of slaves brought over from Africa shaped modern American music?
How has rap music evolved in the past decade?
How has the portrayal of minorities in the media changed?

Current Events

What have been the impacts of China's one child policy?
How have the goals of feminists changed over the decades?
How has the Trump presidency changed international relations?
Analyze the history of the relationship between the United States and North Korea.
What factors contributed to the current decline in the rate of unemployment?
What have been the impacts of states which have increased their minimum wage?
How do US immigration laws compare to immigration laws of other countries?
How have the US's immigration laws changed in the past few years/decades?
How has the Black Lives Matter movement affected discussions and view about racism in the US?
What impact has the Affordable Care Act had on healthcare in the US?
What factors contributed to the UK deciding to leave the EU (Brexit)?
What factors contributed to China becoming an economic power?
Discuss the history of Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies (some of which tokenize the S&P 500 Index on the blockchain) .
Do students in schools that eliminate grades do better in college and their careers?
Do students from wealthier backgrounds score higher on standardized tests?
Do students who receive free meals at school get higher grades compared to when they weren't receiving a free meal?
Do students who attend charter schools score higher on standardized tests than students in public schools?
Do students learn better in same-sex classrooms?
How does giving each student access to an iPad or laptop affect their studies?
What are the benefits and drawbacks of the Montessori Method ?
Do children who attend preschool do better in school later on?
What was the impact of the No Child Left Behind act?
How does the US education system compare to education systems in other countries?
What impact does mandatory physical education classes have on students' health?
Which methods are most effective at reducing bullying in schools?
Do homeschoolers who attend college do as well as students who attended traditional schools?
Does offering tenure increase or decrease quality of teaching?
How does college debt affect future life choices of students?
Should graduate students be able to form unions?

What are different ways to lower gun-related deaths in the US?
How and why have divorce rates changed over time?
Is affirmative action still necessary in education and/or the workplace?
Should physician-assisted suicide be legal?
How has stem cell research impacted the medical field?
How can human trafficking be reduced in the United States/world?
Should people be able to donate organs in exchange for money?
Which types of juvenile punishment have proven most effective at preventing future crimes?
Has the increase in US airport security made passengers safer?
Analyze the immigration policies of certain countries and how they are similar and different from one another.
Several states have legalized recreational marijuana. What positive and negative impacts have they experienced as a result?
Do tariffs increase the number of domestic jobs?
Which prison reforms have proven most effective?
Should governments be able to censor certain information on the internet?
Which methods/programs have been most effective at reducing teen pregnancy?
What are the benefits and drawbacks of the Keto diet?
How effective are different exercise regimes for losing weight and maintaining weight loss?
How do the healthcare plans of various countries differ from each other?
What are the most effective ways to treat depression ?
What are the pros and cons of genetically modified foods?
Which methods are most effective for improving memory?
What can be done to lower healthcare costs in the US?
What factors contributed to the current opioid crisis?
Analyze the history and impact of the HIV/AIDS epidemic .
Are low-carbohydrate or low-fat diets more effective for weight loss?
How much exercise should the average adult be getting each week?
Which methods are most effective to get parents to vaccinate their children?
What are the pros and cons of clean needle programs?
How does stress affect the body?
Discuss the history of the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians.
What were the causes and effects of the Salem Witch Trials?
Who was responsible for the Iran-Contra situation?
How has New Orleans and the government's response to natural disasters changed since Hurricane Katrina?
What events led to the fall of the Roman Empire?
What were the impacts of British rule in India ?
Was the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki necessary?
What were the successes and failures of the women's suffrage movement in the United States?
What were the causes of the Civil War?
How did Abraham Lincoln's assassination impact the country and reconstruction after the Civil War?
Which factors contributed to the colonies winning the American Revolution?
What caused Hitler's rise to power?
Discuss how a specific invention impacted history.
What led to Cleopatra's fall as ruler of Egypt?
How has Japan changed and evolved over the centuries?
What were the causes of the Rwandan genocide ?

Why did Martin Luther decide to split with the Catholic Church?
Analyze the history and impact of a well-known cult (Jonestown, Manson family, etc.)
How did the sexual abuse scandal impact how people view the Catholic Church?
How has the Catholic church's power changed over the past decades/centuries?
What are the causes behind the rise in atheism/ agnosticism in the United States?
What were the influences in Siddhartha's life resulted in him becoming the Buddha?
How has media portrayal of Islam/Muslims changed since September 11th?

Science/Environment

How has the earth's climate changed in the past few decades?
How has the use and elimination of DDT affected bird populations in the US?
Analyze how the number and severity of natural disasters have increased in the past few decades.
Analyze deforestation rates in a certain area or globally over a period of time.
How have past oil spills changed regulations and cleanup methods?
How has the Flint water crisis changed water regulation safety?
What are the pros and cons of fracking?
What impact has the Paris Climate Agreement had so far?
What have NASA's biggest successes and failures been?
How can we improve access to clean water around the world?
Does ecotourism actually have a positive impact on the environment?
Should the US rely on nuclear energy more?
What can be done to save amphibian species currently at risk of extinction?
What impact has climate change had on coral reefs?
How are black holes created?
Are teens who spend more time on social media more likely to suffer anxiety and/or depression?
How will the loss of net neutrality affect internet users?
Analyze the history and progress of self-driving vehicles.
How has the use of drones changed surveillance and warfare methods?
Has social media made people more or less connected?
What progress has currently been made with artificial intelligence ?
Do smartphones increase or decrease workplace productivity?
What are the most effective ways to use technology in the classroom?
How is Google search affecting our intelligence?
When is the best age for a child to begin owning a smartphone?
Has frequent texting reduced teen literacy rates?

How to Write a Great Research Paper

Even great research paper topics won't give you a great research paper if you don't hone your topic before and during the writing process. Follow these three tips to turn good research paper topics into great papers.

#1: Figure Out Your Thesis Early

Before you start writing a single word of your paper, you first need to know what your thesis will be. Your thesis is a statement that explains what you intend to prove/show in your paper. Every sentence in your research paper will relate back to your thesis, so you don't want to start writing without it!

As some examples, if you're writing a research paper on if students learn better in same-sex classrooms, your thesis might be "Research has shown that elementary-age students in same-sex classrooms score higher on standardized tests and report feeling more comfortable in the classroom."

If you're writing a paper on the causes of the Civil War, your thesis might be "While the dispute between the North and South over slavery is the most well-known cause of the Civil War, other key causes include differences in the economies of the North and South, states' rights, and territorial expansion."

#2: Back Every Statement Up With Research

Remember, this is a research paper you're writing, so you'll need to use lots of research to make your points. Every statement you give must be backed up with research, properly cited the way your teacher requested. You're allowed to include opinions of your own, but they must also be supported by the research you give.

#3: Do Your Research Before You Begin Writing

You don't want to start writing your research paper and then learn that there isn't enough research to back up the points you're making, or, even worse, that the research contradicts the points you're trying to make!

Get most of your research on your good research topics done before you begin writing. Then use the research you've collected to create a rough outline of what your paper will cover and the key points you're going to make. This will help keep your paper clear and organized, and it'll ensure you have enough research to produce a strong paper.

What's Next?

Are you also learning about dynamic equilibrium in your science class? We break this sometimes tricky concept down so it's easy to understand in our complete guide to dynamic equilibrium .

Thinking about becoming a nurse practitioner? Nurse practitioners have one of the fastest growing careers in the country, and we have all the information you need to know about what to expect from nurse practitioner school .

Want to know the fastest and easiest ways to convert between Fahrenheit and Celsius? We've got you covered! Check out our guide to the best ways to convert Celsius to Fahrenheit (or vice versa).

These recommendations are based solely on our knowledge and experience. If you purchase an item through one of our links, PrepScholar may receive a commission.

Christine graduated from Michigan State University with degrees in Environmental Biology and Geography and received her Master's from Duke University. In high school she scored in the 99th percentile on the SAT and was named a National Merit Finalist. She has taught English and biology in several countries.

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Strategies for overcoming language barriers in research

Allison squires.

1 Rory Meyers College of Nursing, New York University, New York City, New York

2 School of Medicine, New York University, New York City, New York

Tina Sadarangani

Simon jones.

3 Population Health, School of Medicine, New York University, New York City, New York

AS, TS and SJ: Made substantial contributions to conception and design, or acquisition of data, or analysis and interpretation of data. AS, TS and SJ: Involved in drafting the manuscript or revising it critically for important intellectual content. AS, TS and SJ: Given final approval of the version to be published. Each author should have participated sufficiently in the work to take public responsibility for appropriate portions of the content. AS, TS and SJ: Agreed to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.

This paper seeks to describe best practices for conducting cross-language research with individuals who have a language barrier.

Discussion paper.

Data Sources

Research methods papers addressing cross-language research issues published between 2000–2017.

Implications for Nursing

Rigorous cross-language research involves the appropriate use of interpreters during the research process, systematic planning for how to address the language barrier between participant and researcher and the use of reliably and validly translated survey instruments (when applicable). Biases rooted in those who enter data into “big data” systems may influence data quality and analytic approaches in large observational studies focused on linking patient language preference to health outcomes.

Cross-language research methods can help ensure that those individuals with language barriers have their voices contributing to the evidence informing healthcare practice and policies that shape health services implementation and financing. Understanding the inherent conscious and unconscious biases of those conducting research with this population and how this may emerge in research studies is also an important part of producing rigorous, reliable, and valid cross-language research.

This study synthesized methodological recommendations for cross-language research studies with the goal to improve the quality of future research and expand the evidence-base for clinical practice.
Clear methodological recommendations were generated that can improve research rigor and quality of cross-language qualitative and quantitative studies.
The recommendations generated here have the potential to have an impact on the health and well-being of migrants around the world.

1. INTRODUCTION

Global migration has reached unprecedented levels in human history in the twenty-first century, with 3.3% of the world’s population having migrated internationally and 740 million people have migrated in their own countries ( International Organization for Migration, 2017 ). Medical tourism is also on the rise and language concordance is not always a guarantee between nurses and their patients in those cases ( Kanchanachitra et al., 2011 ; Reitig & Squires, 2015 ). For nurses and other healthcare researchers, migration creates a common challenge for healthcare research: language barriers.

Individuals with language barriers present new opportunities and challenges for researchers seeking to strengthen the evidence-base for clinical nursing practice and education around the world. Research with this population is also critical for understanding health outcomes, how individuals who have moved countries access (or the barriers to) health services and developing and testing effective strategies for health literacy promotion to name a few. Research will also help ensure that individuals with language barriers do not face discrimination in their health systems and subsequently develop costly health disparities.

