Final Paper This assignment is worth a significant percentage of your overall
points in the course. I realize some students do not like this kind of
“weighting” of a project or paper, but this
weighting is appropriate to an upper division course at a four year university.
The key concept we will be developing an understanding of
throughout the semester is intersectionality.
The final paper is the culmination of this development.
Your paper will be based on research of a website of an organization
that does social justice advocacy work. The “data” of your research will come
from the organization’s website. You will collect data from the website in
order to answer a specific question-Does
this organization use an “intersectional framework” in their work?
For purposes of this paper, an “intersectional framework” is one that understands gender and race
as intersecting, overlapping, converging, etc.
Where Do I Find the Issues and Websites to Select From for My
Final Research Paper?
@Blackboard, Final Papers folder. Inside are two folders, “Gender
Justice” and “Racial Justice.” Inside each are issues commonly identified
primarily as either Gender OR Racial Justice issues. Each issue has a list of
organizations under it with a link to the website of each organization.
How do I Research the Organization and Website I Select?
Choose one issue, one organization and their website that
interest you. You will have a chance to browse these folders, organizations,
etc in April. The instructor will have you do a series of research “workshops”
on your Discussion Board where you’ll post answers to Instructor’s Questions
over examples of organizations and websites not on those from which you select
yours for the final paper. In doing your research, you will write down notes as
you examine your website seeking to answer the following question, Does this
organization as represented by its website use an “intersectional framework?”
Your paper will be an
argumentative essay in which you answer that question and support it by
paraphrasing what you found on your website.
The two goals of this last and
major assignment:
1) to apply the concept of the “intersectionality
of gender and race,” at an introductory undergraduate level
2) to demonstrate the ability to
write at the college level:
Formatting The final paper for
the course is a 6 pg. (approximately) essay in which you make an argument and
support it with evidence from you’re the website you use for your research. The
paper must be typed, double spaced, with 1-inch margins, no larger than 12 pt.
font.
The word count for this paper is approximately 550 words for
two pages=1375 words total. HOWEVER, this is approximate. I do not put student
papers through the word count calculator in Microsoft word, unless a student
turns in a dramatically shorter essay. The most important goal is for you to
aim for that 6 pgs. In length. If your paper is 5 or 7 pgs. and is
excellent, you will not lose points.
HOWEVER, in my experience, if a final paper is under 5 pgs., there are usually places in the
writing where a point could have been more detailed, supported or simply
expanded on. I have never taken points off a student paper for going over
word or page length on any written paper.
Your paper must have a title on a title page. That page is not included as part of the
paper’s word count. The title page should include your name, class
title, class day and time, single spaced in the upper left-hand corner of the
page; the title should be centered in the upper middle half of the title
page. The paper should be numbered in the upper right-hand corner of each
page. The title page may be numbered, so that your paper is 9 pgs.
Website research on organizations
Follow the directions below in the
order they’re listed:
1) Select one of the following popularly
recognized gender justice or racial
justice issue.
Gender Justice: The following are issues I’ve identified-wage gap,
challenges to reproductive rights, challenges to LGBTQ rights, lack of
constitutional or legal equality, affordable childcare, trafficking in women,
under-representation in political life, under-representation in the justice
system (prosecutors, police officers, judges), health insurance, the “glass
ceiling,” affirmative action, sexual assault/harassment on campus.
Racial Justice: The following list is suggestive: race and economic
justice, police violence, mass incarceration education, housing, health care,
the justice system and job opportunities.
If there is an issue that
you want to do and you can explain to me why it “fits” within one of the two file
folders, contact me and ask if you can do your paper on that issue.
I will ask you to find an
organization with a website that does social justice advocacy in relationship
to that issue and to share that url with me.
Where to Find the Folder and Websites:
Blackboard, File Folder
“Final Paper Research” will contain two folders, Gender Justice and Racial
Justice
In each File Folder will
be items listing different issues. Under each issue will be a number of organizations
with links to their websites.
2) you select the issue
and the organization that does advocacy work on that issue that you want to
research. Examine the website, gathering material you find on it. You will be
searching with the paper’s question in mind-does this website have “data” on it
that indicates the organization uses an intersectional framework of gender and
race as overlapping, co-constituting of each other, converging, etc.
Intersectionality is an
uneven, incomplete practice due to the fact that organizations are founded at
different historical moments, they do not have the same constituencies as
others, they have different directors, managers, sources of funds to operate, etc.
Because you are assessing an
application of a concept, “intersectionality,” in “real life,” you will find
organizations’ websites tend to be “uneven” in their awareness and use of
intersectionality in their work. You may see a partial integration of an
awareness that gender and race intersect in society. You may see some areas or
links that take you to content that does use an intersectional framework. There
may be other areas of the website that don’t. It’s up to you to judge that
unevenness or “progress.”
This assignment thus asks you to
consider, what is “good enough” to qualify as having an awareness or analysis
of the intersection of gender and race in advocacy work around an issue? The
judgement is yours to make.
So, If you start with an
issue in the gender justice folder, you’ll be looking for how, in what ways
does or doesn’t the organization incorporate race into its understanding of
their advocacy work.
On the other hand, if you
start with an issue in the racial justice folder, you’ll be looking for how, in
what ways, does or doesn’t the organization incorporate gender into its
advocacy work.
Explore that website in
both depth and breadth. Take written notes on what you find. By “drilling down”
into the website, clicking on links and then clicking on links within linked
materials, you will gather more data. The more data you can gather, the more
assured you will be of your thesis and the more you will be able to draw on to
support that thesis.
Note-your answer to this
question and thesis for your essay does not have to be “yes” or “no,” although
it may be. Your answer and thus your essay’s thesis may be that the
organization in some ways does and in some ways does not, or “mostly” or
“somewhat.”
In addition, your paper should
address: “Do you see any limits to whatever the website does do in terms of the
intersection of gender and race? For example, if class or sexuality is not
factored in, do you find that to be a limitation? Why or not? Why Note-do
not try to describe all the limitations-i.e. every intersection that isn’t
“there.” Limit your discussion to only the intersection(s) you consider crucial.
This section of the essay should
not take up a lot of words or space in your paper.
Stop Violence Against Women (Canadian)
http://www.domesticviolenceinfo.ca/
This is my choice. Please Please follow the instructions listed above and ask questions.
