17 Aug Examine a movement for social change from America or abroad, contemporary or his- torical, to uncover the aim of the movement and its tactics, and evaluate the success of the movement.
Context:
Up to now, we have been applying critical thinking concepts to issues of contemporary sig–
nificance in the world around us: from vaccine mandates to the topic you chose for Essay 3.
We will continue in this vein for the final paper of the semester, the research paper, but this
time you will determine your own topic and find most of your own sources.
Tips to prepare your essay:
Finding a topic
• Feel free to use this as an occasion to write about a movement that is relevant to your ma–
jor or of personal importance to you.
• That said, it does not have to a movement you agree with.
• While you should address goals and tactics, and evaluate the success of the movement, you
will also need to narrow your focus to a question particular to your movement. This is your
research question.
• Spend time honing your research question. This part of the process takes longer than most
people think.
Prompt:
Examine a movement for social change from America or abroad, contemporary or his–
torical, to uncover the aim of the movement and its tactics, and evaluate the success
of the movement. Use the interpretative tools offered by the case studies in This Is an
Uprising as a primary source, in addition to other sources you find in your research.
Format the paper and cite sources using MLA format.
Length must be at least 2000 words.
Your essay must cite at least 5 varied and credible sources in addition to
This is an Uprising.
•Variety: journal articles, reports, books, newspaper features and opinion pieces, first–
person accounts or interviews…
•Cannot all be sources found on the open internet – some of your sources must come
from library databases and/or academic journals – go beyond Google!
•Be sure that all your sources are authoritative for your topic.
The most compelling papers will begin with questions that you genuinely do not know the
answer to right away. One good strategy is to explore topics about which you really have
not yet formed an opinion. Alternatively, there may be issues about which you do have a
tentative opinion, but feel you lack the data to back your ideas up. Use this as an opportu–
nity to develop your gut reactions into opinions well supported critical thinking.
Researching and developing your topic
• Don’t begin researching too deeply without a clear focus.
• That said, as you do research, allow your point of view to shift.
• Also allow your research question to shift — keep revising it all the way through the
process.
• It will be important to establish what points of view already exist on this social movement.
What conversation are you entering? What are others saying on this topic?
• Quality analysis begins with relevant sources. Spend time finding not just a multitude of
sources, but sources that genuinely help you develop your position.
Writing
• As this is a lengthy paper, you cannot complete it at the last minute. Take full advantage of
the process assignments to move your project forward.
• Your organization may be messy at first. Let it be that way. At the start of the writing
process, it will be more important to develop material and hone your ideas through writing
than it will be to have a coherent outline.
• Finally, and crucially, political rhetoric, as we have seen, is often inflated, imprecise, and
full of fallacies. Instead of adopting this style of rhetoric, it is doubly important that your
essay makes good use of evidence and represents all points of view respectfully and accu–
rately.
