Short Paper Assignment

800-1000 words, typed and double-spaced using footnotes

Due: October 22nd by 11:59pm via Canvas
 
You have two options for this short paper. In both cases, your assignment is to write a three-page
analysis of an event or news stories, relating it in some way to the materials we have covered in
the class. Your paper should use at least two explicit references to course materials to help
frame and support your analysis of these primary sources.

You must also follow the writing guidelines that are posted on Canvas, especially the requirement
for footnotes or endnotes, not in-text citations. I also have a handout there that goes over what is
expected in an analytical paper like this one.

Keep in mind this is an analytical paper and the news story/event is only one of the sources (in
addition to course materials) that you should use to support your thesis.

The main purpose of the paper is NOT to tell me everything that was said at the event or in the
news articles. You should summarize the news stories/event in your own words, pulling direct
quotes from your subject when appropriate for language or style. But the thesis and main focus of
the paper should be your analysis of the articles/event in the context of course materials.
 
DO NOT DO any additional research.

OPTION ONE: EVENT ANALYSIS

Attend at least one public event on campus or locally that focuses on a social justice issue with
significance for gender and/or race. The format could be a lecture, meeting, panel discussion… As
long as the event has either intellectual content on, or features a discussion of, issues related to
this class, it would be acceptable. It is highly unlikely that your event will relate directly to the
specific historical movements we have covered so far, so think about the issues of motivation,
strategies and approaches to activism, or definitions of social justice in the U.S., or how the
cultural definitions and political and social structures of race and/or gender influence activism. If
you are not sure if your event “counts,” ask your Teaching Assistant.

Take notes and ask questions during the event. Be sure to make note of who sponsored it.

Your paper should focus on either the approach of the event you attended, using at least two
explicit references to course materials to help frame and support your analysis of the event.

Some other questions you might use to frame your paper:

 How does this event relate to the content discussed in our course?
 Does this event reinforce some of the ideas about race and gender that we have learned
about social movements that we have discussed in class? Why or why not?
 What are the takeaways for the audience? Is there a call to action? What was it?
 OPTION TWO: NEWS ANALYSIS

Find two mainstream news stories that cover a discrete U.S. social justice issue, event, or situation
with significance for gender and/or race. The two stories should come from different sources and
should offer different perspectives or ways of telling a story about that movement. That
difference could be political, the focus of the story (for example, one might be general coverage of
a protest event while the other follows one or two individuals who participate or attend the
event.) Keep in mind that the focus should be on the social justice/activism aspect of the issue,
not an in-depth analysis of the issue itself.

“Mainstream” in the 21st century can range widely in delivery platforms (from print, radio,
televised, to streamed videos, podcasts, and apps). It can include sources that are ideologically-
driven or created by an activist group. In those cases, I advise pairing that source with one that is
more research and evidence-based.

Your paper should focus on either the approach of the news stories you selected, using at least
two explicit references to course materials to help frame and support your analysis of these
primary sources.

Some other questions you might use to frame your paper:

 Do these articles show a bias one way or another in terms of the issue that these stories
address? How do you know?
 How are these stories reminiscent of some of the stories we’ve discussed in class regarding
gender and race? What is included? What is not? Are these repeated patterns?