text: research paper? i need to write a research paper for one of my classes but i really dont have a topic yet. any ideas? i recently did a research paper on the explosive economic growth of china and how they're letting it ruin their environment.  it's an interesting topic.  their population and life expectancy has skyrocketed too.  did you know that the average life expectancy in 1949 was only 35 years?  today it's approaching 80.  you could just focus on how china's economy has doubled in 20 years, or you could relate that to their poor polution control practices.