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English 105 Identity: Research Topics

The Journalist's Questions

As you begin, consider the Journalist’s Questions:

“Who, What, When, Where, Why and How”

  • What is the topic about?
  • Why does your topic represent a significant social, political, environmental, and/or economic issue?
  • Who/what plays a major (and minor) role in the issue?
  • How has your topic impacted your community/society/the state and possibly beyond?
  • What can we learn about it?
  • What are the various opinions and conclusions about this issue?
  • What can/should be done (if anything) about the issue?
  • When did the impact of the issue begin? Why?
  • What is currently being done about the issue? What should be done differently?

Possible Topics of Interest

There are many issues examined in the book "The Hidden Brain."  You paper here is to examine one of them and "take a position" on the issue.  The book describes how we perceive, understand, and act socially and politically.  A few topics to consider are:

  1. Gender descrimination
  2. Bias in the justice system
  3. Death penalty
  4. Terrorism and extremism
  5. Public safety
  6. political bias
  7. Media bias
  8. Genocide

This is not an exhaustive list.  For more examples of issues I recommend starting in the Opposing Viewpoints in Context database (linked below).  In it you can click "Browse Topics" and you will see a full list that you can choose from.  Select one related to the book and read up on the topic to get yourself started thinking about the topic selected. 

Another resource that is good to use is CQ Researcher, as it also provides a list of topics to browse through.  In CQ Researcher, click on the Browse Reports - Issue Tracker to get a list of all the topics that CQ Researcher currently has written reports about.  See below for a link to CQ Researcher.

You are not limited to these databases and can use any resources you like (books, news articles, magazines, academic journals, documentary films, and any other Library resources.)