It is surprising, however, how many researchers do not minimize the threats to research rigor posed by language barriers with their subjects. Patient and health services focused research on language barriers has historically been lacking and limited to a small group of researchers globally, even as incentives for such research have appeared in many countries ( Schwei et al., 2016 ). In the case of nursing, the literature has focused more on researching the language skills (or lack thereof) of internationally educated nurses rather than their patients ( Allan & Westwood, 2016 ; Müller, 2016 ). A cursory search of PubMed and CINAHL reveal that publications linked to nurses about language barriers since the year 2000 number, after removal of duplicates, only 280 of 303. Approximately one third of those are practice-based papers not involving research, editorials, or opinions—the lowest level of the evidence-based practice pyramid. Whilst there may be more publications, inappropriate use of key words may keep many hidden from systematic searches.

In this discussion paper, we draw from an international, interdisciplinary body of research that has explored and successfully addressed methodological challenges of qualitative and quantitative research involving language barriers in health care, known as cross-language research methods. We seek to highlight the key methodological implications of doing research involving language barriers by drawing from methodological developments in the literature since the year 2000 through 20,217—a period representing unprecedented growth in scientific studies and cross-language methodological developments. Both qualitative and quantitative methodological implications are reviewed from selected studies.

2. BACKGROUND

This section provides an overview of two key areas associated with cross-language research in nursing: language barriers and interpreter types. It aims to provide the reader with a basic conceptual understanding of core linguistic principles involved with addressing language barriers in research.

2.1. Language barriers in nursing and health care

Language barriers have been part of nursing practice since the formal inception of the profession in the nineteenth century when Nightingale was caring for soldiers from across Europe during the Crimean War. In the twenty-first century with global migration rates at record levels, language barriers present multiple challenges for health systems delivery ( Bloemraad & Sheares, 2017 ; Czaika & de Haas, 2013 ).

Research is needed to devise the best, context specific strategies for meeting the needs of patients with language barriers. Conducting research in a patient’s preferred language offers the best opportunity to truly capture reliable and valid results representative of their experiences. A preferred language is the person’s “language of the heart”, the one that they want to speak when they feel at their most vulnerable. The conduct of research when a language barrier is involved has two aspects. First, understanding linguistic competency and literacy of participants and planning the study around those factors. The second aspect focuses on addressing the language of health care and research itself, known as language for specific purposes (LSP).

First, to be able to communicate effectively with another person individuals need to have what linguists call discourse competence in a language. That means they can have a conversation with someone relatively easily and do not have to stop and look up words or phrases ( Danesi, 1996 ; Savignon, 1997 ; Squires, 2008 ). For example, immigrant children may have this level of language competence, but they usually lack a more sophisticated understanding of the language since most of the time, they do not receive formal education in their parents’ language. They will not have the vocabulary to speak “health care” either. They are known as “heritage” speakers of a language ( Montrul, 2010 ).

Health care, as we know, is its own language and fits the criteria of a language for a specific purpose ( Hull, 2016 ). LSP is the vernacular of the discipline. The professions all have their own language as do the different realms of the social sciences. When students study to become members of the discipline or profession, part of their socialization is learning the language. Therefore, effective communication with LSP depends on the person’s ability to translate not only the disciplinary vernacular, but also the standard language ( Hull, 2016 ).

We see “failures” of translating LSP with patients who speak our own language when we cannot improve their health literacy. In the case of language translation issues between patients and providers, for example, miscommunication related to translation increases the patient’s risk for hospital readmission, adverse events, and delays in care, to name a few ( De Gagne, Oh, So, & Kim, 2014 ; Dowsey, Broadhead, Stoney, & Choong, 2009 ; Durstenfeld, Ogedegbe, Katz, Park, & Blecker, 2016 ; Karliner, Kim, Meltzer, & Auerbach, 2010 ; Whittal & Lippke, 2016 ). Therefore, the same threats mistranslation poses to patients’ health and well-being will threaten the rigor of research studies involving translation.

2.2. An overview of types of healthcare interpreters and their potential research roles

Interpreters are an important part of mitigating threats to rigor in research. There is a difference, however, between an interpreter and a translator. An Interpreter is a person who conducts “live” interpretation between two people. A Translator is someone who translates text-based documents between the source language and the target language ( Squires, 2008 ; Temple, 2002 ). Qualified interpreters and translators will have had their language skills formally evaluated by an independent source ( Hull, 2016 ). The next sections focus on the roles of interpreters in research with roles of translators discussed specifically in the section focused on research implementation.

To begin, in the case of interpreters, they will play an important role in research data collection and potentially, analysis. Any interpreter contributing to a study ideally will have some experience facilitating research implementation, but that is not always possible ( Squires, 2008 ). There are five types of interpreters or services that can be used in research, each with pros and cons and budgetary implications.

The first type of interpreter we will discuss is the Dual Role Interpreter. This is usually a healthcare provider who has had their language proficiency formally evaluated by an independent source. They may have grown up speaking the language and continued studying it as they progressed in their education or alternatively, learned the language through intensive study or living and working abroad. In many countries, it is common for healthcare providers to speak multiple languages, especially when there are several official languages in a country. Again, it is important to remember that their level of language proficiency for healthcare language may vary.

The advantage of the dual role interpreter (especially if they also have research training) is that their contributions to the study will be informed by their experiences working with patients with language barriers. There is the potential for a more nuanced understanding of experiences or the challenges of measurement with specific populations with language barriers. A dual role interpreter, however, may bring their own set of biases into how results are interpreted from the study because of their experiences. This aspect of interpreter identity, even in quantitative studies, should be factored into study design and discussed in the limitations.

An in-person interpreter is an individual who has received specialized training. In health care, they have learned healthcare vocabulary as part of their training so they can effectively translate health care’s language—a definite advantage for study implementation. For research purposes, these interpreters are the best option if the study will involve communicating complex healthcare information to a study participant, such as might occur in randomized controlled trials.

In-person interpreters in research can also have no healthcare experience, which can provide an advantage for researchers who seek to minimize bias in participant responses in studies involving the patient experience. Like any healthcare worker, healthcare interpreters may have their own biases from interactions with healthcare providers, navigating systems issues and memorable patient interactions. Even though they may try to stay objective, the risk for them inserting bias into the findings increases if this threat to rigor is not managed well.

Technology-based interpreting is the kind that most clinicians are familiar with and it comes in the form of telephone or video-based interpreting services. When research funds are limited, using this service—especially if it is already part of the institution’s resources—can offer the most cost-effective option for conducting research. A threat to rigor from this type of interpreting is that the technology- based interpreting industry is largely unregulated globally and relies on companies to conduct their own internal quality checks of interpreter performance.

Finally, two other ways of bridging language barriers could threaten the rigor of research findings: Online translation services and family members. Online translation services have not yet developed the ability to effectively translate health care’s language. While they can seem like a good way to translate, for example, transcripts in qualitative research, many translation errors will happen—especially with patient interviews because they may often use obscure slang words from their particular dialect that the computer will mistranslate. A qualified translator will still be needed to check the translation, which could still take just as much time as if they did it themselves.

Family members may or may not make for effective interpreters for a research study. Just like during a healthcare encounter where sensitive or culturally taboo topics may emerge; the family member may influence the translation and information provided. Unless the study design includes the family member in it, using independent interpreters presents the best mediating option for threats to rigor from translation by family members. Nonetheless, with the participant’s consent, a family member could help enhance data quality by either improving its precision (in the case of a survey) or helping the participant to remember important experiential details (in the case of qualitative research).

3. DATA SOURCES

Cross-language research refers to research studies where a language barrier is present and data collection must involve the use of interpreters at some stage during the research process ( Croot et al., 2011 ; Squires, 2009 ; Squires et al., 2013 ). A critical factor of crosslanguage research, regardless of methodological approach, is that it must be completed in teams ( Chapple & Ziebland, 2018 ; Esposito, 2001 ; Im et al., 2017 ; Paulus, Jackson, & Davidson, 2017 ; Shordike et al., 2010 ; Stanley & Slattery, 2003 ). Cross-language research cannot be rigorous unless a team was involved because the interpretation of the data would be subject to the individual biases of a single researcher and are likely to be less representative of the population of interest. The team will include the researcher, coinvestigators, project managers and very importantly, interpreters. The following recommendations were drawn from 73 methods articles addressing some dimension of cross-language qualitative or quantitative research published between 2000 and 2017.

4. IMPLICATIONS FOR RESEARCH DESIGN

When the target population for a research study has a language barrier, careful planning is required. In this section, we offer considerations for the design of qualitative and quantitative studies where language barriers are an issue that could threaten the rigor of a study.

4.1. Qualitative research considerations

Cross-language qualitative research has grown extensively since the year 2000. Methods have evolved and several common methodological considerations emerged. Importantly, cross-language researchers uniformly agree that translation poses a threat to the trustworthiness of qualitative data ( Court & Abbas, 2013 ; Esposito, 2001 ; Im et al., 2017 ; Jones & Boyle, 2011 ; Larkin, Dierckx de Casterlé, & Schotsmans, 2007 ; MacKenzie, 2015 ; Temple, 2002 , 2005 ; Temple & Young, 2004 ; Wong & Poon, 2010 ; Xian, 2008 ). Squires (2009) developed criteria from a systematic review of cross-language studies for evaluating how researchers managed translation and then Croot et al. (2011) tested the criteria. The latter concluded that the criteria offered researchers useful direction both with study design and critical appraisal of existing studies, albeit with several caveats related to resources dictating interpreter usage.

Another point of consensus in cross-language research is that interpreter identity matters, with pros and cons for each choice made. Interpreters with translation work experience are uniformly recommended for cross-language studies to minimize the threats to trustworthiness of results posed by translation. The use of students, undergraduate or graduate, for interpreting may create good research socialization opportunities, but could also affect data quality due to their inexperience with both research and translation ( Lincoln, González y González, & Aroztegui Massera, 2016 ).

Interpreter timing during data collection also matters and well-planned studies account for this factor during study design ( Im et al., 2016 ; Santos, Black, & Sandelowski, 2014 ). Timing is rooted in the role design of the interpreter in the study. Researchers may find Role Theory useful in interpreter role design when planning a study ( Lynch, 2007 ; Morgeson, Delaney-Klinger, & Hemingway, 2005 ). For example, a functionalist role for an interpreter means the expectation of the interpreter is to adhere to their essential function: interpretation and translation. This would be defined as the “correct behaviours” that functionalist role theory emphasizes. Timing would be limited to the interview data collection point, transcription (if that is part of their role) and translation of the transcript.

An interpreter in an interactionist role, however, offers flexible boundaries to the interpreter that are less proscribed ( Lynch, 2007 ). Interactionist contributions of the interpreter would include not only interpretation and translation of the data, but also contributions to data analysis ( Squires, 2008 ). An interactionist role also allows the interpreter to integrate their role as a cultural broker between the parties, thereby contributing potential explanations to themes and categories that have emerged in the analysis or by providing culturally appropriate names for them.

