HELP! Disney research paper!

[wvdisneyfamily]

What about the topic of class distinction at Walt Disney World as presented with value, moderate, and deluxe resorts? Also, now the different dining plans may add fuel to that fire.​

 

[DisneyDragon]

I've graded undergrad theses, and I've judged business case comps.

Before you select a topic, make sure there is plenty of non-bias research to back your claims. Wikipedia does not count.

I liked the grocery bag hypothesis. Especially if you can link in the new research on bio-bags, or as we are seeing in Canada, a real push to customers buying (I love that as a concept) re-usable cloth bags.

As for Disney itself - get away from that quasi-government stuff. From an outsider, it's seems very partisan, and you can get killed if your grader/judge doesn't agree with your political view.

Stick with the pure facts, and you can't go wrong. Don't be partisan. State a hypothesis and disprove it. It is irrefutable.

If you want more advice, email me at jwilliams22 at gmail.com.

 

[WDWFigment]

I love the suggestions it is just that i need to write at least a 7 pageresearch paper on the topic and i dont feel like the suggestions will have enough info. on them. Any non disney related suggestionst that seem fun?

Many of these topics are covered in books. Seven pages is nothing--you could easily write 70 on most of the topics here.

 

[skellington]

Does opening a new park in the world dilute or improve the disney brand? When new parks open does attendence increase or decrease or remain flat? Is it a good idea for disney to continue to open theme parks around the world or should they focus on the core parks they currently have and use the money that would be spent on a new park to rebuild or expand the current park offerings? Good luck with your paper.

 

[WI DISNEY FAN]

I have a good one. Should an individual join the Disney Vacation Club. I would think there would be many pros and cons you could come up with. Disney is a ready source for all the pros.

 

[maryszhi]

or you can use the topic i did for my ap english paper: will the United States economic situation influence disney parks plan for developments, and will people cut their trips because of it
and will the disney get less investors, and will the dvc have less people join

 

[DisneyDragon]

Again, partisan topics could only lead to ruin, for your grades.

Pick a hypothesis and disprove it. You cannot lose there.

 

[KeithVH]

Listen to the Dragon. I've also been in the front of the classroom and the advice is sound. While most of this thread has some great ideas they (A) will not easily fit into 7 pages, (B) are actually very esoteric, (C) could be a BEAR to research and come up with actual facts, especially the vague economic/cultural statements and (D) don't really lend themselves in most cases to a pro/con argument.

This will be especially true as many students tend to use retroductive arguments (look it up) to prove their case. Not saying the OP will, but the odds are there.

Spend a LOT of time on the hypothesis. In the long run, it will make things easier and help you focus on the actual issues. It would be best to refine it as much as possible rather than something that is overly broad.

What about "A comparison of costs and relative values between DDP and non-plan eaters" and include breakeven points in family size and free dining options with menu selection variables among table service locations. Those are ALL known costs, not even hard to find. Just requires some simple scientific method to quantify. Shoot, there even some good posts here on this.

How about "Defining value of flying versus driving to a WDW vacation destination". Again, all known costs. Variables would be distance, airlines, vehicles types, family size, fuel, food, hotel costs, length of stay, etc. You don't have to go crazy to prove a point with this but in 7 pages you could make some conclusions if you only set some parameters and don't try to include every variable.

 

[Pongo]

I was told in my College writing class I could write about any topic of my choice in my argumentative research paper the papers topic should be a very narrow topic so it would be essay to find pro and cons of both.For instance these are narrow topics

Should all grocery stores be required to use disposable and degradable bags to benefit the environment?

After 2006, only high-definition television will be broadcast, and older television sets will require a type of converter box to interpret the new digital signal. (I would Argue for or against this development).

I wanted to find something very arguable and controversal relating to Walt Disney World any types of ideas would help and then i could try to narrow down the broad question

Thanks very much
Angie

I wrote a lengthy paper once on theme park rides and safety issues, and based much of my research off of attraction accidents in Disney parks. It's kind of a best-of-both-worlds scenario. You have the Disney aspect, but you also have some real world aspects too -- i.e. Are theme park rides ACTUALLY safe?

 

[Pioneer Hall]

I wrote a paper about Disney my freshman year of college (3 years ago now). I found it very hard to do because I just couldn't get enough background information in there to make my points. When all was said and done, I felt that it had too many holes for someone who didn't know a lot about the company already (which is most people). While I love some of the topics in this thread, they might be hard to put on paper if you don't give a very good amount of information. I know college papers are usually limited in how many pages you can have, and if you don't start making a point until halfway through, then you could be in trouble.

