I had a very difficult time searching for a good topic that I would enjoy learning more about and observing for a long period of time. In the end I gave in and chose the first idea that came to mind and somehow it was the areas on campus that boarding students enjoy to hang out at. Just living here for the two months that I have, I have seen where everyone likes to hang out and it really depends on the group that says where the spot would be. Some people like to hang out at the tables outside of Dominos and Jimmy Johns, some like to get a nice spot right in front of Palo Verde Main and gather up for a night of Hookah.
This being said my topic is on the popular areas that people love to hangout at. I want to explore this topic more because I find it interesting that different people find specific places on campus, subconsciously and consciously comfortable and satisfying for their relaxation. I will evaluate this topic by simply observing at different times the different areas that are more populated than others. I will not be following or trailing any person or group at all for this essay, so please don’t think I am.
I searched for many different articles that could be on popular hangout spots on campus, but I had no luck. A topic such as this would never be written about in a magazine or on a website so those were quickly eliminated. I decided to interview a couple kids that I see often in the same places in order to have some sort of source for this essay. I am going to choose three different people for three different locations and find the similarities along with differences between them. Everyone does something different depending on where he or she is, whom they are with, and most interestingly, the mood plays a large role in this too. Everyone has his or her own ways of dealing with stress which means that this will be an intriguing topic.
I am ready to face a few issues in order to produce the best project I can. A big issue is that this will not be found in very many places of research so I have to find different sources rather than libraries and online magazines. I will be interviewing a few kids in order to get real in-put and thoughts. I also thought it would be interesting to get students that are of different social groups, age, and possibly grades as well, just to make it fun for myself.
The last thing I want is to give away all of the information I have worked so hard to retrieve. So, because I am stubborn and actually excited about this essay, I will only tell you that everyone needs a get-away spot. Most people have more than one but everyone has some place, alone or occupied, that they can go to relieve stress or just to get away from things. I learned from all of this that I really need to get my own spot away from everyone and everything to keep my mind quiet for a while.
Hangout spots are a great idea! Some other ideas could be the MU and all the dining halls during the day and the lower level of the MU on weekend nights where they have free bowling for students. Also, for me I know a lot of the people on my floor hang out at our floor lounge, at the SRC or by the Barrett lawn. I can see how finding an article would be difficult for your topic. My suggestion is to possibly use the ASU website as a source or maybe a more generalized article about when college students like to do in their free time. There should be some type of more generalized article out there somewhere. I feel like your topic has unlimited options because so many people hang out so many different places, so make sure while you’re interviewing students you make sure they are from different social groups. That way you know where different types of students hang out. Good luck!
ReplyDeleteYour idea is actually a great idea and seems very convenient since you can do stationary observations instead of following people around. I can relate to you in the fact that there are not many resources we can use on certain aspects of the project. The interviews are a great idea and I think not only would they help you enforce your opinion, but they would also give you more new ideas for the project. Good luck!
ReplyDeleteEven though ASU hangouts may seen like an easy topic you might want to make it a little more specific so that you can find a book and an article to reference to. Your references are a very important aspect for this project and you do need to find both a book and a scholarly article. If I were you I would look for articles that talked about what makes a good hang out spot or what attracts people to a place. You should focus on something like this in order to sound more reliable and not make your project so opinion oriented. Hope I helped :)
ReplyDeleteI think that you have a good topic that you could build off of what you currently have. There are some more locations that I know are big hangout spots on campus. For instance, the grass field area outside of Barrett, the Dean's Patio outside of the business school and the MU, and also places inside of the MU. I agree that you will have a difficult time finding articles and research on this topic, but you maybe can expand off of this idea of hangout spots and question why students conjugate at these specific places and so fourth. I wish you the best of luck on this project.
ReplyDeleteI like your topic. It is very simple, so I feel that many people overlooked it when coming up with their own. There will be no shortage of places to write about considering everywhere you go there are groups of people gathering. I also had a hard time finding articles on my topic so I focused in on one part of it. Maybe try to do the same by researching an article on where girls like to gather versus boys. I think it is an important aspect of this project to find an article and a book to use, or else it becomes very one-sided. I hope you can take what everyone says and use it to help you. Good luck!
ReplyDeleteI think your topic is very interesting but also very challenging. I would recommend arguing if Arizona State University does a good job at making enough hangout spots. You could argue that the large campus helps create more hangout spots or that the large campus is intimidating to students. You could also look at events that are meant for people to hangout and how the events either help or hurt the ability to make hangout spots. You could talk about places where hanging out is encouraged and places where hanging out is frowned upon (I.e. Library) and how it effects the place. I admire that you picked something that you are truly excited about and hope you do well!
ReplyDeleteThis is a very interesting topic, which is something so simple that I overlooked it. I think you’ve got a good idea going though. Since there are so many different places on campus it makes it such a broad topic. My personal suggestions would be to interview people in different majors. What I have noticed is that the business students have completely different hangouts than the engineering students at ASU. Also, for the research aspect of this paper I think it will be difficult to find a scholarly article on this topic but I am sure if you search enough that there is something you can dig up. I’m sure other people have evaluated college hangouts before. Good luck!
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