How to Cite a Source in Your Paper and in the Bibliography, MLA Style

The Modern Language Association (MLA) Style is widely used for identifying research sources. In MLA style you briefly credit sources with parenthetical citations in the text of your paper, and give the complete description of each source in your Bibliography, which is a list of all the sources used in your paper, arranged alphabetically by author's last name, or when there is no author, by the first word of the title (except A, An or The).

FOR OUR PAPERS IN THIS CLASS, we are going to use the MLA style. MLA stands for “Modern Language Association.” Your citations in your bibliography for this paper must be in MLA style.

WEB ARTICLE CITATION, MLA STYLE:
Last Name, First Name. “Article Title.” Name of publication. Date of publication. Web Site Name. Date of access with day, then month, then year .

Batchelor, Bob. "Bootlegging." Dictionary of American History. 2003. Encyclopedia.com. 26 Apr. 2010 .

Complete publication information may not be available for a Web site. Provide what is given.

Entire Internet Site: Scholarly Project or Professional Site

Title of the Site. Editor. Date and/or Version Number. Name of Sponsoring Institution. Date of Access .

Encyclopedia Mythica. 2004. 13 May 2004 .

Document from a Web Site

Author. "Title of Web Page." Title of the Site. Editor. Date and/or Version Number.
Name of Sponsoring Institution. Date of Access .

Sherman, Chris. "Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About URL." SearchEngineWatch. Ed. Danny Sullivan. 24 Aug. 2004. 4 Sept. 2004 .

Interview Conducted by the Researcher
Person Interviewed. Type of Interview (personal, telephone, email, etc.). Date.
Nakamura, Michael. Personal interview. 23 July 2004.

TELEVISION PROGRAM:
"Title of Episode or Segment." Title of Program or Series. Credit (Performer, writer, etc). Name of Network. Call Letters (if any), City of Local Station (if any). Broadcast Date.

"Daddy Knows Best." Cold Case Files. Narr. Bill Kurtis. A & E. 6 Sept. 2004.

"Why the Towers Fell." Nova. PBS. KHET, Honolulu. 7 Sept. 2004.

WITHIN THE TEXT OF THE PAPER, YOU SHOULD CITE THE SOURCES LIKE THIS:

Abraham Lincoln's birthplace was designated as a National Historical Site in 1959 (National Park Service).

Note: Personal or corporate author and page number should be given if they exist on the website.

FOR YOUR FURTHER INFORMATION:
The other two common styles used for citing sources in papers are Chicago Style and APA (American Psychological Association) style. You may be required to use those styles for some courses in college, but for now, I just want you to see what they look like, and how they’re different from MLA.

Here are some examples of how these different styles look:

WEB ARTICLE CITATION IN A BIBLIOGRAPHY, CHICAGO STYLE:
Batchelor, Bob. "Bootlegging." Dictionary of American History. 2003. Encyclopedia.com. (April 26, 2010). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-3401800513.html

WEB ARTICLE CITATION IN A BIBLIOGRAPHY, APA STYLE:
Batchelor, Bob. "Bootlegging." Dictionary of American History. 2003. Retrieved April 26, 2010 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-3401800513.html

Due Dates and Further Details on Structure:

Your paper is due on Monday, May 3rd. Your paper should have:
1) An introduction, stating your research question and answering it briefly.

2) Body paragraphs that go into detail, in which you describe your understanding of the research you've done, and backing it up with evidence from the research sources that you've used and citing your sources.

3) A conclusion that reaffirms your initial answer to your research question.

Pacing and Deadlines

There are seven days left 'til the end of the cycle. Pace yourself wisely. Make sure you attend every day. By tomorrow, you should have your introduction and your first page. Next week will be spent completing the paper. We only have four days, because next Friday is the Health Fair. The paper, including the title page and bibliography, is due May 4th.

Identifying Your Research Sources

Use the Research URLs worksheet to indicate what web sites you have vetted and are using as sources for your paper. The Source Identification Sheet must be completed, and in your folder in order for you to proceed with your research.

Mid-Cycle Assessment

How well do you understand what you are reading? Together, we are going through your work, and the process with which you come to understand the materials you have gathered. In your folder is your Skills Assessment Checklist. We use that to both determine your current level of mastery, and to plan goals as we move forward in this class.

How Your Paper Must be Structured

Introduction: State your research question and answer it.

