Criteria for Choosing Topics
Scholarship topics must relate in some way to our online lives. Use our essential questions to guide your selection. While you are welcome to choose any appropriate topic, there are some ideas to get you started below. Note that some of these topics we study as a class, but there is always more to learn and explore. Topics that aren’t part of the regular class curriculum are also wonderful opportunities to further educate ourselves and the community.
Once you’ve narrowed your list of possible topics down, use your search skills to do some preliminary research, and then choose the one that you feel most passionate about.
Research Tips
- Look for high-quality sources that have conducted research, created solid journalistic work, or provided other data to support the information they provide. Credibility is important, here.
- Use the evaluation rubric to carefully scrutinize the quality of each site you consider.
- Keep notes in a Google Doc or another easy-to-access document so that you can find and retrieve information when you need it.
Potential Scholarship Topics
- Big Data
- Building Online Communities
- Creative Commons Licensing
- Dark Patterns
- Defending Against Online Scams and Hoaxes
- Digital Permanence (“Tattoos”)
- Disintermediation
- Diversity in Technology
- Effective Online Research
- Equity in Access to The Internet
- Filter Bubbles
- Hacktivism
- Healthy Online Relationships
- How Behavior is Manipulated Online
- How Screens Affect Us
- How Students Can Use Social Media
- Identifying and Combatting Fake News
- Internet Access In Other Cultures
- Machine Learning / Artificial Intelligence
- Managing Your Online Presence
- Net Neutrality
- Online Activism
- Online Privacy
- Open Platforms vs. Closed Platforms/Ecosystems and “Walled Gardens” Online
- Plagiarism and the Internet
- Remix Culture
- Smartphones’ Impact on Society
- Staying Safe and Secure Online
- The Open Source Movement
- The Origins of the Internet
- The Psychology of Online Engagement
- Using Social Media to Influence Elections
- Wikileaks and Edward Snowden