Activism. Advocacy, and Social Movements

For your final research project, you will write a 5-page paper on any topic of your choice pertaining to this semester’s theme, “Activism. Advocacy, and Social Movements.” Your research paper can be an extension of your Essay One. You have learned a lot this semester on activism, advocacy, and social movements. Given this, you can consider your topic and what you wrote about in your first essay and draw off ideas that you have developed in your essay drafts one and two. You will develop your own research question about something that you are passionate about or that you developed in your previous writing. The idea behind your research project is to show the writing process that you have worked on this semester, as well as mark the connections between your first draft, second draft, and research paper if you are extending your first essay.

The process to writing a strong research paper requires you to investigate a topic (any topic related to our class theme), collect information on that topic (be specific and research for sources), evaluate evidence (judge how your sources relate to your topic and thesis), and establish a position, analysis, or strong discussion about your topic.
Your paper must be completely formatted in MLA with a works cited page. It must contain a thesis and quotations (in-text citations) with analysis (interpretation), and connections (ties back to thesis or discussion). Your paper must use 4 to 5 sources of any genre (film, book, essays, and articles, speeches, interviews, etc.) that support your thesis, and create an argument that you support with your sources. All sources must be within 10 years, be scholarly, peer reviewed sources from an academic database. No random internet sources!

Explore a topic of interest.
Develop a question that you want to research.
Turn your research question into a thesis (simply answer the question by restating your question as you have learned this semester).
Begin your research process (all sources must come from an academic database)
Begin drafting your essay
Must Format in MLA: header, heading, in-text citations, interpretation, work cited page
Your paper must be 5 pages in length with the works cited page as your 6th page.
Typed, double spaced, Times New Roman font, or be consistent with academic font of choice.
Paper must not contain any contractions (don’t, won’t, it’s, wouldn’t, etc.). Words need to be completely spelled out. Contractions give your paper an informal read.
Your final paper cannot be written in first or second person. (Unacceptable: As a society, we . . .”). Your final academic research paper must be written in third person. (Acceptable: As a society, individuals . . .”).
For format assistance, please see
PurdueOwl.com
or schedule an appointment to see a tutor.
All sources must be within 10-years (2010-2020), unless it is an original source, i.e. constitution, original manuscript, first bible, interview.