The rest of the paper uses evidence from your research to support your opinion, stated in the introduction.

The conclusion restates your opinion and summarizes the evidence.

EVERY PIECE OF EVIDENCE YOU USE MUST BE CITED!!!!!! THAT MEANS YOU MUST USE FOOTNOTES AND A BIBLIOGRAPHY AT THE END. ALSO, in the text you have to say, “According to…” or some similar phrase to indicate where you got your information.

Research Materials Due

Each student must have at least three research articles articles printed out, vetted (that means identified as reliable sources), and highlighted. Those articles should be in your folder by the end of the day.

Reading Your Research

As you look at the articles you find, use the reading strategies we practiced in the first semester to figure out the meaning of what you see before you. If you encounter words you don't know, what strategies can you use to figure out their meaning? Of course you can always use a dictionary, but there are other strategies that we have learned about in the past that can help you. Remember context clues, breaking the word down into parts (prefix, root word and suffix), and activating prior knowledge. Activating prior knowledge means using what you already know to help you understand what you are learning and reading now. For instance, an example of prior knowledge might be your knowledge of Spanish. You may recognize a root word as being similar to a Spanish word. That would most likely be because both the English and Spanish words have their root in a Latin word. In that way, your prior knowledge of Spanish can help you understand what you're reading in English today. Also, always evaluate what you're reading to make sure the source is reputable.

Gathering Your Research

Make sure you have a copy of the "What Does Good Internet Research Looks Like?" handout. Begin your research using the standards and practices outlined in the handout.

REMEMBER: Your topic must be approved by me and then signed by you on your Research Paper Planning Worksheet.

Evaluating Work

In each of your folders you will find the ELA Skills Checklist, that evaluates your reading, writing and listening skills. Your ability to express yourself, along with your comprehension, interpretation and analysis of materials will be measured on this checklist. You can use the checklist's criteria to evaluate your research. Are you able to understand, interpret and analyze the research material that you have gathered? If you cannot, you will have to continue to search and find more useful material for your research paper.

Beginning Your Research

After you have filled out and signed your Research Paper Planning Worksheet, the next step is to get it approved by me. Once it is approved you may begin your research.

Make sure you are using the "What Good Internet Research Looks Like" handout to evaluate the websites you find online. A requirement for this class is using websites that are reputable and reliable. You must also know exactly who is behind and who authored the website that you are using. In your paper you will have to cite your sources.

Preparing for Research

Step One: Read all the text below FIRST, before doing anything else. You can also get it here, and get your Research Paper Planning Worksheet here.

Step Two: On lined, loose-leaf paper, brainstorm a topic. Write 5-7 questions that pop into your mind about that topic.

Step Three: Make sure to get a copy of the Research Paper Planning Worksheet from the classroom or the website, complete it and turn it in to me. This will be your Research Paper Proposal. Your topic has to be approved by me before you begin your research.

NOTE: Make sure to use the criteria laid out in the Research Paper Planning Worksheet to evaluate whether your topic will be approved.


CHOOSING A TOPIC FOR YOUR RESEARCH PAPER
Your research paper is going to make up a substantial part of your work for this cycle in this class. Evaluate your topic.

Characteristics of Good Topics:
Interesting
Manageable
Available
Worthwhile
Original

Characteristics of Poor Topics:
Too broad
Too narrow
too technical
Too trivial
Too subjective

EXAMPLES OF GOOD AND BAD TOPICS FOR RESEARCH PAPERS
General subject: Civil Rights
Unsuitable: Civil Rights movement in the 1960’s (too broad)
Unsuitable: My father’s activities in the Civil Rights movement (too subjective)
Suitable (Good) Topic: What leadership role did Martin Luther King take during the early civil rights protests?

General Subject: artists
Unsuitable topic: Rembrandt (too broad)
Unsuitable topic: Michaelangelo as a child (too narrow)
Suitable (Good) Topic: How did Michaelangelo’s painting influence other Renaissance artists?

General Subject: any author studied in English class
Unsuitable: Tennyson as an author (too broad)
Unsuitable: Tennyson’s education (too trivial)
Suitable (Good) Topic: What recurring symbols appear in Tennyson’s poetry, and what do they mean?

General subject: modern science
Unsuitable: protecting the environment (too broad)
Unsuitable: designing coal-fired generators that use high sulfur coal (too technical)
Suitable (Good) Topic: What environmental effects will result from using gas-powered generators?

