Senior Inquiry 14-15

Senior Inquiry-3rd Research Paper Assignment

Question for Inquiry Due: March 3rd

Paper Proposal with Thesis: March 17th

Annotated Source List Due: April 7th

Rough Draft Due: April 21st

Final Paper Due: May 12th

Question for Inquiry:

Your question can be almost anything that you are interested in learning more about as long as it relates to social justice. We strongly recommend that you use our discussions in class to guide you in choosing your topic. You will be graded on whether your question is specific and focused enough to be well answered in 8-10 pages.

Your question should be one that you do not know the answer to. You should not have a conclusion already in mind, but rather your question should be approached in the spirit of inquiry. Your research should thus be the process by which you attempt to discover an answer you can support with objective evidence. Your topic should be something that can be reasonably answered in a 8-10 page paper.

We strongly encourage you to connect your paper to the topics you are addressing in your TDIP/Radio inquiry and/or in your Mercy Corps Action Project

Paper Proposal with Thesis:

In one page, describe your proposed project. A (provisionary) thesis statement and research questions should be prominently featured. For models, look at the abstracts of academic journal articles.

Annotated Source List:

Your Source List will feature the correct citation for each source you are using, or considering using, for your paper. Under each citation you will write a paragraph explaining what information the source contains and how it may be used in your paper. You should have at least 4 sources, at least 3 of which MUST come from the PSU library and be of high academic integrity. Wikipedia is not a reliable source for any papers. If you cannot find the necessary information to cite a website, that is a good indication it is not reliable. College and university sites, as well as reputable newspapers, are great sources for reliable information. You will be graded on correct citations and usable summary of information.

Research Paper:

The final paper for this project will be a 8-10 page examination of your research question that proves or disproves your thesis. It should seek to answer your question in as much depth as possible while being very mindful of not overly relying on one source. You should make sure that throughout the process you are assessing the strengths and limitations of each source so that you don’t use an unreliable one for too much (or any) information. You are making an argument, not sharing your unsubstantiated opinion. Let the evidence speak. Your paper MUST be in MLA format.

Grading scale

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.11-12.8

4-I can do all the skills listed under 3 plus, I can…

-draw a compelling conclusion based on the evidence I collected that makes an important statement about social justice

-present my findings virtually without error in citation, grammar, spelling, conventions and MLA format

3-I can do all the skills listed under 2 plus I can…

-answer the question set out to address in this paper

-gather relevant information from multiple authoritative print and digital sources, using advanced searches effectively

-assess the strengths and limitations of each source in terms of the task, purpose, and audience

-integrate information into the text selectively to maintain the flow of ideas, avoiding plagiarism and overreliance on any one source and following a standard format for citation.

-present my findings in MLA format with few errors in spelling, grammar and conventions

2-I can…

-gather information that addresses my question from multiple sources

-cite my evidence in MLA format

-avoid plagiarism

-integrate my information into a paper that states what I found.

1- I can…

-find sources

Behind the Beautiful Forevers Reading assignment

Due Dates:

Part 1 (Prologue and parts 1 and 2-pages ix-132): March 9th

Part 2 (Parts 3 and 4-pages 133-244): March 30th Assignments:

Per section:

1. A one page personal reflection on the section that you read. What did you learn from it? How does it relate to our discussions on class on gender, class, religion, race, etc?

2. 5 questions for discussions at our Socratic seminars

Discussion question you may want to consider in your reflections:

1. Barbara Ehrenreich calls Behind the Beautiful Forevers “one of the most powerful indictments of economic inequality I’ve ever read.” Yet the book shows the world of the Indian rich–lavish Bollywood parties, an increasingly glamorous new airport–almost exclusively through the eyes of the Annawadians. Are they resentful? Are they envious? How does the wealth that surrounds the slumdwellers shape their own expectations and hopes?

2. As Abdul works day and night with garbage, keeping his head down, trying to support his large family, some other citydwellers think of him as garbage, too. How does Abdul react to how other people view him? How would you react? How do Abdul and his sort-of friend, Sunil, try to protect themselves and sustain self-esteem in the face of other people’s contempt?

3. The lives of ordinary women– their working lives, domestic lives, and inner lives–are an important part of Behind the Beautiful Forevers. The author has noted elsewhere that she’d felt a shortage of such accounts in nonfiction about urban India. Do women like Zehrunisa and Asha have more freedom in an urban slum than they would have had in the villages where they were born? What is Meena, a Dalit, spared by living in the city? What freedoms do Meena, Asha, and Zehrunisa still lack, in your view?

