What are the effects of illegal logging, mining, and farming on the indigenous tribes in the Amazon and how can public policy help to address these consequences?

I found my sources by searching for articles using key words like illegal mining, logging, and farming in the Amazon, respectively. I then searched for effects of illegal mining, logging, and farming on the amazon. I tried searching first for the causes of these illegal activities to get a better understanding of why they occur/what influences them. I then searched for the effects they have on the Amazon because indigenous communities live in and survive off of the Amazon, meaning in the end, they are the ones who immediately suffer the consequences. I was able to find many sources that talk about and link these effects to indigenous communities. My sources include newspaper articles from The New York Times and The Guardian, a report from Humans Rights Watch, and a YouTube video of an interview with an illegal logger.

My newspaper article, In the Amazon, Fires Steal Breath, but Smoke Smells of Money, talks about the increase in fires that are raging in the Amazon, which are intentionally started by ranch owners. It’s the fastest, and illegal, way to transform large parts of the Amazon into fields fit for grazing. It also talks about how, ever since Brazil’s president has been in office, he’s prioritized economic development over environmental concerns. Many ranch owners and farmers have seen this as encouragement to burn down more of the Amazon. This source will help my audience understand why people burn down the rainforest.

Another source I will be using, Illegal Mining, ‘Worse Than at Any Other Time,’ Threatens Amazon, Study Finds, talks about how the surge in gold prices has led to an epidemic of illegal gold mining in the Amazon, threatening indigenous territories. A study by a group of environmental organizations analyzed data from six Amazon countries and identified 2,312 illegal mining sites. They have caused the rivers to be contaminated with mercury. These toxic pollutants seep into the earth contaminating plants, animals and people. Aside from polluting, these illegal miners are getting close to uncontacted tribes which poses a mortal threat to them in terms of illness. This source will help me explain the causes behind  illegal gold mining in the Amazon as well as how it affects indigenous communities, including the bigger risks it poses to uncontacted tribes.

I am unsure about using this article, Amazon Deforestation in Brazil Rose Sharply on Bolsonaro’s Watch, because it doesn’t really give me any specific details about any public policies. It does talk about how president Bolsonaro (of Brazil) has had his government ‘scale back efforts’ in fighting against illegal mining, logging and farming by cutting down funding for government agencies that have been tasked with enforcing environmental laws and regulations. He’s been outspoken about the importance of economic development and how conservation policies are just getting in the way of it. He fully supports the mining and agriculture industries and their expansion into protected reserves, including indigenous lands.

I still need to research a bit more on public policies that are meant to protect the Amazon and indigenous lands as well as helping to fight against these illegal activities. Also, ways they can improve and be more effective.

Bibliography

Clifford, Krauss. “In the Amazon, Fires Steal Breath, but Smoke Smells of Money.” The New York Times, 2 Nov. 2019, https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/02/world/americas/brazil-amazon-fires-cowboys.html

Darlington, Shasta. “Illegal Mining, ‘Worse Than at Any Other Time,’ Threatens Amazon, Study Finds.” The New York Times, 10 Dec. 2018, www.nytimes.com/2018/12/10/world/americas/amazon-illegal-mining.html.

Londoño, Ernesto, and Letícia Casado. “Amazon Deforestation in Brazil Rose Sharply on Bolsonaro’s Watch.” The New York Times, 18 Nov. 2019, www.nytimes.com/2019/11/18/world/americas/brazil-amazon-deforestation.html.

Muñoz Acebes, César, et al. “Rainforest Mafias.” Human Rights Watch, 27 May 2020, www.hrw.org/report/2019/09/17/rainforest-mafias/how-violence-and-impunity-fuel-deforestation-brazils-amazon.

Phillips, Dom. “Goldmining having big impact on indigenous Amazon communities.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 07 Oct. 2020, https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/oct/07/goldmining-having-big-impact-on-indigenous-amazon-communities.

“Why I illegally cut down trees in the Amazon rainforest | Interview with a Brazilian illegal logger.” YouTube, uploaded by The Telegraph, 2 Dec. 2019, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zITRFwiBE38&t=187s.

How do social, political, and economic factors influence the conditions of American women in the workplace?

