Adolescent Culture Project

Students
will be expected to research some aspect of adolescent culture and
write a 6-page paper that summarizes the main findings of their
research. The paper must include at least five sources.

Introduction
We’ve
all be through it, but there is no doubt that the adolescent experience
changes with time. Youth culture is a very complex aspect of
adolescence. In this assignment, I encourage you to take a more detailed
look at some aspect of adolescent culture. Steinberg provides a great
backdrop for studying adolescence, but he doesn’t get into detail
regarding culture and does not even mention a variety of interests that
are important to American adolescents.
Selecting a Topic
The
range of possible topics is wide with this assignment. I know some of
you may desire some help with narrowing down a specific topic. Start
with what you are interested in. For example:

If you enjoy reading, you might choose looking into adolescent literature or magazines popular among adolescents.

If
you enjoy outdoor activities, you might choose to look into popular
adolescent activities such as skateboarding, extreme sports, paintball,
etc.

If you like listening to music, you might choose to explore the music interests of today’s youth.

If you like media, you might choose to look into what TV shows or movies are popular with today’s youth.

If you like technology, you could look into video games, blogging, chat rooms, text messaging, popular web sites, etc.

If you enjoy fashion, you could research clothing, piercings, tattoos, etc.

If
you work with teenagers and struggle to keep up with their language,
now might be a good opportunity to research teenage slang.

Your
final paper should be no less than six pages in length (double-spaced
with one inch margins) and must include the following:

An opening paragraph that introduces your topic and includes the reason(s) why you selected your topic.

A
summary of your research that includes at least five references. NOTE:
Your textbook cannot be one of these sources. References can include
anything that helped you to better understand your topic (journal
articles, web sites, books, personal communication with someone with
knowledge on the topic, etc). If you have any questions regarding
references or need some assistance getting started with a good website
for example, just let me know.

A
concluding paragraph that includes what you see as the most important
things that you learned regarding this topic as well as a brief
discussion of how this information can/will be used in the future.

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