4. Asha grew up in rural poverty, and the teenaged marriage arranged by her family was to a man who drank more than he worked. In Annawadi, she takes a series of calculated risks to give her daughter Manju a life far more hopeful than that of other young women such as Meena. What does Asha lose by her efforts to improve her daughter’s life chances? What does she gain? Were Asha’s choices understandable to you, in the end?

5. The author has said elsewhere that while the book brings to light serious injustices, she believes there is also hope on almost every single page: in the imaginations, intelligence and courage of the people she writes about. What are the qualities of a child like Sunil that might flourish in a society that did a better job of recognizing his capacities?

6. When we think of corruption, the examples tend to be drawn from big business or top levels of government. The kind of corruption Behind the Beautiful Forevers show us is often described as “petty”. Do you agree with that characterization of the corruption Annawadians encounter in their daily lives? Why might such corrruption be on the increase as India grows wealthier as a nation?

7. Does Asha have a point when she argues that something isn’t wrong if the powerful people say that it’s right? How does constant exposure to corruption change a person’s internal understanding of right and wrong?

8. Shortly before Abdul is sent to juvenile jail, a major newspaper runs a story about the facility headlined: “Dongri Home is a Living Hell.” Abdul’s experience of Dongri is more complex, though. How does being wrenched away from his work responsibilities at Annawadi change his understandings of the hardships of other people? Are terms like liberty and freedom understood differently by people who live in different conditions?

9. Fatima’s neighbors view her whorling rages, like her bright lipsticks, as free comic entertainments. How has her personality been shaped by the fact that she has been defined since birth by her disability–very literally named by it? Zehrunusa waivers between sympathy for and disapproval of her difficult neighbor. In the end, did you?

10. Zehrunisa remembers a time when every slumdweller was roughly equal in his or her misery, and competition between neighbors didn’t get so out of hand. Abdul doesn’t know whether or not to believe her account of a gentler past. Do you believe it? Might increased hopes for a better life have a dark as well as a bright side?

11. Many Annawadians–Hindu, Muslim, and Christian– spend less time in religious observance than they did when they were younger, and a pink temple on the edge of the sewage lake goes largely unused. In a time of relative hope and constant improvisation for the slumdwellers, why might religious practice be diminishing? What role does religious faith still play in the slumdwellers’ lives?

12. Who do you think had the best life in the book, and why?

13. In the Author’s Note Katherine Boo emphasizes the volatility of an age in which capital moves quickly around the planet, government supports decline, and temporary work proliferates. Had the author followed the families of Annawadi for only a few weeks or months, would you have come away with a different understanding of the effects of that volatility? Does uncertainty about their homes and incomes change how Annawadians view their neighbors? Does economic uncertainty affect relationships where you live?

14. At one point in the book, Abdul takes to heart the moral of a Hindu myth related by The Master: Allow your flesh to be eaten by the eagles of the world. Suffer nobly, and you’ll be rewarded in the end. What is the connection between suffering and redemption in this book? What connections between suffering and redemption do you see in your own life? Are the sufferers ennobled? Are the good rewarded in the end?

Read Chpt 6 or Chpt 8 thoroughly and mark the text

Do the following:

1. Make connections to concepts we explored in class, the Is Everything Really Equal, and the Chapter on Economic Justice from Zinn and pull the text that supports your analysis.

2. Find interesting passages that illuminate the chapter. You will be teaching the other half of the class about your chapter in a text based Socratic Seminar so hightlight the passages you want to talk about. 

3. Develop at least 2 questions about the chapter that will be useful for our Socratic Seminar. 

Reading is due Monday 23rd with questions and write up.

Students need to read the entire chapter and respond to the following:

1. 3 things you want highlight or talk about.

2. Connections to the Constitutional Role-Play.

3. Things you agree or disagree with.

Songs of Social Justice

1 page, typed MLA

Due in class Tuesday Jan 20

Bring your song to class (Mp3, YouTube

url, etc.). Be prepared to share it and

speak about its significance. Expect to

play 3-4 minutes of music and to formally

present your analysis is 1-2 minutes

Choose a song that you like or think is

important for others to know. Then

practice using the tools in your

analytical toolbox (social construction,

semiotics, race/class/gender/identity

analysis, etc.) by applying them to your

chosen song. The assignment is the

sonic equivalent of the film analysis

paper you did at the beginning of the

class, so be sure to use the feedback

you received then to guide you.