 

[Montyboy]

Who should pay for the construction and maintenance of World Showcase pavilions, Disney or the host country?

It's easily debated...

Disney makes money from ticket sales.
It advertises the country and its culture.

 

[fosse76]

Many of these topics are covered in books. Seven pages is nothing--you could easily write 70 on most of the topics here.

I agree. Most of the suggestions are topics that have been covered in 200-300 page books!

 

[fosse76]

Listen to the Dragon. I've also been in the front of the classroom and the advice is sound. While most of this thread has some great ideas they (A) will not easily fit into 7 pages, (B) are actually very esoteric, (C) could be a BEAR to research and come up with actual facts, especially the vague economic/cultural statements and (D) don't really lend themselves in most cases to a pro/con argument.

I disagree with you for the most part...some of the suggestions were probably merely just jokes, and I agree that many would need more than 7 pages. However, most were legitimate topics, particularly the impact of Disney in Florida economically and culturally. There is a ton of information out there. Is there a concrete answer to any of the potential topics? No, probably not. But that doesn't mean we don't ask the question, and certainly the point is to back up the hypothesis with facts that carry more weight in favor than against the argument. Even in Chemistry and Physics known scientific facts have changed as investigations continued. If the grader cannot set aside his or her own political view and judge whether or not the writer was too selective with the facts (i.e., ignoring information that could easily disprove the hypothesis), then that speaks more about the integrity of the grader.

Spend a LOT of time on the hypothesis. In the long run, it will make things easier and help you focus on the actual issues. It would be best to refine it as much as possible rather than something that is overly broad.

You're not uncovering some gem of hidden strategies for writing a paper, that's good advice for anyone writing a paper.

What about "A comparison of costs and relative values between DDP and non-plan eaters" and include breakeven points in family size and free dining options with menu selection variables among table service locations. Those are ALL known costs, not even hard to find. Just requires some simple scientific method to quantify. Shoot, there even some good posts here on this.

And how do you define value...and more importantly, what academic value is this topic? And where in this topic does it allow for the eating habits of the parties to prove that the people on the dining plan are actually getting their money's worth versus people not on the plan? And what identifiable sources of fact will be available to prove or disprove the hypothesis? Other than the actual cost of the food/tip/tax, this topic is too subjective. For example: I will not EVER purchase the dining plan because I don't find the value in it. I would be spending $38/day on food I would normally not eat when at Disney World. I would not eat at a sit-down restaurant every day...and when I do I might not order the dessert. I certainly would never get dessert at counter service. So while I may be saving money while on the plain based on the price of the food I'm ordering, I'm actually spending more because I am eating food I would normally not have ordered. So for ME, it isn't a value. On the otherhand, another person may be the complete opposite. The topic is too subjective to have any conclusion on the subject.

How about "Defining value of flying versus driving to a WDW vacation destination". Again, all known costs. Variables would be distance, airlines, vehicles types, family size, fuel, food, hotel costs, length of stay, etc. You don't have to go crazy to prove a point with this but in 7 pages you could make some conclusions if you only set some parameters and don't try to include every variable.

Again, where is the academic value of this topic? And how do you define "value" when there are just to many variables that cannot be isolated and examined because the term is too subjective. It's a topic that would be ok for an article in the travel section of a newspaper or magazine, but certainly not a topic of value at the academic level.

 

[WDWFigment]

I disagree with you for the most part...some of the suggestions were probably merely just jokes, and I agree that many would need more than 7 pages. However, most were legitimate topics, particularly the impact of Disney in Florida economically and culturally. There is a ton of information out there. Is there a concrete answer to any of the potential topics? No, probably not. But that doesn't mean we don't ask the question, and certainly the point is to back up the hypothesis with facts that carry more weight in favor than against the argument. Even in Chemistry and Physics known scientific facts have changed as investigations continued. If the grader cannot set aside his or her own political view and judge whether or not the writer was too selective with the facts (i.e., ignoring information that could easily disprove the hypothesis), then that speaks more about the integrity of the grader.




You're not uncovering some gem of hidden strategies for writing a paper, that's good advice for anyone writing a paper.