General Subject: historical causes of bankruptcy
Unsuitable: causes of bankruptcy (too broad)
Unsuitable: causes of personal bankruptcy during 1920 (too trivial)
Suitable (Good) Topic: What national, local and personal economic conditions caused the 1929 stock market crash in New York City banks?

General Subject: Economics
Unsuitable: How the law of supply and demand affects the economy (too broad)
Unsuitable: How the law of supply and demand affects my salary (too subjective)
Suitable (Good) Topic: How does the law of supply and demand affect the price of cars?

BRAINSTORMING:
Choose a topic to think about. Ask yourself as many questions as you can think about, regarding that topic.

Here’s an example of the process from a “The Research Paper, A Contemporary Approach” by Sharon Sorenson:
"I read that a company chose to build a plant in a location where the fewest acres of wetlands would be affected, so I started wondering what wetlands really are and why they matter. That was my general topic, but I knew it was too broad. To help me think, I started writing a list of questions:
What are wetlands? Why are wetlands getting attention from the environmentalists and the news media? Why not just fill in the wetlands to get rid of the mosquitoes and use the land to build buildings on? What lives in wetlands? What kinds of plants and animals are in wetlands? Are they important? What would happen if we got rid of wetlands?”

RESEARCH PAPER PLANNING WORKSHEET
Your Name (Please print):___________________________________
Your General Topic: _____________________________________________
Your Specific Topic: _____________________________________________

TOPIC CHECKLIST (please circle your answers, and fill in specifics where required):
1) Am I interested in this topic? Yes No
2) Have I narrowed the topic down sufficiently? Yes No
3) Have I avoided a topic that is too technical? Yes No
4) Will I be able to find adequate resources for this topic? Yes No
If “Yes,” where do I think I will be able to find research information on this topic? Please describe where you plan to look for your information:

5) Does this topic rely primarily on objective (rather than subjective) material? Yes No
6) Does this topic do more than just recite facts? Yes No
7) Can I word this topic as a question? Yes No

Please describe your topic, worded as a question:





Please sign and date this form:
Name:______________________________________ Date ________________

Homework for March 20/21 Weekend

Go to the website globalwarming.org.  Find out who created this website.  Who is behind it?  Come back on Monday with the answer. 

What Does Good Research Look Like?

In order to do good research, there are some skills and techniques you have to practice.  In today's class we began to identify those methods.  As a class, we came up with the following strategies that are essential for good internet research:

CHOOSE A GOOD SEARCH ENGINE:

I recommend Google.  There are other many other search engines, but if you want to use another one, ask me, and we'll look at it together to decide if it's a good one to use for the type of research that you're conducting.

BE CAREFUL ABOUT HOW YOU PHRASE YOUR SEARCH.

When you type words in, your search engine is going to search for all those words in addition to those words in combination. So, for example,

prom dresses Spanish Harlem

will result in Google searching for everything that has the word "prom," the word "dresses," the word "Spanish" and the word "Harlem," in addition to looking for "prom dresses" and "Spanish Harlem."

In order to get ONLY prom dresses in Spanish Harlem, you would need to put each phrase in quotes. That tells the search engine to only look for those words in those exact combinations. So you can search Google by typing in

"prom dresses" "Spanish Harlem"

However, there may be stores in Spanish Harlem that are not listed because they do not use the phrase "Spanish Harlem" in their own pages.  Perhaps they use "Upper East Side," or "East Harlem" or simply list the street on which they are located, like "3rd Avenue," or "Third Avenue," or "116th Street" or "116 St".  All of these are different search terms.  If you really want to find a place in Spanish Harlem, you may have to try all these things.  ALSO, A LOT OF STORES, INSTITUTIONS, and BOOKS DO NOT HAVE WEBSITES.  Everything that exists is not online.  A person might have a store and not make a website for it.

     We found out that a lot of stores in Spanish Harlem that sell prom dresses do not have websites.  That does not mean they do not exist.  Lots of places that exist are not online.

WHEN TRYING TO FIND DETAILED INFORMATION OR READ A BOOK, REMEMBER:
      Sometimes you actually have to go to a library to read a document or book on the topic.  Usually, entire books are not online,  especially new ones.  The only entire books that are online are public domain books (like Shakespeare, Chaucer, etc). You can find many public domain books online at Project Gutenberg.  You can also check out authorama.com.

