Tasks for 1/15

1.
2.

Reading Review (in Digication)

Announcement of Winning Topic

3.
Examples of Focusing on a Subtopic
and Developing Strong Research
Questions
Weak: Is climate change happening? Is it bad?
Reason its weak: its a yes/no question . Most scientists agree
that yes, it is happening some regular people, however
disagree
Potential research question: what in our larger American culture
enabled so many people for so long to vehemently deny that
climate change was happening?
Potential research question: how is climate change responsible
for the recent flooding in Uganda?

Potential research question: at this current moment,

who is being most affected by climate change?
Weak: How can we fix climate change?

Why its weak: Easy to think of lots of different answers: people could ride their bicycles to work, people could
switch to using carbon-neutral cars, factories could limit the pollutants they produce, governments could pass
laws requiring factories to limit their pollutants

Would trying to put all these answers into a short research paper make for a good paper?

Pick one: governments could pass laws

Strong: Should developed countries pay developing countries to offset climate change? If so, what should such
an agreement look like? What barriers must be overcome to achieve such a situation?

Strong: limit it to the u.s. government . what industries are the worst offenders? How much would their
output have to be reduced to make a significant difference? How much would it cost them to make that
change? How are they likely to resist the government's attempts at regulation? What could the government do
to overcome that resistance? How much will it cost the government to enforce regulation? Have any industries
already voluntarily reduced their pollution? How and why?

4.

Group Work: Developing Questions