1. Research Design Proposal
10th Honors World Literature/Composition
Lester and Hamilton
Spring 2012
Lily Gilleland
Research Paper Topic
● In my paper, I plan to look deeper into the minds of war veterans with PTSD, and
learn what hardships they go through with this mental disease. I hope to
understand the medical standpoint on it as well as the personal, including family
opinions. However, I want to mostly focus on the financial standpoint of the
disease, by finding out how it holds them back in means of finding jobs and
supporting their families. Not only that, but I also hope to uncover the qualities
need to receive healthcare benefits, and why some veterans are not receiving it.
What I know about the Topic at This Point and Why I’m Interested in This Topic.
● At this point, I have learned that many, many, war veterans have been suffering
from PTSD for a very long time, yet they do not receive proper treatment
because they have no “proof” that they were in a traumatic event, or because
they have been in treatment for so long, they have been tossed aside, being told
to “move on” through many small remedies, including dogs and therapy, have
been used to try and “cure” PTSD, the number of veterans with this mental
disorder continues to rise, occurring mostly in younger soldiers. I am interested in
this topic because would like to know how we judge if something is “traumatic” or
not, and I also want to learn and see if there is some way I can help this cause.
What I Want to Learn
● I hope to learn more specific statistics on the amount of rising PTSD victims. In
hopes of finding a correlation between the rising number of PTSD victims, their
age, alcohol and drug abuse, and spousal and child abuse. I would like to know if
the age of the Veteran plays a role in whether they receive healthcare benefits,
no matter how severe their case may be. Also, I would like to know that the
military does when they recognize their soldiers have PTSD, what treatments
they give him/her, and how the soldier is pronounced “of sound mind” other topic
I hope to learn more about is women with PTSD. I want to know if we (women)
have a greater or lesser chance of becoming the victim of this mental illness. As
well as knowing whether or not we would be treated differently if we did have
PTSD, and if it would be easier or harder to receive help.
My Initial List of Questions I Have about My Topic
1. How do we evaluate whether somebody is fit for health care?
2. What do soldiers without PTSD think about the misjudgment and indifference
some people have to soldiers with PTSD?
3. Why do veterans turn to abusive characteristics to deal with PTSD?

2. 4. Should the war veterans be treated with more care and genuine concern after
they fought for our country?
5. In interviews with homeless veterans, have their opinions of the country
changed?
6. Are the health care benefits given to certain people? As in, are there any biases
in the system?
7. While divorce within families with veterans is common, as well as abuse and
drinking, what about the veterans who have no family, or access to alcohol? How
do they cope?
8. Are there in rare or uncommon side effects of PTSD that are only in special
cases, does this effect to research done on the mental disease?
9. Can one overcome PTSD easily? Or is the recovery the same difficulty for
everybody?
10. What has been the most effective means subduing PTSD?
11. How do veterans with PTSD differ from others who have had PTSD from other
traumatic events?
My Three Primary Research Questions
Topic: Are Veterans with PTSD being treated fairly for fighting for our country?
Big Question: Is the therapy they are receiving really helping them.
Big Question: How could this mental disease be prevented, or subdued?
Big: Question: should soldiers or Veterans with PTSD be granted Healthcare benefits,
even if they cannot provide “proper” evidence they have suffered a traumatic event?
My Research Plan
● Gale Opposing Viewpoints
● SweetSearch
● Student Research Center
● Print Books
Content Creation Tools
● Microsoft Word
● Google Docs
Final Learning Product
● I plan in using written text for my final product. This is because I feel that I can
express my thought and ideas better though simple text instead of a fancy
presentation.
● I would rather use a simple shaping sheet at first, however I also believe a mind
map could work too (a mixture of the two would be best I believe though)