100 Research Topic Guides for Students »

BARBARA WOOD BORNE is reference and young adult librarian at the Wallingford, Connecticut Public Library, where she developed the prototypes for these research guides to help students with the research process.

A student's guide to researching 100 popular research topics.

VOYA

Borne has created a basic template to help students research one hundred common topics in the areas of science and technology, social issues, social studies, and biography. The template headings are background, book call numbers, card or computer catalog subjects, vertical file headings, reference books or CD-ROMs, periodical indexes, online databases, keywords and descriptors, videotape titles, related fiction books, national organizations, suggestions for narrowing topic, and related topics. These templates serve as pathfinders to help students successfully gather information from various sources and formats with a minimum of frustration. Borne suggests the book or copies of the pages be prominently displayed, for use by the students alone or with the help of a librarian. Permission is given to photocopy the topic guides. The author has designed a tool similar to what some school library media specialists might already have done or wish they had time to do. Although recommended for high school students, these guides would work with middle school students, too, especially as a teaching tool for their first research paper. Borne has hit the nail on the head with her choice of frequently assigned as well as popular topics. The brief background statement about each topic is concise and well written, and most of the information is general enough so as not to become out of date too quickly. Videotape titles that include producers and national organizations, with their addresses, encourage the use of broader formats and sources. Suggestions for narrowing the topic, a skill most students need to develop, are instructive. The appendices include guides to note taking, to bibliographic citation format (MLA), and to searching databases. School librarians may have to wrestle with the question of whether too much of the search has been done for the student, but in busy libraries these guides could help a student produce a worthwhile paper and prepare her to do so again independently in the future. Index. Biblio. Appendix.

Introduction

How to Use This Book

Science and Technology Research Topic Guides

Acid Rain

Alternative Medicine

DNA Fingerprinting

Earthquakes

Electromagnetic Fields (EMFs)--Health Aspects

Genetic Engineering

Greenhouse Effect

Hazardous Wastes

The Internet

Mysterious Circles and Other Ancient Mysteries

Oceanography

Ozone Depletion

Quarks

Rain Forest Destruction

Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs)

Virtual Reality

Volcanoes

Social Issues Research Topic Guides

Abortion

Affirmative Action

Aging

AIDS (Acquired Immunodeficiency Disease Syndrome)

Animal Experimentation

Assisted Suicide

Capital Punishment

Censorship

Child Abuse

Creationism vs. Evolution

Cults

Drugs and Athletes

Eating Disorders

Fetal Alcohol Syndrome

Gambling: Moral and Ethical Aspects

Gays in the Military

Generation X

Glass Ceiling

Gun Control

Hate Crimes

Home Schooling

Homeless

Hunting

Learning Disabilities

Legal Rights of Teenagers

Medical Ethics

Near-Death Experiences

New Age Movement

Police Brutality

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

Prison Reform

Privatization of Schools

Psychological Aspects of Advertising

Rock Music Lyrics--Moral and Ethical Aspects

Sexual Harassment

Single-Sex Schools

Teenage Pregnancy

Teenage Suicide

Television and Its Effects on Youth

Terrorism

Tobacco Industry

Vegetarianism

Violence in the Schools

Welfare Reform

Women Clergy

Youth Gangs

Social Studies Research Topics

Assassination of President John F. Kennedy

Civil Rights Movement

Conclusion of the Cold War

Ethnic Conflict

The Holocaust

Immigration

Independent Republics of the Former SovietUnion

McCarthy Hearings

Peace Corps

Persian Gulf War

Underground Railroad

Vietnam War

Watergate Affair

Witchcraft in Colonial America

Women's Rights Movement

Woodstock Festival

Biography Research Topic Guides

V.C. Andrews

Maya Angelou

Bob Dylan

Bill Gates

Stephen Hawking

Jimi Hendrix

S.E. Hinton

Stephen King

Madeleine L'Engle

John Lennon

Andrew Lloyd Webber

Toni Morrison

Nostradamus

Georgia O'Keeffe

Dr. Seuss (Theodor Geisel)

J.R.R. Tolkien

Sojourner Truth

Andy Warhol

Ryan White

Laura Ingalls Wilder

Malcolm X

Appendix A: Guide to Note-Taking Procedures

Appendix B: Guide to Bibliographic Citation Format

Appendix C: Guide to Searching Databases

Appendix D: Research Topic Guide Template

Bibliography

Index