Finally, transcription quality is always a critical part of any qualitative research study and this is where translators will help mitigate threats to rigor ( Poland, 1995 ; Tilley, 2003 ). Transcriptions are the final point of interpreter-mediated vulnerability in a research study because the quality of translation will affect the entire data analysis process. Clark, Birkhead, Fernandez, and Egger (2017) offer useful recommendations for quality checking the transcription and translation process. These include two independent checks on translation, hiring professional transcription services, achieving consensus around the translation of culturally unique words and slang phrases with the minimal goal of achieving semantic equivalence and the aspirational goal of conceptual equivalence.

4.2. Quantitative research considerations

Language barriers or patient language preferences can affect any kind of quantitative study. Most observational studies (e.g., cross-sectional, cohort, case control, etc.) and randomized control trials may involve the use of some survey design and methodological consensus has emerged around what constitutes rigorous survey instrument translation. “Big Data”, being newer, means that we do not fully understand where language preference and language barriers manifest themselves in patient outcomes in large datasets. Nonetheless, there are still salient points for discussion even in the early stages of the science.

4.2.1. Survey instruments and translation

There are many instruments with existing reliable and valid translations, or so it may appear. When making the method choice to use an existing translation, researchers should first research the history of the instrument to determine: (a) when it was developed; (b) how it was psychometrically evaluated in its original language; and (d) when and how the translation was completed. Flaws in the process tied with the original instrument translation process will not produce reliable and valid results in the translation. There is also the possibility that factor structures and other psychometric measures may change across cultures and contexts ( Brzyski, Kózka, Squires, & Brzostek, 2016 ; Choi et al., 2009 ; Mallinckrodt & Wang, 2004 ; Yu, Lee, & Woo, 2004 ). Sometimes these changes are not significant, but the researcher must differentiate when they are or are not using the appropriate methods. Just because it has been published does not mean it is a good quality translation. A translator is critical to help evaluate the quality of the survey’s translation during this phase of study planning. Some surveys, like the Maslach Burnout Inventory, have professional translations that are available, protected by copyright and may require a fee for their use in research studies ( Squires et al., 2014 ). Failure to appropriately use this kind of survey translation may place the researcher at risk for copyright violations.

Survey instrument translation appropriateness with specific populations is also affected by nativity and dialects—both of which are associated with social risk factors influencing health outcomes ( National Academies of Sciences Engineering & Medicine, 2017 ). Many countries have multiple official languages where citizens will speak all of them or at least one or two with a high level of proficiency. They may not read or write in the other languages.

Examples of this phenomenon come from every part of the world. In Sub-Saharan Africa, it is common for people to speak their tribal language (which may or may not be written), the language of their former colonizers and other languages common to the economic engine of the country ( Levin, 2006 ). Latin America has 448 indigenous languages spoken there, aside from Spanish, Portuguese, or French. China has the unifying scholarly language of Mandarin, with Cantonese the second most spoken language in the country. Yet each village and region in China can have a sub-dialect that only people from those regions understand ( Aroian, Wu, & Tran, 2005 ; Chidarikire, Cross, Skinner, & Cleary, 2018 ). Former Soviet Union States may still speak Russian but most have reasserted their country’s language as the primary language ( Shpilko, 2006 ). The languages of India and Pakistan remain numerous as well ( Abdelrahim et al., 2017 ). In the Middle East, Arabic is much like Spanish where the version of the language is specific to the country of origin of the person speaking it. Academic Arabic could be read by any educated person, but dialect specificity is important for accurate translation ( Al-Amer, Ramjan, Glew, Darwish, & Salamonson, 2016 ). For survey research, this means that a translation of a survey may not work well if it does not match the participant’s nativity—especially when measuring symptoms, coping strategies and other health related phenomenon where slang and linguistic variation by country become measurement factors.

Nonetheless, consensus has emerged in several areas around appropriate strategies for ensuring the most reliable, valid and culturally appropriate translation of a survey instrument. Flaherty et al. (1988) were one of the first groups to set early criteria for evaluating instrument translations. Their criteria include researchers taking steps during the translation process to ensure conceptual, semantic, technical, content, and construct equivalence. In time, it has also become clear that forward and backward translation alone are insufficient to ensure reliable and valid translations because that process alone cannot meet the five measures of equivalence ( Maneesriwongul & Dixon, 2004 ; Perneger, Leplège, & Etter, 1999 ; Squires et al., 2013 ). Systematic approaches to survey instrument translation, therefore, offer the best option to ensure reliable, valid, and culturally representative translations. Most of these approaches offer some combination of content validity indexing ( Brzostek et al., 2015 ; Liu, Squires, & You, 2011 ; Squires et al., 2012 , 2013 , 2014 ), cognitive interviewing ( Benitez & Padilla, 2014 ; Benitez, Padilla, van de Vijver, & Cuevas, 2018 ; Park, Sha, & Willis, 2016 ; Reeve et al., 2011 ), and interpreter timing ( Cha, Kim, & Erlen, 2007 ; Erkut, 2010 ; Johnson, 2006 ; Sidani, Guruge, Miranda, Ford-Gilboe, & Varcoe, 2010 ; Weeks, Swerissen, & Belfrage, 2007 ; Xian, 2008 ; Yu et al., 2004 ). Finally, conducting pre-data collection evaluations of the survey instrument with the migrant population will not only help determine if they understand the questions being asked in the instrument, but if the wording and literacy level is appropriate for the local population being studied.

4.2.2. Big data, patient language preference, and large dataset observational studies

Whilst there is a huge attraction to use big data to analyse health related issues tied to patient language preference, bigger does not always mean better ( Cohen et al., 2015 ; O’Halloran, Tan, Pham, Bateman, & Vande Moere, 2018 ). In addition to the many known problems that come with working with large datasets in health care, isolating language barrier related relationships and effects have their own challenges in observational studies. First, data generated from administrative files is not collected with the rigor and consistency that aligns with research practices. It requires multiple people and multiple incentives to get it right. Consequently, organizations that do not place a value on capturing patient language preference will likely have poor data to work with as capturing patient language preference data reflects organizational values for caring for migrants.

A logical leap from this issue then would be the use of missing data management techniques. Patient language preference data are often missing, thus presenting unique challenges for data analysis that are often reflective of biases and potentially, prejudices of who entered the data. Thus, missing language preference data are unlikely to be missing at random. For example, research from the UK shows that it is common to have missing race/ethnicity classifications of “white” ( Tippu et al., 2017 ). That missing data, with no language preference recorded, would leave out whites who do not speak English yet still comprise a substantial portion of the migrant population in the country. Other datasets might reflect similar patterns.

Another issue affecting large datasets where researchers want to consider language preference is that there are no standards for recording it in health care in terms of naming languages in EHRs. For example, organizations may have a language preference option of “Chinese”, when in fact there is no such language. Mandarin is the official language of China and Cantonese is a widely spoken dialect in the country that uses the same alphabet. As previously mentioned, China has multiple dialects—some just at the village level —and those are rarely considered for language preference. For older patients who may migrated in the twentieth century, their village dialect may represent the language of their heart.

Lastly, when trying to use large datasets to compare the impact of language preference on patient outcomes, how demographics are measured and have changed over time become important methodological considerations. In societies that were largely linguistically homogenous before the population changed, these differences present unique challenges for healthcare research. Longitudinal studies, therefore, become critical for studying the impact of changes in language preferences of populations over time and how these impact health outcomes and any resulting disparities.

4.3. Budgeting for interpretation and translation

Interpreting and translation can add significant costs to a research study. Costs are determined based on (a) the language being translated; (b) the source and target languages for translation; and (c) the extent of interpreter involvement in the research process.

Straightforward translation of survey instruments or transcription and translation of qualitative interviews have costs dictated by the time involved and the country where the researchers are seeking services. Many professional translation companies contract with translators in other countries to ensure the best quality translation and in some cases, this can save on costs. Country specific translations also ensure that the slang words or other country specific vernacular receives the correct interpretation. Professional translation services, however, are the most expensive.

The alternative is to hire research team members who speak the same language as the target population of the study. This can involve hiring research assistants on a part- or full-time basis and the total costs of their participation will depend on the country’s labour laws or organization’s employment requirements. Funding for the study may limit how long interpreters can be involved with it unless they can contribute to other parts of the study besides data collection. If researchers do want their language concordant staff to remain part of the entire study, they should budget funds to support their involvement for the duration. Depending on the funding source, this may or may not contribute significantly to the study’s total costs.

5. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION

Research will play a critical role in helping health systems, workers and patients determine the most effective ways to bridge language barriers between patients, providers and systems in ways that optimize health and system outcomes. Improved research rigor in studies involving language barriers in health care are also needed to create evidence-based policies at the organizational, local, national, and international levels.

All recommendations are made mindful of the possibility that any researcher or member of their team could be subject to ethnocentric assumptions in their work and thus, should operate from a place of being conscious of their own biases when implementing and interpreting studies involving language barriers. Using cross-language research methods to generate better, more rigorous evidence specific to the experiences of people with language barriers is critical for strengthening health care’s evidence base that informs clinical practice and policy.

Acknowledgments

Funding information This paper was informed by research funded by the United States’ Agency for Health Care Research and Quality, R01HS23593.

The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

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101 research paper topics.

