The document is a research design proposal from two students, Cristina Gonzalez and Jordan Grandt. Their research topic examines whether addiction to substances like alcohol and drugs should be considered a disease for veterans rather than a choice. They want to argue this perspective to readers and that the government and military should identify addiction as a disease among veterans and provide more assistance. They are interested in this topic to understand the struggles of veteran addicts. Their research questions include examining the connection between mental illness and addiction, what classifies something as a disease, treatment options for addicted veterans, and whether the military supports addicted veterans. Their research plan involves using databases like SIRS and creating a PowerPoint presentation with images and voiceover as their

1. Research Design Proposal
10th Honors World Literature/Composition
Lester and Hamilton
Spring 2012
Cristina Gonzalez and Jordan Grandt
Research Paper Topic
Our research topic includes the reasoning of how addiction to both alcohol and drug substances among
veterans should be considered a disease and not a choice. We would also like to persuade the readers of
our research paper to take the stance that addiction to these dangerous substances should be identified
by the government among the military. We also believe that there should be assistance among veterans
for these dangerous diseases.
What We Know about the Topic at This Point and Why We’re Interested In This Topic
We know that there are many “official” diseases that are associated with addiction. These include the
infamous diseases of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, depression, and many different anxiety disorders.
Addiction affects the brain, sending varying levels of dopamine through the brain, creating different
emotions. Veterans with mental disorders, such as the common disease PTSD, are more likely to be
prescribed unnecessary opioid painkillers. This increases the likelihood of addiction and dependence on
these pills. The government and the military do not officially see addiction as a clinical disorder, offering
little help to the veterans with great need. Although programs are offered, many veterans need much
more assistance in their fight against this deadly disease. We are interested in this topic because we
want to understand the troubles that veteran addicts go through in everyday life.
What We Want To Learn
We wish to learn even more about the connection between mental illnesses and addiction. We also
want to find out what classifies something as a disease or not. We hope that in the process of our

2. research that we come to know what options there are for these addict veterans. For example, we
wonder if there are pills or other treatments besides therapy for these veterans. Another thing that we
wish to find out is whether or not the military is supportive of its addict veterans. Finally, we wish to
know whether the military screens against addicts when they volunteer into the military.
Our Initial List of Questions We Have About Our Topic
1. Do many doctors use the “disease model,” a method used to define diseases?
2. How can you compare addiction to other diseases?
3. Is there a specific gene that controls addiction?
4. How are rehabilitation services helping veterans suffering from addiction?
5. Why does prescription abuse in veterans happen so often?
6. How often are veterans suffering from mental disorders and addiction prescribed painkillers as
opposed to therapy?
7. What in place of addiction help soldiers with images from the war?
8. How should nonviolent addicts be treated in comparison with violent addicts?
9. Why are people with mental illnesses more prone to addiction?
10. How have doctors identified the stages of addiction in veterans?
11. In what ways does addiction affect the brain permanently?
Our Three Primary Research Questions
Should addiction be treated as a disease in the military?
1. How can addiction be proven as a disease to the military?
2. How do mental illnesses in veterans connect to addiction?
3. How does addiction in veterans affect the brain?

3. Our Research Plan
Our Research Plan
SIRS is a very dependable database for our topic, along with CNN News for interesting, relevant
videos, as well as news articles.
We plan to organize our information using websites such as Symbaloo for information. We plan
to use Symbaloo to bookmark and keep track of any websites or articles that we find to be
extremely helpful. Networking and sharing these helpful articles is important to us, as Symbaloo
is very easy to share with. With both of our hard working personalities, time management
should be easy to control. Our plan is to get as much work done at school as possible, to allow
for easy question asking.
We will be citating using EasyBib, as it allows easy access for one person to control all of the
citations, allowing for consistency.
As partners, we will share the research and writing responsibilities equally. We plan to keep in
touch as often as possible throughout the process to ensure correct and equal partner work is
being accomplished. We do not foresee any big challenges for this research project, as we work
well together and are great communicators.
Content Creation Tools
We plan to use a PowerPoint presentation to create a zen project. We will also use Flickr to find suitable
pictures relating to our project in both concrete and abstract manners. A voiceover will be included to
optimize the presentations cleanliness and professionalism.
Final Learning Project
We plan to create a zen styled PowerPoint with a dual voice over as our final learning product. This
digital text composition will optimize all of the research we will put into this project. This option offers a

