Responsibility in Society and Education

50 Best Argumentative Research Paper Topics In 2018 - Paperell.com

50 Best Argumentative Research Paper Topics In 2018 50 Best Argumentative Research Paper Topics In 2018 If you are going to prove any hypothesis, you need to find arguments for it. You can be sure that your point of view is right until you meet a person that thinks that you are completely wrong. You may not find good arguments for your position and don’t present them in a convincing format. That’s why you will not convince this person and other members of a conversation that you are true. When working on an argumentative research paper, you need to find facts and proofs that support your position. You need to start with picking one of argumentative research paper topics for college students, defining your position on it, and looking for arguments for your point of view. There is a lot of interesting and good argumentative research paper topics. Of course, the hottest and the most arguable topics are connected with politics and religion; however, you can also find science, medicine, economics, and other topics. During argumentative essay writing, you should be ready for a discussion on it. You should prepare yourself to ask any questions or respond to counterarguments against your position. When a college student is working on such a paper, they should define their position on a topic and the whole research they are doing. Even if you think that this topic is not controversial, you can’t be a part of a discussion if you don’t have a clear position on it and that is why you need to take into account all pros and cons. Use your current knowledge, the information you have heard before, and clarify your point of view.How To Choose Interesting Topic For Argumentative Research Paper?Your topic should be arguable and gather people with different position around it; if it’s not arguable and most of the students have similar positions about it, there will not be a good discussion. The reason for writing such a paper is not only to discuss it. It also improves research skills of students, their ability of analysis, reading and writing skil ls. That’s why it is better to pick topics for argumentative research paper that help in developing necessary skills. Students should be able to find arguments for their position in credible sources. They can use their books, videos, articles, and newspaper for it, and make sure that it will be easy to find information that supports a specific opinion. The best argumentative research paper topics are negotiable. Each person may have their own position in a discussion. The goal is to prove this position by using credible arguments, not by cheating or using non-scientific methods of convincing. This is a good idea to pick a topic that is popular among students, such themes take more attention and are usually more negotiable. It can be facts, rumors from the news, or interesting stories heard on TV. If a problem makes many people doubt, this is also a good idea for an argumentative paper. If students cannot choose a specific point of view, they are usually looking for different arguments to tell. These arguments can help them get a more clear position. You should also not be afraid of fighting with arguments that deny your position, but prepare yourself for such things and how will you react to them wisely. There are ideas that have much more than two points of view. If each person has their own position on a specific problem, it will be more interesting and negotiable, so you should pay attention to such interesting argumentative research paper topics. Don’t pick obvious topics that were discussed many times – they could be very boring and non-negotiable but there are ideas that are discussed for thousands of years and they are still interesting. Issues connected with education and politics are always a great choice. Students are a part of the educational system and they also play a role in politics so such issues touch almost all students in all countries. If you need help with a research paper, you can use essay writing services. They help students to find writers that can write their papers.Good Argumentative Research Paper Topics For StudentsHere are a few examples of good topics for argumentative essays. You can pick one of them or select a more original idea for a discussion. Please avoid topics that can harm people based on their religion, nationality, or gender.Is obesity is a problem of American population?Should all students have a free access to the Internet for education?Students should be able to change a college curriculum due to their objectivesEnglish will be the official language in most of the countries in a few decadesEach student should learn at least three foreign languagesAdvertisement industry is all a lieEducation should be less expensive in order to involve more studentsSteroids should be forbiddenThe attention to sports in education system is too bigDiets are not as effective as they are presented to massesEight hours is a normal duration of sleep for every studentRisky sports should be forbid denParents shouldn’t allow their children to watch adult filmsTobacco and its smoking should