WHO CREATED THE WEBSITE?
Find out who wrote the information on the website, and write down those details.

ASK YOURSELF: Who are they? Who is the author of the website? What organization or group is behind it?

ARE THEY REPUTABLE?

• Have you already heard about the authors or institutions behind the website and do you know that you're reputable already? (for instance, students suggested that one might go to merriam-webster.com, because we already know that they are a good company that publishes dictionaries.)

• What does the URL tell you? 
•  .edu = education (universities, colleges, large school districts)
• .gov = US government
• .uk = United Kingdom (England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland)
• .ca= Canada. Other two letter designations indicate other countries.
• .org = (usually) non-profit organization
• .net = company (or anything commercially available)
• .com = company

ARE THEY RELIABLE?
o Is there a second website that confirms the information on that website?
o When did they update their page last?
o Google the owner and/or author.

End of Cycle Evaluation

What have you learned this cycle, and what do you feel you still need to work on in order to be ready for college?  Pick up an "End of Cycle Evaluation" sheet in my classroom, or download it here.  There is also a link to the evaluation under "Handouts."

Final Assignment for Cycle 4

We've met and looked over your work.  Now make sure to do all your corrections and type your final version of your "My New York" paper.  Your final version is your final assignment for Cycle 4 and is a requirement for passing this class.

Proof Reading and Editing Your Work

After you have completed your first draft, take a careful look at it.  Proof read it carefully.  Don't skim or skip.  Read every word.  You may find letters you've left out by accident, misspellings, comma and apostrophe errors, and errors in syntax.  Use the handouts (found in the classroom and on the right hand column of this page): "Camilla's Comma Rules," "Camilla's Apostrophe Rules" and "Camilla's Grammar and Spelling Tips" to correct your work.  Make your corrections, and make sure to use a different color pen or pencil, so that your corrections are evident.

Each of your folders has a "Student-Teacher Conferences" sheet.  It is the record of our discussions about your work.  Take a look at it periodically to remind yourself what areas you need to focus on in order to improve.

Assignment Timetable

The first draft of your "My New York" story is due Wednesday, March 10. The final, corrected and expanded version is due by cycle's end.  Remember, you must write your story in class, unless I have seen a large percentage of it and you have been given specific approval by me to finish it up at home.  

For your first draft (and for anything you write), make sure to proof read your story!

Make sure to correct

• comma errors
• apostrophe errors
• spelling errors
• syntax errors

Once you have made those corrections, turn your first draft in.

Part Two: New York Stories, circa 2007

PART TWO:
Here are the stories from the teenagers of 2007.

Assignment: Read any three "Individual Stories." You may also listen to the audio interviews. If you miss class, read the stories at home. Do not read the "Things Kids Have to Face" section yet. We will be reading it in class.

INDIVIDUAL STORIES:
My So-Called Gossipy Life

'If I'm Not Busy, I Complain That I'm Bored, but When I Am Busy, It's Like, Oh, My God.'

'I Was the Most Athletic Girl, the Best Girl Playing Sports.'

'My Family Has High Hopes for Me Because They Know I'm Going to Do Great Things.'

PIN MONEY
Angst Amid the Artichokes

'You Don't Have to Do Bad Things to Be in a Gang. You Don't Have to Do Anything You Don't Want to Do.'

SOPHISTICATED LADIES
Girls, Mean and Otherwise

'A Lot of Girls Like Me Because I'm Original and Enthusiastic and Also Because I Like to Play the Piano.'

'We're Always Talking About How We All Want to Have Boyfriends, and How We Have So Much Love to Give but No One to Give It To.'

THE HANG
The Island of Black Jeans

'My Parents Had This Big Argument Over Whose Fault It Was, Why I Chose to Be This Way.'

'Our Year Is the Most Competitive Year in the History of College Applications. Or Something Like That.'

'Some People Are Like, "Why Are You All Dressed Up in School?" but People Judge You by the Way You Take Care of Yourself.'

'I Had to Work, Because if I Didn't, There Wouldn't Be Food on the Plate.'

