Alaina Spigner

English 102-125
Mr. Padgett
02/08/2015

Why is there a connection between bullying and suicide among adolescents?

I am interested in this research question because this is a topic that I am very passionate about. I
feel as though bullying can in fact lead to suicide among adolescents because of the tragedies
that have taken place over the past several years. This is an important issue that needs to be
addressed. If it is not addressed, I feel as though the amount of suicides that occur among
adolescents will continue to increase. This research question affects me personally because as a
child, I was bullied. Although I did not ever want to take my life, there have been dozens of cases
in which young adults who were bullied felt as if the only way for them to feel better was to
commit suicide. This is alarming to me because even though the issue of bullying is addressed in
schools, enough is not being done in order to ensure that suicides do not continue to happen. I am
qualified to write about this because I will be able to find all the information from reliable
sources that will be able to make my argument better.
Source 1: http://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/pdf/bullying-suicide-translation-final-a.pdf
This source talks about the overall connection between bullying and suicide in adolescents
within the school system. The central claim of this article was that there is a connection between
bullying and suicide. The major evidence includes many facts and statistics about the subject.
The major values and interests at stake for the article include the necessary facts that talk about
the connection that DOES exist as well as having the provision of important statistics that show

how relevant this topic is to society as a whole. The source at hand is the CDC, which is a
credible source because it is well known and is approved by the government.
Source 2: Chisholm, James S., and Brandie Trent. "Everything Affects Everything": Promoting
Critical Perspectives Toward Bullying with "thirteen Reasons Why". The English Journal 101.6
(2012): 7580. Web.
This source focuses on bullying more than suicide itself, even though suicide is also mentioned
numerous times. Major evidence in the article includes several ways in which bullying affects
society as a whole. It also discusses what bullying can lead to within a society and individuals.
The major values and interests at stake for the article include knowing how bullying can affect
individuals as well as how it occurs at all. The credibility and author of this source are in check
because this article comes from a journal that is known to be used when looking for credible
sources.
Source 3: Miller, sj. Speaking My Mind: Mythology of the Norm: Disrupting the Culture of
Bullying in Schools. The English Journal 101.6 (2012): 107109. Web.
This source focuses more on bullying in schools rather than the outcome that is also being
studied, which is suicide. The sources central claim is to burst the bubble that shows that
bullying within schools does not occur as often as usual. It provides evidence about how often
bullying actually DOES occur within schools. The major values of this article include the truths
that bullying does occur in schools. It also includes values that can be used through providing the
information that is needed in order to provide people with the ability to want to act and resolve
bullying from occurring within schools.

Reflection: This research question is arguable because it is not known if there is a big connection
between bullying and suicide among common people. This is not an issue that is usually
discussed and it needs to be addressed. Some agreements among the sources I found included
statistics about how bullying did in fact lead to suicide. Different perspectives of the sources
affect my own by giving me both information I need that would be useful to my argument as
well as providing information that does not fully support my argument. I might need to revise my
research question to be more direct, or to just talk about bullying.

Holistic:
This is really good paper and topic! There are several aspects of bullying that you could talk
about that definitely need to be addressed. Also, bringing suicide into the equation makes it
known that this is a serious matter than does not need to be taken lightly. Also the fact that you
are passionate about the topic will help make your research paper more interesting to read. The
only thing that I think should be changed is just insuring the credibility of the authors of the
sources you chose.