Paper due: Tuesday Jan. 13th. Book MUST be returned to the library by Jan. 27th

3-5 pages

Prompt: How does oppression play out in The Bluest Eye? Identify two types of oppression and trace their development and interaction through the text. Make sure your theme is a statement about your topic, not just a general topic (Ex. It’s not enough to say that society is racist and classist, you will need to make a statement about the interaction and effect of the racism and classism on specific characters and/or by specific social institutions). Be sure to include your thoughts about the different types of oppression at play in the story (race, class, gender, etc) and also about the intersectionality of those types of oppression.

Standard: CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.11-12.5Determine how two types of oppression play out in the text and analyze their development, including how they interact and build on one another to produce a complex account of the experience of an oppressed member of society

Scale:

4-I can do everything in 3, plus I can…

-apply more than two types of oppression from the text to give a more complex overview of the novel

-I can use many vocabulary terms from Is Everyone Really Equal to explain my thesis

3-I can analyze the development of two types of oppression through of The Bluest Eye

-I can create a thesis statement that clearly articulates the overall effect of the two (or more) types of oppression.

-I can chart the development of each type of oppression through the course of the novel and explain the effect on the characters

-I can describe and analyze how the themes interact and build on each other.

2-I can identify two themes in The Bluest Eye and explain how they are developed

-I can create a thesis relating to two types of oppression (race, gender or class).

-I can chart the development of the two types of oppression in the text

-

1- I can do parts of 2

2nd Research Paper Assignment

Senior Inquiry

Due: Monday December 1st

Research Paper Revision

The final paper for this project will be a 5-6 page summary of the research that you did including 2 additional sources (5 minimum). It should show significant revision from your first paper in all areas mentioned in your notes and addressed in class. It should seek to answer your question in as much depth as possible while being very mindful of not overly relying on one source. You should make sure that throughout the process you are assessing the strengths and limitations of each source so that you don’t use an unreliable one for too much (or any) information. Your opinions should not be the focus of the paper (except perhaps in the conclusion). It must have attached your original paper, reverse outline and PEAS worksheet.

MLA format MUST be perfect

You also must complete a revision reflection.

Revision Reflection (1 page):

What did you change about your paper? What did you not change? Explain why you chose the revision strategy you used. What did you learn through the revision about your writing? about your topic?

In addition to addressing your revision choices in a one page reflection essay, you will be given a rubric to use for evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of your final draft.

Scale: Revision/planning process

4- I can revise my essay to be stronger and more efficient in all ways described below in ways that significantly improve the readability and aid in others comprehension of my research question.

3-CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.11-12.5 Develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach, focusing on addressing what is most significant for a specific purpose and audience

2- I can revise my paper with real changes to the substance (i.e, using different quotes, taking out unnecessary detail, adding more information, updating for clarity and efficiency)

-I can show that I have planned out my paper (outline, reverse outline, notes, peer review etc)

1- I can correct my paper for:

-Grammar

-Spelling

-Basic organization

- Citation errors

Scale: Research/Use of Evidence

4-I can do all the skills listed under 3 plus, I can…

-draw a compelling conclusion based on the evidence I collected that makes an important statement about social justice

-present my findings virtually without error in citation, grammar, spelling, conventions and MLA format

3-I can do all the skills listed under 2 plus I can…

-answer the question set out to address in this paper

-gather relevant information from multiple authoritative print and digital sources, using advanced searches effectively

-assess the strengths and limitations of each source in terms of the task, purpose, and audience

-integrate information into the text selectively to maintain the flow of ideas, avoiding plagiarism and overreliance on any one source and following a standard format for citation.

-present my findings in MLA format with few errors in spelling, grammar and conventions

2-I can…

-gather information that addresses my question from multiple sources

-cite my evidence in MLA format

-avoid plagiarism

-integrate my information into a paper that states what I found.

1- I can…

-find sources

1st Research Paper Assignment

Senior Inquiry

Question for Inquiry Due: Monday Sept 29th

Annotated Source List Due: Thursday Oct 9th

Paper Due: Monday Oct 20th

For your first research assignment you will be coming up with a question and using the PSU library to research the answer to it.

