Philly Senior Projects

RESOURCE: PhillyYouth.Org!

PHILLYYOUTH.ORG

http://www.phillyhealthinfo.org/youthphilly/index.php

 

The purpose of this site is to provide students with a place where they can easily locate information and resources relevant to their education, health and social development. With student driven content, this site will offer young people the chance to educate their peers on a wide variety of subject matter and will give them a forum to address the issues that are most pressing in their lives.

Topics include: Your Health, Diet and Exercise, Mental Health, Drugs & Alcohol, STDs & Pregnancy, Violence & Safety, Jobs & Volunteering, Managing Your Money, College & Careers, Entertainment, Computers & more!

FIELDWORK OPPORTUNITY/EVENT: 6th Annual Natural Pet Expo

For students whose topics are about animal rights, animal abuse/cruelty, there is an event for them to attend THIS SUNDAY at Northern Liberties (near Fishtown/Kensington):

6th Annual Natural Pet Expo
Sunday, September 27, 2009
10 am - 5 pm

1040 N. 2nd Street
Northern Liberties - Philadelphia, PA

Learn about how to care for your pet naturally from experts:
+ Nutrition
+ Behavior
+ Holistic Health
+ Wellness

http://www.naturalpetexpo.blogspot.com/

TOPIC SELECTION: Preliminary Research

The Senior Project is an opportunity for high school seniors to examine a topic of their choice in-depth. However, with an array of topics to choose from: health, poverty, education, etc., topic selection can be somewhat of a challenge.

Successful Senior Projects study a topic in-depth, so instead of using too broad of a topic, examine the HOW and WHY questions vs. the what questions.

For instance, if the topic was about smoking, the what question (What are the dangers of smoking?) would produce more of a book report than a research paper. A how/why question could be: why do teens smoke? How to media encourage smoking among youth?

Generating these how/why questions can help as guiding questions when conducting preliminary research on a topic. If there is too little existing research or resources regarding the topic, the topic selection can be modified.

Conducting preliminary research can help narrow down topics and can even help direct writing a strong thesis.

TOPIC SELECTION: Choosing A Topic

One of the hardest parts of the Senior Project can be choosing a good topic. Choosing a good topic in the beginning of the process can be a great help. You can start by brainstorming topics of interest first. You can ask yourself these questions:

-- What am I interested in?

-- What about this topic makes it interesting to me? Can this also be interesting to other people?

-- What specific things do I NOT know about this topic? 

Keep fieldwork options also in mind when choosing a topic. Successful Senior Projects in the past have explored interesting topics AND used good fieldwork sites. Projects that haven't been as successful have topics that are too broad or aren't dynamic or original (ex. abortion, sports, STDs, tattoos). For more help, ask your teachers and family members so they can help you brainstorm.