Why do we sleep ?
How do GPS systems work?
Who was the first person to reach the North Pole ?
Did anybody ever escape Alcatraz ?
What was life like for a gladiator ?
What are the effects of prolonged steroid use on the human body?
What happened during the Salem witch trials ?
Are there any effective means of repelling insects ?
How did trains and railroads change life in America?
What may have occurred during the Roswell UFO incident of 1947?
How is bulletproof clothing made?
What Olympic events were practiced in ancient Greece?
What are the major theories explaining the disappearance of the dinosaurs ?
How was the skateboard invented and how has it changed over the years?
How did the long bow contribute to English military dominance?
What caused the stock market crash of 2008?
How did Cleopatra come to power in Egypt what did she do during her reign?
How has airport security intensified since September 11 th , 2001?
What is life like inside of a beehive ?
Where did hip hop originate and who were its founders?
What makes the platypus a unique and interesting mammal?
How does tobacco use affect the human body?
How do computer viruses spread and in what ways do they affect computers?
What is daily life like for a Buddhist monk ?
What are the origins of the conflict in Darfur ?
How did gunpowder change warfare?
In what ways do Wal-Mart stores affect local economies?
How were cats and dogs domesticated and for what purposes?
What do historians know about ninjas ?
How has the music industry been affected by the internet and digital downloading?
What were the circumstances surrounding the death of Osama Bin Laden ?
What was the women’s suffrage movement and how did it change America?
What efforts are being taken to protect endangered wildlife ?
How much does the war on drugs cost Americans each year?
How is text messaging affecting teen literacy?
Are humans still evolving ?
What technologies are available to home owners to help them conserve energy ?
How have oil spills affected the planet and what steps are being taken to prevent them?
What was the Magna Carta and how did it change England?
What is the curse of the pharaohs?
Why was Socrates executed?
What nonlethal weapons are used by police to subdue rioters?
How does the prison population in America compare to other nations?
How did ancient sailors navigate the globe?
Can gamblers ever acquire a statistical advantage over the house in casino games?
What is alchemy and how has it been attempted?
How are black holes formed?
How was the assassination of Abraham Lincoln plotted and executed?
Do the benefits of vaccination outweigh the risks?
How do submarines work?
Do lie detector tests accurately determine truthful statements?
How did Cold War tension affect the US and the world?
What happened to the lost settlers at Roanoke ?
How does a hybrid car save energy?
What ingredients can be found inside of a hotdog ?
How did Julius Caesar affect Rome?
What are some common sleep disorders and how are they treated?
How did the Freedom Riders change society?
How is internet censorship used in China and around the world?
What was the code of the Bushido and how did it affect samurai warriors ?
What are the risks of artificial tanning or prolonged exposure to the sun?
What programs are available to help war veterans get back into society?
What steps are involved in creating a movie or television show?
How have the film and music industries dealt with piracy ?
How did Joan of Arc change history?
What responsibilities do secret service agents have?
How does a shark hunt?
What dangers and hardships did Lewis and Clark face when exploring the Midwest?
Has the Patriot Act prevented or stopped terrorist acts in America?
Do states that allow citizens to carry guns have higher or lower crime rates?
How are the Great Depression and the Great Recession similar and different?
What are the dangers of scuba diving and underwater exploration?
How does the human brain store and retrieve memories ?
What was the Manhattan Project and what impact did it have on the world?
How does stealth technology shield aircraft from radar?
What causes tornadoes ?
Why did Martin Luther protest against the Catholic Church?
How does a search engine work?
What are the current capabilities and future goals of genetic engineers ?
How did the Roman Empire fall?
What obstacles faced scientists in breaking the sound barrier ?
How did the black plague affect Europe?
What happened to Amelia Earhart ?
What are the dangers and hazards of using nuclear power ?
How did Genghis Khan conquer Persia?
What architectural marvels were found in Tenochtitlan, capital of the Aztec Empire ?
From where does spam email come and can we stop it?
How does night vision work?
How did journalists influence US war efforts in Vietnam ?
What are the benefits and hazards of medical marijuana ?
What causes desert mirages and how do they affect wanderers?
What was the cultural significance of the first moon landing ?
What are sinkholes and how are they formed?
Have any psychics ever solved crimes or prevented them from occurring?
Who is Vlad the Impaler and what is his connection to Count Dracula ?
What are the risks of climate change and global warming ?
What treatments are available to people infected with HIV and are they effective?
Who was a greater inventor, Leonardo di Vinci or Thomas Edison ?
How are the Chinese and American economies similar and different?
Why was communism unsuccessful in so many countries?
In what ways do video games affect children and teenagers?

This is an image of a young woman in a library. She is sitting at a desk with a pile of books and looking toward the ceiling. She appears to be in deep thought.

923 Comments

I like using this website when I assist kids with learning as a lot of these topics are quickly covered in the school systems. Thankyou

Mackenah Nicole Molina

Wow! I always have trouble deiciding what to do a research project on but this list has totally solved that. Now my only problem is choosing what idea on this list I should do first!

Most of these my teacher rejected because apparently ‘these aren’t grade level topics, and I doubt they interest you”

I’m sorry to hear that. Sounds like you will have a potentially valuable character-building experience in the short-term.

Edwin Augusto Galindo Cuba

THIS SITE IS AWESOME, THERE ARE LOTS OF TOPICS TO LEARN AND MASTER OUR SKILLS!

research kid

I need one about animals, please. I have been challenged to a animal research project, Due Friday. I have no clue what to research! somebody help, thanks for reading!

You can do one on bats

For international studies you can do Defense and Security.

This was very helpful.

Research on Ben Franklin? I think THAT will get a real charge out of everyone (hehehehegetit)

Mandy Maher

“Is it possible to colonize Mars?”

maddy burney

these are silly topics

thx for making this real.

Mary Nnamani

Please I need project topics on Language Literature

Marcella Vallarino

I would appreciate a list of survey questions for middle school grades 6-8

I need a research topics about public sector management

I NEED FIVE EXAMPLES EACH ON QUALITATIVE AND QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH (EDUCATION, HEALTH, TECHNOLOGY, ECONOMY AND ENGINEERING)

publish research that are interesting please……

hey can you do one on the burmiueda triangle

Anybody know video games effect kids,and,teens. There Fun!!

they’re

I need a topic about woman history if any of u can find 1 please that would be great!

You could research about the history of the astronauts, and of human past (WWI, WWII, etc.)

so about women? Manitoba Women Win the Right to Vote in Municipal Elections, The First Women, January 23, 1849: Elizabeth Blackwell becomes the first woman to graduate from medical school and become a doctor in the United States, Rosa Parks Civil Rights Equal Pay. I have way more. so if you need more just ask.

communism is good

what are you a communist?!?!

Did FDR know about the upcoming attack on Pearl Harbor on 07 DEC 1941.

do you know how babies are born

Christine Singu

kindly assist with a research topic in the field of accounting or auditing

need more about US army

Please can yiu give me a topic in education

I think one should be how can music/Video games can affect the life for people

or How Do Video Games Affect Teenagers?

zimbabwe leader

I think a good topic is supporting the confederate flag!

Need a research topic within the context of students union government and dues payments

do more weird ones plz

joyce alcantara

Hi pls po can you give me a topic relate for humanities pls thank u.

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Linguistics Research Paper Topics for Students

Research Paper Topics

Linguistics as a subject refers to studying different languages from several perspectives. And while you think writing a language essay equals describing the English language, you mustn’t get the point. This covers many fields like phonology, phonetics, semantics, morphology, and others.

First, you must choose its topic, whether you have to write a research paper or a language essay.

Interesting Language Essay Topics Just for You

Many linguistic phenomena can be described in language essays. But, at least, considering that there are more than 7,000 other languages worldwide, the choice becomes overwhelming. And you can spend so much time looking through books and generating some suitable language essay topics. But there is a way to make the selection process easier: use our linguistics topic suggestions as an inspiration. So go ahead and choose your perfect language essay topic!

How to Choose a Topic for a Language Essay?

Selecting a topic for your language essay is not a chaotic process. However, it does require following a particular procedure. Below, you can find the steps that will help you to pick up successful language essay topics.

Always focus on your preferences. Essay writing will not be accessible without inspiration. And that comes from choosing the area you are fond of. If you feel like researching the phenomenon of the English language – go ahead. But if you are into discovering other languages – why don’t you try that? At least you will be interested in writing your language essay.
Learn the trends. It is always crucial to remember that your essay should be relevant to modern discoveries in linguistics. You can read some works of modern linguists to get ideas of the actual discovery ground.
Research the sources. You want to write your language essays on themes that have a solid background. If you choose a controversial topic, it might be challenging for you to stand the position professionally. So always check the literature field when you decide on a specific topic.
Choose a particular time and field. As much as there are different languages, you can find schools, theories, and linguists. But your task is to single out one period of linguistics development.
Brainstorm some ideas. Write a lot of synonyms for the theme you are weighing up. Read similar topics to your opinions as it will help you to form your language essay topic properly.
Consult your professor. Having more expertise in academic writing, your professor will advise you whether your topic is a great match. The professional consultation will also guide you through the following essay-writing steps.

Foreign Language Essay: Best Topics

It is always helpful to have some language essay topics as an example. In this section, you will find the top 20 themes in linguistics at your disposal.

English as a second language: how to become fluent in English?
What is the influence of the mother tongue in learning other languages?
Gender differences in language
What impact do dialects have on the English language?
Does the fact of knowing different languages increase the level of literacy?
Will any other language replace the English language as the global language?
Comparative analysis of British and American accents
Language acquisition definition
Spanish language in medieval times and nowadays: a comparative study
How do the Central and Northern Chinese differ?
The history of the Italian language
Phonetics of the most melodious language in the world – the Italian language
Why do children learn different languages easier than adults?
Will the Chinese language replace the English language?
The phonology of the words in the English language is borrowed from the French language
The confluence of religion in the Arab language
Analyzing the language branches
Vowel pronunciation in British English
Non-verbal communication in the Italian language
What is the role of applied linguistics in teaching the English language?

Best Language Topics for Research Paper

Are you ready to meet another portion of the inspiration for your language essay topic selection process? Meet our following 25 topics for research papers in linguistics below.

Why is the language arbitrary?
Teaching English as a second language with the audio-visual method
How can language become dead?
Can a person learning English as a second language operate and understand it as a native speaker?
How do babies learn a language?
How does translation cause misunderstanding between different languages?
Is the language connected to mythology?
The origins of the English language
How does verbal communication help to express emotions?
The unique method of learning other languages by Michel Thomas
Is sign language a natural language?
How is the meaning of the words changing in the English language?
How do immigrants influence the English language?
Why should children learn a second language?
What is more powerful: verbal or non-verbal communication?
Cultural linguistics definition
Are any changes happening in the brain when a person is learning other languages?
The harmful impact of computers on language development
Learning a second language with neuro-linguistic programming
Is bilingualism a problem?
How does the language represent our thoughts?
Post-Tudor English language
Is slang a problem for a language?
Do social media use language for influence?
The difference between phonology and phonetics.

Winning Topics for Linguistics Essay

A topic in a language essay is the first thing everyone sees. It should be compelling and beautiful. You can greatly benefit if you catch the reader’s attention from the very beginning. Use our language essay topics to make an impression on your readers!

Can the language be beautiful?
Can hate speech be called verbal violence?
Is applied linguistics still useful for modern language research?
Is knowing a written second language the same as knowing a spoken language?
The connection between literature and applied linguistics
Is multilingualism beneficial?
Can language be considered a national identity?
What is the language barrier when learning a second language?
The difference between syntax and morphology
Generative grammar principles
What languages are endangered?
Can the wording be replaced with codes?
What is the difference between adults’ second language learning and children’s second language learning?
Why are some languages easy to learn and other languages challenging to acquire?
Is the grammar-translation method still relevant in learning the English language?
What is the best way to assess a person’s ability to operate different languages?
The language definition by Vilhelm von Humboldt
Post-structuralism in linguistics
Comparative analysis of Shakespeare’s English and modern English language
What is the role of grammar in learning a second language?

