Winter 2004, KBP:  New and recent topics.
Before embarking on research, we have to define the topic. This is done by consulting experts in the field. A dictionary is not sufficient for this purpose; we have to look in specialized reference books.  Sometimes we need to struggle with terms and definitions, or consult an expert or two.
 
(Consulting an expert means looking in a journal or other peer-reviewed source.)  In scholarship, we refer to books as if they were the people who wrote them.  Therefore, we often call the book by the author's name -- not by its title.
After you have defined the key topic and asked ONE clear question, you will have to read several peoples'  views. Make certain you understand, then analyze them.   Only then can you come to a conclusion of your own.
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Here are some interesting topics:

Wasting time and money on fast food and amusements, we are like the Romans.  Decimus Iunius Iuvenalis (ca.60-140) is known as Juvenal.  Lines 77 -  80 of his Satire X,(Iuvenalis Saturae "Satires of Juvenal")  gives us the phrase, "bread and circuses."  He wrote:

  ... aiam pridem, ex quo suffragia nulli vendimus,
  effudit curas; nam qui dabat olim imperium
  fasces legiones omnia, nunc se continet atque
  duas tantum res anxius optat, panem et
  circenses.  or
                                                 Now that no one buys our votes, the public has
                                                 long since cast off its cares; the people that once
                                                 bestowed commands, consulships, legions and all
                                                 else, now meddles no more and longs eagerly for
                                                 just two things -- bread and circuses.

What are the effects of the current close approach of Mars to Earth (only 64 million miles away)?

What happened to Tunguska?  UFO, bomb or meteorite.

A few of last semester's student topics (Fall 2002) follow:

Unfiled items:
Did native Americans actually sell Manhattan Island for a handful of beads?
monstrous art, imagination or reality?

music, its effects:  Do certain simple, repetitive, rhythmic music patterns enhance concentration and mental performance?

"Venuses:"  student article in Italian-English.

Alphabetically filed items:

Help find this article, win two marks:
Baird, AA, SA Gruber and DA Fein, et al. "Functional magnetic resonance imaging of facial affect recognition in children and adolescents." Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 1999; 38 (2): 195-9.   < not MLA format
                                         ~ a review by Joyce Carol Oates (famous fiction writer and teacher.)
 
 
 
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