And how do you define value...and more importantly, what academic value is this topic? And where in this topic does it allow for the eating habits of the parties to prove that the people on the dining plan are actually getting their money's worth versus people not on the plan? And what identifiable sources of fact will be available to prove or disprove the hypothesis? Other than the actual cost of the food/tip/tax, this topic is too subjective. For example: I will not EVER purchase the dining plan because I don't find the value in it. I would be spending $38/day on food I would normally not eat when at Disney World. I would not eat at a sit-down restaurant every day...and when I do I might not order the dessert. I certainly would never get dessert at counter service. So while I may be saving money while on the plain based on the price of the food I'm ordering, I'm actually spending more because I am eating food I would normally not have ordered. So for ME, it isn't a value. On the otherhand, another person may be the complete opposite. The topic is too subjective to have any conclusion on the subject.



Again, where is the academic value of this topic? And how do you define "value" when there are just to many variables that cannot be isolated and examined because the term is too subjective. It's a topic that would be ok for an article in the travel section of a newspaper or magazine, but certainly not a topic of value at the academic level.

Exactly. These were exactly my thoughts when I read these posts. Don't worry about choosing a "partisan" topic. I did it all the time and never had an issue with any of my grades. If you choose a topic that isn't "partisan" in some regard, chances are it will be bland and uninteresting. If there's an issue, appeal to the Dean of the department.

Remember that your best topic will be one with academic value. The value of the DDP? Finishing POP? No one cares. There are plenty of topics that pertain to Disney that do have academic merit, but plenty here that are better suited for forum back-and-forth than a well-crafted paper.

 

[Montyboy]

Listen to the Dragon. I've also been in the front of the classroom and the advice is sound. While most of this thread has some great ideas they (A) will not easily fit into 7 pages, (B) are actually very esoteric, (C) could be a BEAR to research and come up with actual facts, especially the vague economic/cultural statements and (D) don't really lend themselves in most cases to a pro/con argument.

This will be especially true as many students tend to use retroductive arguments (look it up) to prove their case. Not saying the OP will, but the odds are there.

Spend a LOT of time on the hypothesis. In the long run, it will make things easier and help you focus on the actual issues. It would be best to refine it as much as possible rather than something that is overly broad.

What about "A comparison of costs and relative values between DDP and non-plan eaters" and include breakeven points in family size and free dining options with menu selection variables among table service locations. Those are ALL known costs, not even hard to find. Just requires some simple scientific method to quantify. Shoot, there even some good posts here on this.

How about "Defining value of flying versus driving to a WDW vacation destination". Again, all known costs. Variables would be distance, airlines, vehicles types, family size, fuel, food, hotel costs, length of stay, etc. You don't have to go crazy to prove a point with this but in 7 pages you could make some conclusions if you only set some parameters and don't try to include every variable.

I went back to the orginal post and read the assignment. After doing that, the quoted post above makes almost no sense. Isn't the idea to select a topic that is debatable?

 

[fosse76]

I went back to the orginal post and read the assignment. After doing that, the quoted post above makes almost no sense. Isn't the idea to select a topic that is debatable?

I think he was trying to say that the suggested topics didn't lend themselves to a pro/con argument...but that still doesn't make much sense since no one actually stated a thesis for the OP, only the subject matter.

 

[Montyboy]

I think he was trying to say that the suggested topics didn't lend themselves to a pro/con argument...but that still doesn't make much sense since no one actually stated a thesis for the OP, only the subject matter.

You are right. He is making comment on the other suggestions. I got hung up on his need to do research for hard facts.
I read the original post as a writing assignment, and to develop a topic that would have plausable arguements on either side. Such as, "The color blue is better than the color red - debate it."

 

[Montyboy]

So what did you write the paper about?

 

[TheDisneyQueen]

well as much as loved hearing all the suggestions, ive decided... After the cubs lost their chance at the world series this year ive chosen

Are the cubs cursed or not? there is a lot of people who think they have and evidence (black cat, bartman, billy goat) that proves they have been cursed and there are also a lot of effects due to the curses ( such as the 4 in field errors in the playoff this year, coincidence? i think not... statistically i can prove how uncommon that type of situation occurs.).... there are also many people who believe they are not cursed and just plan out suck (the counter argument).... it is a more fun topic then the boring ones (should they drinking age be changed to that of european countries, should we do stem cell research)... although the boring topics are easy to research my teacher wants us to have fun with the essay too. I would have loved to write about disney and will be looking at this thread for future papers i have coming up in the class! I have so many to do in the future ill probably use one of the ideas suggested!... thanks again and tell me what you think about my topic i hope it is something you would be interested in reading!...

Angie