Question for Inquiry: Your question can be almost anything that you are interested in learning more about as long as it relates to social justice. We strongly recommend that you use our discussions in class to guide you in choosing your first topic. You will be graded on whether your question is specific and is focused enough to be answered in 2-3 pages. Your question should be one that you do not know the answer to. You should not have a conclusion already in mind, but rather your question should be approached in the spirit of inquiry. It should be something that can be reasonably answered in a 2-3 page paper.

Annotated Source List: You Source List will list the correct citation for each source you are using, or considering using, for your paper. Under each citation you will write a paragraph explaining what information the source contains and how it may be used in your paper. You should have at least 3 sources, at least 2 of which MUST come from the PSU library and be of high academic integrity. Wikipedia is not a reliable source for any papers. If you cannot find the necessary information to cite a website, that is a good indication it is not reliable. College and university sites, as well as reputable newspapers, are great sources for reliable information. You will be graded on correct citations and usable summary of information.

Research Paper: The final paper for this project will be a 3-5 page summary of the research that you did. It should seek to answer your question in as much depth as possible while being very mindful of not overly relying on one source. You should make sure that throughout the process you are assessing the strengths and limitations of each source so that you don’t use an unreliable one for too much (or any) information. Your opinions should not be included in the paper (except perhaps in the conclusion). Let the evidence speak for itself. Your paper MUST be in MLA format. Grading scale on next page.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.11-12.8

4-I can do all the skills listed under 3 plus, I can…

-draw a compelling conclusion based on the evidence I collected that makes an important statement about social justice

-present my findings virtually without error in citation, grammar, spelling, conventions and MLA format

3-I can do all the skills listed under 2 plus I can…

-answer the question set out to address in this paper

-gather relevant information from multiple authoritative print and digital sources, using advanced searches effectively

-assess the strengths and limitations of each source in terms of the task, purpose, and audience

-integrate information into the text selectively to maintain the flow of ideas, avoiding plagiarism and overreliance on any one source and following a standard format for citation.

-present my findings in MLA format with few errors in spelling, grammar and conventions

2-I can…

-gather information that addresses my question from multiple sources

-cite my evidence in MLA format

-avoid plagiarism

-integrate my information into a paper that states what I found.

1- I can…

-find sources

Bring your Characte to life!

Draw a siliouete of your character or draw them the way they look in your head.

Pull lines from your character from the play and explain how the lines best respresent who your character is and what role they have in the play.

Describe who your character is and what they are like, what their attributes are and how they live.

Analyze why you think Wilson created the character and what he meant to tell us or teach us from the character.

Final paper for August Wilson Plays-  due 10/27

Individually answer this prompt in a 2-3 page essay: Examine how one or more sets of characters from the two plays you read are socialized and what message (theme) Wilson is sending about the black experience through those characters and their relationships.

Scales- reading and analyzing through a socialization lens

4-I can meet all level 3 targets and I can…

-Use outside research of the time periods of my plays to support my thesis

-Use at least two sets of characters to prove my thesis

3- I can meet all level two targets and I can…

-Come up with a strong thesis about the black experience in America through the lens of socialization.

-Analyze the author’s choices regarding his characterization of major characters

-Explain how socialization has impacted these characters and how Wilson expresses that through their words and actions

-Analyze how the socialization of the characters expresses something significant about the black experience in America during the time periods of your plays

2-I can…

-Identify at least one set of characters from the two plays that represent similar socialization

-Define and understand the impact of socialization

-Cite examples of how the Wilson uses the characters to say something about the black experience in America

1-I can do only some of the targets described under level 2

Scale 2- using evidence to support my thesis

4- I can meet all level 3 targets and I can…

-find the best evidence to support my thesis

-analyze how each piece of evidence contributes to the development of my ideas

-use outside evidence to support my thesis

3-I can meet all level 2 learning targets AND I can…

-determine which evidence best supports my thesis about what a text says.

-evaluate how well an inference is supported by a text by...

-differentiating inferences that are and are not supported by a text.

-support my thesis with many examples of on point textual evidence

2-I can…

-locate textual evidence within a text to support a claim or inference.

-explain the significance or implications of what the text says.

-relate the evidence to my thesis

1-I can do only some of the targets described under level 2