Affirmative action

Affirmative action has been the subject of many debates. Many people oppose this policy claiming it’s a form of  “reverse discrimination”. Others struggle to keep it in effect. Conduct research to find out whether this policy has helped or hindered people seeking employment and other opportunities. How has affirmative action worked for different people seeking employment opportunity, submitting application for college, etc? Do you foresee this policy to expand or contract in the future? Why? (An interesting book to get you familiar with the topic is For Discrimination by Randal Kennedy).
3.    According to National Survey on Drug Use and Health, western US states seem to, on average, have a higher depression rate among people than the eastern states do. Conduct research to find out what factors contribute to depression. You may decide to narrow your field to focus on children, youth, or adults. You may start your research by checking out this site: Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
4.    According to UCLA Center for Health Policy Research, “American Indians* face unique health challenges, from having the highest rates of asthma, diabetes and heart disease among any ethnic group to experiencing persistent barriers to health care and insurance. American Indian peoples also suffer from a scarcity of resources and data on a broad range of health topics, from obesity to cancer survival to suicide and mental health issues.” Conduct research to explore the existing situation of health care among the tribal Indian Americans.
5.    Watch SutJhali’sCodes of Gender; then, explore gender codes transmitted through the American media and how it has affected our perception of sexuality. Please note this prompt should be carried out in two parts: a study of media’s gender codes, and a study of how it has affected our perception.
Process??Choose and Narrow Down a Topic?Most topics on the list need to be tailored to fit a short research paper such as the one assigned in this class. Based on your own preference, you can design the focus of your research project. For example, if you are working on Hollywood’s portrayal of race, gender and class in movies, you can select a genre of films to work on. ??Construct a Working Thesis?A working thesis is your preliminary thesis or stance on the topic. You may conduct an informal research just to learn more about your topic and develop a working thesis. This thesis will most likely be modified, complemented, or completely changed in the process of your research. Always evaluate your working thesis for practicality, originality, and effectiveness as a research tool. Is your thesis too specific or too general? Has this thesis been presented and proven before by someone else or is it an original idea? Does it state a stance on the topic???Compile Your Sources?You must first decide on a research strategy. How are you to complete this task? Where will you find your information? How well are you familiar with your school library as well as your local public library? ?Even though Internet research seems to be the most time-efficient way to go, your research should not be limited to only online sources. The library offers numerous resources that may not be available to you in soft copy format. For those of you who cannot physically visit the library, De Anza Library offers many valuable databases and e-books among other online material. ?Explore DA library’s website and become acquainted with it. Note the ample resources it offers including newspaper, magazine, and scholarly journal articles. At the end of this step, you should have compiled a list of sources you have located and planned to use in your paper. Write a summary of each source and ensure to save its citation information. You will use this summary in your annotated work cited page.??Evaluate Your Sources?Read your sources with a critical eye. The author’s background, easily found on the Web, helps you decide whether he/she has a biased perspective. Online sources can be especially suspicious. The domain name (.com,.org,.gov,etc.) often reveals some truth about the authenticity of the website. When evaluating your sources, also check the date of publication. An article written in 1990 on advertising may not apply to today since advertising has changed drastically since then. Of course, if you are comparing two different eras, you will need the older publications as well. ??Take good Notes?Special attention must be given to taking notes to avoid plagiarism when summarizing, paraphrasing, or quoting from other sources. Effective notes are in your own words with minimum quoting. ??Draft an Annotated Working Bibliography in MLA Style?This bibliography, as your preliminary theis, can and will be added to and subtracted from. To save time, keep this bibliography in alphabetical order, the way it should be formatted in the final paper. This way, you can easily find and refer to specific entries. Take organized notes. Construct a working outline for your paper. Draft your research paper. Prepare your Reference page. Revise your research paper.

You will first read President Bill Clinton’s speech titled, “Mend It, Don’t End It” and reread Ward Connerly’s speech. After reading the speeches, you will write an essay comparing and contrasting President Clinton’s speech and the Ward Connerly’s speech, “With Liberty and Justice for All.”

Compare and contrast the two authors’ position on affirmative action. Your essay must demonstrate an understanding of each author’s argument and how their positions differ. Be sure to formulate a solid thesis statement. You must use quotes from each speech to support your comparison and contrast. However, your entire essay should not be one long quote. Quotes are support for your written understanding of the authors’ position and should not be used alone to demonstrate understanding.