Research Freewrite

The topic I have chosen for my research paper is child development.  I was initially drawn to this topic through my sociology class.  The studies presented were intriguing, and I plan to use this material as supporting evidence for my paper.  Obviously, ever child born must develop into an adult, granted a premature death does not occur.  Children, at birth, are “blank slates.”  They are brought into this world without any prior influence.  The later influences, particularly that of the family, shape and mold a child to hold the beliefs, values, and norms he or she will carry for the rest of his or her life.  When the topic of child development surfaces, the age-old question of nature versus nurture comes into play.  After completing some starter research and using the knowledge I have gained, it became obvious that the nurture outweighs the nature of the child as far as the resulting adult.  Put more simply, the nature of the child does not play as heavy a role as the nurture of the childhood when developing in the early stages of life.

            As stated, my sociology class sparked my desire to find out more information on the development of children into functioning adults.  My sociology book is a very reliable print source.  It is filled with vital information, including an introduction of sociologist Piaget’s methodology on the four phases of childhood development.  Curious to know more, I consulted the internet and gained access to an article on the studies implemented by Piaget.  These two sources, I believe, are a firm foundation and great place to start my in depth research.  My third source is youtube footage of a study done on a girl who, through horrid neglect from her family, experienced no interaction with people from the time she was born until she was thirteen.  This supports my thesis in showing that a lack of human encounters and positive communication leads to a child without any sort of social mannerisms, as well as a deficit set of human like qualities.  The footage is astounding.  It will act as not only a reference for information, but as the still-images required to fulfill the visual rhetoric aspect of the project.  The fourth source I have listed as of now is a print article by Annette Lareau.  She studied the differentiating circumstances of children growing up within different income classes.  Lareau reported the characteristics of children as they became adults, and how this is an aftermath of the choice in childrearing.

            Potential problems I might encounter while completing this project are also quite numerable.  The most obvious argument is that the actual genetic nature of a child has more of an impact rather than the way he or she is raised.  That opposing argument comes with a plethora of sub-arguments that could very easily find holes in the one that I am presenting.  I plan to present both perspectives on my thesis.  My research paper will introduce the understanding that nature is more important as well as the understanding that nurture is more important.  The majority of my project, though, will argue why and how childrearing is so much more influential and what sort of impact is has on the child as he or she becomes an adult.