Skip to Main Content

PSY 304: Psychological Research: Memory

Topic Ideas

All research starts with an idea or an area of interest. Sometimes it can be challenging to select an idea that is compelling or interesting. This section of the tutorial outlines strategies for finding a good idea for your research topic.

Strategy 1: Use Your Course Materials

Your textbook, Memory: Foundations and Applications covers the wide range of topics relevant to memory in the field of Psychology. A good starting point is the table of contents—ask yourself, are there major areas of study that piqued your interest (i.e. visual memory)? Are there specific sub-topics that you want to explore more (i.e. "Memory of Faces").

Example: Pat is unsure where to start on the psychology project, so decides to consult the Memory: Foundations and Applications. Looking through the table of contents, Pat is intrigued by the section of memory in older adults. Pat is interested in part because her Grandpa often recalls events differently than they actually happened. With that in mind, she focuses specifically on False memory in Older adults (pg 401-403).

By reading this section, Pat learns that misinformation plays a role in how older adults form false memories. She sees that there is a study cited Karpel, Hoyer, and Toglia (2001), which is a great place to dig deeper into a topic and identify key words and related literature. 

Using Reference Sources & Handbooks

Similar to your textbook, subject encyclopedias and dictionaries provide overviews of topics and sub-topics relevant to psychology and memory.

Example: Alex searches Oxford Bibliographies for "Memory" and comes across an entry on flash bulb memories. The entry provides a brief overview of the topic, and lists studies related to the topic. These studies are broken into sub-topics, which provide Alex with some additional topic ideas. According to Oxford Bibliographies, both positive and negative emotions have been studied in conjunction with False Bulb Memories. Thinking of the emotions of supporting a political candidate, Alex wonders whether flash bulb memories in the context Republican and Democrat reactions to recent election results might be worth examining.

Current Events

Research studies are often reported in the news, which can be good sources for finding relevant and emerging topics about Memory. 

Davidson College Library Research Guides are licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Mailing Address: Davidson College - E.H. Little Library, 209 Ridge Road, Box 5000, Davidson, NC 28035