PAPER IDEAS

SURE-FIRE TOPICS RELATED TO YOUR MAJOR

ALL MAJORS

 The topic on everyone's mind in 2024: A.I.  That makes it a perfect topic that can be adapted to every major. Start your paper with this simple question:

What will be the impact A.I. on (fill in the blank)?  You could complete the question with the words journalism, or advertising, or sports media, or video games, or TV/movie production.    

The beauty of choosing this option is that all of us — including college professors — are going to have to grapple with the impact of A.I. on our chosen professions. Doing a research paper for this class on this topic will help put you ahead of the curve. Imagine being in an interview for an internship or a job and being able to say that you have already done research on A.I. and can see how it is going to affect your field — and how to use it to your advantage.

STRATCOM

    Kim Kardashian was recently fined $1.2 million by the Security and Exchange Commission for promoting a crypto-currency company on her online platforms. Aside from the fact that she doesn't anything about the topic, she did not disclose that the company was paying her millions of collars per post. This highlights the fact that the hottest issue in stratcom right now is how the law should treat online influencers and how the government should regulate this new form of advertising.

    Do searches like: online influencers and "deceptive advertising" -- online influencers and FTC -- online influencers and fraud. Don't forget, there are also positive things to say about the rise of online influencers in revolutionizing marketing, so you can have a positive section to your paper as well as the concerns mentioned above.

JOURNALISM

    As I said in my e-mail, government attacks and whistleblowers and journalists who work with whistleblowers has become frightening in the extreme. Just look at the fate of whistleblower Edward Snowden, who is living in Russia because the U.S. government wants to put him in jail for life. Or look at journalist Julian Assange, who has been rotting in a British prison for four years with no charges filed against him because, again, the U.S. government wants to throw him in jail for life.

    The legal issue here is high First Amendment protection for journalistic activity. It will be easy to find tons of info on this, but remember to use Google Scholar to get beyond articles in the popular press. 

SPORTS MEDIA

    The biggest change in college athletics since forever is the end of NCAA rule dictating amateurism and banning professionalism, i.e., college athletes aren't supposed to profit from their talent (only the athletic programs are supposed to do that). Well, no more. The NCAA's rules were struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court in two cases that everyone in the world of sports needs to understand: O'Bannon v. NCAA (2015) and NCAA v. Alston (2021).

    The legal issue at the heart of these cases is called "right of publicity." It is the idea that someone who has become famous because of his or her efforts has a right to profit from it -- including college athletes.

    Be sure to discuss both sides of this debate because while some people hail this change as long overdue justice for the athletes, others say it will destroy college sports. Very passionate arguments on both sides. 

SPORT MANAGEMENT

    You can do the same issue outline above. Or...

    The issue of sport team names seems to be never-ending. Someone somewhere will always find some reason to be offended and call for bans, from the Washington Redskins to everyone local high school with a chief or Viking as its mascot. The U.S. Supreme Court weighed in on this issue in a case called Matal v. Tam (2017), which essentially said that these types of names are fine and that the government cannot do anything to bar them.

    The legal issue here is about trademark and whether names like the Redskins violate the Patent and Trademark Office's rule against "disparagement." The Court said the PTO could not consider that as a factor in determining whether to confer trademark protection. In other words, the Washington Commanders could go back to being the Redskins -- and could get trademark protection once again.    

VIDEO GAMES

Two words: loot boxes. What in the world are we to do about loot boxes? Is it gambling or isn't it? If it is gambling, what do you do about in states like North Carolina, where gambling is illegal? 

The Netherlands has already made loot boxes illegal. The European Union is consider a similar law that would cover the entire continent. And there is a bill in Congress that would do the same in the USA. What is a teenager armed with his parents' credit card to do?

Be sure to have a section explaining what loot boxes are, then have section arguing for and against loot boxes. Be sure to use Google Scholar to bring in academic voices, not just people from the world of gaming.