School Shooting Questions

I am writing about school shootings among high school students in the Midwest because it's an important issue than everyone can relate to since it can happen everywhere. I'm going to focus on what drives a student to commit such a crime and if there has been an increase in school shootings within the last 10 years. I'm writing for students, it doesn't matter where they go to school because a shooting can happen at any school.  I want readers to learn about the factors that push a student to kill others so others can see warning signs with their classmates. I expect to find a lot of information on the topic because there have been many articles written about shooting events. I hope to answer why a student does it and if there's been an increase and if it will only get worse from here. If I can interview a participant I think that would be most beneficial, my friends brother has been at a school while a shooting as occurred but it was at the University of Texas so it doesn't really fit my narrowed down topic.

Evaluation of Research Questions

I think my questions are pretty vague and really unspecific. It doesn't really relate to my life but Ive always found school shootings to be interesting after reading a novel about them, visiting Northern Illinois where there's been a killing, and hearing about universities whose had shootings. It's not something most kids think about going away to school but can happen just about anywhere. I feel like I can also find enough adequate information on my topic because there have been multiple school shooting across the US, but I think I'm going to concentrate on just Illinois within the last 20 years and if there has been an increase because of the availability of fire arms. This topic does offer taking photographs and looking at archives, I think it would be pretty hard to interview someone who has been a victim or even the killer.

Research Brainstorming

After brainstorming for my research topic I thought it would be the most interesting if I focused on a social controversy. The 3 I came up with were gay marriage, the use or miss use of medical marijuana, and school shootings. I decided on going with school shootings because people don't realize it could happen at their school and I've been hearing about them happening at universities over the years. Now living on a college campus Ive given thought that it could happen here and can relate to any school student. Some possible questions I've raised were: Are school shootings more likely to happen at a large university or at a high school? Why have troubled kids decided to kill their classmates? was it a result of bullying? and finally Has there been an increase or decrease in school violence in United States? After I choose which question I want to further investigate I will definitely narrow the focus to a specific time, location, and maybe even school that has already had a shooting.

Researching 1 in 6 Million & How I fell in Love with Post-It notes

After reading "researching 1 in 6 million" I learned that good research is driven by a passion for the topic. The author was really interested in her grandmother surviving the Holocaust. Her mom wasn't much help in giving a lot of information so having to go out of your way really takes dedication. I do think that her article was more about her experience than giving advice on how to write in depth research papers. In "How I Fell in Love with Post-it notes" I realized I have a lot in common with Susana in that we both have to have our supplies organized and be in a quiet place in order to analyze our reading. I could really relate to her steps because I also take breaks when doing research papers. I may not leave for a weekend but i will definitely sit in front of the TV, work out, or eat a snack to get my mind off of my work. I think her steps are easy for everyone to follow.

Linguistic Landscape

For my linguistic Landscape project I want to focus on the death penalty. It's been a controversial topic from the beginning of time. I did a little research on Troy Davis, who was just recently executed by lethal injection in Georgia. Before he was killed he still announced that he was an innocent man and I realized that some people who are getting killed could actually be innocent. I don't think its right to kill someone for a punishment but would rather be better to just have them rot away in a prison cell for the rest of their lives. For my genre I want to do a graffiti in the quad where everyone can see it, I'm not the best artist but I think its the most efficient to get your message to the public. Ive always found street art to be interesting because they're all different and have different messages. Most people use spray paint or paint but for my project I would use brightly colored chalk to grab the attention of the people passing by. My graffiti will have minimal writing because most people walking by wont have a chance to stop and read it. Along with some writing will be a large picture to drive the point across that the death penalty should be abolished.