Generating Ideas for Essay #2
First, take a couple minutes to think about two or more controversial issues within your major or subject of interest you want to research. Start your blog comment and type out some ideas if you like.
Second, open up a new window on your browser and access our library homepage>career finder to browse specializations in your field of interest.
Third, go to our library homepage and access the online research database (EBSCOhost, lexisnexis, academic search complete, etc. Can you find sufficient articles for your research? When you have, make sure you open the pdfs and skim them. To document your sources, e-mail yourself the title web pages of each one with the button provided on screen.
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Fourth, and now that you are on to something, give examples of sub-topics you may want to explore. List some questions to articulate this. What do you want to find out?
Finally, write out a question that encapsulates your controversial issue.
Example from my field: Should college English composition classrooms teach video essays?
Example of area of interest: How long will the world's oil reserves last?
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18 comments:
Since I am majoring in political science I can pull a lot of controversial issues into an essay. Some of those ideas would be as broad is "Is democracy the greatest form of government created?" or "What role should international systems of investigation have in regard to the debate between sovereignty of a state and quelling multi-national crime syndicates" or "Which system of Greek government was better, Spartan or Athenian?" to subjects as narrow as "what affect does border control issues have on federal law enforcement?" or "is there a need to increase the role of federal law enforcement in a post cold-war environment?"
A couple ideas I know that I am interested is Integration and NCAB. Sub topics would be should there be integration, to what extent, will it be a help for everyone? For NCAB, they dont take into consideration that students come from different backgrounds, they all come in different levels of abilities, the material will be dry and boring for students and therefore harder to learn..
Should there be special education integration? -or- Is the No Child Left Behind Act logical?
Well the only idea i can think of would be whether or not drug related films, such as blow and American gangster, discourage or encourage drug use among viewers.
Dismantling the gender barrier and narrowing the privilege gap. There are a few different articles available about these two subjects. EBSCOhost, Social Detox, Power, Privilege, and Difference and a few other sites, books and zines provide a nice selection of articles pertaining to the aforementioned subjects. Every person is at some point subject to these societal evils and ought to become more aware of them. Both Tanner and August were able to point out certain problems we are faced with but no real direction in how we ought to go about solving them. What are some of our personal and social responsibilities, and how do the tie in with our freedoms, and does our privilege hinder others?
Steroids
What are some of the negative effects of steroids on the body? How much of an advantage can you really gain over your opponents? What are the controversial arguments of steroids in baseball? What improvements can steroids have on your body?
Autism in children,
what are some early characteristics even prior to a child starting to talk?
Can children with autism recover?
Are there social signs in children that a parent could look for?
How can you tell what level, if there are levels, of autism a child has?
I have a lot of interest on the idea of the conditioning of a human's behavior based on their environment versus what seems to be naturally occurring. The idea that a person's environment can cause a person to fall into a certain role that isn't necessarily naturally occurring. Each plays a role and the extent is debatable. Some sub-topics for me to explore can be: Classic conditioning, stress based disorders, inducing religious views and beliefs, ideas of racism and sexism created by parents and families, sexual orientation, people falling into cycles based on their situations, i.e. gangs. Can certain situations affect a person's psyche to the point where it alters their personality in ways that it would not be possible otherwise? Are there certain factors in society that can create REAL disorders that would be biologically unachievable without that certain situation or institution?
Is Music Education necessary in schools today?
Studies show that music and the study of music increases brain activity and cognitive thinking as well as creative thinking, but administrators and educators want to cut the arts funding first because they think it does not pertain to common knowledge need for later development, when in fact it clearly increases a child's ability to retain information and solve problems creatively.
Why are these people who play their children Mozart in the womb, cutting funding for something that helps them in the long run?
Why is it that school want to solely focus on math and sciences and "normal" curriculum?
Two controversial issues within the major of exercise physiology are the use of steroids and weight loss products. Are steroids given a bad name because of the misuse by muscle hungry athletes? Are all weight loss products dependent or bad for your health?
I think I am going to research Dietetics. Some topics I want to explore is where are we today in nutrition, really how bad is everybody eating, what diseases are effecting us that is related to food and exercise, and I also want to look at the malnutrition people. How healthy are Americans today and how bad does it look down the road?
Since my major is dietetics, the topic I can discuss is if proper nutrition improves someone's body image. Some subtopics that relate to this issue is the nutritional needs for someone's body, who this involves, and different surveys/research done on this particular topic. Another topic is if vitamin supplements are beneficial. The only question I can think of at this point is "How can proper nutrition relate to improving someone's body image?" Also, "Are vitamin supplements beneficial?"
One f the most controversial issues of our time is the theory of evolution. Many believe that we started from a grain of sand, but some disagree and think that some all powerful being (aka GOD) put us here. I believe that both of these arguments have some validity, but i tend to believe that science backs up the theory of evolution. I have a hard time believing that one person put us here and that is how the earth was started. The theory of evolution states that it is any process of formation or growth. With this theeory we can explain why some animals are extinct or why they are going extinct. "Remarkable progress has been made by theoreticians in untangling the variables that affect speciation and/or extinction rates." (paradis 1 vol. 59). What I'm wondering about evolution is how some of the new species that have been discovered lately? Where did they come from, and how did some of these animals and plants arrive where they were. Another thing I'm wondering is how some of the mutations that happen to humans have happened over-time?
I am majoring in Psychology Pre-Physical Therapy, so I am really interested in how the human body works and why things happen the way they do in the body. Do all the new exercise techniques really make a difference, or are the old ways of physical therapy better? Is phycial therapy good for all peoples' injuries, i.e. being in a car wreck, having surgery, or even being born with a disability? Does physical therapy help everyone with a disability? How does psychology intervene with physical therapy?
There are many controversial topics in the English department, but to me, the most debatable topic is book banning. Why would you banish a book from classrooms? Teachers may use the books anyway. Banning a book can take great literature and hide it from young minds.
Ethanol Conversion-Forensic Chemistry
Stem-Cell Research-Forensic Chemistry
The effect of Global Warming-Chemistry
Human Cloning-Forensic Chemistry
http://www.lexisnexis.com/us/lnacademic/results/docview/docview.do?docLinkInd=true&risb=21_T5544988165&format=GNBFI&sort=RELEVANCE&startDocNo=1&resultsUrlKey=29_T5544988168&cisb=22_T5544988167&treeMax=true&treeWidth=0&csi=138620&docNo=7
There are several controversial issues that I would see fit to write about. These include abortion, the smoking ban, or the role America plays in foreign problems. Of these issues American Foreign Policy is the most prevalent at this time so I will be concentrating on it. There are several sub categories that would be good to discuss too including the differences in the foreign policy plans of George Bush and Barack Obama. I will also be drawing upon the war in Iraq and other conflicts the US is currently in. Questions that could be raised include whether or not President Bush's Foreign Relation plans were successful and if Obama's plans will work. The paper will be based on the question of whether or not the US is right in getting into the conflicts it gets into and whether or not the homefront is being damaged as a result.
Should gay marriage be legalized in the united states?
Points:
. Why is it so wrong?
. Is it really hurting anyone?
. What rights do straight married couples have that gay or lesbian couples don't?
. Why is the definition of marriage have to be between a man and woman?
This topic is a big topic these days and i feel like i can argue my points very well. I have first person experience and plenty of other resources to use.
My major is German, but I didn't find any topics that were controversial about it, but I am interested in political and social issues. One idea I have is something about alternative energy such as "Which form of alternative energy is the most practical?" or "What alternatives are there to gasoline for cars?"
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