The United States had come a long way since The Equal Pay Act in 1963 when President John F. Kennedy signed the Fair Labor Standards Act, which abolishes wage disparities based on sex. Through my investigation, I have found good sources that have helped me understand this social issue more politically and economically. The First Source I read was “Equal Pay an Introductory Guide.” I thought this source was an excellent introduction to my essay because it helps me introduce relevant topics related to this social issue. This source touches diverse topics such as the government’s role on equal remuneration and the institutions and procedures to enforce the law. This first source was first published in 2013 by the International Labour Organization. In my next source, I decided to go with a source that carries this problem to the present and the challenge of equal pay in the labor market. This source is called “Women, Work, and Inequality.” and is a Scholarly source that carries many editors responsible for the publication of this book, such as the support of the library Congress Cataloging for publication data on women, work and inequality. My third scholarly source is title “Promoting Equity Gender-Neutral Job Evaluation For Equal Pay.” In this book published by the International Labour Organization, the author reflects on the causes of wage discrimination and the principles of pay equity. This source helped me better understand how the scope of the principle of pay equity works and its impact on an organization’s reputation. The source I discarded while looking in my research was “The Unions and the fight for inequality.” This book’s content gives me a lot of detail on feminist history, and I think that is why I discard this topic from the others. I didn’t want to make this essay too personal by talking about the idea of women as housewives and the long fight for feminism during the past years, reason enough to decided not to include this book. While an article I have been considering to include in my essay is a short video from Youtube about a topic that recently caught my attention, this video explains women’s soccer equal pay fight. The title of this video is “Why it’s impossible to give the USWNT equal pay.” This short clip shows the player’s prominence and willingness to change, expressing their frustration by seeing the huge compensation gap that receives the World Cup participants, a pool of 400$ million for a team of 32 men, while only 30$ million for a 24 women’s teams. I have been focusing more on my scholarly sources than my web sources; I have focused on the details about the past Instead of the present. For now, to the first draft, I would look up more recent sources that would help understand this issue, like how much during this pandemic time, the pay gap has been increasing. How much money do men that work from home compares to women that do the same? 

Bibliography:

Oelz, Martin, Shauna Olney, and Manuela Tomei. Equal Pay: An Introductory Guide. Geneva: International Labour Office, 2013. Print.

Chicha, Marie-Thérèse. Promoting Equity Gender-Neutral Job Evaluation for Equal Pay : a Step-by-Step Guide . Geneva: International Labour Office, 2008. Print.

Closing the Gap : Equal Pay for Women Workers : Hearing before the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, United States Senate, One Hundred Tenth Congress, First Session, on Examining Closing the Gap Relating to Equal Pay for Women Workers, April 12, 2007. Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office, 2009. Print.

Gregory, Jeanne, Rosemary Sales, and Ariane Hegewisch. Women, Work and Inequality: The Challenge of Equal Pay in a Deregulated Labour Market. New York: Palgrave Macmillan Limited, 1999. Web.

How does the local government address homelessness in New York City, and how do their policies affect the homeless population?

So far, I have found a lot of sources that directly address my topic question. Most of them are newspaper articles and scholarly articles. I used the CUNY Academic Database to find my scholarly articles. I used google’s search engine to find my newspaper articles. Because my topic for our first essay relates to my current topic, I was fortunately able to reuse one source from that assignment. The sources I have found are published on reputable platforms, like the New York Times or Maternal and Child Health Journal (scholarly journal). Some sources describe a policy/policies that exists in New York City which then affects our homeless population. The other sources provide statistical data regarding our homeless populations, and various necessary definitions.

One source I found while doing research but am not sure about is Characteristics of Mothers and Infants Living in Homeless Shelters and Public Housing in New York City. This source has a lot of helpful and relevant statistics and information. This source was also found using the CUNY Academic Database and is a scholarly article. This source mentions different services offered to homeless women and children, but not necessarily how the services itself affect them. They mostly include this information to shed awareness on the amount of homeless people who used the services and compare that number with mothers and children living in NYCHA buildings. However, I do learn about the many health disparities that plague our homeless mother population. I also learn that when a baby is born to a homeless woman, Medicaid is used to pay the hospital for the delivery. This shows that the government issues Medicaid to the homeless, and the homeless can use Medicaid to help with hospital costs. Homeless women often go to clinics for prenatal care. Clinics tend to be free or low cost to those who do not have healthcare. Clinics are also implemented by the government. As I read into this source more, I realize I can definitely use the information for my essay. I was unsure was because this article did not explicitly state “this policy exists in order to do this and affects the homeless like this”, I had to connect the dots on my own.

One source I found that I discarded was actually from my previous essay, www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10911359.2012.707941. I decided to discard this source because the statistics are not specific to New York City. I will find other scholarly articles that fit better with my essay. I remember when brainstorming, I thought of using TikTok videos made by homeless people as a popular media source. Now that I have a definite topic, I am not sure how using a TikTok video would be effective for my essay. For example, there is this account I follow by a homeless woman named Bugs. However, I realize she does not live in New York City. My topic question is specific to the happenings of New York City. I remember I follow a homeless man on Instagram, https://www.instagram.com/mauriceboldenphotography/, I see him often in Harlem. When looking through his profile, I realized he documents his lifestyle as a homeless person, but there is nothing about policies or how the government treats him as a homeless person. Because I want a testimonial from a homeless person, but so far do not feel what I have come across is sufficient, I thought of visiting https://www.instagram.com/humansofny/ on Instagram. This person documents words from homeless people, maybe I can find evidence here. It is time-consuming to scroll through the account, so I may decide to keep searching google instead. My plan is to find more scholarly articles. I also want to intentionally include policies that both negatively and positively affect the homeless, and I believe the sources I have so far do just that.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Hu, Winnie. “’Hostile Architecture’: How Public Spaces Keep the Public Out.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 8 Nov. 2019, www.nytimes.com/2019/11/08/nyregion/hostile-architecture-nyc.html. 

