1. Update us where you stand on your topic idea.
A lot of students have a hard time putting themselves out there in college and finding new people to hang out with and forming friend groups. I personally feel that social anxiety and a lack of friends definitely hinders ones college life and overall experience.
2. Tell us what you find online.
After searching "social anxiety and college", 249,000,000 results came up. After looking through some of the links, one common theme I found was the link between excessive alcohol consumption and several different types of anxiety disorders.
3. Tell us what books and scholarly articles seem important.
An interesting study I found online was https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0887618501000597. This study talks about the science behind social anxiety and goes through the symptoms that people with social anxiety may feel during uncomfortable social events. A book I found in the Rutgers Libraries catalog called "Under Pressure and Overwhelmed : Coping with Anxiety in College" discusses topics like fitting in, time management, and maintaining grades.
4. What ideas about your topic did you get from this search?
I want to look into the connections between drinking habits and levels of anxiety as a result.
5. Did you find any controversies over your topic?
While I was looking though articles I found one article that talks about how Asian American students are more likely to experience social anxiety than any other group and continues to say that it's because of Asian culture and practices.