Research Paper About Different Languages

Is discovering the English language, not your way? Then it would help if you chose something from the different languages research paper topics.

What are the modern methods of studying other languages?
The oldest language in the world
Slavic language branch linguistic characteristics
Analysis of artificial languages
Latin language and its influence on different languages
How did the writing originate? Analysis of writing systems
How do neologisms occur in languages?
Linguistic geography
The definition of Creole languages
Comparative analysis of the Cyrillic and Latin alphabets
Indian language scripts
Ancient Arabic language and modern Arabic language
Is philology a natural science?
Famous linguists of the Medieval era
Great ape language: teaching language to gorillas and monkeys
Why can one language be spoken differently in different countries?
Lingoudidactis: modern and past methods of teaching foreign languages
Does brain injury influence the ability to acquire a language?
Origins of the Arabic alphabet
Foreign languages that are spoken in the USA.

Essay Topics on Learning Languages

Linguistics studies the phenomena of language as a system and the process of learning languages. This is a whole field of exploration, so you might also find these language essay topics suitable.

The right age to start learning a new language for children
Usage of innovative technologies in teaching the English language as a second language
How to develop communicative skills when teaching vocabulary
What are the most effective methods for learning a new language?
What should a modern language lesson look like?
Why is listening to the most challenging skill to develop when teaching languages?
Bilingual children and their psychology
Is grammar important while learning languages?
Overview of the foreign language learning strategies
The effectiveness of using educational software to learn a foreign language
The socio-cultural aspect of learning the language
Investigating cognitive processes while learning a new language
Learning languages through meditation: is it effective?
Is online education more effective when learning a language?
The history of foreign language learning methods
Case study methods in teaching languages
Game-based learning in teaching foreign languages
The direct method of teaching English overview
How to asset speaking skills in a new language?
Teaching new language through literature.

Top Ideas for Your Linguistics Essay

If you still haven’t decided which language essay topic is the best pick, we have prepared 15 bonus ideas from which you can formulate your theme for language essays.

How has technology caused the creation of a new linguistic subculture?
What role does body language play in communication?
The evolution of slang
Does someone have the predisposition to learn a language?
Is the English language a cause for other languages to become dead?
Linguistic changes in the English language
What is computational linguistics?
Linguistic dimensions overview
Diglossia in sociolinguistics
Are dictionaries still relevant?
Linguistics of commercial texts
Analysis of “How Language Shapes the Way We Think” Ted Talk by Boroditsky
The linguistics of pictograms
Overview of the translation theories
Is punctuation important in modern writing?

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Large language models use a surprisingly simple mechanism to retrieve some stored knowledge

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Large language models, such as those that power popular artificial intelligence chatbots like ChatGPT, are incredibly complex. Even though these models are being used as tools in many areas, such as customer support, code generation, and language translation, scientists still don’t fully grasp how they work.

In an effort to better understand what is going on under the hood, researchers at MIT and elsewhere studied the mechanisms at work when these enormous machine-learning models retrieve stored knowledge.

They found a surprising result: Large language models (LLMs) often use a very simple linear function to recover and decode stored facts. Moreover, the model uses the same decoding function for similar types of facts. Linear functions, equations with only two variables and no exponents, capture the straightforward, straight-line relationship between two variables.

The researchers showed that, by identifying linear functions for different facts, they can probe the model to see what it knows about new subjects, and where within the model that knowledge is stored.

Using a technique they developed to estimate these simple functions, the researchers found that even when a model answers a prompt incorrectly, it has often stored the correct information. In the future, scientists could use such an approach to find and correct falsehoods inside the model, which could reduce a model’s tendency to sometimes give incorrect or nonsensical answers.

“Even though these models are really complicated, nonlinear functions that are trained on lots of data and are very hard to understand, there are sometimes really simple mechanisms working inside them. This is one instance of that,” says Evan Hernandez, an electrical engineering and computer science (EECS) graduate student and co-lead author of a paper detailing these findings .

Hernandez wrote the paper with co-lead author Arnab Sharma, a computer science graduate student at Northeastern University; his advisor, Jacob Andreas, an associate professor in EECS and a member of the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL); senior author David Bau, an assistant professor of computer science at Northeastern; and others at MIT, Harvard University, and the Israeli Institute of Technology. The research will be presented at the International Conference on Learning Representations.

Finding facts

Most large language models, also called transformer models, are neural networks . Loosely based on the human brain, neural networks contain billions of interconnected nodes, or neurons, that are grouped into many layers, and which encode and process data.

Much of the knowledge stored in a transformer can be represented as relations that connect subjects and objects. For instance, “Miles Davis plays the trumpet” is a relation that connects the subject, Miles Davis, to the object, trumpet.

As a transformer gains more knowledge, it stores additional facts about a certain subject across multiple layers. If a user asks about that subject, the model must decode the most relevant fact to respond to the query.

If someone prompts a transformer by saying “Miles Davis plays the. . .” the model should respond with “trumpet” and not “Illinois” (the state where Miles Davis was born).

“Somewhere in the network’s computation, there has to be a mechanism that goes and looks for the fact that Miles Davis plays the trumpet, and then pulls that information out and helps generate the next word. We wanted to understand what that mechanism was,” Hernandez says.

The researchers set up a series of experiments to probe LLMs, and found that, even though they are extremely complex, the models decode relational information using a simple linear function. Each function is specific to the type of fact being retrieved.

For example, the transformer would use one decoding function any time it wants to output the instrument a person plays and a different function each time it wants to output the state where a person was born.

The researchers developed a method to estimate these simple functions, and then computed functions for 47 different relations, such as “capital city of a country” and “lead singer of a band.”

While there could be an infinite number of possible relations, the researchers chose to study this specific subset because they are representative of the kinds of facts that can be written in this way.

They tested each function by changing the subject to see if it could recover the correct object information. For instance, the function for “capital city of a country” should retrieve Oslo if the subject is Norway and London if the subject is England.

Functions retrieved the correct information more than 60 percent of the time, showing that some information in a transformer is encoded and retrieved in this way.

“But not everything is linearly encoded. For some facts, even though the model knows them and will predict text that is consistent with these facts, we can’t find linear functions for them. This suggests that the model is doing something more intricate to store that information,” he says.

Visualizing a model’s knowledge

They also used the functions to determine what a model believes is true about different subjects.

In one experiment, they started with the prompt “Bill Bradley was a” and used the decoding functions for “plays sports” and “attended university” to see if the model knows that Sen. Bradley was a basketball player who attended Princeton.

“We can show that, even though the model may choose to focus on different information when it produces text, it does encode all that information,” Hernandez says.

They used this probing technique to produce what they call an “attribute lens,” a grid that visualizes where specific information about a particular relation is stored within the transformer’s many layers.

Attribute lenses can be generated automatically, providing a streamlined method to help researchers understand more about a model. This visualization tool could enable scientists and engineers to correct stored knowledge and help prevent an AI chatbot from giving false information.

In the future, Hernandez and his collaborators want to better understand what happens in cases where facts are not stored linearly. They would also like to run experiments with larger models, as well as study the precision of linear decoding functions.

“This is an exciting work that reveals a missing piece in our understanding of how large language models recall factual knowledge during inference. Previous work showed that LLMs build information-rich representations of given subjects, from which specific attributes are being extracted during inference. This work shows that the complex nonlinear computation of LLMs for attribute extraction can be well-approximated with a simple linear function,” says Mor Geva Pipek, an assistant professor in the School of Computer Science at Tel Aviv University, who was not involved with this work.

This research was supported, in part, by Open Philanthropy, the Israeli Science Foundation, and an Azrieli Foundation Early Career Faculty Fellowship.

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Researchers at MIT have found that large language models mimic intelligence using linear functions, reports Kyle Wiggers for TechCrunch . “Even though these models are really complicated, nonlinear functions that are trained on lots of data and are very hard to understand, there are sometimes really simple mechanisms working inside them,” writes Wiggers.

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This paper is in the following e-collection/theme issue:

Published on 5.4.2024 in Vol 26 (2024)

Evaluation of Large Language Model Performance and Reliability for Citations and References in Scholarly Writing: Cross-Disciplinary Study

Authors of this article:

Original Paper

Joseph Mugaanyi 1 * , MBBS, MD ;
Liuying Cai 2 * , MPhil ;
Sumei Cheng 2 , PhD ;
Caide Lu 1 , MD, PhD ;
Jing Huang 1 , MD, PhD

1 Department of Hepato-Pancreato-Biliary Surgery, Ningbo Medical Center Lihuili Hospital, Health Science Center, Ningbo University, Ningbo, China

2 Institute of Philosophy, Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, Shanghai, China

*these authors contributed equally

Corresponding Author:

Jing Huang, MD, PhD

Department of Hepato-Pancreato-Biliary Surgery, Ningbo Medical Center Lihuili Hospital

Health Science Center

Ningbo University

No 1111 Jiangnan Road

Ningbo, 315000

Phone: 86 13819803591

Email: [email protected]

Background: Large language models (LLMs) have gained prominence since the release of ChatGPT in late 2022.

Objective: The aim of this study was to assess the accuracy of citations and references generated by ChatGPT (GPT-3.5) in two distinct academic domains: the natural sciences and humanities.

Methods: Two researchers independently prompted ChatGPT to write an introduction section for a manuscript and include citations; they then evaluated the accuracy of the citations and Digital Object Identifiers (DOIs). Results were compared between the two disciplines.

Results: Ten topics were included, including 5 in the natural sciences and 5 in the humanities. A total of 102 citations were generated, with 55 in the natural sciences and 47 in the humanities. Among these, 40 citations (72.7%) in the natural sciences and 36 citations (76.6%) in the humanities were confirmed to exist ( P =.42). There were significant disparities found in DOI presence in the natural sciences (39/55, 70.9%) and the humanities (18/47, 38.3%), along with significant differences in accuracy between the two disciplines (18/55, 32.7% vs 4/47, 8.5%). DOI hallucination was more prevalent in the humanities (42/55, 89.4%). The Levenshtein distance was significantly higher in the humanities than in the natural sciences, reflecting the lower DOI accuracy.

Conclusions: ChatGPT’s performance in generating citations and references varies across disciplines. Differences in DOI standards and disciplinary nuances contribute to performance variations. Researchers should consider the strengths and limitations of artificial intelligence writing tools with respect to citation accuracy. The use of domain-specific models may enhance accuracy.