“Homelessness & Poverty in New York City.” The Bowery Mission. Rebuilding Lives Since 1879., Oct. 2020, www.bowery.org/homelessness/. 

Hennelly, Bob. “How New York’s Programs and Policies Are Keeping the Homeless on the Street.” CSNY, 8 Mar. 2020, www.cityandstateny.com/articles/policy/housing/how-new-yorks-programs-and-policies-are-keeping-homeless-street.html. 

Ricciulli, Valeria. “Housing, Rental Vouchers, Outreach: Can NYC Fix Its Homeless Crisis?” Curbed NY, Curbed NY, 25 Feb. 2020, ny.curbed.com/2020/2/25/21146143/homelessness-new-york-city-how-to-fix. 

Reilly, Kathleen H., et al. “Characteristics of Mothers and Infants Living in Homeless Shelters and Public Housing in New York City.” Gale Academic Onefile, Springer, May 2019, go-gale-com.ccny-proxy1.libr.ccny.cuny.edu/ps/i.do?p=AONE. 

Sommer, Marni, et al. “Menstruation and Homelessness: Challenges Faced Living in Shelters and on the Street in New York City.” ScienceDirect, Elsevier, 25 Sept. 2020, www-sciencedirect-com.ccny-proxy1.libr.ccny.cuny.edu/science/article/pii/S1353829220310923. 

Semuels, Alana. “How Can the U.S. End Homelessness?” The Atlantic, Atlantic Media Company, 25 Apr. 2016, www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2016/04/end-homelessness-us/479115/. 

Mckinley, Jesse, and Vivian Yee. “Questions Over Cuomo’s Order on Homelessness.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 5 Jan. 2016, www.nytimes.com/2016/01/05/nyregion/questions-over-cuomos-order-on-homelessness.html. 

To start I have altered my question to be: How has the #BlackLivesMatter movement influenced public policy in the United States and what other external factors influence the movement’s impact? I believe this question provides me with a clear path on how to organize my essay and how to better present my research without being too vague or even providing too much information.

Right now I have about eight different sources. I have four media sources, two scholarly sources, and the sample essay I chose to assist me. When looking for each source, I attempted to find articles that related heavily to my question and my overall topic. I wanted o get more insight on the topic while also finding valuable resources in which I could use within my essay.

When trying to find media sources, I used google scholar as well as the regular Google search engine to assist me. For my first media source, I used the official #BlackLivesMatter website. I felt as though this website will assist me because it contains the history of the movement and how it came to be. The website also includes other resources such as petitions which could lead me to find more information about the specific cases that started the movement, to begin with. My second media source, “Black Lives Matter goes big on policy agenda”, provides information directly on the policies the Black Lives Matter organizers have proposed and are trying to implement in America. The one policy the article speaks about specifically is the BREATHE Act. The policy came about after the death of Eric Garner and George Floyd who both stated the words “I can’t breathe”. As the article explains, the BREATHE Act contains four parts that cover everything from defunding the police to the injustice within the criminal justice system. I believe this article will assist me with much more information on this policy and other policies that have come into play because of the movement. My third media source, “How Black Lives Matter Changed the Way Americans Fight for Freedom”, explains exactly how the American people have adapted to the injustice within this country and fought against it. The article refers to not only racial injustice but other issues such as the unfair treatment of immigrants by ICE and how Americans have become stronger and more knowledgeable about combatting these issues. My last media article, “What’s Wrong With “All Lives Matter?”, goes into detail about, as the title states, what is wrong about saying “All Lives Matter”.  I wanted to include this information in my essay because I believe it answers the second half of my question which would be what outside factors impact the movement. Because All Lives Matter has become so popular, especially during the past three years, this article will help me discover its impact.

My first scholarly source, “Black Lives Matter: A Commentary on Racism and Public Health”, goes into detail about the Black Lives Matter movement and the issue of racism from a public health perspective. This source was written by Jennifer Jee-Lyn and Mienah Zulfacar Sharif, both of who are members of the Department of Health Sciences. This article what peer-reviewed which provides me with a clear understanding that this is in fact a credible source. I believe this source will provide me with a different perspective of the movement and provide me with information on how the movement has impacted different aspects of America. My second scholarly source, “#Black Lives Matter? Analyzing the Effects of Police-Caused Black Deaths on Media Coverage and Public Interest in the Movement”, speaks about the movement and tries to conclude whether or not news coverage on police brutality or the killing of black men and women has increased. In the article, the writers find that this was not true and only incidents of when the police officers were killed were televised. The entire source is based on figuring out how and why this has come to be. I believe this source will really help me in figuring out what sources have impacted the movement and why the movement has been broadcasted less than other events.

