COM 150 -- term paper topics?

Here are some ideas for viable term paper topics in mass comm., to get you started brainstorming your own. Some I'll put in the form of research questions: Ask yourself a question, do a web search or two, find out what's out there, and your answer to the question will do for a working hypothesis. Others may be vague ideas, topics. All will have to be narrowed to make a viable research paper.

Read the ideas, and note the in-class discussion assignment (in bold type) below.

In no particular order:

• Are negative political ads turning Americans off on politics?


• How does a major league baseball team use the media to maintain its fan base?


• How does a singer or a band use the media to sell records or maintain fan base?


• How does a singer or band stick make money and keep artistic control by sticking with indie labels? Or, alternatively, how does a singer work with the major labels?


• What does it take to get a song on the charts? How does radio determine the profitability of pop music?


• How does a corporation use the media to communicate with its customers?


• Do television commercials have an negative impact on teenagers' body image?


• How do category romances (or any other kind of paperback book) use their cover art and blurbs to sell product to their market nitche?

Some other ideas: Go to the Google News page and surf around today's news, and you'll find plenty of current stuff on computers and the internet, the health of the newspaper and television industries, elections (especially today), celebrities, etc. There's a story today on Katie Couric, who's kind of a celebrity and a news person both. A couple of stories on pro football. That's part of the entertainment industry. It doesn't have to be American football, either. I had a student do a really good paper a couple of years ago on how Manchester United uses the internet and other media to reach out to fans in the U.S. In class, brainstorm with the people sitting nearest you and come up with three to five sure-fire topics. As you share them with the rest of the class and hear each other's ideas, you'll be amazed how easy it is to come up with a good topic that interests you.