Choosing a Winning Topic for Geography Paper

It's hard to identify geography because it encompasses dozens of other subdisciplines and subjects. This aspect makes it difficult to find an area to conduct research. However, each field is valuable in its own way, and students can really be stuck with the choice. Unless prior instructor directions are given or an assignment detail, the first major issue that should be tackled is the type of geography you'd like to explore and what topics for your geography research paper would be both relevant and exciting.

Exciting geography research paper topics

If you already have a scientific or empirical research model for your paper, you can look toward physical geography. And if you feel somewhat influenced by psychology and sociology, then you can be more interested in the qualitative and theoretical studies conducted within human geography.

Finally, environmental geography can be explored from different angles, including physical and human ones, and addresses the issue of human interactions with the environment. The field of environmental geography also may address major societal concerns such as resource consumption, overpopulation, or other demographic problems. Your environmental paper may have an empirical or theoretical approach, as well as a qualitative or quantitative one. Everything depends on the characteristics of the topic and the best means of solving any related research question. What geography research paper topics could become a sound basis for your refined assignment?

Human geography paper topics to think about

If you are interested in more humanistic geography aspects, the first thing you are to do is to define clearly what the key points human geography consists of. In essence, since human geography deals with various facets of human life, the subcategories that comprise it have much to do with our daily lives. Some of these things include culture, economics, and politics. And culture is the most important among them. Many scientists often identify the notions of human geography and cultural geography because culture greatly impacts people.

1. Market geography of Island States.
2. How diseases of South Africa spread.
3. The growth of the Indian population and how it affects the environment.
4. Scythians' settlement movements.
5. Urbanization and expansion of big cities.
6. Military geography: History and development.
7. Patterns between healthcare and environment in China.
8. Economic inequality of African countries.
9. Political Geography: Israel-Arab problem.
10. The issue of aging infrastructure.
11. If the World were a village: Population aspect.
12. India as a culture hearth.
13. Cities vulnerable to the sea-level rising.
14. Global business nowadays.
15. Income and Wealth Distribution in the Third World.

A variety of cultural geography paper topics

The main cornerstone of cultural geography is how people interact and how they carry out their lives from place to place (or spatially) with respect to specific cultural elements. Any of these items can easily be used as a starting point of research (you can use them to brainstorm ideas for related topics). Here are some cultural elements, considering which you may formulate some interesting topics to write about.

• Religion
• Language
• Food
• Architecture
• Recreational activities/sports
• Clothing
• Education
• Gender Roles
• Principles and values
• Marriage and other pivotal relationships

Examples of topics from those categories

Any of these categories can be taken to produce a suitable geography research topic. For instance, if you like clothing for a particular region, you may choose to investigate how the clothing customs of that area evolved over time and what particular influences attributed to the people's current or past clothing practices.

Likewise, a similar angle can be taken with food or cuisine. You may decide to analyze the impact of several cultures on American cuisine, for example, as well as how the demands of certain foods may have changed from place to place within the continental United States.

"Gender roles" is always a special area of interest as it deals with how a particular society addresses and handles its most significant roles: the man's and woman's functions. A research topic covering this area may highlight the issue of differences in patriarchal and matriarchal societies regarding space and time and how certain spatial factors may have impacted these roles in social communities.

1. Indian national clothing through the decades: Fashion of the past and its echo in modern clothing.
2. Languages of the United States and how they influence each other.
3. The educational system in the Chinese schools.
4. The role of women in Japan society.
5. Countries with the most rigorous patriarchal system.
6. New Zealand architecture and its riddles.
7. National customs that remains survived until the modern times.
8. How Buddhism spreads among different countries.
9. Recreational activities as a secret of Japanese longevity.
10. The marriage phenomenon in Muslim countries.
11. Educational aspects in the USA.
12. Nations with bilingual education: Progress or betrayal.
13. Eating cult in Asian countries.
14. Peculiarities of Ukrainian cuisine and its impact on other countries' food cultures.
15. Scottish principles and social values in modern societies.

Physical geography research topics and hints

The other more scientific approach to geography is known as physical geography. Be sure it will more than likely involve quantitative studies in which students will have to examine specific elements of our planet's surface. Physical geography, by definition, focuses on the physical structures, processes, patterns, and changes that occur throughout the Earth as they relate to human beings and their ability to function. Some key issues connected to physical geography (which may spark an interest in research) are:

• Oceanography - a field related to large bodies of water; seas and oceans.
• Climatology - this field studies long-term weather conditions and categorizations.
• Meteorology - relates to the Earth's atmosphere and short-term weather forecasting.
• Glaciology - examines things connected to ice, such as glaciers and snow.
• Hydrology - is related to small bodies of water on the Earth's surface as well as the hydrologic cycle.

Without much difficulty, any student should be able to take one of these categories and devise a well-grounded research topic to be investigated. One of the examples is glaciology. A study in glaciology may look to examine polar ice sheets, for example, based on the satellite data as well as current information provided by geographic databases. You'll hardly get to Greenland, and you don't need it to conduct real research. Isn't it amazing?

1. The secret of Bermuda Triangle.
2. Evidence of Atlantida existence.
3. Asian countries' adaptation to the rainy seasons.
4. How volcanoes affect the climate of neighboring settlements.
5. Composition and structure of the atmosphere in industrial cities.
6. The climate of Israel and how the locals fight the heat.
7. Oceanography: Indian, Atlantic, and Pacific Currants.
8. Natural architecture: Arches around the globe.
9. Pedology of African countries: Soil life.
10. The research of environmental determinism: How societies depend on the world around.
11. Melting of glaciers and the consequences.
12. Roots of Pangea rifting.
13. Factors determining Asian biosphere.
14. Formation of island countries and what keeps them together.
15. Groundwater depletion problem in the US.

Level Up: Make your topic even better

Well, we hope that the information below helped you gain an insight into geography and its fields, so you already know the area to focus on. The next step is to conduct a preliminary study of your prospective topic to identify more precisely what to examine. It involves checking a few basic sources for information;

• General and Geography-specific dictionaries.
• Encyclopedias - You can utilize 'The Encyclopedia of Geography' to gain more information on your specific area of geography.
• Conduct general internet searches or database searches through your local library - Database searches can be done using systems such as "Academic Search Premier" or "GeoBase."

Utilizing these basic search methods before delving further into your paper (for example, before you undergo an experiment, specific study, or read several titles) will enable you to come up with outstanding geography topics. Now it's easy for you to thoroughly identify what needs to be examined in your particular area of interest. This stage of research paper writing is crucial: there is no issue you can write about in detail without any prior in-depth research. Overall, the best means of narrowing your topic is to follow through with the preliminary analysis to find out what your topic comprises, its main objective, and some ideas of what other researchers have already accomplished in this area. Don't rush into things, and you'll certainly produce a top-notch research paper.