AUDIO INTERVIEWS WITH KIDS:
Wild At Heart, At Seventeen


THINGS A LOT OF KIDS HAVE TO FACE:

UP AND ABOUT
University Blues

ALL DRESSED UP
The Best of Times, the Worst of Times

Where They Were, on That Day


ASSIGNMENT: My New York

Write your own "My New York" story. Write about a part of your life in this city: Something that happened, some memory, some group of friends, something that took place in a specific neighborhood or place. Capture it in a bottle, like the Sandman did in "Ramadan." We can capture a moment like that through vivid and compelling writing.

Remember, New York City is any place within the five boroughs: Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan, The Bronx and Staten Island. New York City also includes the "Other Islands," such as Roosevelt Island, Riker's Island, Ward’s and Randall's Island, Ellis Island, and Governor's Island.

You will write a first draft of your essay. It should be approximately two typed pages (Times New Roman 12 point font, 1.5 line spacing). That should be about four handwritten pages, written on 8.5 x 11 paper in normal-sized handwriting. Then, in your second draft, you will express yourself using more sophisticated vocabulary and descriptive imagery to enhance your story.

What Studying Is All About

As you read the Christopher Sorrentino piece, you'll need to develop the kind of study skills that you're going to use in college. When you encounter a word you don't know, you'll need to use all your available tools to figure it out. Use contextual clues, breaking the word down into parts, your knowledge of Latin-based languages, and your familiarity with cultural references to understand the meaning of the sentences and paragraphs that you are reading. You may also need to use a dictionary. Remember: the task is to FULLY understand what you are reading, not merely to get the general gist or sense of it.

When you get to college you will be sitting next to students who read The New York Times or literature on its level on a regular basis. It is not enough to just get a sense of what is being given to you. In order to really do well, you need to make it your business to fully understand what you're reading. You cannot really talk or write about what you have read unless you fully understand it. It's that simple! So use this exercise to develop those reading skills that you're going to need in college. Do whatever it takes to understand the reading material that's given to you. It may take more time, but you'll find it's more satisfying and rewarding than skimming, skipping, and not really "getting it". You'll understand your classes better, and you'll do better in school. It's what studying is all about.

My New York

PART ONE:
Author Christopher Sorrentino wrote an article in New York Times, and then interviewed ten 17-year-olds from various neighborhoods throughout the five boroughs of New York City, asking them to describe their experiences as New Yorkers.
Read about Christopher Sorrentino's New York:
When He Was Seventeen
By CHRISTOPHER SORRENTINO

Read for understanding. Circle and then figure out the meaning of the words that you don't know. If you need to look them up, then do so. You can also break the word into parts or figure out the meaning from contextual clues.

When you understand the subtle differences between words you understand their specific meanings. Words, like people, are nuanced. They have their own geography: each word has its own unique meaning.

"Ramadan" by Neil Gaiman

We read "Ramadan" by Neil Gaiman. The class identified vocabulary words: those words that they did not know. Then we looked them up.

There are many, many online dictionaries. They define words differently. Your assignment is to look up five words from the list below on at least three different web sites, and then write down a definition of each, IN YOUR OWN WORDS.

How do you know a web site is reputable (good, reliable)? How do you know it's a good place to find definitions? You can judge a website by the following measure: 1) Is the source a known entity that is famous for its accuracy and knowledge on that particular subject (for instance, mit.edu would probably be a good web site for math and science information, because we know the Massachusetts Institute of Technology is the foremost math and science university in the country)? or 2) You've gone to "About Us" or "Contact Us" and you see that the people who created the website have the proper credentials for their content.

On your paper, make sure you list which three web sites you went to when you looked up your three definitions. If you encounter a definition that is unclear, go to a dictionary web site that does a better job for you in defining the word. Also, make sure the version of the definition you pick matches the context of the story. Sometimes the definition with which we are most familiar is NOT the one meant in the story.

Which words are plural nouns? In the case of verbs, what form of the verb is it? Is the verb in the past tense? Which words are adverbs? When looking up a word, it's best to find a root form of the word and look that up.
The words the class identified are as follows:
cadi (qadi)
caliph
concubine
consummate
coveted
darting
devising
dirham
djinn
durance
ennobling
ensorcelled
fief
geomancer
harem
hennaed
hitherto
homunculi
ifrit
ingenious
labyrinth
laden
merciful
obsidian
oubliettes
peremptorily
pomegranates
prodigy
promiscuous
remnants
sagacity
sage
savory
scribes
steward
veiled
venerate
vermilion
vizier
wanton
ware

Initial Writing Assessment for Cycle 4

Read "The Road Not Taken" by Robert Frost. We understand that "Two roads diverg[ing] in a yellow wood" is a metaphor for the choices one is presented with in life. What road have you taken in life, the one "less traveled," or the one more people have gone down? Why? Write a two page essay describing your choice: why you made it and to what it has lead.

