From John H:

Choosing a "Problem" . . .

May I suggest that a "problem" paper need not, in the end, avoid stating a position; but the main point, here, is to get students used to following a kind of "scientific method" when it comes to doing research.

In some ways, I'm afraid, the word "problem" may be sending you and your son(s) down a bunny trail. I'm afraid your son is thinking that the "problem" I referenced is a "problem" in the sense of something that needs to be "fixed" out in the world. Thus, for example, as he has thought concerning animal experimentation: "I don't think people should be doing experiments on animals. I'd like to see that 'problem' solved." . . . And then I could imagine your other son may think, "Well, what I see as a problem is the U.S. government's balance-of-payments and deficits. We need to turn that situation around. . . . "

. . . But, of course, these aren't exactly the kinds of "problems" that middle and high school students are particularly suited to solve. In fact, few adults have the background or knowledge even to propose solutions, much less, actually, to solve them!

I believe what I meant when I used the word "problem" was to refer, more, to a "problem" in the way we use that term when we speak of, say, a math problem, or a problem you have to solve when you're playing a parlor game, or the "problems" that scientists seek to solve when they do experiments. These are problems more in the sense of curiosity; things for which you're going to have to root around a bit to find the answers.

SO . . . When your son says he wants to make "animal experimentation" his problem, he actually hasn't gotten down to the point where he has presented his real problem.

Think of the scientist.

Suppose the U.S. government is concerned about a moth infestation. Their "problem" is: "How do we get rid of moths?"

But no scientist is going to take on that kind of "problem." That's not a scientific problem.

The kind of problem a scientist tries to solve is something more like this: "Are moths attracted to incandescent light?" . . . And then they set up experiments to confirm that it is truly the light that moths are attracted to and it is not, say, a 60-cycle hum, or the heat of the lightbulb (or whatever) that attracts moths.

So, now, with your son. He shouldn't be looking to solve the problem of "how to end animal experimentation." What he needs to do is choose a particular smaller area to "solve" (again, in the sense of figuring or finding something out). And so, I expect he will want to find out--or "solve the problem of":

Who does animal experimentation? [Closely associated with that, but, in a paper on "who," this would be only a very minor sidelight simply to explain why these particular "who's" do their experiments: Why are these particular people or companies doing such experiments?] But the bracketed note above gives me another perfect "problem":

Why do people (or companies) do animal experiments? What are their goals? What are they trying to get out of them? If someone chose that particular "problem," I could imagine s/he may find it actually morphs into a slightly different one (but/and I would choose, specifically, which one of these two "versions" of the almost-identical problem I was going to "solve"):

What are the benefits of animal experimentation?

Conversely:

What are the costs--to the animals and/or to their human caretakers/experiments--of animal experimentation? And for some totally different kinds of "problems" on the same topic:

What kinds of experiments are people doing on animals? What methods are used? (Not in the sense of detailed experimental procedures ("they stick a needle in here, squirt ____ there, incise, cauterize, blah-blah-blah"). Rather (perhaps), what different procedures do experimenters use (and/or have they used over time) to ensure the humane treatment of the animal subjects?) What is the history of animal experimentation? (I mean: have they always been used? How? For what? What have been the ethical standards demanded of society-at-large or the legal authorities?) What methods are animal-rights activists using to stop the use of animals in experiments? Are these methods successful? To what extent? (Which methods are more successful than others . . . and why?) What are the alternatives to animal experimentation? Etc. I'm going to stop here with suggestions of reasonable "problems" one might want to address in a paper on the far-too-broad topic of animal experimentation.

One huge point, however, that I want you to take away: each bulleted point above is worthy of its own paper. These aren't "sub-points" for a larger paper. Each bullet I mentioned would be well worth a middle or high school student's research. . . .