Finding a good research question

Research is not research until you have focused it around a solid research question that addresses a problem or issue. Brainstorm a list of questions about your topic that you'd like to answer through your research. Make this list as long as you can and try to see your topic in as many ways as possible. Push yourself on this. It is an important step.

5) Explore what you already know. Access Leading Issue summaries ("Topic Overview" or "At Issue" Pages) and Timeline (under Research Tools) from the SIRS Leading Issue you have chosen. In 3-5 sentences, summarize the background and historical information of the Leading Issue you selected. Include main controversies, key figures, important organizations, and key events.

Briefly list what you know about your topic already. Consider the following:

• Surprising facts or statistics:

1. In America, there is one divorce approximately every 36 seconds*. That's nearly2,400 divorces per day, 16,800 divorces per week and 876,000 divorces a year.
2. People wait an average of three years after a divorce to remarry (if they remarry at all).
3. If your parents are happily married, your risk of divorce decreases by 14 percent.
4. The divorce rate among couples with children is 40 percent lower than couples without children
5. Half of all American children will witness the breakup of a parent's marriage. Of these children, close to half will also see the breakup of a parent's second marriage.

• the extent of the problem

1. A staggering 40 per cent of marriages are now doomed to end in divorce, despite the bad press: divorce is bad for your health, bad for your purse and particularly bad for your children. In the course of researching a book I have written with Fiona Shackleton, a divorce lawyer, I have been continually surprised by the misery that divorce inflicts upon families - often more, it seems to me, than the misery of an unhappy marriage.

• important people or institutions involved

1. Statistics tell us that first marriages today stand a 45 percent chance of breaking up and second marriages a 60 percent chance. But those numbers just confirm what we already knew: Divorce has increased not only in frequency but also in acceptance. And even if we don’t focus on figures per se, we know that today far more marriages end in divorce than a couple of decades ago.
2. Judith Wallerstein, senior lecturer emerita at the University of Berkeley’s School of Social Welfare, states in her 2000 book The Unexpected Legacy of Divorce: “The prevailing climate of opinion was that divorce would allow adults to make better choices and happier marriages by letting them undo earlier mistakes. They would arrive at an honest, mutual decision to divorce, because if one person wanted out, surely it could not be much of a marriage. These attitudes were held by men and women of many political persuasions, by lawyers, judges, and mental health professionals alike.”

• key schools of thought

1. the University of Berkeley’s School
2. New Canaan (CT) Public Schools

• common misconceptions

1. 1. Living Together Before Marriage Decreases the Risk of Divorce
2. Mothers Always Win Gain Custody 
3. No-Fault Divorce is Quicker and Cheaper
4. Marital Assets Are Split 50/50:
5. My Spouse Will be Punished For Cheating

• observations you've made

1.  Its  heartbroking to think of all the suffering, shattered dreams, and confused kids. If you’ve been through it, or known someone who’s been through divorce, it seems hard.

• important trends

1. The information provided by couples on these certificates allows us to monitor the occurrences of marriages and divorces.
2. To be at risk for divorce, couples must first be married. Rates of first marriages have fluctuated dramatically over the past 70 years

• major controversies

1. Most kids suffer emotionally
2. They are detached from a parent in order to be raised 

5a) Read the Essential Question, Pro/Con articles, and Viewpoints to learn about the claims of your Leading Issue topic of argument. What are all the claims related to the Leading Issue topic of argument you selected? (A claim is a position on a topic you will argue with evidence to support it).

5b) Think about which claim you would like to be the focus of your argument. Think about this: 'Which claim do I most strongly agree with?' If you want to challenge yourself even more, select a claim you do not strongly agree with for a more challenging topic of logical argument.

4a) Make a final decision about your logical argument research topic. What is it? Questions to ask yourself:

What have we been studying in class this year? Ive been studying in class this year how to research on different websites the difference if its real or not and also  is leading issues.
Which subjects appeal to me?   The subject that most appeal to me was Divorce.
What are people writing about? People are writing about how divorce can effect the household and why people go through  a divorce.
What's most interesting to me? The most interesting thing to me was the fact why people get a divorce. Often you don't realize who the person really is in certain situations.
Can I find information about that? Yes

4b) Why are you most interested in the topic of argument selected?

