English 100 AL, Freyberg, Spring 2014 Essay 5: Human Rights Issue Paper
Timeline for Essay 5: Remember that you are also graded (Response category) for having parts in on time.
Directions
Now that you have participated in presentations on six different human rights topics, select an article from the UDHR that you are most curious or passionate about, and identify an issue that you want to learn more about:
Your purpose is to learn enough about an issue to formulate and communicate through clear, academic writing an informed opinion that is nuanced enough to inform and convince readers. Your immediate audience consists of your classmates and instructor, but your influence may go further. This is a paper in which you can make an original contribution. It may be that no one knows the answer to questions that you may have about the issue. For example, Betty Ann Boeving, founder of BAATC (Bay Area Anti-Trafficking Coalition), asserted that we do not yet know the best ways to fight human trafficking (Stanford Human Rights Education Initiative conference, June 2013). What if you could make a contribution?
This is not an overview paper, but you will need to provide enough background for readers on the issue. A few key cases or situations that are being addressed or need to be addressed will help illustrate the issue. I would expect that several of the patterns of development discussed in The Compact Reader such as narration, definition, cause and effect, comparison and contrast, and argument/persuasion might find a place in your paper.
In addition, some of you may be helped by thinking about your issue in terms of one or more of the following:
Organizing in this fashion provides a framework that is suitable for some topics. For example, here is how it might be applied to research on human trafficking (Boeving).
1. PREVENTION: Training, At risk education, Internet safety for children, Fair Trade (Trade as One, Heavenly Treasures)
2. INTERVENTION: Mobilize law enforcement, investigate hotels/restaurants/massage parlors
3. AFTERCARE: Support rehab and vocational efforts, Freedom House, BJM, New Day for Children, SAGE, HAGAR.
Paper Requirements
Length: The essay must be 7 – 9 full pages of text; after those pages comes the Works Cited page, which is numbered and added at the end. If your research paper is 8 pages, the Works Cited page will be page 9.
Format: Regular MLA formatting guidelines for essays. No cover sheet. 12-point font (Times Roman or Calibri), double-spaced, 1” margins, indented paragraphs (not block style).
Sources: You need to find four or more separate print sources drawn from our library’s databases. In addition to these, you may use credible websites and multimedia such as Human Rights Watch (hrw.org) and Amnesty International (amnesty.org) and others. You may cite one encyclopedia but no wikis such as wikipedia. Ask me or a librarian if you have any doubts about a source.
Avoid plagiarism!
Choose and frame your citations carefully. Paraphrase or summarize more than you quote, and always give credit. TurnItIn can show you the percentage of actual quotation in your paper. Remember that the paper should be in your words. You are the one in charge. Do not fill up your paper with other sources, but use them as needed to support or contrast your own ideas.
What your folder should contain:
Your final essay folder should contain ALL of the papers that went into creating this essay including this handout, research notes (on index cards or printouts), Xeroxes of pages with the material that you cited or clear links to that material, Library workshop notes, all discovery, planning, outline, peer response forms, a working bibliography, and all drafts. You need to submit an outline with thesis and all three drafts to TurnItIn on time. This will allow you to use TurnItIn tools on your own work, and it will let me give you feedback in a more timely way.
Experience from previous papers has shown that the best way to do well on this assignment is to keep to the milestones on the required dates. Do not skip any milestones. I track everything for a reason: to help you write the best paper possible.
Suggested resources