I am still thinking about referring to be chosen essay for help, but I do not think it could be used as a credible source. I think it would assist me in structuring my essay and lead me to other sources, but I do not think it could be used as a source itself. I also looked at other sources but chose not to include them because they either did not have useful information or I had to pay to unlock the rest of the information. I believe I am off to a good start when it comes to my resources and I hope I am able to easily organize myself and my writing in order to do the best job possible.

Bibliography

“Home.” Black Lives Matter, 22 June 2020, blacklivesmatter.com/.

Jee-Lyn García, Jennifer, and Mienah Zulfacar Sharif. “Black Lives Matter: A Commentary on Racism and Public Health.” American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, Aug. 2015, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4504294/.

Bordonaro, Francesca, and Dale Willits. “#Black Lives Matter? Analyzing the Effects of Police-Caused Black Deaths on Media Coverage and Public Interest in the Movement.” Journal of Criminal Justice and Law: Official Journal of the Law and Public Policy Section of the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences, vol. 2, 2018, pp. 102–121.

After researching, I have found some sources that I think will be useful for my essay. This report contains the impotence and a brief description of my collected sources. 

The first article I researched is called “The impact of heavy and disordered use of games and social media on adolescents’ psychological, social, and school functioning”. I found this article with the help of professor Harris, in Gale Academic OneFile. In this text, the authors explain the impact of the enormous usage of social media in the development of adolescents. It also mentions the “Conceptualization of ofIGD and SMD”, which suggests that it causes loss of control, preoccupation, problems, tolerance, withdrawal symptoms, and coping/escapism. The text indicated the negative consequences of IGD and SMD such as loneliness, depression, low self-esteem, poorer school grades, and lower psychological well-being. I believe this study report helps my claim since it talks about the physiological and social impact of social media on adolescents. It is a study report that uses examples from real-life persons, which supports my argument entirely. 

One source that I am considering using, but about which I am still unsure is called “The Social Media Disorder and Ostracism in Adolescents: (OSTRACA- SM Study).” I found this article in Gale Academic OneFile. Credibility can be determined with the bibliography that it has on the button of the essay.  This article provides a research report conducted on young people and their usage of social media. The article tries to define the risk factors of SMD and ostracism in adolescents and analyze the association between the two. It is a detailed study report, where all occasions are taken into consideration, such as adolescents who do not work, those who have a single parent, those who have bad grades, etc. I feel like this article is important because it shows the factual report of social media use by adolescents, but at the same time does not provide enough argumentative reasons for the impact of social media, that is why I feel uncertain. 

One source I  found while conducting my research but have discarded is called “How social media affects the mental health of teenagers”. The article identified some issues that social media has brought to adolescents such as sleep deprivation, low self-esteem, face news portraying fake photoshopped persona, etc. The article also talks about how to limit the time of social media and gives suggestions such as restrict access, monitor, etc. The reason I am discarding this source is its credibility since it is not a peer-reviewed article. I found this article while I was searching on google to have a general idea of the problems/ impacts of social media. 

The last source I found is called “Pilot data supporting an attachment‐based theory of adolescent social media use”. I found this article while searching in the BMCC Library. This article is located in the Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection. This article is a pilot data report on the use of social media by adolescents. It reports new studies and changes in adolescents’ behavior over the years. The article suggests that social media is making adolescents behave a certain way. Adolescents seem to care mote for social comparison and feedback‐seeking, which results in serious consequences for the child and adolescent mental health. I think this article is useful for my essay since it determined the causes of social media on adolescents and further explores the changes in behavior over the years. 

I am unsure as to what my essay research is missing, however, I do think some videos of adolescents speaking up about social media use would be helpful to watch, even though that would not be an obsolete source.

Ergun, Gul. “The Social Media Disorder and Ostracism in Adolescents: (OSTRACA- SM Study)”. Vol. 52, Issue 2). The Eurasian Journal of Medicine. AVES.  June 2020 

Venta, Amanda, Harmon, Jennifer. “Pilot data supporting an attachment‐based theory of adolescent social media use”. The Association for Child and Adolescent Mental Health.  April 2019

Burch, Kelly. “How social media affects the mental health of teenagers”. Insider. March 16, 2020.  https://www.insider.com/how-does-social-media-affect-teenagers

Eijnden Van Den, Regina. “The impact of heavy and disordered use of games and social media on adolescents’ psychological, social, and school functioning”. Gale Academic One File. September 2018

At the current time, I am writing this report on my research for my essay, I have found 4 scholarly sources and 2 media sources. I found my scholarly sources using Google Scholar and my media sources online. The scholarly sources I have chosen are credible and reliable since they were constructed by experts within a specific field that has been peer-reviewed by others.

