2nd Year Workshop:
Tips for generating research ideas

Ian McCarthy, Emory University and NBER

Economics PhD Professionalism Workshop

Where to get ideas?

  1. Read non-academic policy papers/briefs
    • Commonwealth Fund
    • Petersen-KFF
    • Health Affairs or NEJM Opinion Pieces
    • Newspapers
  1. Academic papers and survey articles
    • Read the abstract and skim the rest
    • JEP and JEL are good for survey articles
    • Get TOC notifications from relevant journals
    • NBER working papers
    • Listen with audemic.io
  1. Seminars
    • Attend and read papers in advance
    • Meet with speakers and ask questions
  1. Talk to faculty
    • Be engaged in classes…think about potential research ideas
    • Schedule meetings and come with some questions
  1. Talk to classmates
    • Ask questions and throw out some ideas
    • Learn from each other
  1. Diversify
    • Read and take classes outside of your narrow subfield
    • You are an economist first
    • Be curious and engaged

Keep track of your ideas

  • Google Keep
  • Notion
  • Zotero
  • Research Rabbit
  • XMind
  • Trello
  • Paper journal

Three general categories:

  1. Brainstorming (no idea is too crazy)
    • Talk about these with peers
    • Look into the literature and potential data
    • Craft an actual question
  2. Research proposals (more developed)
    • Slightly more formalized and developed
    • Talk about these with classmates and faculty
  3. Research plan (ready to go)
    • Vetted by peers and faculty
    • Ready to start the actual research process