Introduction

In the ever-evolving landscape of scholarly research and academic discourse, the role of technology in aiding and enhancing the research process has grown exponentially. One of the most notable advancements in this regard is the emergence of large language models (LLMs) such as GPT-3.5, which have demonstrated impressive capabilities in generating written content across various domains, including academic writing. These LLMs, powered by vast corpora of text data and sophisticated machine-learning algorithms, have offered researchers and writers a new tool for assistance in crafting scholarly documents [ 1 - 3 ]. LLMs were initially designed and developed to primarily assist in natural language writing. However, since the release of ChatGPT in late 2022, the tool has been adopted in a wide range of scenarios, including customer care, expert systems, as well as literature searches and academic writing. Researchers have already used LLMs to write their academic papers, as demonstrated by Kishony and Ifargan [ 4 ]. While the potential of these tools is evident, it is essential to critically assess their performance, especially in the intricate domains of citations and references, which are the foundation of academic discourse and credibility.

Citations and references serve as the backbone of scholarly communication, providing the necessary context, evidence, and credit to prior works, thus fostering intellectual dialogue and ensuring the integrity of the research process. Accuracy in generating citations and the inclusion of Digital Object Identifiers (DOIs) [ 5 ] are paramount, as they directly influence the traceability and accessibility of cited works. Despite the promise of LLMs, concerns have emerged regarding the reliability and precision of their generated citations and references, raising questions about their suitability as academic writing assistants. Studies on the viability of LLMs as writing assistants in scholarly writing [ 6 - 8 ] underscore the significance of this body of research within the broader academic landscape. Although prior works are quite informative [ 9 - 12 ], there is a lack of an interdisciplinary perspective on citations and references generated by LLMs, which is vital for understanding how LLMs perform across different disciplines.

An increasing number of academics and researchers, especially in countries where English is not a first language (eg, China), are relying on ChatGPT to translate their work into English, research the existing published literature, and even generate citations and references to published literature. Therefore, the aim of this study was to evaluate LLM performance in generating citations and references across two distinct domains, the natural sciences and humanities, by assessing both the presence and accuracy of citations, the existence and accuracy of DOIs, and the potential for hallucination. We aim to provide valuable insights into the strengths and limitations of LLMs in supporting academic writing in diverse research contexts.

The outcomes of this study will contribute to a nuanced understanding of the capabilities and limitations of LLMs as academic writing assistants. Moreover, our findings may inform best practices for researchers and writers who employ these tools in their work, fostering transparency and accuracy in scholarly communication.

LLM Concepts

An LLM is a catch-all term for a machine-learning model designed and trained to understand and generate natural language. LLMs are considered “large” language models due to the sheer number of parameters in the model. A parameter in machine learning is a numerical variable or weight that is optimized through training to map a relationship between the input and the output. LLMs have millions to billions of parameters.

Current LLMs are mostly based on the transformer architecture ( Figure 1 ). However, before transformers were introduced in 2017 [ 13 ], recurrent neural nets (RNNs) were mostly used for natural language processing. One key limitation of RNNs was the length of text they could handle. In 2015, Bahdanau et al [ 14 ] proposed accounting for attention to improve RNN performance with long text. Drawing inspiration for the RNN’s encoder-decoder design, the transformer consists of an encoder and a decoder; however, unlike the RNN, the transformer does not perform sequential data processing and each layer can address all other layers. This allows the transformer model to handle different parts of the input as it processes each part at different stages. This is the mechanism that allows for self-attention in the transformer model.

The way attention works in a transformer model is by computing attention weights for each token, and then the relevance of the token is determined based on the weights. This allows the model to track and assign hierarchical values to each token. Fundamentally, this is similar to how humans process language by extracting the key details out of a chunk of text. This architecture is the linchpin for the majority of LLMs, including the GPT model [ 15 ] that is the basis of OpenAI’s ChatGPT or the bidirectional encoder representations from transformers (BERT) algorithm [ 16 ]. These are broadly categorized into encoder-style and decoder-style transformers, with the former mostly applying to predictive tasks and the latter applying to generative tasks.

Irrespective of the architecture, as an encoder-style or decoder-style transformer, the model is trained on a vast volume of data. The objective is to train a model capable of applying the knowledge gained from the training data to unseen data or situations. This is referred to as generalization. If the model is capable of precise recall of data it has previously been exposed to, this would be memorization and overfitting is said to have occurred. However, this does not mean that memorization is in itself a negative feature. Indeed, there are situations where memorization is preferable to generation such as in the task of information cataloging.

LLMs in Academia

LLMs can handle tasks such as text classification, translation, summarization, and text generation. Since the advent of the internet, and with it the publication of scientific information online, the amount of global academic output exploded, with more than 5 million articles published in 2022 ( Table 1 ). Given the pressure in academia to keep up with developments in one’s field, it is increasingly becoming more difficult to track, prioritize, and keep up with scientific information. It is against this backdrop that LLMs offer an opportunity. Perhaps the most obvious use case is in literature reviews and summarization, reference lookup, and data generation.

However, there are still several questions that need to be answered. First, machine-learning models are inherently probabilistic, meaning that they are not deterministic. Therefore, for the same user input, the model may give different results due to the variability baked into the model. While this can be a valuable trait for creative endeavors, in academic and scientific works, there is a need for reproducibility and reliability, and it remains unclear how well this can be achieved. Second, LLMs are constrained to the information they are trained on. This can be affected by selection bias, the quality of data used, artifacts resulting from data cleaning, and other factors. In essence, we rely on trusting the trainer to provide accurate and unbiased training data to the models.

There is potential for LLMs to be useful tools for delivering academic and scientific information to various audiences, including—but not limited to—students and other academics. However, for this use case, a degree of memorization of the underlying content is necessary. Where information is unviable, it would be better to state so rather than to interpolate. In the current iteration of LLMs, since the training is geared toward generalization and the models are probabilistic, they tend to interpolate and fill in the missing information with synthetic text. There is still a need to explore this process deeper to find solutions.

Data Collection and Validation

Topics were selected and categorized as either natural sciences or humanities. Topics were included if they were: (1) clinical or biomedical–related research in the natural sciences category and philosophy/psychology-related research in the humanities category, and (2) published in English. Topics were excluded if they were: (1) not in English, (2) related to a highly specialized or niche field, and (3) sensitive or controversial in nature. Two researchers independently prompted ChatGPT (GPT-3.5) to write sections of a manuscript while adhering to the American Psychological Association style [ 17 ] for citations and including the DOI of each reference. Citations and references generated by ChatGPT were collected for subsequent analysis. The researchers then independently validated the references by conducting searches on Google Scholar, PubMed, and Google Search for each cited reference. The primary objective was to confirm the existence and accuracy of the cited literature. DOI existence and validation were confirmed using the DOI Foundation website [ 18 ]. DOIs that did not exist or were matched to a different source were considered hallucinations [ 19 ]. Data collected by both researchers were aggregated and compared. Independent validation was performed to ensure agreement between the two researchers regarding the existence, validity, and accuracy of the citations and DOIs. Any disagreements or discrepancies were resolved through discussion and consensus.

In this study, hallucination refers to instances where ChatGPT 3.5 generates DOIs and/or citations that do not correspond to actual, valid DOIs/citations for scholarly references. In these instances, the model may produce DOIs and/or citations that seem authentic but are in fact incorrect or nonexistent. The Levenshtein distance, also known as the edit distance, is a measure of the similarity between two strings by calculating the minimum number of single-character edits (insertions, deletions, or substitutions) required to transform one string into the other. In other words, this metric quantifies the “distance” between two strings in terms of the minimum number of operations needed to make them identical. We used the Levenshtein distance to compare the DOI generated by ChatGPT with the correct DOI. This comparison helps to measure how closely the artificial intelligence (AI)–generated DOI aligns with the expected DOI for a given citation. By calculating the Levenshtein distance, we can quantify the differences between the AI-generated DOI and the correct DOI. Larger Levenshtein distance values suggest greater dissimilarity, indicating potential inaccuracies in the AI-generated DOI.

Statistical Analysis

Data analysis was conducted using SPSS 26 and Python. The Levenshtein distance [ 20 ] between the generated DOI and the actual DOI was calculated using the thefuzz package in Python to quantitatively assess the DOI accuracy. Continuous variables are reported as mean (SD) and categorical variables are presented as absolute numbers and percentages. An independent-sample t test was used to compare continuous variables, whereas the Fisher exact test was used for comparisons of categorical variables. A P value <.05 was considered statistically significant in all tests.

Ethical Considerations

This study was exempt from ethical review since no animal or human participants were involved.

Included Topics and Citations

Ten manuscript topics were selected and included in the study, with 5 in the natural sciences group and 5 in the humanities group. ChatGPT 3.5 was prompted to write an introduction section for each topic between July 10 and August 15, 2023. A total of 102 citations were generated by ChatGPT. Of these, 55 were in the natural sciences group and 47 in the humanities group. The existence, validity, and relevance of citations were examined irrespective of the corresponding DOIs. The results are summarized in Table 2 . A list of the included topics and a sample of prompts to ChatGPT are provided in Multimedia Appendix 1 .

a Categorical variables were compared using the Fisher exact test; the continuous variable (Levenshtein distance) was compared using the independent-sample t test.

b DOI: Digital Object Identifier.

Citation Existence and Accuracy

Of the 102 generated citations, 76 (74.5%) were found to be real and exist in the published literature, with 72.7% and 76.6% of the citations verified in the natural and humanities group, respectively. There was no significant difference between the two groups ( P =.42), indicating that the validity of the citations was relatively consistent between the two domains. Similarly, when assessing the accuracy of the citations, no significant difference was observed ( Table 2 ).

Citation Relevance

The relevance of citations generated by ChatGPT was evaluated by assessing whether they were appropriate and contextually meaningful within the research topics. Our analysis indicated that 70.9% and 74.5% of citations in the natural sciences and humanities categories were deemed relevant, respectively ( Table 2 ). The difference was not statistically significant ( P =.43), suggesting that ChatGPT demonstrated a similar ability to generate contextually relevant citations in both domains.

DOI Existence, Accuracy, and Hallucination

Our analysis revealed significant differences between the two domains with respect to DOIs. In the natural sciences, 70.9% of the included DOIs were real, whereas in the humanities, only 38.3% of the DOIs generated were real ( P =.001; Table 2 ). Similarly, the level of DOI accuracy was significantly higher for the natural sciences than for the humanities ( P =.003). Moreover, the occurrence of DOI hallucination, where ChatGPT generates DOIs that do not correspond with the existing literature, was more prevalent in the humanities than in the natural sciences ( P =.001). The mean Levenshtein distance, which measures the deviation between the generated DOI and the actual DOI, was significantly higher in the natural sciences group than in the humanities ( P =.009; Table 2 ).