be forbidden in most of the countriesGovernment should do more for fighting with alcoholism in USEnergetic drinks can be more dangerous than usual alcohol drinksFilming court proceedings shouldn’t be forbidden in any courtPeople should be allowed to start voting at the age of 25The usage of animals in research should be forbiddenEach person who causes environment pollution should be punishedGovernment need to work more on protection from tornadoesIndians that are living in US are not true representatives of their kindEach following financial crisis will be worse than previousAcceptance rates in should be much higher than nowThe legalization of gay marriages shows the high level of development of the countyHow to fight corruption more effectively?Communism as an ideology and communism in USSR are much different thingsChats of the web teach children of a bad grammarWhen using mod ern technologies, people become less intelligentThe usage of messengers has a bad influence on the culture of communicationEducational system should use more advantages of modern technologiesThe number of working hours should reduce from time to timeThe government should support social activists in their projectsCloning animals and people should be bannedModern art is mostly a lie and shouldn’t be called an art evenMovie can never be better than the book on which it is basedSong lyrics become worse with every yearBuying a lottery ticket is a bad idea for those who want to winThat is the problem that sports competitions takes much more attention than scientific eventsThe feminist movement becomes a problem for women who don’t join itDemocracy is not the best ideology for modern worldSocial media are not so dangerous as they told to beAre diaries still popular?Are public cameras a problem for a privacy?Is home schooling a problem for socialization of children?All subject s should be optional so students can choose other subjectsThis is the problem that modern films are more cruel than old filmsHistorical films should be based only on factsDo artists risk by their mental health when playing psychopaths and killers?People should read more booksIf you havent found something interesting for you, take a look at this 200 best topics for research paper in 2019.

Puerto Rican Culture Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Puerto Rican Culture - Essay Example In my naivety, I had thought that Americans were very sophisticated people who lived harmoniously with one another. I never, not for a single second, thought that I would experience some of the worst discriminations in my life. I never thought that I would have to work several times harder to prove myself than other American kids had to. The realization that life in the U.S was not as rosy as I had been made to believe came as a shocker to me. In Colombia I had been grown used to the closeness of the people. Everyone was each other’s keeper, so to speak. I had very many companions back in Colombia because the sociability of the people makes it easy to make new friends almost every day (Waters and Ueda 216). However in America, the situation was quite different. First of all, I did know much English when I fast landed in the US, so communication was a big problem. I did not have to wait for long before I realized what it meant to be a Colombian American living in New York. Discrimination followed me almost everywhere I went. My ethnicity made me a subject of resentment from both white and African Americans (Olson and Olson 116). I did not consider speaking Spanish to be wrong, but to Americans, it was objectionable. Many regarded American Colombians to be illegal immigrants which was sometimes true. However, my mother had ensured that she had all the right papers before coming here. This of course did not stop other people from lumping us together with illegal immigrants. As such it was very hard for us since my mother, who also knew very limited English, could not get a good job. Colombian immigrants could only get casual jobs, and these did not pay well enough (118). It is a well documented fact that America is a highly fragmented society (Flores 19). This identity fragmentation affected me greatly when I was new in the country. I started very slowly in school since I could not communicate very well. In my school everyone was grouped

A Systematic Comparison Between Traditional and Agile Methods Essay

A Systematic Comparison Between Traditional and Agile Methods - Essay Example Project management is a methodical technique to managing and scheduling project resources and tasks from inauguration to completion. However, these tasks and resources are separated into five stages, i.e. initiation, planning, executing, controlling, and completion or termination of the project. In fact, this standard format of the project management can be used for almost every kind of project, in view of the fact that its basic purpose is to systematize the different processes of project development (Kerzner, 2006; Haughey, 2009; TechTarget, 2008). Normally, the project management techniques are classified into two categories: traditional project management and agile project management. In traditional project management, project plans