Patriot Act Topic Proposal

1. What is your topic and how does it relate to the overall theme of trends and culture?
My paper will deal with the trend in heightened security and fear in daily life in the post 9/11/01 era. The paper will concentrate mainly on the Patriot Act.

2. What is the main controversy? Who are the participants in the debate?
The main controversy is that the Patriot Act may have been passed when everyone was vulnerable. In addition, there seems to be more problems created from the Act than solutions. The participants include people that had their rights violated and the supporters of the Act. Participants also include institutions and industries that have been affected. Law enforcement agencies will also be discussed and how they view and use/abuse the privileges they are granted now.

3. Please list all the causes/effects you intend to explore in your essay. Obviously, you might come up with other causes/effects based on your research, but it is useful to know what you have to start with.
Causes and effects include: the reasons for the passage for the Act and the unintended consequences of the Patriot Act. I will also explore the public's response to the Act and its problems. Other effects are about the culture in the United States as well as any abuses and violations that the Patriot Act directly or indirectly has on the people. I will concentrate on the effects since this is a broad topic to research.

4. What approach will you be using? Please explain if you plan to combine approaches.
I will use the future and past approaches. There is a lot of evidence to determine the effects of this topic. However, I will also try to explore the future of the Patriot Act based on what is happening today.

5. What information will you be looking for as you start researching the topic?
I will use a variety of sources, but I think the main ones will be internet sites and magazines. I will also use alternative media sources since these cover issues differently than the main media giants.