Principal Findings

The results of this study shed light on the performance of ChatGPT (GPT-3.5) as an academic writing assistant in generating citations and references in natural sciences and humanities topics. Our findings reveal notable differences in the accuracy and reliability of the citations and references generated by ChatGPT when applied to natural sciences and humanities topics. Hallucination in the context of LLMs such as ChatGPT refers to a phenomenon where the model generates content that is incorrect, fabricated, or not grounded in reality. Hallucination occurs when the model produces information that appears plausible or contextually relevant but lacks accuracy or fidelity to real-world knowledge.

The most striking observation was the significant disparity in the existence and accuracy of the DOIs between the two domains. In natural sciences topics, DOIs were real in 70.9% of the generated citations, representing a significantly higher rate compared to the low rate of 38.3% real DOIs in the humanities topics. The discrepancies in the DOI existence and accuracy in the two domains may be attributed to the differential adoption and availability of DOIs across academic disciplines, where the natural sciences literature has often been more proactive in adopting the DOI system of referencing and linking to scholarly works than the humanities. It is a general practice that journals publishing on the natural sciences frequently mandate DOI inclusion, whereas publishers in the humanities have been slower to adopt such standards [ 21 , 22 ]. Consequently, the performance of the ChatGPT LLM in generating accurate DOIs appears to reflect these disciplinary disparities.

LLMs may generate fictional “facts” presented as true “real-world facts,” which is referred to as hallucination [ 19 , 23 ]. In this study, we considered hallucination to have occurred if the DOI of the generated citation was not real or was real but was linked to a different source. DOI hallucination was more frequent in the humanities (89.4%) than in the natural sciences (61.8%). This finding may be explained by the broader and less structured nature of the humanities literature. There is also a high tendency to provide citations from books and other media that do not use DOIs in the humanities. Therefore, researchers in the humanities should not consider DOIs generated by ChatGPT. Even when ChatGPT generates DOIs for humanities citations, they are more likely to deviate from the correct DOI, potentially leading to the inability to access the cited sources and use the DOIs in citation management tools such as EndNote.

In contrast to the disparities observed in DOI-related metrics, our study found a remarkable consistency in the existence, validity, and relevance of the generated citations in the natural sciences and humanities, with real citations found 72.7% and 76.6% of the time and accurate citations confirmed in 67.3% and 61.7% of cases, respectively. This suggests that the citations generated by ChatGPT can be expected to be reliable approximately 60% of the time.

The divergent performance of ChatGPT between the natural sciences and humanities underscores the importance of considering disciplinary nuances when implementing AI-driven writing assistants in academic contexts. Researchers and writers in both domains should be aware of the strengths and limitations of such tools, particularly in relation to citation practices and DOI accuracy. Future research could delve deeper into the factors influencing DOI accuracy and explore strategies for improving DOI generation by LLMs in the humanities literature. Additionally, the development of domain-specific AI writing models may offer tailored solutions to enhance citation and reference accuracy in various academic disciplines.

In this study, we focused only on the potential use of LLMs in citations and references in scholarly writing; however, the scope to which these models are going to be adopted in academic works is much broader. We believe that these models will be improved over time and that they are here to stay. As such, our argument in this paper is not that LLMs should not be used in scholarly writing, but rather that in their iteration, we ought to be aware of their limitations, primarily concerning the reliability of not only the text they generate but also how they interpret that text.

Although the transformer models that are the foundation of LLMs are very capable of handling a significant amount of information, they still do have context-window limitations. The context window is the textual range or span of the input that the LLM can evaluate to generate a response at any given moment. As an example, GPT-3 has a context window of 2000 tokens, whereas GPT-4’s context window is 32,000 tokens. As such, since the size of the context window impacts model performance (larger is better), GPT-4 outperforms GPT-3 (at the cost of more computation and memory). In scientific knowledge, context is key. Removing a word from the context may greatly affect the information being conveyed. Therefore, we believe that the future of LLMs in academia will rely on fine-tuning the LLMs to capitalize on memorization where necessary, reproducibility and stability of the models, as well as access to the latest information rather than only the training data.

Limitations

There were several limitations to this study. The study included a limited number of topics (10 in total), which can only offer insight but cannot possibly cover the full spectrum of complexity and diversity within the two disciplines. Only ChatGPT 3.5 was prompted since it is the most widely used LLM for this purpose and has a free tier that the majority of users rely on. Newer models, including GPT-4, Claude+, and Google’s Gemini, may give significantly different results. Our study focused on the accuracy of citations and DOIs without an exploration of potential user feedback or subjective assessment of the overall quality and coherence of the generated content. These limitations can be addressed in future research.

In conclusion, our study provides valuable insights into the performance of ChatGPT in generating citations and references across interdisciplinary domains. These findings contribute to the ongoing discourse on the use of LLMs in scholarly writing, emphasizing the need for nuanced consideration of discipline-specific challenges and the importance of robust validation processes to ensure the accuracy and reliability of generated content.

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the Municipal Key Technical Research and Development Program of Ningbo (2023Z160).

Data Availability

The data sets generated during and/or analyzed during this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

Conflicts of Interest

None declared.

List of included topics and ChatGPT 3.5 prompt structure.

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Abbreviations

Edited by A Mavragani; submitted 19.09.23; peer-reviewed by Y Bu, W Li, I Liu, A Mihalache; comments to author 08.12.23; revised version received 14.12.23; accepted 12.03.24; published 05.04.24.

©Joseph Mugaanyi, Liuying Cai, Sumei Cheng, Caide Lu, Jing Huang. Originally published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research (https://www.jmir.org), 05.04.2024.

This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work, first published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research, is properly cited. The complete bibliographic information, a link to the original publication on https://www.jmir.org/, as well as this copyright and license information must be included.

Talking politics with strangers isn't as awful as you'd expect, research suggests

Many of us avoid discussing politics with someone who holds an opposing viewpoint, assuming the exchange will turn nasty or awkward. But having those conversations is far more gratifying than we expect, a new research paper suggests.

Across a series of experiments involving hundreds of U.S. adults, a team of scientists found that individuals underestimate the social connection they can make with a stranger who disagrees with them. The findings are published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.

These low expectations may help to explain why people think those on the opposite side of the political spectrum have more extreme views than they actually do, behavioral scientists Kristina A. Wald (University of Pennsylvania), Michael Kardas (Oklahoma State University), and Nicholas Epley (University of Chicago) wrote in an article about their research.

"Mistakenly fearing a negative interaction may create misplaced partisan divides," they wrote, "not only keeping people from connecting with each other but also keeping people from learning about each other and from each other."

The experimenters found evidence, through experiments conducted online and in person, that people prefer to avoid hot-button issues, especially with people who disagree with them. People also tend to advise their friends and relatives to avoid such conversations.

But Wald, Kardas, and Epley believed people would find discussing their political differences to be a more positive experience than expected, at least partly because people fail to appreciate the extent to which conversations are informative and draw people closer together.

To test their theory, they asked nearly 200 participants in one experiment for their opinions on divisive political and religious topics, such as abortion and climate change. The researchers then divided the participants into pairs and assigned them to discuss one of these topics. Some participants were told in advance whether their partners agreed with them or not, but others entered the discussions unaware of their partners' views.

All the participants reported how positively or negatively they expected the conversation to be, then engaged in the discussion while being video recorded. Afterward, the participants rated their sentiments about the dialogue. Research assistants also viewed the videos of the conversations and evaluated them across several dimensions.

As predicted, the participants underestimated how positive their conversation experience would be, but this tendency was largest when they disagreed with their partner. Participants in this disagreement condition also underestimated the similarities in their opinions. Coders who watched the videos of these conversations confirmed that participants tended to stay on topic, and that the conversations were consistently positive whether the participants agreed or disagreed.

In another experiment, the researchers tested their hypothesis that people underestimate how the process of conversation itself -- actual back-and-forth dialogue -- connects people. To do so, they randomly assigned participants to discuss a divisive topic they agreed or disagreed on, but they also randomly assigned participants to either have a conversation about the topic in a dialogue format or to simply learn of their partners' beliefs on the topic in a monologue format. In the monologue format, each person separately recorded themselves talking about their opinion and then watched the other person's recording.

Overall, the participants underestimated how positive their interactions would be, especially when they disagreed with their partner, the researchers noted. But this tendency was especially strong when people actually had a conversation with their partner rather than simply learning of their beliefs in a monologue. The social forces in conversation that draw people together through back-and-forth dialogue are not only powerful, but they appear to be even more powerful than people expect.

The researchers cautioned that their experiments involved participants talking with strangers; the experiments did not reveal how disagreements unfold among family and friends. Still, they said their findings illustrate the benefits of talking and listening to others rather than typing and broadcasting in debates on social media.

Our reluctance to discuss our differences denies us some positive social interactions, the authors concluded.

"Misunderstanding the outcomes of a conversation," they wrote, "could lead people to avoid discussing disagreements more often, creating a misplaced barrier to learning, social connection, free inquiry, and free expression."

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Kristina A. Wald, Michael Kardas, Nicholas Epley. Misplaced Divides? Discussing Political Disagreement With Strangers Can Be Unexpectedly Positive . Psychological Science , 2024; DOI: 10.1177/09567976241230005

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Computer Science > Computation and Language

Title: long-form factuality in large language models.

Abstract: Large language models (LLMs) often generate content that contains factual errors when responding to fact-seeking prompts on open-ended topics. To benchmark a model's long-form factuality in open domains, we first use GPT-4 to generate LongFact, a prompt set comprising thousands of questions spanning 38 topics. We then propose that LLM agents can be used as automated evaluators for long-form factuality through a method which we call Search-Augmented Factuality Evaluator (SAFE). SAFE utilizes an LLM to break down a long-form response into a set of individual facts and to evaluate the accuracy of each fact using a multi-step reasoning process comprising sending search queries to Google Search and determining whether a fact is supported by the search results. Furthermore, we propose extending F1 score as an aggregated metric for long-form factuality. To do so, we balance the percentage of supported facts in a response (precision) with the percentage of provided facts relative to a hyperparameter representing a user's preferred response length (recall). Empirically, we demonstrate that LLM agents can outperform crowdsourced human annotators - on a set of ~16k individual facts, SAFE agrees with crowdsourced human annotators 72% of the time, and on a random subset of 100 disagreement cases, SAFE wins 76% of the time. At the same time, SAFE is more than 20 times cheaper than human annotators. We also benchmark thirteen language models on LongFact across four model families (Gemini, GPT, Claude, and PaLM-2), finding that larger language models generally achieve better long-form factuality. LongFact, SAFE, and all experimental code are available at this https URL .

