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College 1 Research Guide

Find resources to help you conduct research for the case studies and poster project.

                               

Topic Ideas

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Suggested Research Topics

The list below includes topics that are connected with Corazon and other College 1 course themes. You can choose from this list or come up with your own topic from the book or other course text.

 

Topics Related to Corazon

Latinx/Salavadoran/Central American                     Community                                                Media
  • Activists                       
  • Authors
  • Inventors
  • Scholars
  • Artists
  • Artisans
  • Cultural Figures
  • Food
  • Salvadoran Civil War
  • Heritage, Culture and History
  • Rituals (religious, cultural)
  • Storytelling / Cuentos
  • Displacement
  • Gentefication
  • Gentrification
  • Los Angeles neighborhoods
  • Cultural resistance
  • Familia & Kinship
  • Health Education
  • Sisterhood / Brotherhood / Fraternidad
  • Pedagogy of Carino
  • Social Media
  • Social Media Addiction
  • Social Media and its Effects on Mental Health
  • Social Media Influence
  • Instagram fame
  • Instagram poets
  • Slam Poetry
  • Cyberbullying
  • Music
Social Issues                                           Emotional / Mental Health                  Self-Worth / Self-Actualization
  • Teen pregnancy
  • Child abuse / domestic violence
  • Self-harm
  • Culture (family); Cultural wealth ("Brown Girl")
  • Feminism
  • Stereotypes (gender, race)
  • Immigration
  • Addiction
  • Intersectionality
  • Therapy
  • Grief
  • Depression
  • Anxiety
  • Self-acceptance
  • Self-love
  • Generational trauma
  • Addiction
  • Love
  • Meditation
  • Friendship
  • Writing as Coping Mechanism or Spriritual Practice
  • Loss / Death
  • Empowerment
  • Body shaming
  • Body image
  • Body Positivity
  • Cultural norms and weight / body image
  • Unhealthy relationships
  • Non-academic route / unconventionality

From Keywords to Research Question to Thesis Statement

Search Strategies

1.   Brainstorm keywords, related terms and synonyms. Examples:

  • Latino, Hispanic, Chicano
  • protest, demonstration, activism
  • drugs, addiction, substance abuse

2.   Use AND to focus your search on a smaller result set. Examples:

  •  police brutality AND racial profiling
  •  bilingual education AND benefits 

3.  Use OR to link synonyms and gain a larger result set. Examples:

  • pregnancy AND (teenagers OR adolescents)
  • media AND (bias OR sensationalism)

4.  Put quotations around your terms for exact searches
          Examples: "domestic violence"
                            "Manifest Destiny"

The keywords you come up with represent the concepts and themes you're exploring. You can incorporate keywords into a research question. As you explore your topic in more depth, you will answer the question by reading the sources you locate while conducting research. Eventually, you will develop a central claim or thesis statement about your topic. 

Example 1:

  • Keywords: Los Angeles, gentrification, protest
  • Research Question: Why are activists in Los Angeles neighborhoods such as Boyle Heights protesting gentrification?
  • Thesis: Gentrification can reduce affordable housing and result in displacement of long-time residents and families from neighborhoods.

Example 2:

  • Keywords: censorship, controversial art, Latino
  • Research Question:  Have Latino artists faced censorship when their work is deemed "controversial"? 
  • Thesis: Murals by Latino artists have been censored or vandalized due to their depictions of police brutality and the Japanese internment during World War II.