For my first scholarly source, I have decided on “Human Rights and Coronavirus: What’s at Stake for Truth, Trust, and Democracy?” by Alicia Ely Yamina and Roojin Habibi. This article states how the effects of coronavirus in terms of the government’s actions regarding the public and the health care system. I feel like this article will be really useful in my essay because it discusses how WHO has never published a specific way, in government policies to prevent the spread of COVID, therefore, each country has to find their own way to deal with this pandemic which can involve in the violation of human rights. The authors explain how not every country follows the same government policies therefore, some governments may act differently in such a case. Also, the authors also state how people are not the same, everyone has their own circumstances, positions, ethnicity, and etc. This scholarly article is useful for me because it shows how the violation of human rights is circumstantial and it depends on several points since not every government is the same and not every person are the same.

For my first media source, “Still Confused About Masks? here’s the Science Behind How to Face Masks Prevent Coronavirus,” by Nina Bai while it isn’t a scholarly source it will be really useful to include the information that is given in this text. Within the article, the author included experiments and data from tests regarding the effectiveness of masks in preventing the transmission of COVID-19. This information is crucial to me since I am writing on how people believe the quarantine and safety measures taken by the governments are a violation of human rights. One of their major arguments is that masks are useless and do not prevent the spread of diseases. Therefore, by having information on the effectiveness of masks I can conclude the validity of people’s claims.

I have yet to finish analyzing all of the sources since I decided to drop some of my sources. For example, I have decided to not use “Indian uses coronavirus pandemic to exploit human rights in Kashmir,” by Omer Aijazi. The reason for not including this in my reesearch essay is because while it is discussing about Coronavirus and it’s affects on human rights, I believe since the audience I am trying to connect to are generally those of the United States. The difference in government and environment isn’t ideal for the audience I am trying to target. Since every government system is different in policies and objectives it wouldn’t make sense for me to use a source that is discussing about COVID in India.

Bibliography:

Cheng, Vincent Chi-Chung, et al. “The Role of Community-Wide Wearing of Face Mask for Control of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Epidemic Due to SARS-CoV-2.” Journal of Infection, W.B. Saunders, 23 Apr. 2020, www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0163445320302358.  (Scholarly Source)

“Still Confused About Masks? Here’s the Science Behind How Face Masks Prevent Coronavirus.” Still Confused About Masks? Here’s the Science Behind How Face Masks Prevent Coronavirus | UC San Francisco, 16 Oct. 2020, www.ucsf.edu/news/2020/06/417906/still-confused-about-masks-heres-science-behind-how-face-masks-prevent.

“Human Rights and Coronavirus: What’s at Stake for Truth, Trust, and Democracy?” Health and Human Rights Journal, 2 Mar. 2020, www.hhrjournal.org/2020/03/human-rights-and-coronavirus-whats-at-stake-for-truth-trust-and-democracy/.

Additional informationNotes on contributorsYi ZhengYi Zheng is a lecturer in Human Resource Management in the School of Management and Tourism at Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, and ReferencesABC News. (2020). Coronavirus is a public health emergency. World Health Organisation declares. www.abc.net.au/news/2020-01-31/who-coronavirus-global-emergency/11916276 [Google Scholar]BBC News. (2020. “The Effects of Misleading Media Reports about COVID-19 on Chinese Tourists’ Mental Health: a Perspective Article.” Taylor & Francis, www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13032917.2020.1747208.

Aijazi, Omer. “India Uses Coronavirus Pandemic to Exploit Human Rights in Kashmir.” Https://Theconversation.com/India-Uses-Coronavirus-Pandemic-to-Exploit-Human-Rights-in-Kashmir-137682, The Conversation, 7 May 2020, hcommons.org/deposits/item/hc:31629/.

After researching I have collected few sources that I will be using for my paper. In this report I will be explaining where the articles are from and the importance of these articles for my essay.

The first source that I found is “Effects of Sexual Violence” is an article by Resilience Empowering Survivors Ending Sextual Violence which gives us information about the effects that rape can have on a person. The article breaks the effects into emotional reactions, phycological reactions, and physical reactions and many ways loved ones can help. This article will help me provide the different effects which will the other articles to show different ways it can be taken. The second article I found is “Recovering from Rape and Sexual Trauma”. This article gives mentions few myths about sexual assault that society throughs at victims. “You can spot a rapist by the way he looks or acts.  If you didn’t fight back, you must not have thought it was that bad. People who are raped “ask for it” by the way they dress or act. It’s not rape if you’ve had sex with the person before.” are some of the myths that creates victim blaming. Which causes victims to get into trauma. This article also mentions few different ways to recover from sexual trauma.

