Critical Research Proposal

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For my critical response research paper I plan to focus on the roles that friends play in adolescents behaviors.

Essential Question: What role does the friends of an adolescent play when it comes to the decisions they make in life whether it be good or bad?

Focus Questions:
1.       Do friends play a positive or negative role?
2.       How much influence do friends usually have?
3.       Does the amount of time that the friendship has existed play a role in whether or not an adolescent is easily influenced by them?
4.       Do adolescents look to friends for confirmation in what they do?
5.       Would adolescents make the same decisions in life had they not had any friends?
6.       Do adolescents usually trust the people that they call friends?
7.       What would a real good/bad friend do in a tough situation that an adolescent is placed in?

Overview: The friends that adolescents surround themselves with usually play a major role in many of the decisions that they make. During the adolescent ages, most tend to turn away from parents to confide in and friends are left to turn to. However, depending on the type of friends that the adolescent has, this could be a good or bad thing.

Why: I have selected this topic because I feel that in many of the books that we have read this semester, the adolescents who go through some type of situation whether it be with drugs, or trying to figure out who they are in life, friends have always played a major part in some of the decisions that were made. So I wanted to research what others have to say about friends being an influence in an adolescent’s life.

Titles: Crank, The World Made Straight, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, The Skin I'm In

Resources: I plan to find academic journals and articles that relate to my subject. I hope to find some that include statistics with friends influence on adolescents

Claim/ Argument: Friends have the most influence on the choices that adolescents make.


Challenges: I think that one challenge I may come across is figuring out whether friends have a good influence or bad influence. I also think I will struggle with balancing out whether friends influence in bad ways more or good ways. 

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