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Vehicle Technologies Office
About the Vehicle Technologies Office
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Office: Vehicle Technologies Office FOA number: DE-FOA-0003248 Link to apply: Apply on EERE Exchange FOA Amount: $45,800,000

Today, the Department of Energy (DOE) announced $45.8 million in new funding for projects that will advance research, development, demonstration, and deployment (RDD&D) critical to achieving net-zero greenhouse gas emissions in the transportation sector. The funding will drive innovation in equitable clean transportation and is aligned with strategies detailed in the U.S. National Blueprint for Transportation Decarbonization .

The funding is through DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE). Topic areas in the Vehicle Technologies Office (VTO) Fiscal Year (FY) 2024 R&D funding opportunity include:

Next-generation phosphate-based cathodes.
Advancing the state of the art for sodium-ion batteries.
Developing concepts for decreasing greenhouse gas emissions from off-road vehicles such as construction, agriculture, mining, and forestry vehicles.
Developing and deploying vehicle-to-everything technologies that can lead to meaningful savings at the vehicle and transportation system level.
Developing high-performance, domestically produced electrical steels (E-steels) for use in electrified powertrains.
Addressing critical cybersecurity needs for smart and secure electric vehicle charging.

As part of the Biden-Harris Administration’s commitment to ensuring the benefits of a clean transportation system are shared equally, the funding seeks the participation of underserved communities and underrepresented groups. Applicants are required to describe how diversity, equity, and inclusion objectives will be incorporated into their project.

VTO provides a series of funding opportunity announcement (FOA) information session videos , which help applicants understand VTO’s FOA process and requirements. The recently released, Session 3: Tips for a Strong FOA Application, includes best practices for incorporating Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility in a project.

Learn more about this and other funding opportunities on VTO’s funding webpage .

Topic Areas

Topic Area 1: Next-Generation Phosphate-Based Cathodes

This topic area targets the development of phosphate-based cathode materials that surpass the performance of state-of-the-art lithium iron phosphate (LFP) cathode materials, which are currently gaining traction as an alternative low-cost solution. The primary objective of this area of interest is to develop high energy density battery cells containing phosphate-based cathodes at the material and cell level.

Topic Area 2: Na-ion Battery Seedling Projects for Electric Vehicle Applications

While shifting to alternative cathode materials like LFP can alleviate the impact of nickel and cobalt, the impact of lithium has not been adequately addressed. One alternative to lithium is sodium (Na). While there is much promise for Na-ion chemistries, key issues still limit their adoption. This objective of this topic area is to advance the state of the art for Na-ion batteries by solving key challenges for the cathode, anode, or electrolyte through the development of 1 Ah full cells utilizing cell chemistries that are significant advancements over current industry state-of-the-art Na-ion technology.

Topic Area 3: Low-GHG Concepts for Off-Road Vehicles

The objective of this topic area is to develop and validate technology concepts capable of significantly decreasing greenhouse gas emissions, energy use, harmful criteria emissions, and total cost of ownership across the entire off-road vehicle sector, including construction, agriculture, mining, forestry, ports, warehouses, etc. Concepts must demonstrate they can meet the unique requirements for off-road vehicles and gain customer acceptance.

Topic Area 4: Saving Energy with Connectivity

Research has shown that vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communications can lead to meaningful energy savings at the vehicle and transportation system level by integrating interoperable vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V), vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I), and vehicle-to-pedestrian (V2P) communications. The objective of this topic area is to develop and deploy V2X technologies with a focus on the efficiency and convenience of the mobility ecosystem, while reducing transportation’s environmental impacts. Examples could include but are not limited to eco-driving along connected corridors, transit or freight priority, integrated corridor management, or passenger or freight trip-chaining optimization.

Topic Area 5: Domestically Produced Electrical Steels (E-Steels)

The US transportation sector is in a technology revolution where light-duty vehicles are rapidly transitioning from internal combustion engines to electrified powertrains. Although most of the vehicles are produced in the US, many of the powertrain components rely on imports and foreign supply chains. Of particular interest are traction motors and their components. The objective of this topic are is to develop E-Steels meeting properties including frequency, thickness, ductility, cost, and manufacturability.

Topic Area 6: Cybersecurity for Smart and Secure Electric Vehicle Charging

This topic area is addressing critical cybersecurity needs to address through two subtopics:

Subtopic 6.a: Enabling Wide-scale, Cybersecure EV/EVSE Aggregation for Grid Services : To support the integration of electric vehicles (EVs) and their charging requirements with the electric grid, both government and the private sector have made significant investments in the development of smart charge management (SCM) systems and technologies for EV charging infrastructure. The objective of this subtopic area is to research, develop, and demonstrate systems, technologies, and tools necessary for the cybersecure aggregation of EVs and charging infrastructure to provide widescale, cybersecure grid services.
Subtopic 6.b: Tools to Assess EV/EVSE/Charging System Cybersecurity Posture and Compliance with Standards and Protocols for Communications, Controls, and Monitoring : Testing and evaluation of Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment (EVSE) by DOE national laboratories has clearly indicated a lack of compliance by many vendors with certified and/or regulated EV charging standards and protocols. In addition to creating cybersecurity vulnerabilities, this non-compliance greatly inhibits interoperability, supplier-managed SCM, and right-to-repair. The objective of this subtopic is to research, develop, and validate a suite of tools and associated procedures to comprehensively assess EV/EVSE/charging system compliance with relevant standards and protocols and cybersecurity posture.

Additional Information

Download the full funding opportunity on the EERE Exchange website.
For FOA-specific support, contact [email protected] .
Sign up for the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) funding email list to get notified of new EERE funding opportunities. Also sign up for VTO’s newsletter to stay current with the latest news.
Watch the VTO Funding Opportunity Announcement information series webinars.

Deposit Insurance, Uninsured Depositors, and Liquidity Risk During Panics

The lack of universal deposit insurance coverage can create liquidity risk during financial crises. This aspect of deposit insurance is hard to test in modern data because of the broad coverage of most systems. We, therefore, study the role that the U.S. Postal Savings System played in commercial bank closures during the Great Depression. The system offered households a federally insured deposit account at post offices throughout the nation, and its structure provides a near-ideal environment to identify this competitive liquidity risk during a crisis. We find that banks that operated nearby a post office that accepted deposits were more likely to close between 1929 and 1935. We further make use of a structural change in the availability of postal depositories in the early 1910 to estimate an IV regression that confirms the results. In either model, the effect is strongest for those banks with low reserves, suggesting that the mechanism was through depositor withdrawals rather than other factors.

The authors have no sources of funding or relevant financial relationships to disclose. The views expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Bureau of Economic Research.

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IMPLICATIONS FOR RESEARCH DESIGN. When the target population for a research study has a language barrier, careful planning is required. In this section, we offer considerations for the design of qualitative and quantitative studies where language barriers are an issue that could threaten the rigor of a study. 4.1.
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If you are interested in your topic, learning about it will be more pleasurable and you will write with greater passion, so choose your topic thoughtfully. Use the following list of 101 research paper topics as a starting point for your paper. As you begin learning and writing about your topic, you should revise or amend your research question ...
Linguistics Research Paper Topics for Students
Author: Marina Kean. Research Paper Topics. Linguistics as a subject refers to studying different languages from several perspectives. And while you think writing a language essay equals describing the English language, you mustn't get the point. This covers many fields like phonology, phonetics, semantics, morphology, and others.
[2403.20329] ReALM: Reference Resolution As Language Modeling
ReALM: Reference Resolution As Language Modeling. Reference resolution is an important problem, one that is essential to understand and successfully handle context of different kinds. This context includes both previous turns and context that pertains to non-conversational entities, such as entities on the user's screen or those running in the ...
Topics, Authors, and Institutions in Large Language Model Research
Large language models (LLMs) are dramatically influencing AI research, spurring discussions on what has changed so far and how to shape the field's future. To clarify such questions, we analyze a new dataset of 16,979 LLM-related arXiv papers, focusing on recent trends in 2023 vs. 2018-2022. First, we study disciplinary shifts: LLM research increasingly considers societal impacts, evidenced by ...
[2403.19928] DiJiang: Efficient Large Language Models through Compact
In an effort to reduce the computational load of Transformers, research on linear attention has gained significant momentum. However, the improvement strategies for attention mechanisms typically necessitate extensive retraining, which is impractical for large language models with a vast array of parameters. In this paper, we present DiJiang, a novel Frequency Domain Kernelization approach ...
Large language models use a surprisingly simple mechanism to retrieve
The research will be presented at the International Conference on Learning Representations. Finding facts. Most large language models, also called transformer models, are neural networks. Loosely based on the human brain, neural networks contain billions of interconnected nodes, or neurons, that are grouped into many layers, and which encode ...
Journal of Medical Internet Research
Background: Large language models (LLMs) have gained prominence since the release of ChatGPT in late 2022. Objective: The aim of this study was to assess the accuracy of citations and references generated by ChatGPT (GPT-3.5) in two distinct academic domains: the natural sciences and humanities. Methods: Two researchers independently prompted ChatGPT to write an introduction section for a ...
Talking politics with strangers isn't as awful as you'd expect
Summary: Individuals underestimate the social connection they can make with a stranger who disagrees with them on contentious issues, a new research paper suggests. Share: FULL STORY. Many of us ...
[2403.18802] Long-form factuality in large language models
Large language models (LLMs) often generate content that contains factual errors when responding to fact-seeking prompts on open-ended topics. To benchmark a model's long-form factuality in open domains, we first use GPT-4 to generate LongFact, a prompt set comprising thousands of questions spanning 38 topics. We then propose that LLM agents can be used as automated evaluators for long-form ...
Funding Notice: Vehicle Technologies Office Fiscal Year 2024 Research
Office: Vehicle Technologies Office FOA number: DE-FOA-0003248 Link to apply: Apply on EERE Exchange FOA Amount: $45,800,000 Today, the Department of Energy (DOE) announced $45.8 million in new funding for projects that will advance research, development, demonstration, and deployment (RDD&D) critical to achieving net-zero greenhouse gas emissions in the transportation sector.
Deposit Insurance, Uninsured Depositors, and Liquidity Risk During
DOI 10.3386/w32284. Issue Date March 2024. The lack of universal deposit insurance coverage can create liquidity risk during financial crises. This aspect of deposit insurance is hard to test in modern data because of the broad coverage of most systems. We, therefore, study the role that the U.S. Postal Savings System played in commercial bank ...

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Language and linguistics articles from across Nature Portfolio

Does simplification hold true for machine translations? A corpus-based analysis of lexical diversity in text varieties across genres

ChatGPT and the digitisation of writing

Translation, transmission and indigenization of Christianity in nineteenth-century China: south-to-north travel of the disguised San Zi Jing by Medhurst

Geospace translation strategies and their cognitive construal

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Approaching the neuroscience of language

Neural evidence of word prediction

The usefulness of ChatGPT for psychotherapists and patients

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