Humanity
Read the following topic options and choose one that you will focus on for the next two weeks, culminating in a final essay that focuses on one specific option and develops content to meet all requirements listed after the options.

1. Education (choose one below):

Educational segregation

Industrial training vs academic education

Black studies

2. Gender (choose one below):

Black women & the feminist movement

The relative significance of race and gender

The relative significance of race, gender, and class

3. The Politics of Art (choose one below):

Black aesthetics and authenticity

Representation and propaganda

Protest art

Rap and hip-hop culture

4. Civic Justice: Rights and Duties (choose one below):

Reparations

Struggles to vote

Military duty

Affirmative Action

5. Strategies for Change (choose one below):

Violence, moral suasion, and change

Non-violence vs self-defense

Uprisings (as now, see “Critical Questions” by Austin Channing Brown: https://austinchanning.substack.com/p/critical-questions (Links to an external site.)

Art

I have covered several specific topic options under each of 5 general topics. Choose one of the general options along with one of the specific options. Each is a key issue of continuing struggle, change, and debate in regard to Black thought and culture. After choosing your topic, research and identify one or two issues of debate about the topic. Summarize the pros and cons of each issue of debate, in the end arguing an opinion and/or proposal regarding your topic.

General Criteria

to be applied to each research essay, whatever the specific topic option chosen

Having chosen one of the above options, then apply the following research project general criteria to the essay you write on your specific topic.

In addition to discussing your topic in relation to at least four selections from Crossing the Danger Water, you will also make specific reference to four sources outside our text. Your research outside the text is to include at least one source from an interview (personal and/or telephone) that you conduct with an expert, at least one source of art (fiction, poetry, painting, sculpture, music), and at least two credible, academic, nonfiction written sources other than from the class text. (That is a minimum of 8 sources to be cited within your essay along with the MLA in-text citations, as well as a minimum of 8 sources listed on your MLA “Works Cited” page.)

Your discussion regarding your specific topic should develop specific points regarding the following three issues we’ve covered this quarter:

*Social-economic constructions

*Laws and social control

*The role of art and making a difference

Each of these three considerations should be clearly noted and discussed within your essay.

The research project essays are to be at least 4-6 pages long and typed in and/or saved as a Microsoft Word (.docx or .doc) document. Essays are to be typed with 1″ margins and 10-12 size print, and lines are to be double spaced. For credit, your essay must include research, and all ideas and information (whether directly quoted, summarized, or paraphrased from the text and outside sources) must be adequately documented with MLA Parenthetical Documentation, which includes both a works cited page with all MLA required information about each source and in-text citations with both the last name of the author and the number of the page on which you found the idea you’re quoting/paraphrasing/summarizing. When compiling your “Works Cited” page, use the MLA format for a work within an anthology for each of the essays you use from Crossing the Danger Water. This means you will have at least 4 entries on your “Works Cited” page for at least 4 authors in the class text. It is advised that you make use of an English handbook and review the means for avoiding plagiarism. (Remember, plagiarism is grounds for failure, so please get help if you have questions, get confused, etc.). The Pierce College library also has excellent handouts on MLA documentation and on avoiding plagiarism. The Pierce College website also has links to academic search engines, as well as links to electronic MLA formatting.

Evaluations will be based on specific, concrete development in addressing both your specific research option criteria and the research general criteria. Remember that this is a research project and must include research! Evaluations will also be based on the thoughtfulness and clarity of ideas, both in terms of development of content and of polish of grammar/mechanics, as well as the essay presentation. Again, help is available!

You will be working on this essay for the next two weeks. Your final essay is to be sent to me (created and/or saved as a Microsoft Word [.docx or .doc] document via the Research Essay Digital Upload Box by 11:59p on Monday, June 14. (This DUB will be located in the Week 10 module, which will be available on the first day of Week 10.) Given Canvas closures and the Pierce College grade deadlines, no late submissions for the research essay can be accepted. Be sure you are submitting your documents as required, that your name and assignment heading are pm the first page of the essay, that your last name and the essay page number headings are on all following pages, that the documents are in the correct format/type, that all necessary MLA documentation is provided in the essay, and that all necessary steps are taken to prevent plagiarism.

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