Research Proposal-- Victoria

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For my research paper, I am leaning towards the topic of bullying and how it is reflected in YA literature. I chose this topic because it is an issue that has always been present in society, and is only recently coming to the light. I think that it is important to emphasize the impact that bullying has on kids, and the roles that authority figures play when it happens.

Some questions that will drive my topic are:

1. Why does bullying occur? Is it age sensitive? Or can it be a various range of ages.

2. Are there resources truly available for the victims of bullying?

3. Is there a way to prevent bullying? Is there a way to be totally proactive against it?

4. How (generally) do we handle the bullies? How do we help the victims in school settings?

5. As a figure of authority in education, what is the response to bullying? Which is the best stance? Can it be too involved? Can one be not involved enough?

6. What are the repercussions for bullies? Are they substantial? Too harsh? Not harsh enough?

7. What are the results/effects of bullying? Long term and short term? Are any of these curable or able to be alleviated and resolved efficiently?

8. How can we prevent bullying from happening in the future? As a school, how can they dissolve the issue?



I think I'm going to pull from several different books.

The Absolute Diary of a Part Time Indian- as the main character, Arnold, is bullied. Discuss the parental role's in the book in bullying, discussing the teacher's reactions (or lack there of), how it impacted Arnold.

Speak- I will focus on parental, school involvement, peer involvement, and the impact it had on her as well.


Comments

  1. EduFitNovember 27, 2017 at 8:08 AM

    I really like this topic, Victoria. It is very relevant still today and we read about it a lot in our adolescent literature books. You could also incorporate cyber bullying and the effects that bullying has on adolescents. Great topic!

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  2. UnknownNovember 27, 2017 at 8:10 AM

    I like your topic, and I think that your questions are great in addressing the causes of bullying. I wonder if there is a way for you to incorporate the effects that bullying has on those being bullied. I imagine that a lot of the textual evidence from the books would really show what happens when someone is bullied. Also, I think your first research question is interesting. I hadn't really thought about bullying being exclusive to a particular age group. I wonder if bullying progresses, for both the bully and the victim, as they get older?

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  3. UnknownNovember 27, 2017 at 8:14 AM

    I also believe that this is a topic that needs to be talked about even more. Although we have more awareness, we need more solutions. I love how your questions kind of map out how your paper is going work. 13 Reasons Why is another book that deals with bulling, but if you are going for more of a close reading of the two books than you picked the right ones! Gook luck on your paper!

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