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2020/11/3 Choosing Potential Topics (for Essay #4)

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Choosing Potential Topics (for Essay #4)

Due Tuesday by 11:59pm Points 30 Submitting an external tool

Developing a Working List of Research Topics Using the internet, you are going to do some initial exploration of possible topics for your research paper-- you will be turning in this assignment by Tuesday, November 3rd, at 11:59pm.

Please do some background research on three different controversies. Remember that these should be three controversies from areas in which you would like to succeed personally, professionally, and/or academically. Please number these three in order of your preference to do your research paper on them—I will try to approve your first choice, but I want you to give me options in case you select something I know will be really hard to research.

The key is that you must find controversies. Remember, controversies are public debates where various people/groups take different points of view.

For each of the total of THREE controversies that you find, write a short paragraph explaining:

1. How this controversy relates to an area in which you want to succeed 2. What the basic controversy is 3. Some background information about what the different sides in the debate are and what

position each side holds 4. You don’t need an official Works Cited page for this smaller assignment, but after each

paragraph, include the URL for the website or database that you used to find this background information.

5. Be sure that what you write is in your own words and that if you use any language from a source, you quote and cite it with parenthetical citations.

For this initial step in the research process, we are not going to worry about using academically-appropriate sources. You are welcome to use a source like Wikipedia at this point —that’s what Wikipedia is for! As you move forward with the paper, though, you will have to verify any information that you find on Wikipedia or other sources like it in a more reliable source. We will talk about how to find those using our PCC Library databases next week.

In you are interested in starting to find potential topics through the PCC library databases, try these three databases for finding controversies to research:

CQ Researcher Issues and Controversies Opposing Viewpoints in Context

2020/11/3 Choosing Potential Topics (for Essay #4)

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Here is an example of a potential topic that I would include on my list if I were doing this assignment:

1. 1. Because I hope to succeed as a puppy trainer in my personal life, I would like to research the controversy around using positive reinforcement training versus the dominance-based training used by Cesar Milan and his followers. According my initial research, positive reinforcement trainers believe that using praise and rewards is the best way to teach a dog positive behaviors, and think that dominance-based training is inhumane and leads to aggression or fear in dogs. Dominance-based trainers, on the other hand, think that dominance-based training is true to the way dogs naturally interact in packs, and thus that dominance-based training works more effectively and quickly than positive reinforcement. They also believe that positive reinforcement fails because people misuse it, praising their dogs for everything. My initial research suggests that some major animal welfare groups like the Humane Society and the American Veterinary Society of Animal Behavior are in favor of positive reinforcement training, but that many dog trainers and owners remain unconvinced.

Sources consulted for initial research: pets.webmd.com and the Humane Society website

Remember, I have given you an example of one paragraph, but you will be turning in a total of three paragraphs on three different potential topics. Also, please note that you need to have three potential topics, but you do NOT need to have one personal, one professional, etc. They can all have to do with areas in which you want to succeed personally, you can have two that have to do with an area in which you want to succeed academically and one that has to do with an area in which you want to succeed professionally, etc. It’s up to you.

2020/11/3 Choosing Potential Topics (for Essay #4)

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