Purpose: The purpose of this paper is for you to explore the idea of place, in this case Hawaiʻi—with its very particular history—and an issue involving Hawaiʻi that interests you. Your issue should be a modern-day issue though most of these will have a basis in Hawaiʻi history. We will be reading articles that touch on issues such as tourism, racism, race and power dynamics, ethnicity, terms such as “local,” “settler,” or “colonizer” as they apply to Hawaiʻi, sovereignty, colonization, American and others. You will be exploring an issue, but this essay may not strictly be an exploration—you must have a thesis or main point you are making about the issue you choose to explore. You will also discuss ideas for improving or addressing the issue you have chosen to research.
You may use the readings in class as sources or simply as starting points for topic generation. Because this is the larger research paper, you will be required to cite a minimum of six (6) sources total in-text. Of course, you may have more.
Among your sources must be a minimum of:
two (2) peer reviewed sources,
and one book.
You will have newspaper articles, but may not have more than five (5). All research must be from library databases with no web sources except for civilbeat.org.
Some sample issues you might cover:
Is Hawaiʻi a true aloha state? Why or why not? What then?
What issues do you see around the tourist economy in Hawaiʻi? What problems need solving?
Is Hawaiʻi too crowded? Is there a way to decide who should (and should not) live in Hawaiʻi? How do these questions connect to questions about sovereignty?
Is there a way to solve affordable housing issues in Hawaiʻi?
Should Hawaiʻi environmental policy focus on developing renewable energy sources? How?
What does food sustainability mean in Hawaiʻi? Do we have the ability to create it? How?
You will need to know:
What is happening in HI now regarding the issue you choose
What new strategies or solutions might be needed to change/improve or address your issue (your thesis will come from these ideas)
Argument by analogy: This type of argument often requires the inductive reasoning strategy of an argument by analogy, whereby two similar things are compared. We are looking at issues that we experience in HI, for example, tourist destruction of land. When researching your chosen issue, you may find that other similar tourist destinations have similar problems, but have implemented solutions that HI has not. If these solutions are effective elsewhere, it would be fine to argue that HI should implement similar strategies. Though HI is not exactly the same as other U.S. locations, it experiences similar problems and may benefit from a similar solution. This is what argument by analogy means.
Be open minded. Don’t give up if one search using “Hawaii” “tourists” “land damage” doesn’t yield results. Play with keywords and search across the U.S. for places with similar issues to see how they are handling them. You may be able to make a successful argument by analogy.
Task: You will write a research paper five to seven (5-7) double spaced pages in length about the issue you have chosen. Your paper does not have a chance to be substantive unless you have substantive, peer reviewed sources. For one of our preparatory assignments, you will create an initial works cited list of AT LEAST 7 to 10 VARIED sources including a minimum of two peer reviewed professional journal articles as well as professional publications, Internet sources, and possibly (but not required) an interview. Be sure to pay attention to the number and types of sources required as you move toward the final draft.
