Smoking Among College Students

Ashley Smith Professor Joy Versluis English 121 24 Sept 2012 Smoking among College Students The reason why this topic motivates me is because I have many family members who smoke cigarettes. Both my grandfather’s heavily consumed cigarettes throughout their lives. They both became ill from cigarette smoking and got cancer which is a common disease in result of smoking. The disease eventually took both their lives. I would like to study this to learn more about tobacco use and the illnesses caused by it. Smoking is an addiction that can cause many damages to the human body.
Most people smoke because of stress and problems going on in their lives. Cigarettes are made up of tobacco and what makes them addictive is the nicotine in them. There are many different types of cigarettes such as menthol and no menthol. People spend a lot of money on their habit per week which could go to more useful things for their family. The prices for a pack of cigarettes are about $7 per pack and most people smoke about a pack a day. Smoking can cause many illnesses but is mostly known for cancer. People who smoke cigarettes usually start in early adulthood so I think studying college students will be the right target.
In researching college students who smoke cigarettes, what I want to learn most is why do college students smoke? Is stress the major factor or do they just want to fit in? I would like to learn if they are educated about cigarettes and the harm they can do to their body. I think the more educated the students are they will want to become healthier and make better choices for their future. I hope to learn how many cigarettes the average student consumes per day and if the cost of their habit affects them financially.

I think it’s important to learn how old they were when they started smoking and if they started when it was illegal and they were underage. I would also like to find out if your parents smoke are the kids more likely to follow their footsteps because that’s what they saw growing up. There are many sources available about college students smoking cigarettes. There are books and websites about how cigarettes can be addicting and ways to quit smoking. If you want to pursue help there are programs you can join to help educate students and prevent them from tobacco use.
My sources in searching this topic are about the fitness and health of smokers and nonsmokers, the attitudes people have towards smoking among college students and what they think about it, how smoking among students has fluctuated over the past twenty years, and how campus smoking has become an important public health issue. What intrigued me were all the sources out there that give information about health issues and concerns from smoking cigarettes. Many academic disciplines are connected to smoking. The main one is health science discipline areas because there are many illnesses, diseases, and deaths caused by the consumption and smoke.
Another discipline area related to smoking is human physical performance and recreations because the damage smoking does to your physical health, fitness, and performance as an athlete. A challenge I anticipate is people’s confidentiality because some students may not want to answer questions I have to fulfill my research fully. Also students might think I’m judgmental because they do smoke and I am writing an essay on them. I will address these problems by apologizing and asking students who are willing to cooperate and answer any questions I may have. There are some questions I still have about researching.
How do you know which sources are the most useful to your topic? When I was finding sources to cigarette smoking among college students there are many results. I tried to find different sources that gave information people may not already know and may be interested in learning. My researcher’s temperature is about an eight on a scale up to ten. I feel I have found useful information to help me study smoking among college students. I have good sources and knowledge of smoking to write a good paper. I am ready to further my study and observe and interview students who consume tobacco. Works Cited Corbett Thompson, Sandra.
The Physical Fitness of Women Smokers and Non Smokers. North Carolina: Durham, 1966. Print. Van Volkom, Michelle “Attitudes towards cigarette smoking among college students” 42. 2 (2008): 294-304. Print. “Cigarette Smoking among College Students” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 22 July 2004. Web. 24 September. 2012. <http://en. wikipedia. org/cigarette_smoking_among_college_students> “Tobacco Addiction and Smoking among College Students” Livestrong. Demand Media, Inc. Web. 24 September. 2012. <http://www. livestrong. com/article/175934-tobacco-addiction-smoking-among-college-students/>