How Racism and Discrimination Affect the Quality of Life of Minority Groups

By successfully completing this assignment, students will demonstrate:

• the ability to take sociological theory and apply it to a specific social phenomenon;
• effective communication of sociological insights through research and writing;
• critical thinking applied to a complex social issue;
• the review and synthesis of sociological literature in the development of a literature review; and
• familiarity with scholarly writing specific to one topic in sociology.

This assignment is made up of two parts as per the following table.

Description

In writing a research paper, you are constructing a case that will convince the reader. There is an introduction, a literature review, the body of your argument[s] and your discussion and conclusions.

Part A: Draft

• Worth 15% of final grade
• Due no later than 11:00 p.m. Eastern Time on Sunday of Unit 4.

According to Dr. Edward Witten “[y]ou want to find the question that is sufficiently easy that you might be able to answer it, and sufficiently hard that the answer is interesting.” [http://edition.cnn.com/2005/TECH/science/06/27/witten.physics/].

Instructions

1. From the Research Essay Topic List, select a topic to be the basis for your research essay.
   1. Consider carefully, as this will be the topic question you will have to stick with for all parts of this assignment.
   2. Notify the instructor of your choice. If there is nothing in this list that you are interested in researching and writing about you may propose another topic to the instructor for possible adoption.
   3. Do not proceed with Part B of this assignment until your topic choice has been approved by the instructor in writing.

Essay Outline Template

Introductory Materials

Instructions

Using the sources selected for the research topic and the contents of their annotated bibliography students must generate

• the introductory paragraph [introduce the essay], and
• an outline with the headings for the various sections of the essay

A. Introduce the Essay. The beginning lets your readers know what the essay is about, the topic. The essay's topic does not exist in a vacuum, however; part of letting readers know what your essay is about means establishing the essay's context, the frame within which you will approach your topic.

Beyond introducing your topic, your beginning must also let readers know what the central issue is. What question or problem will you be thinking about? You can pose a question that will lead to your idea (in which case, your idea will be the answer to your question), or you can make a thesis statement. Or you can do both: you can ask a question and immediately suggest the answer that your essay will argue.

There is still the further question of how to start. What makes a good opening? You can start with specific facts and information, a keynote quotation, a question, an anecdote, or an image. But whatever sort of opening you choose, it should be directly related to your focus.

Here is a web site that will give you some tips on writing a good start on your introductory paragraph:

http://writingcenter.fas.harvard.edu/pages/beginning-academic-essay

B. Generate an Outline. Before you can begin outlining, you need to have a sense of what you will argue in the essay. From your analysis and close readings of primary and/or secondary sources you should have notes, ideas, and possible quotes to cite as evidence.

Your goal is to rearrange your ideas, notes, and quotes—the raw material of your essay—into an order that best supports your argument, not the arguments you've read in other people's works. To do this, you have to group your notes into categories and then arrange these categories in a logical order.

The Harvard Writing Centre has tips on generating this outline: http://writingcenter.fas.harvard.edu/pages/outlining

You can then develop the headings and sub headings for each section of your essay.

Annotated Bibliography

An annotated bibliography is an organized list of sources [with proper APA citations] such as books, articles, and documents. Each citation is followed by a brief (usually about 150 words) paragraph that summarizes, evaluates and explains each entry on the list. The purpose of the annotation is to inform the reader of the relevance, accuracy, and quality of the sources cited.

Writing an annotated bibliography is excellent preparation for a research project. When you write annotations for each source, you're required to read and reflect on your sources more carefully.

• Summarize: What are the main arguments found in this source? What is the point of this book or article? If someone asked what this article/book is about, what would you say?
• Evaluate: Is this a useful source? How does it compare with your other sources? Is this source reliable?
• Explain: How does this source fit into your research? Was it useful to you in developing your 

Annotated Bibliography Template

Instructions

Based on the topic you have selected:

1. Select key words or phrases relevant to your topic
2. Search the RCC online library for current academic sources that will assist you in the development of your argument in the research essay

• Articles should be published within the last 10 years
• Identify 8 to 10 of these sources that you find most useful

1. Document each source carefully using APA style citations

• Generate an APA bibliography with each entry in alphabetical order by last name of author, which you will then use in your final paper

1. After reading each source:

• Thoroughly summarize, evaluate and explain each of your chosen sources
• This may be 1 to 2 paragraphs for each source
• These paragraphs will be added to your bibliography under the matching citation

Helpful Hints:

Write essays in double-spacing; it allows for easier review and editing.

1. Use APA referencing guidelines for citation and references.
2. Do not write in first person (I) but rather the third (they).
3. Do not use Wikipedia as a primary source – it is useful as a tool to help focus your thesis, and possibly direct you to find other more sound primary sources, but should not be quoted or used as a primary source itself.
4. Ensure all references are academically sound sources. If an article is found in an academic journal in one of the library databases, then you can assume it has been peer reviewed and thus acceptable. Many articles found readily online may not have been exposed to any editorial vetting process, and thus should be carefully considered before being used as a resource. Poor choices will negatively impact your grade. Check with your instructor if you are in doubt (but obviously, well before any due date).

Evaluation

The following rubric indicates those areas you should be focusing on in preparing this Part of your assignment, and how the instructor will weigh these components relative to one another.