The third source I found is “Being Silenced: The Impact of Negative Social Reactions on the Disclosure of Rape” by Courtney E. Ahrens, published in 2006. The article has been reviewed by many other authors which helps us to understand the credibility of the source. This article provides information about how many victims tries to open up and talk about their experiences, which can cause them to face many negative comments. These reactions can cause them to self-blame. The author clearly states how negative comments from experts or friends and family can change the way survivors recover. “A guide for Friends and Family of Sexual Violence Survivors” another source that I found which was published in 2013. It has few chapters on immediate concerns, how you can help, effects of the assaults. It includes families being calm, believing the victim, giving the victim control, being available for the victim to express their feelings, making sure the victim has support and many more. Communicating and supporting the victim will give them the courage. Which is something I want to emphasize in my paper.

“Sexual assault victims are seeking justice on social media. Experts warn it’s not bulletproof” by darcy Costello and Bailey Loosemore was published in December, 2017. It is about people using social media to share their sexual assault stories. #metoo is a worldwide movement. It has been used by more than millions of people all around the world. “”For many survivors, it was very powerful for them, they could feel as though they’re not alone,” said Laura Palumbo, communications director for the National Sexual Violence Resource Center.” Even though there are consequences that can lead into bigger problem, social media gives them a hope of receiving justice.

Another source that I found is “VICTIMIZATION AND ASYMMETRIC GENDERED POWER RELATIONS: A LINGUISTIC INVESTIGATION OF HARASSMENT COMPLAINTS REGISTERED IN LAHORE.” by Umara Shaheen and Maria Isabel Maldonado Garcia, published in June 2020. This article is about violence against women being normalized in Pakistan. I am not sure whether to use this article or not because it talks about all kinds of abuse and harassment which includes “unwanted sexual attention, gender harassment and sexual coercion. Unwanted sexual attention is verbal or nonverbal behavior ranging from “repeated and nonreciprocal” requests for dates; disturbing calls, letters or emails; touching,”. My research is not including all types of abuse. However, the article makes good points about how women are constantly keeping up with these abusers and not being able to report because of the sake of their religion, culture, family values. Which is similar to the rape victims.

I have not come across any articles that did not relate to my essay just yet.

Bibliography

Effects of Sexual Violence.” Resilience, 8 Aug. 2018, www.ourresilience.org/what-you-need-to-know/effects-of-sexual-violence/.

Ahrens, Courtney E. “Being Silenced: the Impact of Negative Social Reactions on the Disclosure of Rape.” American Journal of Community Psychology, Kluwer Academic Publishers-Plenum Publishers, Dec. 2006, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1705531/.

(n.d.). Retrieved October 27, 2020, from https://go-gale-com.ccny-proxy1.libr.ccny.cuny.edu/ps/retrieve.do?tabID=T002

A Guide for Friends and Family of Sexual Violence Survivors. (n.d.). Retrieved October 27, 2020, from https://www.nsvrc.org/sites/default/files/2017-10/friends_and_family_guide_final.pdf

Melinda. (n.d.). Recovering from Rape and Sexual Trauma. Retrieved October 27, 2020, from https://www.helpguide.org/articles/ptsd-trauma/recovering-from-rape-and-sexual-trauma.htm

I have found 4 scholarly sources and 3 media sources. I found all my scholarly sources using the CCNY library database and my media sources online. My scholarly sources are reliable since they are peer-reviewed and are written by people who have a lot of experience in that area. 

My first media source is called “How Are America’s Public Schools Really Doing?” by Valerie Strauss, which talks about the state of American public schools and observes how students are performing. There is a lot of statistics involving confidence in American public schools, standardized test scores, and classroom performance. This is clear throughout the article because it mentions a lot of statistics for the performance of public high schools. This can help me with my essay because it is completely objective as the article utilizes statistics to analyze the situation of American public high schools instead of having a position. My second media source is “Is America’s School System Truly Broken? By Zastrow, Marvin C . This article goes through various issues like the lack of training the teachers receive and how the curriculum is insufficiently challenging. The article addresses the roots of the quality of education within its teachers in that they are incapable of teaching due to the lack of training they receive. This article can show how the quality of American education needs to be reformed in order for students to prosper in their lives. My last media source is “5 Ways Policy Makers Can Improve the Quality of Education” by the school of education presents 5 potential ways in improving the quality of education. It mentions how the United States is ranked 35th in terms of education in the world which shows that it is ranked as one of the lowest in terms of education as it is behind other countries. Students in America are behind students in other countries because our teaching methods are not up to date with other countries. This article can help me with my essay because it addresses good solutions to my question. 

