It’s the beginning of the second term, which means that the deadlines for those big research papers will soon begin to loom over students’ heads. While some paper assignments might pose specific questions and set specific parameters for the research, some assignments might be more open-ended as instructors let the students select their own topics to write about. And, unfortunately, these open-ended assignments can be even scarier. It’s difficult enough trying to find sources, conduct research, and then write the paper. And to find an interesting paper topic on top of all of that? Ridiculous! (Ha ha). Since it's sometimes difficult to think of a good paper topic—especially at the eleventh hour—below we’ve included some Slacker Skills for quickly locating that awesome paper topic. Good luck!