Anyone Have Any Really Good Research Paper Topic Ideas?

Question by **Amanda**: Anyone have any really good research paper topic ideas?
Im doing a paper for my english class and i only have a few days to complete this 5-7 page paper, plus i have to cite everything and do an outline…my biggest problem is…I have no idea wat to write about! 🙁 anyone have any good ideas of things i could research for my paper?? any help would be appreciated! thanks!

Best answer:

Answer by Elbie
Write about how society is influenced by the following quirky aspects of society:

__A. SLANG TALK: Each generation’s popular social practices, often become accepted into our formal language and lexicon. In linguistics, the lexicon of a language is its vocabulary, including its words and expressions. What is understood as the “general vocabulary” is itself an ongoing social process which privileges certain groups and perspectives; therefore, despite its critics, the slang talk that becomes apart of the general vocabulary, is created by a “privileged” class of people…NOT trash talkers.

__B. -URBAN LEGENDS: Like all folklore, urban legends are not necessarily false, but they are often distorted, exaggerated, or sensationalized over time and generations.

__C. -FOOD: In each culture there are both acceptable and unacceptable foods, though this is not determined by whether or not something is edible…it is determined by the values, beliefs, and attitudes of the culture. For example, Americans have become a nation of Fast Food Junkies which is largely in part because of our instant-gratification, fast-paced lifestyles in an individualistic culture. Whereas, some other cultures view our “fast food addiction” as absurd and disgusting. Likewise, horses, turtles, and dogs are eaten (and even considered a delicacy) in some cultures, though they are unacceptable food sources in other cultures.

__D. -PHOBIAS: These fears come in all different, and sometime strange, forms. Cross-cultural psychologists point out that phobias are influenced by cultural factors. Agoraphobia, for example, is much more common in the United States and Europe than in other areas of the world. A social phobia common in Japan but almost nonexistent in the West is “taijin kyofusho”, an incapacitating fear of offending or harming others through one’s own awkward social behavior or imagined physical defect. As you explore this topic, try to pin point what phobia you think is the strangest. Here are some of the phobias on the list of top 10 strangest phobias: Anablephobia(fear of looking up), Consecotaleophobia(fear of chopsticks), Geniophobia(fear of chins), Cacophobia(fear of ugliness), Phronemophobia(fear of thinking)

__ E. -ADOLESCENCE and ROCK MUSIC:
Experts have stated that rock music is often a natural target of interest for adolescents (Tervo 1985, 1991, 2001, 2003). Music becomes rock music only when it is combined with the fantasies which the adolescent invests in it. This must take into account the sounds, rhythms, melodies, instruments, voice, lyrics and the combined effect of countless variations of tone. The significance of rock music is essentially connected with the fact that the adolescent has neither words nor commonly shared ways of expressing the new and never before experienced changes taking place within him- or herself. Music can emotionally affect adolescents at a deeper level than is possible with words alone. Rock music can enable adolescents to express, to be in contact with and to share amongst themselves feelings of anger, rage, grief, longing, isolation, psychological disintegration etc., as well as to experience closeness. It can safely lull the adolescent into regressive moods and – with its musical clarity, simplicity and high volume – give shelter to the distressed and may sometimes even be of help to confused adolescents.

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