[Research Project (Assign 11/12)

As you know, your English 2 will culminate with an eight-page research paper and a supplemental slide presentation.

Topics:

Explore the future of ...

1. Religion in America: The United States is still a nation of believers. However, the religions we practice are shifting, with Protestant faiths (Lutherans, Methodists, Baptists, etc.) set to become minorities in the near future. Even today, more Americans are opting out of religion altogether. According to a 2024 poll, religious “Nones” are now the largest single group in the country. What is the future of religious practice in America?
2. Endangered Foods: A byproduct of climate change has been the emergence of so-called “endangered foods.” As a result of everything from over-harvesting and depleted environments to drought and disease, foods, as diverse as cocoa beans, salmon, and bananas, may be threatened in the coming decades. In North America, for example, sugar maples (the source of maple syrup) are now considered one of many threatened native species. What would be the impact of losing some of these foods? Profile three threatened foods (plant or animal), examining both the cause for their decline, as well as efforts to save them. 
3. Warfare: From muskets and pistols to drones and cyberattacks, the ways in which America has engaged in conflict has changed dramatically since its founding. Today, the US has the most technologically advanced military in the world, but also spends more on defense than the next 10 biggest militaries combined. How and where will that money be spent in the future? And how are today’s military strategies, including counterterrorism and cyberwarfare, shaping the wars of tomorrow?
4. Masculinity: The last quarter-century has seen a radical shift in America’s perceptions of what it meant to be a man. How are future concepts of masculinity being shaped? For example, how will social movements, such as stay-at-home dads, increasing female economic equality, and emerging gender identities, affect what we expect of 21st century masculinity? What is the future of the American male?
5. Water: In a 2001 speech, then United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan warned that "competition for fresh water may well become a source of conflict and wars in the future." Others, including environmentalists and economists, have also warned of impending “water wars.” Others disagree, calling the prospect of future water conflicts both alarmist and fabricated. Will future wars be fought over water?
6. Cities: What forces will shape the cities of the future? Economics? Climate change? Overpopulation? Geopolitics? Are we on the verge of burgeoning urban utopias or will megacities envelope us in pollution and congestion? How are architects, designers, and engineers laying the groundwork for the future’s cities?
7. The Truth: We live in an era awash in conspiracy theories and disinformation. While Americans have always had a fascination with hoaxes—Who really shot JFK? Was the moon landing faked?—it wasn’t until Donald Trump entered the political scene in 2015 that the truth was turned on its head. His presidency ushered in everything from “fake news” to “alternative facts,” as well as belief in the online, conspiracy theory-based, political movement, called QAnon. By 2020, even a global pandemic was not enough to bring Americans together under one common set of facts. If 15% of Americans—over 50 million people—remain loyal followers of QAnon, what does that mean for the future exchange of factual and verifiable information? What’s the path forward for America when so many Americans are, often willfully, misinformed?
8. Fashion: The future of fashion is about more than just incoming waist lengths or new silhouettes. Instead, it’s about how technology and fashion might merge to meet 21st century demands, such as textile renewability, eCommerce, and the environment? For example, if our future is to be hotter and more polluted, then might 21st century fashion gives us clothes that refract harmful UV light or can read our biorhythms? What does the coming century hold for the evolution of fashion?  
   
9. Transportation: How will we move from one place to another in the future? AAM drones? Hover cars? Maglev trains? Pilotless planes? How transportation meet the demanding needs of the 21st century? Which of today’s developing technologies will revolutionize transportation? And what will be the United States’ role? Will Americans help usher in a new technological era or watch from the sidelines? Illustrate three of the most promising emerging modes of transpiration in the 21st century.
10. The Olympics: What was once a cut-throat competition to host the world's most prestigious athletic exhibition has turned into a cautionary tale about cities abundantly wasting precious resources with little to show for it. For example, the Summer Games of 2024 and 2028 began with intense international attention, but after the financial fiasco of the 2016 Rio Olympics, only Paris and Los Angeles remained interested. And there was so little interest in hosting a Winter Games that Beijing—a city averaging only one week of precipitation per winter—was hastily awarded the 2022 ceremony. With a price tag increasingly out of reach for anyone but the world's richest cities and countries, what is the future of the Olympics? 

Part 1: The Paper

• ≈2,000 words
• Minimum of six outside sources
• MLA Style, including works cited page
  

Should include:

• A thesis outlining a clear argument
• A deep analysis of your chosen topic, including speculation of its development over the coming decades
  
• A conclusion that illustrates an understanding of your subject matter as it pertains to its future development

Part 2: The Presentation

• Five slides, not including cover slide and works cited
  
• No word count
  

Should include: 

• A broad summary of your research paper findings
• A style, including illustrations, which enhance your topic—a multimedia clip is optional

The Schedule:

• Week 13: Tue 4.16/Thu 4.18
• Due: RESEARCH PROJECT (UP TO PAGE 2)
• Week 14: Tue 4.23/Thu 4.25 
• Due: RESEARCH PROJECT (UP TO PAGE 4) 
• Week 15: Tue 4.30/Thu 5.2
• Due: RESEARCH PROJECT (UP TO PAGE 6) 

Due (UPDATED):

• Sec. 85: Wed 5.15
• SUBMIT RESEARCH PAPER TO PACKBACK AND RESEARCH PRESENTATION TO CANVAS BY MIDNIGHT
• Sec. 86: Fri 5.17
• SUBMIT RESEARCH PAPER TO PACKBACK AND RESEARCH PRESENTATION TO CANVAS BY MIDNIGHT

NOTE: For those opting for Pathway 2 (a grade higher than a B): Instead of an eight-page and five-side research project, yours will be ten pages and seven slides (2,850 words)