Choosing a Topic

See below for few good places to get some ideas for possible project topics.

General resources on global issues:

Resources addressing specific themes (related to conflicts, cultural rights, environmental issues, health, women, etc.):

Class resources:

• In-class discussion and lecture/activity slides.

• WRG textbook and other course materials (Perusall).

• CEA presentations on global news (you may also wish to explore current events; see CEA resources on BB for ideas)

Centering People in Your Research

The way we word a topic and the key words we use to describe it influence everything about our search results. For this project, the key is to center your topic around how human beings are affected by it. We can use strategic search terms to find resources that focus on a topic through this lens.

Some possible search terms to center people and what happens to people include:

• Relationship, dynamic, connection, disruption, access, opportunity, quality of life, perception, human response

To find further useful sources in a results page, here are some additional neutral search terms to try:

• Impact, consequence, influence, change, reaction, outcome, repercussion, result, effect, response

For example, say our research topic is on gender inequality in Ghana. Here are some possible search strings:

• “gender inequality AND outcomes AND Ghana”
• “economic opportunity AND women AND Ghana"
• “access AND abortion AND health outcomes AND Ghana”

The underlined terms directly or indirectly identify the people we’re researching (American women, or for the more indirect examples, results may also include nonbinary genders), while the bolded terms here will help narrow our results page to show sources focused on how the topic affects those people.

Synthesis Matrix

For a tool to help you synthesize all the information you’re finding in your research, try making a Synthesis Matrix. This is essentially a fancy table that helps you take notes on your sources (don't forget page numbers here) and compare which parts of your topic your sources each cover! The synthesis matrix demonstrates how your sources combine to reveal the bigger picture about your topic. Synthesizing research means describing that bigger picture in your own words, all the while citing the sources as your proof.

Concept Mapping

You could also try concept mapping to get a better idea of all the individual parts of your research and how they fit together. The concept map is a visual aid that reveals connections in your research. This includes the information you've found so far, the assignment requirements you need to do to get full credit, and the things you might be missing. The example concept map below is the most basic version of what one could look like, but you can break free from this layout. Try visualizing and then drawing relationships that you notice in your research with labeled arrows that explain what the connection is.

Source: Cornell Learning Strategies Center

Image Source: Interaction Design Foundation, CC BY-SA 4.0