Week 1: topics list/paragraph/question

For Friday/Tuesday (depending on which section you're in), bring:
A. 5 topics to pick from to research this semester (get a step ahead by writing these topics as questions).
B. 1 paragraph explaining the basic idea of your favorite of the 5 topic choices.
C. 1 research question stating what you'd like to learn in your research.

Example:
1. Is dark chocolate really that good for you?
2. Which wild plants are edible in Utah?
3. Does energy medicine really work?
4. What really makes people happy?
5. Which alternate source of energy is most promising?

Paragraph on #3: people spend a lot of money on "alternate" therapies like acupuncture, massage, reiki, and other modalities. Do they work? Do they work on some things and not others, or in some instances and not others? Many of these come from Eastern medicine which has been practiced for thousands of years, so there must be something to it, but has it been tested? Has it been proven?

Research Question: Does energy medicine work? If so, how?

Note that topic idea #2 would result in a list of plants. This is more like a report where answers can be gathered from a single source rather than an exploration where some new knowledge will be created by your paper. Also there's pretty much only one side to this question. Either something is edible or it's not. It's hard to show complexity in this issue. If you really want to write about edible plants in Utah, try widening the scope to ask something like which wild plants can be used for medicinal purposes, do they have any down sides, and such.