4. clean appearance while still offering many facts and arguments for our case. At this time, we plan to
create a shaping sheet to organize our research topics and subtopics.
Preliminary Bibliography
Beck, Melinda. "In Search of Alcoholism Genes." Wall Street Journal. 08 Feb 2011: D.1. SIRS Issues
Researcher. Web. 27 Mar 2012.
Brooks, Adam C. "Addiction Is Not Hopeless." CNN. 22 Feb. 2012. Web. 27 Mar. 2012.
<http://www.cnn.com/2012/02/22/opinion/brooks-addiction-problem/index.html?iref=allsearch>.
Eligon, John. "Queens Court For Veterans Aims to Help, Not Punish." 2010: A28(L). Gale Opposing
Viewpoints In Context. Web. 26 Mar. 2012.
<http://ic.galegroup.com:80/ic/ovic/NewsDetailsPage/NewsDetailsWindow?displayGroupName=News&
disableHighlighting=false&prodId=OVIC&action=2&catId=&documentId=GALE%7CA244255665&userGro
upName=cant48040&jsid=35b4461b3e5eaf3eca8c61d5efe914ee>.
Explain It to Me: Addiction. CNN. 21 Feb. 2012. Web. 28 Mar. 2012.
<http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/health/2012/02/21/eitm-addiction.cnn>.
"Give an Hour Answers Admiral Mullen's Call for Nonprofits to Assist with Military Mental Health
Issues." 2010: 324. Gale Opposing Viewpoints In Context. Web. 26 Mar. 2012.
<http://ic.galegroup.com:80/ic/ovic/NewsDetailsPage/NewsDetailsWindow?displayGroupName=News&
disableHighlighting=false&prodId=OVIC&action=2&catId=&documentId=GALE%7CA225657183&userGro
upName=cant48040&jsid=99daea9552e92fe106db44683082fa16>.

5. Hahn, Valerie S. "Special Court Aids St. Louis Veterans with Drug Trouble." St. Louis. 5 Jan. 2011. Web.
27 Mar. 2012. <http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/special-court-aids-st-louis-
veterans-with-drug-trouble/article_126c75d2-ce59-5af9-a53e-979f39eb7b33.html?print=1>.
Hodge, Nathan. "Navy, Marines to Start Random Alcohol Tests." Wall Street Journal. 5 Mar. 2012. Web.
27 Mar. 2012.
<http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204276304577263882094905596.html>.
Kounang, Nadia. "Veterans with PTSD More Likely to Be Be Prescribed Painkillers." CNN. 6 Mar. 2012.
Web. 28 Mar. 2012. <http://thechart.blogs.cnn.com/2012/03/06/veterans-with-ptsd-more-likely-to-be-
be-prescribed-painkillers/>.
Mccauley, Kevin T. "Is Addiction Really a Disease?" Texas Bar Journal (2004). Gale Opposing Viewpoints
In Context. Web. 26 Mar. 2012.
<http://ic.galegroup.com:80/ic/ovic/ViewpointsDetailsPage/ViewpointsDetailsWindow?displayGroupNa
me=Viewpoints&disableHighlighting=true&prodId=OVIC&action=2&catId=&documentId=GALE%7CEJ30
10103273&userGroupName=cant48040&jsid=ca6bbe38f95d01d2b2d8534cc424c56b>.
Military Takes Lead in Cutting Addiction. CNN. 24 Feb. 2012. Web. 28 Mar. 2012.
<http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/health/2012/02/24/dnt-starr-military-addiction.cnn>.
Neergaard, Lauran. "Addiction a Brain Disorder, Not Just Bad Behavior." Sun Herald. 16 Aug 2011: N.p.
SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 27 Mar 2012.

6. Robins, Lee N. "Vietnam: Follow-Up Study." Encyclopedia of Drugs, Alcohol & Addictive Behavior.Ed.
Rosalyn Carson-DeWitt.Vol. 3. New York: Macmillan Reference USA, 2001. 1311-1312. Gale Virtual
Reference Library.Web. 26 Mar. 2012.
<http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CCX3403100470&v=2.1&u=cant48040&it=r&p=GVRL&sw
=w>.
Stovroff, Irwin. "Man's Best Friend Should Not Be a Pill." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com,
27 Mar. 2012. Web. 27 Mar. 2012. <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/irwin-stovroff/ptsd-veterans-
_b_1380099.html>