Post a rough idea of what you’d like to write about for your research based essay on the discussion board in the forum Week Five: Writing  Discussion in the Topic: Ideas for Essay Four to receive instructor feedback on your choice of topic.

Review the module on Writing a Research Paper which provides you with several url links that cover everything from choosing a topic to MLA citation and works cited page.

Call, email or meet in person with an LTCC  librarian. I will post more about this in announcements

Post an outline of your essay and list three sources you plan on using in your paper as a new topic under the topic Ideas for Essay Four/Outlines for Essay Four.

Post a direct quote from a source you plan on using in your research paper, and then post a paraphrase of this quote using MLA format in both examples under the topic Avoiding Plagiarism.

Submit your introduction and one support paragraph or any two paragraph section of the essay for which you would like feedback via Discussion Board.

Assignment Details:

You will write a 6-8 page research based essay including a works cited page on a topic related to any of the reading we’ve done thus far in the course. This will further illuminate your understanding of the course texts and allow you to investigate areas of interest while beginning to work with a research based MLA format academic essay. See my list of topics for ideas or feel free to pursue any topic of interest to you in some way related to our reading in the class.You may choose to write an essay which explains a certain topic that relates to the reading, or an essay which makes an argument about one of the topics, or you might write an essay that shows how your research of a particular topic deepens your understanding of the required text(s).

Ideas for The Complete Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi

• The Islamic Revolution
• The Veil: Women’s Views of Acceptance/Rejection/Resistance
• Iranian History
• Revolutionaries of Iran: f. Rezi, Dr. Fatemi, H. Ashraf
• Dialectic Materialism
• The Shah of Iran
• Black Friday–Iran
• Political Prisoners–Iran
• Iranian Immigrants in Europe and/or United States
• Iran’s war with Iraq
• Martyrdom in Iran
• Anarchism in Europe
• Simone de Beauvior
• Sexuality in the Middle East
• Stereotypes about The Middle East/Easterners
• Depression
• Education in Iran
• Satellite Dishes in Iran
• Gender Roles in Iran

Ideas for Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates

• Lynching in the US
• The Middle Passage
• History of Racism in the US
• Police Brutality
• Deaths of Michael Brown, Tamir Rice, Freddy Gray, Eric Garner, Sandra Bland, or Trayvon Martin
• The Crack Epidemic
• Black Masculinity
• Education in Inner City Schools
• The Black Panther Party
• Malcom X
• COINTELPRO
• Howard University
• One drop rule
• Queen Nzinga
• Black Identity
• The body in Feminist Theory
• PG County Police
• Slavery and the Civil War
• Jim Crow
• Segregation in the US
• Chicago Housing Projects
• Prince Jones
• Environmental Racism

Hillbilly Elegy by JD Vance

• History of Appalachia
• Appalachian Migration
• Children and Poverty in the US
• The Rustbelt
• De-industrialization
• High school graduation rates for low-income students
• Domestic Violence
• Addiction
• Drug Abuse and Poverty
• Losing Faith in American Institutions
• The Decline of Social Mobility
• Adverse Childhood Experiences
• Schools and Section 8
• Accessibility to Ivy League Schools

black dove: mama’, mijo, and me by ana castillo

• The History of Mexican Migration
• The Border Patrol
• The Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS)
• The Virgin of Guadalupe and/or Aztec Goddess Tonantzin
• Feminisim
• Social and Cultural Movements of the 1960s
• Rape
• Female Sexuality
• Suicide and Depression in Teens
• Lesbianism
• Near Death Experiences
• Male Sexuality
• Gender Roles/Identity
• Gangs and Gang Violence in Chicago
• Incarceration for Drug Related Crimes
• The War on Drugs/Drugs in Inner Cities in the 1980s-1990s
• Stop and Frisk Policies
• Hip hop Culture
• Graffiti Art
• Pueblo Indians of New Mexico Traditions
• Motherhood
• Patriarchy and Alternate Ruling Systems/Patriarch and Capitalism
• Voting Rights for Ex-Felons
• Colonialism
• Migrant Farm Workers
• Women in Mythology
• Mexican Curanderos
• Catholicism
• Santeria
• Mexican Immigrants in Chicago
• Xicanisma-Chicana Feminism
• Latino Masculinity
• Story Telling