My first scholarly source was The Problem With American Education.” by Marvin C. Zastrow. This article shows that motivation plays a major role in the quality of education. This article mentions other issues such as the grading system, the pressure on students, and methods of learning. This article can help me with my essay because it also mentions possible solutions such as potential solutions to the quality of American education such as giving weekly period length tests, grading all tests except finals as pass or fail, and requiring students that fail weekly tests to attend review sessions until they pass the test. Another solution it addresses would be to implement a flexible schedule within the curriculum so it makes it easier for students to learn. My second scholarly article is “Review of Improving Quality in American Higher Education: Learning Outcomes and Assessments for the 21st Century, by Jillian Kinzie which focuses on the improvement of the quality of education of the United States within the 21st century. It addresses that college is not worth the price and that students are not prepared to enter the work field because of the lack of skills education teaches. My third scholarly article is “A System in Crisis – It is unrealistic to expect a system constructed in nineteenth-century America to provide what a twenty-first-century America needs.” by Eugene W. Hickok which addresses that the performance of American schools has declined over time. Its main focus stems from teachers getting money and benefits and not trying to improve classroom instruction and equipment. Teachers have the responsibility of guiding and ensuring the students prosper and succeed. However, not all teachers are competent in their field which is another issue within the quality of American education. My last scholarly source is “Improving Education.” from the American Association for the Advancement of Science which talks about various ways to improve the education system. For example, it talks about students learning concepts rather than memorizing them, the curriculum students are going through, and the quality of teachers in how they are handling the classroom and their methods. Overall, I feel like all I need to do is to organize all of my information from the sources I’ve gathered.

Works cited

Strauss, Valerie. “Perspective | How Are America’s Public Schools Really Doing?” The Washington Post, WP Company, 15 Oct. 2018, www.washingtonpost.com/education/2018/10/15/how-are-americas-public-schools-really-doing/. 

 Zastrow, Marvin C. “The Problem With American Education.” Shibboleth    Authentication Request, 1987, web-b-ebscohost-com.ccny-proxy1.libr.ccny.cuny.edu/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=1. 

Schneider, Jack. “Is America’s School System Truly Broken?” The Atlantic, Atlantic Media Company, 22 June 2016, www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2016/06/everything-in-american-education-is-broken/488189/. 

Kinzie, Jillian. Review of Improving Quality in American Higher Education: Learning Outcomes and Assessments for the 21st Century, by Jillian Kinzie. Journal of College Student Development, vol. 58 no. 8, 2017, p. 1281-1283. Project MUSE, doi:10.1353/csd.2017.0101.

HICKOK, EUGENE W. “A System in Crisis – It is unrealistic to expect a system constructed in nineteenth-century America to provice what a twenty-first-century America needs.” World and I, vol. 15, no. 9, Sept. 2000, p. 22. Gale Academic OneFile, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A64270474/AONE?u=cuny_ccny&sid=AONE&xid=e7e27291. Accessed 26 Oct. 2020.

American Asociation for the Advancement of Science. “Improving Education.” Science and children 36.2 (1998): 8–. Print.

School of Education. (2019). 5 Ways Policy Makers Can Improve the Quality of Education. Retrieved October 26, 2020, from https://soeonline.american.edu/blog/5-ways-policy-makers-can-improve-the-quality-of-education