and cost estimates are normally developed once, in a front-loaded mode, and the remaining activities of a project involve adjusting to reality. On the other hand, in agile project management, every iteration is an opportunity to go back over the plan and adjust to reality for the next iteration (Freedman, 2010). Traditional project management approaches Traditional project management works fine for a lot of projects and environments. Actually, traditional project management makes use of the traditional tools and techniques for management and solving problems. In simple words, â€Å"the traditional project management is 'a collection of tools and techniques that can be used to perform an operation that seeks an end product, outcome, or a service†. These traditional tools and techniques can include the use of PERT chart and Gantt chart to estimate the schedule or plan the project (TutorialsPoint, 2012). The major advantage of the traditional project management methods is that they are plan driven and they follow a sequence and management approach to project development. Thus, the use of the traditional project management methods allows completing a complex project in a sequential phase wise manner where all the requirements are collected and approved at the beginning. And on the basis of these requirements software design is completed next and finally master design is executed to build high quality software. Another advantage of the traditional software development methods is they are very well-organized and purposeful planning and control methods. These methods allow us to recognize the distinct project life cycles (Rehman et al., 2010; Szalvay, 2004; Serena, 2007). Despite a lot of advantages associated with these methods, they have certain drawbacks as well. According to these methods, all the project requirements must be completed and approved before the project is initialized. On the other hand, in case of a large size and complex projects it is not possible to collect all the requirements before beginning the project. Hence, we will need to make some changes to the project requirements which will change design and as a result the entire project development will be affected (Rehman et al., 2010; Szalvay, 2004; Serena, 2007). In addition, the traditional project management methods are aimed at dealing with large size development projects, and the issues and challenges in determining and handling these endeavours to effectively carry results. Additionally, these methods were a great deal

Answer the three questions Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Answer the three questions - Essay Example The new EPA rules, like the Clean Air Act, will enforce regulations of gas emissions for businesses like plant, refineries and factories (Milbourn 2010). Its new policies will focus on requiring them to increase their efficiency regarding cleaning fuels, controlling emissions, and reducing GHG pollution (Walsh 2011). Businesses will also be required to include green house gases when trying to obtain permits for pollutants. The government has to take an active role in controlling green house gas emissions. It is responsible for the safety of its country and citizens for the years to come. Voluntary actions by individuals do help but no rules and regulations are enforced this way. The government should review its policies for GHG emissions and pollutants and introduce better regulations for their control (Milbourn 2010). These policies should be evaluated by leading experts before being implemented. Also, required safety permits, strict regulations and rules should be put into place fo r the leading industries causing emissions like power plants and automobile factories. Educational programs should also be developed in schools and for the public at large to create more awareness of this looming crisis. Works Cited Cathy, Millbourn. EPA Sets Thresholds for Greenhouse Gas Permitting Requirements/Small Businesses and Farms Will be Shielded.

Concepts in Nursing Research Methods

Concepts in Nursing Research Methods Critique criteria The criteria used for this critique were derived from relevant nursing literature (Feninstein Horwitz, 1997; Cormack, 2000; Khan et al, 2003). About a dozen criteria were specified: design, sample, inclusion/exclusion criteria, time frame of study, data collection, reliability validity, and data analysis. Study Design Catlette (2005) used a qualitative design. While this approach has its merits, principally a greater degree of realism and richer data, it has a number of significant drawbacks (Coolican, 1994). Observations are typically unreliable. In other words, if the same nurses were interviewed on several different occasions, about workplace violence, using the same open-ended interview protocol, their responses may vary somewhat. Various biases creep in, often caused by situational factors (e.g. open-ended questions, a very violent week followed by a particularly calm week), or personal considerations (e.g. memory deficits). Furthermore there is low internal validity. This means that it is difficult to establish with any certainty the relationship between variables, due to the lack of statistical analysis (which can estimate the probability that results occurred by chance). For example, Catlettes interview data suggests a link between workplace violence and feelings of vulnerability amongst n urses. However, the extent to which the former variable causes the latter cannot be reliably established in a qualitative study. Winstanley and Whittington (2004) enjoy the precision of a quantitative design. While internal validity is high, the level of realism is questionable. Participants were ‘forced’ to respond to predetermined questions (e.g. on physical assault) using a fixed response format (e.g. ‘Once’, ‘More than once’). Thus, the data obtained was heavily influenced by the kind of questions asked and the particular response format used. In the real world, health care staff may perceive the level of aggression in terms that don’t match the questionnaire format. For example, a nurse may perceive physical assaults as ‘sporadic’ or ‘once in a blue moon’. Since these categorisations weren’t available in the questionnaire, the study effectively lacks a certain degree of realism. In a qualitative desi gn, subjects describe the world as they see it, rather than via terms imposed by the researcher. Sample Ideally a sample should be randomly selected so that it is representative of the population from which it was drawn, in this case nurses or health care professionals. This allows findings from a single study to be generalised to the wider community. Catlette (2005) used a convenience sample, meaning it wasn’t representative of nurses in general. Granted there are considerable practical and logistic difficulties in trying to recruit a random sample of nurses. Their busy schedules and irregular shifts, for example, hamper proper scientific selection. It is also quite common for small convenience samples to be used in qualitative studies, since it is often impractical to conduct in-depth interviews with large groups. Nevertheless, Catlette’s findings, while relevant to the particular trauma centres involved, are unlikely to apply to nurses in general. This is a serious limitation, since Catlettes stated objectives suggest a general interest in the level of violence in hosp ital emergency departments, rather than the particular trauma units from which subjects were drawn. Winstanley and Whittington (2004) also appear to have a used a convenience sample: they simply invited health care staff working in a general hospital, and who had regular contact with patients, to participate. Although the target sample was quite large (a bigger sample improves representation), only a minority of staff actually completed and returned questionnaires. All in all, participants weren’t recruited randomly, therefore the findings cannot be generalised to the wider population of health care staff. Inclusion/Exclusion Criteria Both studies seemed to have clear inclusion/exclusion criteria. Catlette (2005) only recruited and interviewed nurses who were registered, worked in a level 1 trauma centre, and had experienced workplace violence. A clear definition of what constituted violence was developed, helping to minimise any ambiguities about eligibility. Winstanley and Whittington (2004) also specify inclusion criteria. Only health care staff that had regular and substantial contact with patients were invited to participate. What constituted ‘regular’ and ‘substantial’ contact was well defined (e.g. daily contact with patients). The advantage of having clear inclusion/exclusion criteria is that it helps the researcher recruit a homogenous sample. If the participants in a study are too diverse, this effectively introduces additional sources of error that may obscure interesting themes, or relationships between variables. Findings may be more difficult to interpret. However, a major d isadvantage of a homogenous sample is that it is invariably ‘ad-hoc’, that is special or unique, and hence unlikely to reflect the wider community. Nevertheless, it can be argued that sample homogeneity isn’t problematic if the wider community of interest exactly matches the inclusion/exclusion criteria. For example, Winstanley and Whittington’s (2004) study was about patient aggression towards health care staff. Thus, the population of interest was invariably going to be staff that had regular contact with patients. In this respect the sample selected corresponds with the population of interest. However, randomly selecting nurses from the designate population would have provided a representative sample that permits useful generalisations. Simply using volunteers, as Winstanley and Whittington did is unscientific. Time frame of study Winstanley and Whittington’s (2004) study was effectively a retrospective (i.e. cross-sectional) survey. This means that data was collected at one point in time, specifically an 8-week period. Retrospective designs are considered inferior to prospective (i.e. longitudinal) designs in which data is collected on two or more occasions, over several weeks, months, or even years (Coolican, 2004). This method allows tentative causal inferences to be made – if a variable measured at Time 1 predicts or correlates with a factor measured at Time 2, then there is a possibility that