Sunday, April 27, 2014

Critical Thinking Post # 3- Research Paper Topic Brainstorming

        Originally, my topic was to relate the two texts, "The Selfish Gene" by Richard Dawkins and "The Selfless Gene" by Olivia Judson. However, this topic was way too broad. I needed to narrow it down. All of the topics seemed OK to me, but nothing really stuck out to me. I thought that this was going to be another boring research paper I had to write, like in all of my other classes. After getting my topic-write-up back, I actually noticed there was a topic that was interesting to me. I didn't see the second ready-made topic until after submitting my topic, which was really a much better topic and I didn't have to figure it out on my own. It is the only topic that I was leaning towards from the beginning. Most of the other topics are not really in my area of interest.
        Before learning of this ready-made topic, I did consider other topics, because I didn't think I had a choice. I was considering the first ready-made topic, which was about the World's fair, Futurama and global warming. I thought that the topic was a little interesting, but after reading the second topic, I realized that the first one seemed a lot more boring to me. It was a choice that would decide the outcome of my paper. If I chose the first topic, it would be a boring paper, and if I chose the second, well, at least I'd have a chance!
        The second topic appeals to me because it is not about technology, but about humanism and biology, which are more interesting to me. I really like the texts and films related to this topic, so it is exciting for me to do the research. If I had chosen the other topic, I'd have a much harder time getting into the paper, and would probably end up with a really poorly written one. That's why my topic is the second ready-made one, "Is Altruism Possible Under Darwin [and Evolutionary Psychology]? Testing Altruism Out in Ian McEwans Enduring Love (novel or film)."

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