Research Proposal

William Ogilvie

Prof. Sonia Apgar Begert

English 102

Research Proposal

Introduction

Overpopulation is a hot topic that has been tossed back and forth, and it’s often discussed by uninformed individuals who don’t actually know the true meaning. The common belief is that this term refers to the density of people within a certain area, and to a larger extent, the world. While true to an extent, there is much more to it than just how many people occupy a space. I believe that one must consider the economic, societal, and ecological impact of a large mass of people.

Review of Literature

I first wanted to find a resource that would give me good general information and statistics about various nations. I found what was called “The World Factbook”, which is a database published by the Central Intelligence Agency. Looking through I found maps of every region with both political and physical versions. Further, I found that there was a wealth of information about each country with regards to population, industry, export, infrastructure, etc. and much more.

To bring the focus down further, I wanted to find a major source that talked specifically about population. I found that the United Nations has population as a topic under its “Global Issues” section on their main website. It starts out talking about the population of the time when the UN was first established. It then goes further to talk about the impact of a larger population on this planet. To me this is a good place for generating research points, and topics to discuss.

Another good source on current population was the United States Census. The page I found was a table that listed the year with the corresponding population. It also shows the annual growth rate percentage, and the population change number. Numbers like this show strong trends in our own nation which will be very interesting to line up with historical events. Plus, it even goes further in showing estimated population numbers for the next 35 years.

Index mundi is a good complimentary source for the US Census. This website has a graph that shows how each country ranks with their population growth. Clicking on the name of the country brings me to a page that gives relevant data in regard to growth and historical trends. The data it shows will help me see what the effect of a rapidly increasing population does.

“World Population to 2300” is a document published by the United Nations that discusses the change in population between now and the year 2300. This includes population growth in each major nation, along with in depth predicting future dilemmas regarding sustaining a larger population. This will be invaluable to me in that it paints a likely forecast for our future. For all the research I’ll do about the modern era, this will be a fascinating document to compare with.

The Annenberg Learner website discusses the history of humankind. It goes from the origins of homo-sapiens, growing life expectancies, and the industrial age, to the living conditions of modern man. While other sources have a history of just numbers, this source is very literate in how it chronicles man’s growth.

The Population Research Institute is a source that I will draw a lot from. This website is dedicated to current world issues that plague humanity, and they have a very in depth database about population control. In my opinion, this source takes the approach of preservation and proliferation. I would like to have a few more sources like this that can take a side in this debate.

The website “howmany.org” takes a contrasting point of view on the growing population. It points out a few negative effect we have on the planet, such as pollution, resource depletion, and deforestation. Also, it points out some of the negative effects on humanity such as hunger, wars, and overcrowding. This source has use in that it will be able to support the idea that overpopulation is happening and growing. It’s also good for finding argument points.

With the other sources being written, this is one that is a series of videos. The website is called “overpopulationisamyth.com”, which obviously puts it in the category of a biased source. All the same, these biased sources are invaluable in making points to argue about. This website covers urbanization, poverty, food, children, and feeling at ease with our growing population.

I wanted to move away from the primary population topic, and research the idea that we are overconsuming. I found a document from the Friends of the Earth foundation, and it is quite an interesting read so far. It talks about how our use of resources has risen exponentially in comparison to late last century. Also it compares us to third world nations in that we use 10 times the amount of resources per person. Regardless of population, I think this is a point that needs to be made.

Plan to Collect Information

So far my sources have been from web sites, and internet documents. I will continue to look further for more, however, I would like to go to the Poulsbo library to further search. I found that many online sources are only available with a subscription or some form of payment, and I think the library should prove to be quite convenient in that aspect. I’ll also talk to the librarian to see if I can find someone who could help point me towards more materials. My mother is an alumni of the San Francisco Academy of Art University, and she has access library and resources. Even though it is an art university, I have seen that they have a massive amount of materials that pertain to my topic.

Timeline

This week I will start visiting the Poulsbo library to begin searching for more sources. Also, I’ll start delving into the archive of the Academy of Art University. Soon I shall turn in my annotated bibliography, and continue the readings in the Bedford reader. After that, I’ll be working on my literature review, which will include more sources from the library. The following week, I will work on the final draft of outline, rationale, and abstract. From there, I will be working on the rough, and final draft.

Bibliography

Affairs, Department of Economic and Social. "World Population to 2300." 2004. United Nations. Computer Document. 18 10 2015.

Agency, Central Intelligence. The World Factbook. n.d. Electronic Text. 18 10 2015.

Barrientos, Miguel. index mundi: Country Comparison - Population Growth - Top 100. 1 January 2014. Chart. 18 10 2015.

Beareau, U.S. Census. International Programs. n.d. Electronic Text. 20 Oct 2015.

Facts about Hunger and Poverty. n.d. Website. 28 Oct 2015.

Friends of the Earth Europe. "Overconsumption? Our use of the world's natural resources." 2009. Web document. 22 Oct 2015.

Learner, Anneberg. Human Population Dynamics - World Population growth through history. n.d. Electronic Text. 20 Oct 2015.

Nations, United. "Global Issues - Population." n.d. United Nations. Electronic Text. 20 Oct 2015.

Population Research Institute. POP101: A primer on the future of planet Earth. Population Research Institute. 2010-2015. Electronic Text/Video. 18 10 2015.

York, Suzanne. Overpopulation: Environmental and Social problems. 2009-2014. Electronic Text. 19 10 2015.