former variable affected the latter, but not vice versa. Retrospective designs don’t allow for such inferences. Any correlations between variables are just that – correlations! There is no sequence that may help delineate possible causality. For example, in their introduction and statements of study aims, Winstanley and Whittington imply that particular professions (e.g. nurses, doctors) a nd hospital departments (e.g. medical, A E) may elicit different levels of physical aggression experienced by staff. Thus, profession/department seemed to be conceptualised as causal factors. However, although data analysis revealed relationships between these factors and physical aggression, there is no provision in the retrospective design to infer causality, since all the variables are measured simultaneously. A prospective method in which profession/department predicts experiences of physical assault several weeks subsequently would be more conclusive. Catlette (2005) doesn’t explicitly state the time frame for her study, albeit interviews typically take several days, weeks, or perhaps months to complete. Notions of prospective and retrospective designs are typically associated with quantitative studies, and rarely applied to qualitative research. This is because qualitative studies are often exploratory, merely seeking to identify interesting phenomena rather than estab lish causal relationships between variables. Nevertheless, interviewing participants on two or more separate occasions can be used to demonstrate the robustness and reliability of any themes observed. For example, if the same themes emerge during interviews conducted at two different points in time, this would suggest that the themes are significant rather than fleeting. Data Collection Catlette (2005) appears to have used semi-structured interviews for data collection (Coolican, 1994). By asking every interviewee pre-set but open-ended questions in a particular sequence, she avoided the inconsistency and sloppiness often associated with wholly unstructured (i.e. casual) interviews. It is possible the interviews were informal but guided, meaning that pre-set questions were asked, albeit in no particular order. Either way, a guided or semi-structured interview suffers from certain constraints. Asking specific questions, albeit open-minded ones, restricts the interviewers flexibility to ask follow-up questions depending on the interviewees response. Interviews are also heavily affected by interpersonal factors, such as lack of rapport, physical attraction, and psychological manipulation. Winstanley and Whittington (2004) collected data via a questionnaire. This method has a number of limitations. One is the typically low response rate. Of 1141 questionnaires posted ou t to participants, only 375 (33%) were returned, denoting a considerable waste of resources. Often the questionnaires returned represent an unusually keen sub-sample that may differ in key respects from the original target group. This means that the researcher has to devote time and resources establishing what these differences are, and how they might affect the results. Furthermore, because the final sample is smaller, statistical power is reduced, increasing the possibility of a type II error. Another limitation of questionnaires is the use of restricted (or ‘forced choice’) response format. For example, subjects in Winstanley and Whittingtons’ (2004) study were forced to choose from three options – ‘none’, ‘one’ or ‘more than one’. Thus, there is no room for participants to qualify their answers, for example by pointing out memory lapses (e.g. ‘I can’t remember’), or indicating ambiguous experie nces (e.g. ‘not sure’). All in all, these restrictions reduce the realism and richness of data collected. Interviewing subjects on the same issues, but using open-ended questions, will probably yield slight different outcomes to those reported by Winstanley and Whittington (2004). Another limitation is that the bulk of questionnaire communication is written. There is no provision to measure visual cues and gestures, which typically account for much of human communication, or even auditory cues. For example, a frown or grunt, may signify a particularly traumatising experiencing, which simply can’t be detected from questionnaire responses. Finally, questionnaires are often completed in the absence of the researcher (e.g. postal questionnaire), making it difficult to supervise the proceedings, or verify whether the subject is the same person who completed the questionnaire. Overall, these constraints negate the conclusiveness of Winstanley and Whittington’s ( 2004) findings. Data Analysis In line with standard procedure in qualitative research Catlette (2005) performed thematic analysis to identify recurring patterns in the data. Meaningful information was extracted from the interview transcripts, after which themes were identified using a coding system. Although a highly useful procedure, Braun and Clarke (2006) note that thematic analysis has certain disadvantages. One is the possible overlap between themes. Catlette identifies two themes – vulnerability and inadequate safety measures. Categories, and subcategories reported suggest considerable overlap between these dimensions (e.g. the sentiment ‘feeling unsafe’ may depict both feelings of vulnerability and an unsafe environment). Another weakness is the high correspondence between the data collection questions (i.e. interview guide) and themes identified. In other words, the themes reported merely reflect the questions asked during the interview (e.g. questions on safety, such as â€Å"How do you feel about the safety of your workplace?