Research Blog #2: Scouting the Territory

1. Update us where you stand on your topic idea.
Since Blog #1, I have decided to focus my topic idea on college drinking culture, specifically on the history of such a culture. More specifically, I want to focus on how recent history has led to what makes up today's drinking culture on college campuses and the cause and effect relationship between then and now. I refined this to be able to narrow my topic down and be able to focus on one aspect of this multifaceted subject to give my paper better direction. The only thing I have not yet decided is to how far back in history my topic should pursue.
2. Tell us what you find online.
Some of the key terms that I found while searching the internet include "binge drinking", "drinking fatalities", "historical drinking", "family alcoholics" and "parties back in the day". Mostly I found journals and essays supported heavily with facts and statistics on various facets of drinking within college students. I found several timelines of the history of alcohol within society in the United States. Almost every area of drinking involves a complex history, even alcohol's production history itself. The issues often discussed are how to maintain the relationship our society has had with alcohol over the history of our nation, and how to balance that with a decrease in unhealthy drinking habits.
3. Tell us what books and scholarly articles seem important.
Two resources I obtained from Professor Goeller seem incredibly important to my paper: True Gentleman: The Broken Pledge of America's Fraternities by John Hechinger and College Drinking: Reframing a Social Problem by George W. Dowdall. In addition to that, I intend to use the following:

Drink: A Cultural History of Alcohol by Iain Gately

Drinking in America: Our Secret History by Susan Cheever

Why Prohibition! by Charles Stelzle

Alcohol: A Social and Cultural History by Mack P Holt

Short Communication: Interactive Effects of Drinking History and Impulsivity on College Drinking from Addictive Behaviors
https://eds-a-ebscohost-com.proxy.libraries.rutgers.edu/eds/detail/detail?vid=4&sid=76c2ec61-0492-436f-9c78-dc8d2aee9084%40sessionmgr4008&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWRzLWxpdmU%3d#AN=S0306460313002244&db=edselp

College Student Drinking Research from the 1940's to the Future: Where We Have Been and Where We Are Going from Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4453500/ 

4. What ideas about your topic did you get from this search?
The search was definitely overwhelming at first. There are a lot of articles about the history of alcohol distillation, and a lot on preventing college student's bad drinking habits, but where the history of alcohol culturally overlays with college students is where it gets a bit harder to find resources to use. However from this research an interesting idea I got about my topic was how the American drinking culture outside of college campuses impacts drinking culture on college campuses. It may be an idea to broad and complex for this paper, but it is most definitely a unique relationship. Another thing I am definitely going to be including in this paper is the history of controversy surrounding college drinking culture.

5. What resources did you uncover? Give at least two specific references or links to things you found:
One thing I found really helpful was using scholarly articles from the database of the US National Library of Medicine & National Institutes of Health. Finding one good article there lead to many others that were similar in content. The source seems reputable, as well as relatable being as it is the "US National".
Another thing I found helpful for finding scholarly articles was the site Questia; however I am not sure that it is the most reputable website, so that is something I need to further look into. The site had very easy search options that brought up resources based on what you were looking for whether it be books or journals or even magazines.

6. Did you find any controversies over your topic?
Yes. The drinking age and American youth drinking has always been hotly debated. As there is no one sure way to make drinking safe, or to make youth stop wanting to do so, there have been many laws and reforms put into place and taken away over the course of American history in attempts to satisfy all those these reforms effect. There is no balance between the college students who continue to drink despite the consequences, and the adult community that wants them to have no part in such activities. This is definitely going to play a role in my paper.

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