Research Topics

Your assignment for this research essay is to analyze either food insecurity or housing insecurity in Alabama and provide a recommendation for action. These topics are quite broad; for this essay project you will choose a topic and narrow it sufficiently to create a compelling, researchable, and arguable thesis.

For each of these topics, literally millions of pages have already been written. What I want from you is an exploration of the topic that gets several layers beneath the surface. What is the biggest debate in your topic area? Explore it in your dialogue. Then decide for yourself what matters, what people need to know, and what needs to happen. Whatever it is, drill down, get the meaty information, and see what seems to matter.

Your sources for this paper must be very fresh. You can use only two sources (at most) that are more than 24 months old. For the rest of your research, you can quote ONLY from sources no more than 24 months old. If you cannot verify the age of your source (it’s an undated blog rather than a dated article, for instance), you cannot use it unless it is an “extra” source (not one of the 2). You’ll need at least 2 sources for this essay in addition to any you might use from the list I've provided.

• 1200 words
• double spaced, Times New Roman
• MLA formatting
• 2 new sources from library databases in addition to baseline research I've provided for you