† are bound to produce safety-related responses, and hence themes). This suggests very limited analytic work was done to identify themes independent of the interview format. Another shortcoming of thematic analysis is failure to incorporate alternative or contradictive data in the results reported. Catlette offers little if any account of oddities in the data that don’t necessarily fit the two emerging themes. For example, the interviews revealed that violence wasn’t a concern during interactions with co-workers. Clearly this revelation is incompatible with the notion of vulnerability and lack of safety in the workplace. Yet, little is made of this inconsistency, making Catlettes’ rather ‘tidy’ themes appear rather suspicious. Few data sets in qualitative research are completely harmonious with no contradictions, so a study that fails to report these oddities is highly questionable. Winstanley and Wh ittington (2004) employed an inferential statistical test to analysis their data, consistent with the quantitative design of their study. Chi-square was used to test for significant trends in the frequency of physical assaults as a function of different health care professionals (e.g. nurses and doctors) and hospital departments (e.g. medical, surgical, A E). Chi-square was appropriate given that the data was categorical (i.e. in the form of frequencies). However, as a non-parametric test, chi-square lacks sensitivity. This combined with the limitations of frequency data (e.g. it fails to account for subtle degrees of variation between individual subjects or groups; for example, asking nurses if they’ve experienced aggression ‘once’ or ‘more than once’ fails to take into account any differences in the intensity and duration of these aggressive episodes), increases the risk of wrongly accepting the null-hypothesis. Reliability Validity A major methodological concern in scientific research is reliability and validity. Reliability refers to the consistency of observations, while validity depicts the authenticity of observations. Both issues are particularly pertinent in qualitative studies, due to the lack of structure, precision, and quantification. Catlette (2005) appears to have taken steps to enhance reliability/validity. She kept a journal throughout the duration of the study, in order to identify any biases that may corrupt the data. Interviews were conducted using a standard protocol, then the data was transcribed verbatim, and analysed using regular procedures. However, these measures may be inadequate. Coolican (1994) identifies several procedures for ensuring good reliability, none of which appears to have been used by Catlette: triangulation, analysis of negative cases, repetition of research cycle, and participant consultation. Triangulation involves verifying emerging themes using another data collection method other than open-ended interviews. For example a questionnaire measure of perceived workplace violence and safety strategies could have been administered or close-ended interviews conducted. Data from these alternative methods could then be compared with the original observations to gauge the degree of consistency in emerging themes. Analysis of negative cases involves scrutinising cases that don’t fit the emerging themes. Repetition of research cycle entails repeatedly reviewing assumptions and inferences, to further verify emerging themes. Finally participant consultation involves communicating with participants to see if observations from the study match their own experiences. None of these measures seem to have been applied in Catlette’s study, raising serious concerns about the stability and authenticity of her observations. Winstanley and Whittington’s’ (2004) study doesn’t appear to have fared much better. Although the numerical preci sion inherent in quantitative designs offers some degree of reliability and validity, this is by no means guaranteed, and has to be demonstrated empirically. They fail to report any Cronbach Alpha reliability coefficients for the questionnaire used. Thus, it is unclear if the items in this instrument were internally consistent. Test-retest reliability wasn’t reported either, again raising questions about the consistency of participants responses over time. A badly designed questionnaire (e.g. one with ambiguous statements, or grammatical errors) could easily confuse participants, leading to irregularities in their responses over time. No information on validity is provided either. Normally, validity could be demonstrated by correlating data from the questionnaire with data from another measure of experiences of aggression (a high correlation would indicate good validity), submitting the questionnaire to a team of judges to ascertain if the