I am most interested in this topic due to the fact it really grabbed my attention on how people really think toward divorce. Often the people that get the divorce have an argument on why a divorce doesn't qualify when married. I love the thought that people look at this as a big matter but its not often talked about.

Critical Thinking Questions

Child Sexual Abuse-
1. Are schools doing enough to protect students from sexual abuse? Why or why not?

Schools aren't  doing enough to protect students because they provide guidance counselors and other people you can go and talk to. But when a students is having a hard time to open up to a guidance counselor or someone they can trust they don't approach the student to see if something is wrong. Often Schools can't prevent sexual abuse from happening.

2.Why is it often so difficult to detect cases of abuse between teacher and student?

It is often hard to detect case studies of abuse between a student and a teahcre because often it is and after school situation it won't be done in class or in front of other students often it is hard to detect what is even going on in the class. 

3.Are more laws needed to prevent accused child sexual abusers from simply taking a teaching job in another district or state? Explain.

Laws such as having male teachers teach young female students then the situation would not be in any way an issue. 

Divorce- 

1.Should couples stay together in a troubled marriage rather than divorce? Why or why not?
Couples should stay together in a troubled marriage only to benefit the children in the relationship. If the troubled situation is easier to move on from maybe sticking together and really seeing eye to eye on something can always better the relationship. Often it is hard to stay together through the situation which is better to just leave. 

2.Are there any reasons why couples should divorce? Explain.

 Couples should divorce in a time when being abused or mistreated. They should be in a relationship or marriage with someone that is often not doing any good thing. In the marriage it takes the person apart from who they truly are often it just destroys the person itself. 

3. What steps do you think the government should take to encourage marriage and lower the divorce rate?What impact does divorce have on society?

Government should take the steps to reduce divorce rate, by honestly making sure that in a marriage its what they truly want maybe a cleansing thing were the people honestly should test the limit to see if the relationship is going to last. Then again the government can't do much to help two people who believe they belong together. 

Drug Legalization- 

1. Where does opium come from?

Opium is legally used in the production of pharmaceuticals all over the world. 

2.List three side-effects of recreational drug use.

• Loss of appetite
• Increased heart rate, blood pressure, body temperature
• Dilation of pupils

3.If recreational drugs were legalized, what government agency should be charged with their regulation? 

If drugs were legalized, Local law enforcement agencies stationed within the respective residence would be charged with their regulations. 

Dating Violence- 

1. How can the use of cell phones contribute to dating violence and harassment?
Cell phones can lead to dating violence and harassment by using social networks without being careful. Some website can lead to people that can hack into your webcam and catfish accounts that people are often very unaware about. 

2.Why do some girls stay in abusive relationships?

Some girls stay in abusive relationships because often they see the good in the person that they are with. People only see the bad in the person while the person he's who they truly are inside. 

3.What can be done to educate teens and their parents about the warning signs of dating violence?
 Some educated teens can learn to be warned about  dating violence by telling them their are different situations that they can go about in order to really, leave a relationship they don't truly want to be in. often they just don't know how to leave the relationship or they are just scared. 

4.Do you think the prevalence of sexual content in the media contributes to dating violence? Why or why not?

 The prevalence of sexual content in the media contributes to dating violence, because often people meet on these dating sites believing it is safe. Often they just trust them and this may lead to dating violence because your just basing everything off of the things they listed about them in the bio. 

Teenage Suicidal Behavior- 

1. What kind of legal action is appropriate for teens who send racy pictures on their cell phones? 

The type of legal action is appropriate for teens who send racy pictures would be to take away all electronic from the child strictly picking them up and dropping them off at school. No social activity at all. or you can just strictly leave the child be to learn on their own the wrongs of doing such a thing and the consequence. 

2. Should teens who receive these photos receive the same punishment?

The teens that ask for the photos should be punished the same way. If the photo is just sent by the person itself then their should be no punishment toward that person. 