Welcome to College Writing, Spring Semester 2010, Cycle 4.

In this class you will learn grammar, spelling and punctuation rules and routines so that they become fully integrated into your writing. Today we spoke about the requirements for passing this class. They can be viewed in the Syllabus. Most notably, in order to pass this class you must complete ALL required assignments. All written work is to be done in class. I do not accept written work done at home, unless it is specifically designated as homework. Also, please be aware of your attendance. Excessive absence will result in your being unable to complete the work and attain credit.

Final Evaluation: Research Skills

What have you learned about conducting research? Your Research Skills Evaluation is a concluding activity for this class.

Finishing Your Paper

Your final paper is due Monday, January 25th. Please make sure to cite all your sources and put all of your research into your own words. You must also draw conclusions based on your research.

Beginning Your Paper

The introduction to your paper is now due, and by week's end you should have at least a page and a half of your paper completed. In your first paragraph, introduce your topic. Make sure the reader can understand what topic you are exploring, and what issues you are specifically focusing on. The rest of your paper will answer the questions and explain the statements in your introductory paragraph.

Research Project Steps

Each student is required to have at least three research articles from reputable sources. Once we have evaluated the sources, then you may highlight relevant information in each article. Remember, you are using your research to back up or substantiate your opinions. You are not copying sections of the article "wholesale" into your paper. Even though you may think the words in the article you are using sound better than what you would write, you cannot use them. You must read the material, digest it, and then put down your own understanding of it in your own words, along with the conclusions you've come to based on what you've read. This is an essential skill that you will need in college.

Holiday Homework

Find five articles that support your research topic. Print them out and use a highlighter to select the information that you will use in your paper. Print out the list below, and make sure that all articles are attached to this paper when you hand it in after the holiday break.

Name:

Your Topic (remember to be as specific as possible):

Source #1:
URL (web address):

Source #2
URL (web address):

Source #3
URL (web address):

Source #4
URL (web address):

Source #5
URL (web address):

Cycle 3 Project: Writing the Research Paper

Our assignment is to find a contemporary political issue that you want to research. You will be writing a 5 page paper on the topic. The initial rules for writing the paper are as follows:

Follow the best practices of research found in the handout: "Standards and Practices of Good Internet Research."

"I went to google," is not an acceptable citation. You must go to specific web sites relevant to your issue.

ALWAYS find out who the source is for your data. That is, who made the web site? Who are the people or what is the organization that has written it? You often have to, in Deeno's words, "google what you google." That means, once you find a web site, google the site's authors, before you decide it is a reputable source.

If a web site's information is too complicated for you to understand, do not use it. Do not write down or use information that you do not comprehend at all. I am referring to web sites that are highly technical or written with a very large number of "vocabulary words" that you do not understand. However, if you find a web site in which there are simply a few words that you do not know, please feel free to ask me to clarify those meanings. On the other hand, do not just pick the easiest, most elementary-level web sites. Find information that is relevant, detailed, and well-written.

The topic must be one having to do with the political and social issues facing Americans today. Once you decide on a general topic, say "Abortion," then you must decide what EXACTLY you are researching. Are you researching scientific data about an embryo? Are you looking at different groups in society and what they believe? Are you looking at data about increases or decreases in abortion rates? Are you trying to determine why teenagers do or don't have abortions? All those are different topics, and would lead you to different research sources. So, once again: first pick your general topic, and then, with my help, narrow it down. You must write down your general topic and the narrowed down questions in your notebook. Your notebook must remain in your folder in the classroom, for this part of the class.

Students have brainstormed general topics that could be researched.

MTA budget issues
Iraq war
Afghanistan war
Education
Health care
Poverty
Free Tibet
Palestine
Global Warming
Recession
Is teen “Sexting” criminal?
How does the law define prostitution?
Rights to privacy
Safety at nuclear power plants in China
Power of China in the world
Teen pregnancy: abortion laws
Teen pregnancy: societal causes
China and the US: Financial relationship
The causes of poverty in the US
Abuse in the foster care system in NYC