choose
What should I write about?
Choosing your topic is the first step in the research process, but your first idea may not be your last! Topics will evolve as your knowledge grows, so in the beginning give yourself some flexibility to change, rethink, and develop your initial idea into something that is interesting, relevant, and within the scope of your assignment.
Consider the following steps:
Ask yourself:
What ideas, readings, and ASB253 class discussions are interesting to me so far?
- I didn't realize that....
- Wow, I was surprising that....
- Everyone should know that....
What does the assignment require?
- A paper, presentation, graphic....
- How many pages, or what is the expected length?
- Do I need to cite sources? How many? What kind?
- See the ASB253 Topics for Final Paper tab for guidelines on your assignment.
Which of my ideas seem to fit the scope of the assignment?
- Death in the digital age may be too broad for a five page, double-spaced essay!
- How my family mourned my grandmother on Facebook may be too narrow!
- The role of social media in mediating the 21st Century grieving process may might be a good fit this is worthy of further exploration.
Background Reading
As with any important relationship, don't make a formal commitment to your topic ideas until you've done some quick but powerful background reading. Who knows - you may uncover related issues and perspectives that are even more interesting! During this stage, explore the various dimensions of and perspectives on your topic with an open mind and the permission to evolve your initial idea into something related but new. Some places to find background information include:
- Encyclopedias and Reference Books
- Books and eBooks
- Credible websites
Sources of background reading that may be relevant for ASB253 using keywords and phrases such as death, dying, culture, anthropology, funerary, burial, etc.:
- Gale eBooksContains many reference works on a large variety of topics. Use this database for background information instead of Wikipedia.
- Credo Academic CoreStart your research here instead of Wikipedia. This reference eBook collection contains over 650 titles including subject encyclopedias, dictionaries, atlases, and reference handbooks.
- eBook Academic Collection (EBSCOhost)Multidisciplinary e-books representing a broad range of academic subject matter.
- SAGE Knowledge: Reference & Academic Books This link opens in a new windowSocial sciences digital library, with scholarly texts, reference works, handbooks, and professional development titles.
- Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyAs of March 2018, has nearly 1600 entries online. From its inception, the SEP was designed so that each entry is maintained and kept up-to-date by an expert or group of experts in the field. All entries and substantive updates are refereed by the members of a distinguished Editorial Board before they are made public. Consequently, our dynamic reference work maintains academic standards while evolving and adapting in response to new research...(https://plato.stanford.edu/about.html)
- The Reference Shelf: Salem PressReference collection of fully accessible ebooks covering history, health, literature, science, and careers. Find critical insights into literary figures and their works, historical documents and primary sources, career paths and more.
- Development Through the Lifespan, Chapter 12: Death and DyingMaricopa Community Colleges Open Access Text
- How Death Imitates Life: Cultural Influences on Conceptions of Death and DyingJames Gire
Virginia Military Institute, girejt@vmi.edu
International Association for Cross-Cultural Psychology
Once you have enough background information you can begin refining your topic.
When researching your topic, remember to be prepared to be flexible! It is common to modify your topic during the research process... it happens more often than you might think. You may find too much information and need to narrow your focus, or too little information and need to broaden your focus. This is a normal part of the research process. When researching, you may not wish to change your topic completely, but instead decide that some other aspect of the topic is more interesting or manageable.
Here are a few questions to ask yourself to help you narrow your topic:
- Is there a specific person, population, or group I want to focus on?
- For example: African Americans who were enslaved before the Emancipation Proclamation.
- For example: African Americans who were enslaved before the Emancipation Proclamation.
- Is there a particular place/geographic region I want to focus on?
- For example, death and dying rituals amongst the Vikings of Northern Europe.
- For example, death and dying rituals amongst the Vikings of Northern Europe.
- Is there a certain time period or era I would like to focus on?
- For example, funerary masks as a burial ritual in Mycenae Greece (1550–1500 BC)
- For example, funerary masks as a burial ritual in Mycenae Greece (1550–1500 BC)
- Is there a viewpoint I would like to focus on?
- For example, the role of nature in the afterlife in the Buddhist tradition.
- Topics for Final Paper
Annalisa Alvrus, Instructor
ASB253: Death & Dying Across Cultures
Fall 2021
Pick from one of the topics in this list for your Final Paper. The topics are intentional broad, so you're free to explore them as you choose, BUT remember to keep the anthropological perspective by taking a cross-cultural comparison or fieldwork approach as described in this document.