Step 1: Identify the topic or idea
Your first step in this project is to identify the topic you want to know more about. You will likely have one or two topics and a specific population (group of people) that this topic affects. You should draw on course discussions and themes to identify the topics you start with. You then do background reading.
For example, you might be interested in happiness (course theme), procrastination (personal interest), and college students (population).
You’ll then want to work with 3 areas:
Happiness- what it is, how it affects people, what limits it
Procrastination- what it is, how common it is, how it affects people, why people do it
College students- who they are, what college is like in the US
By identifying the topics and some general areas of inquiry, you can move on to the next step: gaining background knowledge. This ensures that you are working from sources of information and not from your personal beliefs, experiences, and ideas.
Below is a list of topics you can explore in your deep dive. For each, choose a population such as young adults, college students, or a specific group of college students (for example, first-year students, first-generation students, multilingual students, students who are parents, etc).
LIST OF TOPICS TO GET YOU STARTED…
- Goals
- Sleep
- Exercise
- Stress
- Anxiety
- Video games
- Career success
- Networking
- Friends
- Family
- Relationships
- Reading
- Writing
- Social media
- Organizations and groups
- Sports
- Procrastination
- Advising
- Tutoring
- Leadership
- Health
- Technology
- Identity
- Academic cheating
- Photos and images
- Exercise
- Nutrition
- Jobs
- Internships
- Sleep
- Honesty
- Plagiarism
- Fulfillment
- Image
- Self-image
- Self-compassion
- Journaling
- Scheduling and time
- Priorities
- Wellness
- Travel
- Study abroad
- Happiness
- Fun/ enjoyment
- Critical thinking
- Questions
- Support
- Planning
- Communication
- Pressure
- Finances
- Addiction
- Emotion
- Decision making