3. How would child pornography laws be applied to someone over the age of 18 who sends or receives nude photos on a call phone? What would be the consequences of being charged with a crime involving child pornography?
Some teenagers who have texted photographs of themselves, or of their friends or partners, have been charged with distribution of child pornography, while those who have received the images have been charged with possession of child pornography; in some cases, the possession charge has been applied to school administrators who have investigated sexting incidents as well.

4. What role should schools take in educating teens about the dangers of "sexting"?
What responsibility do parents have in monitoring their children’s use of cell phones and computers?

Parents barely have any type of mointopring 

Prewriting Question

• What cases can be made for or against X?

Teenage Suicidal Behavior- 

YES		NO
Teens need to be aware of the seriousness of sexting. Teenagers often don't want to open up to anyone cause everyone say the same thing " That they have a purpose in this world"		Teenagers overreact and believe suicide is the only way to get rid of the situation.

Dating Violence-

YES		NO
Many girls are afraid to stand up to a strong and controlling boyfriend.		Violent and sexual images in the media, as well as new communication technology, contribute significantly to an increase in dating violence.

Drug Legalization-

YES		NO
The criminalization of recreational drugs is a waste of law enforcement resources.		Recreational drugs lead to  social decay.

Divorce-

YES		NO
Society would benefit if families stayed together.  Children would be happier in a household with both parents		It is pointless to stay in an unhappy marriage.

Child Sexual Abuse-

YES		NO
More needs to be done to keep molesting employees out of schools.		Many states are already enacting new legislation that includes tough penalties for abusive school employees and for administrators who fail to report them.

Potential research topics

Choose five topics that you think are potential research topics for your paper and briefly (in 2 to 5 sentences) explain why these topics are of interest to you.

1. Child Sexual Abuse -wo decades after a convicted sex offender lured a 7-year-old named Megan into his house with the promise of seeing a new puppy, then killed her, the law that bears her name remains broadly popular, but gets mixed reviews

2 Divorce- major meeting Pope Francis convened to help the Catholic Church improve its outreach to diverse modern families ended Saturday [October 18, 2014] with a summary paper that removed earlier, revolutionary language that cited the value of same-sex and divorced families

3.Drug Legalization- This article discusses the passage of three marijuana legalization measures in Oregon, Alaska, and Washington, D.C., noting that although "medical marijuana was rejected in Florida," the drug is gaining public acceptance in the United States.

4 Dating Violence- Texting and 'sexting,' sending sexually explicit messages via mobile phone, are firmly entrenched in the high school dating scene these days, but until now little solid data has existed on to what extent these social media connections have been misused to control, harass, threaten or stalk

5. Teenagers Suicidal Behavior- What happened after the federal government warned a decade ago that antidepressants might raise the risk of suicidal thoughts among young people? Instead of declining as hoped, suicide attempts over the next six years showed a small but meaningful uptick among people ages 10 to 29, according to a study published Wednesday [June 18, 2014] in the journal BMJ

• Legalization

What "ticks you off"?

Make a list of four or five things that "tick you off." Explain why. (Choose significant things that others might experience as well. For instance, your little brother might tick you off, but there is little chance that this annoyance will yield a possible paper topic). It is possible that one of these annoyances can be transformed into an interesting, engaging, and researchable project.

1  Animal Abuse- animals should be treated right and the fact they do this to animals is just wrong in every way 

2  Sexual Harassment- When ever an issue like this occurs its not just thrown out in public stating that it happened women/ men want their stories to be heard in order so people know this happens in your everyday life 

3 Child abuse- Children are human some have special needs and more attention than others due to this they shouldn't be treated any differently 

4 More tax on poor people and less on rich people- just because your rich doesnt mean you should pay the same amount of tax than a different group of people 

5 Social diversity- people shouldn't be treated differently due to their beliefs opinions sexual orientation or heritage. 

