Spring 2009 101 Topic Selection

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Topic Selection

We'll use this page to track topics during the selection process.

Criteria for topic selection for the research work:

1. Researchability.

We will want to immerse ourselves in the disciplines of knowledge relevant to some topic, but that means that we should work with topics that have a literature, in research and/or professional practice.

2. Open questions, or "reasonable differences of perspective".

Topics such as "Is the earth round?" really don't leave open questions to discuss. However, topics in which there are competing but unresolved (even unresolvable) perspectives often leave open many questions about the underlying topic. With open questions, you have room to practice your disciplines of thought, so let's choose that type of topic.

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First Effort:

• Drinking Age
• Death Penalty
• Stem Cell Research
• Euthanasia
• Steroids and Athletes
• Teen sentence to death
• Zoos
• Title Nine