Excerpt from Doughnuts - A Dessert Tradition Mary O’Dell Americans love doughnuts! Once only available as delightful treats and
specialty items on bakery shelves, delicious doughnuts are now on grocery store shelves everywhere! Also, franchise stores such as Dunkin’ Donuts have been operating since 1950. Thirty five varieties are available, so no customer needs to be content with just one variety. More than 2.7 million customers enjoy doughnuts everyday. Even the increased emphasis on calorie counting and healthy eating has done little to impact the demand for doughnuts. National doughnut chains have introduced whole wheat doughnuts and are taking steps to reduce the grams of trans fat in their products. Whatever the fat and calorie content, these delicious ring-shaped or filled treats known as doughnuts dominate the dessert world. To clarify and refine a research topic, a high school student needs to eliminate topics that are too limited. After removing the topics that are too specific, which topic remains as appropriate for researching? A) How the doughnut got its name in America B) Which doughnut is most popular in America C) How, when, and why doughnuts became popular in America D) What to do if you want nutritious doughnuts in America
This title is the most appropriate because it does not limit research to a narrow question, but rather asks a series of essential questions.
Much research will have to go into the three questions of how, when, and why doughnuts became popular, but ultimately all these questions will help reveal the beginnings of a popular food item in the modern United States.