Questions based on the article (to be answered in 2-4 complete sentences):


1 What did wiki software allow Web users to do that the Mosaic browser did not?

What do blogs and wikis have in common?
What problem did a young Jimmy Wales find with the World Book Encyclopedia?
How was Jimmy Wales inspired by the World Book Encyclopedia to create Wikipedia?
How have encyclopedias inspired you in your own life?
Why did Nupedia fail?
How did wiki software change the ideas behind Nupedia?
What is “crowdsourcing?”
What do you think about the concept of “any fool in the world” being able to write articles for Wikipedia?
Do agree with the idea that “total idiots” could edit Wikipedia and of that being a good thing? Explain.
Why do you think Wikipedia grew so fast and became so popular in such a short amount of time?
Do you believe Sanger’s elitist attitude was a good thing or a bad thing for Wikipedia?
What did you learn from the anecdote about the Wikipedia article on Einstein going to Albania for a passport in 1935?
Explain this quote from the article: “I can’t imagine who could have written such detailed guidelines other than a bunch of people working together...It’s common in Wikipedia that we’ll come to a solution that’s really well thought out because so many minds have had a crack at improving it.”
The author of the article states that Wikipedia “grew organically.” What does he mean by that?
How has Wikipedia “been the greatest collaborative knowledge project in history?” 
Based on your own opinion and experience with Wikipedia, do you agree with the above statement or disagree with it? Explain.
What does the author mean by “wiki-crack?”
Based on the article, do you believe Wikipedia is a reliable source of information?
Do you believe its possible for a 16-year-old from New Jersey to write “insightful” Wikipedia articles?
How do you feel about basing your own research on something a 16-year-old wrote on Wikipedia?
What does Jimmy Wales mean by this mission statement: “Imagine a world in which every single person on the planet is given free access to the sum of all human knowledge?”
Do you agree or disagree with this mission statement?
Do you think Wikipedia has succeeded in its mission?
Do you agree or disagree that ordinary people, people without degrees, can “be part of the process of creating and distributing knowledge?” 
Based on your reading of the article, would you yourself use Wikipedia for your academic research?
Would you yourself like to write and/or edit Wikipedia articles in order to be “a part of the process of creating and distributing knowledge?” Why or why not?

1) If you believe that all students should be Web literate, what is the best strategy for your school to prepare you with this skill? Explain.
- to have a class everyday that teaches about the web, i think the class should teach about how to research things that can relate to your everyday living. Assignments should only be assigned to people that can relate to the assignment given.

2) What skills should all teachers have to be Web literate? Explain
-All teachers should know how to use the webs, How to use the web. and everything else that can relate. Teachers should learn how to teach students how to do what they do as a job. 

3) What role should school filtering play in your school district? Explain why schools should block or not block Web sites.
- The role school filtering play in your school district is that students should be allowed on some websites that are block because it can expand their learning skills and other things they need in life.

4) Do you believe the Internet is as big a transformer of culture as the printing press? Explain.
Yes the internet is as big transformation of culture as the printing press because people can now research more about things on the internet false or not rather then things that they weren't always able to.

5) If yes, what parts of our culture do you believe will be most affected? Explain.

What do you consider interesting?

The subject I most enjoy reading about is history because i feel even though the people aren't living anymore they once lived in order to help the country and should be rewarded in letting people become more aware of what they've done for us to impact todays living.

My favorite hobby or past time is drawing because it lets me express myself through artwork and pictures rather than the usual way of talking.

If i won the lottery, I would use the money to create my own business and achieve my expectations of a wealthy living because I wouldn't want to just win and spend it on meaningless things that will only be temporary.

The type of volunteer activity I prefer is Helping someone who doesn't have anything because i feel if i have the opportunity to help and give them the opportunities they missed out on then why not.

My favorite school subject has always been english for the simple reason that through writing i feel you can tell a lot or express things that normally people just don't see when they look at you.

If I ran the world, the first thing i would change would be, the lack of unemployment for teenagers now a days because teenagers deserve to learn the work field as much as adults and they cant get experience if they aren't given the chance. Some teenagers prefer to show their skills in different ways and not just in school.