Researching a potential research topic:

I am presently five weeks into my BE 100 course. Five weeks is not nearly enough time to award myself an engineering degree, but I have mastered logging into the PubMed database for articles.

Over the past week, I have found myself “googling”, reading, and typing away, trying to find a topic worthy enough for my first of many research papers in bioengineering. The term “research paper” overwhelmed me at first. I am aware that I cannot cure cancer, treat heart disease, and come up with a new vaccine all in the span of three to five pages, but I am capable of learning and familiarizing myself with a topic of a more manageable size.

While finishing off my reading for psychology class, I came across a section of my textbook that explained the symptoms and treatments for Attention Deficit Disorder. I discovered that a common treatment, Ritalin, is not a suppressant, but a stimulant. If people with ADD/ADHD have brains that are hyperactive, then why do they take medication that will stimulate the brain? How does the stimulant suppress the over activity in their mind?

At the completion of that reading, I killed two birds with one stone: I finished my psychology reading for the week and I found a potential research topic for my paper!