Critical Analysis Lab and Discussion Board: Addressing the consequences of prejudice and discrimination

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IMPORTANT:  Read through the entire instructions first and be sure you are answering the questions as asked.

DISCUSSION PROMPT:  Discuss one way you might address the problems that prejudice and discrimination pose for the United States today?  You may apply material related to race and ethnicity, gender or both in your initial discussion post.  (You must post your initial post first and then you will be able to see your classmates' posts and respond to at least one of them)

Things you must do in your discussion post:

1.  First and foremost, you must draw directly from course material and support all claims with support from course material.  The discussion boards are intended to discuss course material and research.  When supporting claims you are making, provide the page number or section number you are drawing from to make a statement or claim.  You can say something like, "As stated in the textbook…"  or "As research has found…" and the provide the citation.  Minimize the use of direct quotations (no more than one or two short quotes)–everything should be in your own words.

2.  Specifically state the problem(s) that prejudice and discrimination pose that you will be trying to address.  You are focusing on the consequences or results of prejudice and discrimination in this discussion.  

3.  Specifically state the way you might address the problem(s).  Be specific–really think through how you might approach the problems posed.  Focusing on a specific area might help you answer this question easier as I know this is a huge question in general.

4.  Identify the perspective(s) you find yourself using–theoretically and politically as discussed in your textbook.  What kind of arguments are you making (functionalist?  conflict?  symbolic interactionist?  liberal?  conservative?  radical?)  Link the perspective to the specific ideas you are discussing.  You may start, for example, by saying something like, "From a functionalist perspective, I think that …. could be done."; or you could say, "I find myself coming at these problems from a racialist perspective.  I say this because…"

Things you must not do in your discussion post:

1.  Personally attack your classmates for their views.

2.  Use slang or abbreviations.  This is an academic environment and as such formal, academic language is expected.

3.  Use information from outside course material.  Stick to your textbook material, videos, supplemental files provided on Canvas. 

**Note:  If you want to use information from an outside source, say to address a current event in your discussion post, you may email me and provide the source.  I will review it and get back to with approval or not.  Unapproved sources will result in points being deducted.

Refer back to the syllabus for netiquette guidelines for discussion boards for more detail

Minimum requirements:  Initial post:  2-3 full paragraphs