Research Proposal
This assignment was created by students at The City College of New York for the Freshman Inquiry Writing Seminar, Web Discourse. Students are researching a social issue in one of four large topics: Urban Life, Public Health, Immigration, and Education. This will result in a final research paper that explores both how the conversations surrounding the issue are enacted and how a CCNY student may enter that conversation in a meaningful way.
Rationale: The topic I am working on is how the loss of sleep affects the human body. This topic deserves my extended attention because it is a topic that I am very familiar with, and know a lot about some the effects of sleep loss. Another reason is that I want to see if there are long-term effects or short-term effects (or both) to the loss of sleep. I picked this topic because sleep loss is a health related issue.
Working Thesis Statement: Sleep is a necessity of human beings. It is recommended that everyone should get about eight hours a day. Sleep is important because it gives people the energy to do what they need to do throughout their day, whether it is going to work or cleaning the house. But what if some people can’t get their recommended eight hours of sleep every day? How will this affect them, and their way of life if they can’t find a balance to their sleeping habits? Sleep depravity is a serious issue that can result in some harmful effects like loss of memory and the weakening of the immune system.
Unanswered Questions:
• What are the long-term/short-term effects of sleep deprivation?
• Can it lead to diseases, or possibly death?
• How does it affect the brain?
• Are all the effects long-term, short-term, or both?
• Are there any possible benefits to being sleep deprived?
Research Goals and Methodology: In order to find evidence for my claims, I will search the internet for both popular and scholarly sources. Some scholarly sources may include books, data from medical experiments relating to sleep deprivation, medical journals, and information from an encyclopedia. Some popular sources may include magazine articles from science magazines, news paper articles on the topic of sleep deprivation, and information for some medical web sites such as webmd.com. I will try to the best of abilities to prove that sleep deprivation has harmful effects to humans.
Anticipated Challenges: The most difficult part about completing the research project will be balancing my explanations with information gathered from my research because I have the habit of putting too much information and not enough of explanation into my writing. Also another problem will be trying not to repeat certain points of the paper, and trying to avoid writing run-on sentences.
Comments
Your research topic sounds interesting, but what new information are you attempting to bring to the discussion? Also, have you taken "Sleep and Dreams"? This class specifically addresses the topics you are interested in and you might find a lot of useful information if you could get hold of one of the course readers. I think the most interesting question you are asking is, "Are there any possible benefits of being sleep deprived?", as most of the other questions have, to my knowledge, been addressed in previous research.
Posted by: ES | October 20, 2009 11:59 AM
Hey Guillermo,
I think you chose a great topic, especially for us college students. Sleep depravity truly is an issue that almost everyone has to deal with at least at some point in their life.
I think the questions you posed are a good start, but I would push you to go further in your research. Why is it that some people need less sleep than others? I know I need 8 hours to even be remotely functional, but many of my friends, especially girls, consistently get 6 hours or less and are peppy every single day (almost annoyingly so haha).
I'd also be interested to find out if there are certain ages or age brackets where its more essential to get sleep than others, such as during growth spurts or during puberty compared to adulthood. I'm not sure if there's any research in this area, but it would be an interesting thing to add to your paper.
Lastly, see if you can find any alternatives or solutions to being sleep deprived. In other words, are there any other ways to get the full effect of 8 hours of sleep without having to sleep for 8 hours? I remember hearing about a way in which a person could take 4-6 hour long naps a day, at specific times, and be completely fine.
This is a great topic, hopefully this comment helps somewhat!
Matt Kandath, Stanford '13
Posted by: Matt Kandath | October 26, 2009 09:45 AM
Hey Guillermo,
I think you chose a great topic, especially for us college students. Sleep depravity truly is an issue that almost everyone has to deal with at least at some point in their life.
I think the questions you posed are a good start, but I would push you to go further in your research. Why is it that some people need less sleep than others? I know I need 8 hours to even be remotely functional, but many of my friends, especially girls, consistently get 6 hours or less and are peppy every single day (almost annoyingly so haha).
I'd also be interested to find out if there are certain ages or age brackets where its more essential to get sleep than others, such as during growth spurts or during puberty compared to adulthood. I'm not sure if there's any research in this area, but it would be an interesting thing to add to your paper.
Lastly, see if you can find any alternatives or solutions to being sleep deprived. In other words, are there any other ways to get the full effect of 8 hours of sleep without having to sleep for 8 hours? I remember hearing about a way in which a person could take 4-6 hour long naps a day, at specific times, and be completely fine.
This is a great topic, hopefully this comment helps somewhat!
Matt Kandath, Stanford '13
Posted by: Matt Kandath | October 26, 2009 09:46 AM
Hi Guillermo,
I like your topic, but I think it might be too broad. Sleep deprivation is a gigantic topic that affects many. Perhaps you might want to look at a specific age group like college students or high school students.
You might also look up solutions to sleep deprivation and time management. Is taking naps beneficial? Does making schools start later in the day benefit students?
I believe most of what you're trying to research now has been studied. I think it's up to you to use the research to find a thesis that is original and innovative.
All the best,
Shayon Saleh, Stanford '13
Posted by: Anonymous | October 27, 2009 08:32 PM
Your topic is very interesting, but there will be so much information about it you might want to try narrowing it down a bit before you begin. Perhaps focusing on only a couple of the questions you proposed might make it easier for you to sort through all of the information you will find.
Good luck.
Posted by: Forrest Berg | October 28, 2009 08:21 AM