content addresses all forms of human aggression (e.g. indirect forms of aggression, such as spreading rumours or social exclusion don’t appear to have been assessed), and even performing factor analysis to establish construct validity (i.e. verify the dimensions of aggression assumed to be measured by items in the questionnaire). These inadequacies render the findings from Winstanley and Whittington’s (2004) study inconclusive. For example, the claim that aggression is â€Å"widespread† is questionable because not all forms of aggression were measured. Overall, both studies are fairly categorical in their conclusions. Winstanley and Whittington (2004) surmise that their data demonstrates the significant levels of aggression to which hospital staff are exposed. Catlette (2005) reaches a similar conclusion, emphasising the vulnerability and lack of safety perceived by nurses. However, both studies suffer from various analytic and methodological constraints. Perhaps the most serious of these is the apparent absence of reliability and validity measures that may reveal any volatility or misrepresentations in the data. These limitations mean that any conclusions have to be regarded as tentative, subject to further research. Bibliography Braun, V. Clarke, V. (2006) Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative  Research in Psychology, 3, pp.77-101. Catlette, M. (2005) A descriptive study of the perceptions of workplace violence and  safety strategies of nurses working in Level I trauma centres. Journal of  Emergency Nursing, 31, 519-525. Coolican, H. (1994) Research Methods and Statistics in Psychology, London, Hodder   Stoughton. Cormack, D. (2000) The Research Process in Nursing: Fourth Edition. London:  Blackwell Science. Eastabrooks, C.A. (1998) Will evidence-based nursing practice make practice perfect.  Canadian Journal of Nursing Research. 30, pp.15-36. Feninstein, A. R., Horwitz, R. I. (1997) Problems in the evidence of evidence-based medicine. American Journal of Medicine 103, 529-535. Khan, K., Kunz, R., Kleijnen, J. Antes, G. (2003) Systematic Reviews to Support  Evidence-based Medicine: How to Review and Apply Findings of Healthcare  Research. Oxford: Royal Society of Medicine Press. Winstanley, S. Whittington, R. (2004) Aggression towards health care staff in a UK  general hospital: variation among professions and departments. Journal of  Clinical Nursing, 13, pp.3-10.

Shelley and the Quest for Knowledge :: Biography Biographies Essays

Shelley and the Quest for Knowledge      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, was the daughter of the radical feminist, Mary Wollstonecraft, and the political philosopher, William Godwin, and the wife of the Romantic poet, Percy Bysshe Shelley. Through these familial affiliations, she was also acquainted with Lord Byron, Samuel T. Coleridge, and other literary figures such as Charles and Mary Lamb. Surrounded by such influential literary and political figures of the Romantic Age, it is not surprising that as an adolescent, at the age of 19, she wrote Frankenstein. Though critically a failure, (British Critic,1818 and Monthly Review, 1818) the novel has never been out of print and has been translated into numerous languages. What is surprising, however, is the enormous body of knowledge contained in the novel. The novel contains references to the fields of literature, poetry, science, education, politics, history, and mythology. How did such a young girl, living a life considered morally objectionable to society and harassed by family and financial burdens, acquire such a vast amount of knowledge in all fields of study that encompassed the important issues of her day? Through examination of biographical information and Mary Shelley's journal entries, we will be able to answer this question. Following, I also plan to highlight Mary Shelley's knowledge of literature with primary emphasis on the works studied by the monster in relation to his origins as well as Mary Shelley's.    Mary Shelley was born with notoriety simply by being named Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin. Her parents were well known and somewhat suspect individuals due to their radical political beliefs and writings, such as Wollstonecraft's Vindication of the Rights of Women and Godwin's Enquiry Concerning the Nature of Political Justice. Mary Shelley's mother died from complications shortly after giving birth to Mary. The infamy of her existence was heightened by her father's subsequent publication of Memoirs of the Author of the Rights of Women. In this work, William Godwin described many aspects of Mary Wollstonecraft's existence in great detail such as; her relationship with an American and subsequent birth of an illegitimate daughter, her suicide attempts, and the fact that she was already pregnant with Mary when William Godwin married her. To our late 20th Century sensibilities we may not approve of these behaviors but we certainly don't consider then shocking or extraordinary. The above ment ioned events, however, occurred in the late 1700's and were not morally acceptable, were abhorrent to the conventions of society, and were certainly not to be discussed or published in a memoir.