Sociology term paper topics to avoid


Sociology can be an amazing course to help you develop insight into today’s world. However, when you are assigned a term paper in this class, there are a few topics that you should avoid writing about. You can always embark on them if you have a unique angle, but chances are, you won’t learn anything new and your professor may not be as impressed.

Textbook Ideas

If you are covering a topic that is already outlined in your sociology textbook, avoid writing about it. It is nothing original, all the facts you need are probably right there, and it will be boring to the reader. Instead, look at what is not in your textbook that you see in your everyday life. Being able to relate an outside topic and look into the human experience will be much more impressive to your teacher.

Boring Topics

There are dozens of topics that have been written about extensively in sociology, so ten to one, using one for your term paper will not only be boring for you, it will be boring for your audience. These topics include racism in the past, abuse, and suicide. Granted, you could always take a whole new perspective and look at it from a unique angle, but if you just write about the definition and the history of these main stream topics, you are not writing anything new.

Topics that aren’t related to sociology

There is a major difference between sociology and psychology. If you just look at a topic in the way it just affects a single individual, you are not looking at it from a sociological perspective. This is a major set of topics to avoid when writing for this class. Make sure that your topics relate to how peoples actions affect each other, and what kind of trend it is setting in culture. Keep it modern, keep it interesting, and make sure that it is related to sociology.


Writing a term paper in sociology can be really interesting and can provide a unique insight to how you view the world. Make sure that you don’t just choose something because you think it is going to be easy, because ten to one it has been written before and it will be boring. Try to come up with something unique, something that is current, and a topic that may benefit the reader to look at the world through a different set of eyes.