From numerous hours of research, I’ve found around 9 potential sources to further develop my essay. Each source elaborates certain aspects I‘m trying to address in my research essay in regards to the foster care system.
So far I have gathered four scholarly sources, two which were located using Gale Academic OneFile, and the other two found while searching online. All four sources contain the requirements of a scholarly source which makes them viable. These requirements include that it has been peer-reviewed, the author’s credentials are provided, they provide secondary sources, and the publishers are professors, students, or an academic institution.
The first scholarly source, “Foster Care Placement, Poor Parenting, and Negative Outcomes Among Homeless Young Adults,” will effectively support my ideas because it provides data and information regarding how minors are placed in foster homes, the situations they undergo within those homes, at how it all traces back to the homeless foster kids that aged out of the system. This article will further elaborate the idea on how the where the kids are placed leads to negative outcomes.
The second scholarly article, “Effect of Foster Care Intervention on Trajectories of General and Specific Psychopathology Among Children With Histories of Institutional Rearing,” discusses how children who have been subjected to consistent foster care interventions due to criminal activity, have experienced mental disorders because of it. This will adapt well in my essay because it demonstrates individuals who have experienced short periods of time tangled with the foster care system and how it has changed their mental state.
The third scholarly article, “Serving Students in Foster Care: Implications and Interventions for School Counselors,” goes into further detail about the behavior of the kids outside the system, instead of addressing what they’re experiencing, this article describes their attitude in educational environments. This article discusses how they act in school, what changes their attitude, and how they respond to certain situations.
The fourth scholarly article, “”In the system:” a qualitative study of African American women’s foster care stories,” will help develop my essay because it doesn’t just discuss the life within the foster care system, instead this article brings to light six African American women and their personal experiences, which will further elaborate how they felt during this moment and it had shaped them as a person.
The additional three sources I will be using in my research-based essay were found through consistent research on the internet. They’re viable because they’re all news articles or magazines that were published to address a certain issue backed up by data and research. The first article, “Drugging our kids: RX alliance rewards doctors as drug companies get richer,” will effectively support my ideas because it highlights a form of abuse occurring within the system, where kids are overly prescribed with medication in order for companies to gain more money. The second article, “Sex-trafficking sting highlights vulnerability of foster children,” is useful to my essay because demonstrates how children who age out of the system become victims to sex trafficking. Which relates to behavior because numerous kids aren’t taught how to be safe and cautious in situations like these, and when they’re already living poorly they succumb to it. Lastly, “Arizona sued over poor foster-care conditions,” helps to underline a home in Arizona that has already been accused of being a terrible living space for foster kids, which goes to show that there can be numerous other homes that also don’t qualify as a safe space for these kids.
Originally, I planned on using an article found on The Wall Street Journal website, labeled “Parents’ Drug Abuse Strains Child-Welfare Agencies.” The article goes into further detail about how much of a recurring issue it has become for children to be ripped from their families and placed in the foster care system due to drug abuse. At first, I assumed it would be useful to include how certain kids ended up in the foster care system and how that had an effect on their behavior. However, I came to realize that my research essay is based on how the foster care system had an impact on their future behavior outside the system. By evaluating past occurrences before they were placed in the system, it doesn’t highlight the conditions in the foster care system. Instead it would highlight the influence their biological parents had.
The article “Broken foster care system may be contributing to homelessness crisis,” by April Dinwoodie, discusses the correlation between the number of homeless people and the kids in the foster care system. It’s an opinionated article, but she does include research on why they end up homeless and why it’s important for these kids to find a family. Previously I found a scholarly article that also introduces the homelessness situation in addition to more detailed research and data. Therefore, I was debating on including this article in my essay because it wouldn’t be any new information, it would be a topic I already have sufficient information on.
Despite the research already obtained, there are a few things I want to include in my essay but haven’t found the right sources containing the information I need. I’m still seeking additional sources discussing the behavior recorded of foster kids including how their behavior has varied from when they entered the foster care system to when they got out? I have an idea on what to look for, I just want to find the perfect source that addresses this question in detail.

Bibliography

Brinser, Hannah, and Addy Wissel. “Serving Students in Foster Care: Implications and
Interventions for School Counselors.” The Professional Counselor, vol. 10, no. 2, 2020, p.                             170+. Gale Academic OneFile, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A630064938/AONE?                                     u=cuny_ccny&sid=AONE&xid=b4072ed3. Accessed 19 Oct. 2020.
Chaney, Cassandra, and Meghan Spell. “‘In the system:’ a qualitative study of African American
women’s foster care stories.” The Western Journal of Black Studies, vol. 39, no. 2, 2015, p.                           84+. Gale Academic OneFile, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A428998149/AONE?                                       u=cuny_ccny&sid=AONE&xid=2b5e4237. Accessed 19 Oct. 2020.
Wade M, Fox NA, Zeanah CH, Nelson CA. Effect of Foster Care Intervention on Trajectories of
General and Specific Psychopathology Among Children With Histories of Institutional                                   Rearing: A Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA Psychiatry. 2018;75(11):1137–1145.                                             doi:10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2018.2556
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapsychiatry/fullarticle/2707957?resultClick=1
Tyler, Kimberly A, and Lisa A Melander. “Foster Care Placement, Poor Parenting, and Negative
Outcomes Among Homeless Young Adults.” Journal of Child and Family Studies, U.S.                                   National Library of Medicine, 19 Dec. 2010,                                                                                                                www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3020041/
Dinwoodie, April. “Broken Foster Care System May Be Contributing to Homelessness Crisis.”
The San Francisco Examiner, 27 Mar. 2016, www.sfexaminer.com/author/april-dinwoodie/
Pitzl, Mary Jo. “Arizona Sued over Poor Foster-Care Conditions.” The Arizona Republic, 4 Feb.
2015, www.azcentral.com/story/news/arizona/politics/2015/02/03/arizona-foster-care-                              lawsuit-child-welfare/22804121/
Group, Bay Area News. “Drugging Our Kids: RX Alliance Rewards Doctors as Drug Companies
Get Richer.” Daily News, Daily News, 28 Aug. 2017,                                                                                                  www.dailynews.com/2014/11/22/drugging-our-kids-rx-alliance-rewards-doctors-as-drug-                          companies-get-richer/
Kamp, Jon, and Arian Campo-Flores. “Parents’ Drug Abuse Strains Child-Welfare Agencies.”
The Wall Street Journal, Dow Jones & Company, 12 Jan. 2016,                                                                    www.wsj.com/articles/parents-drug-abuse-strains-child-welfare-agencies-1452538476
Koseff, Alexei. “Sex-Trafficking Sting Highlights Vulnerability of Foster Children.” Los Angeles
Times, Los Angeles Times, 29 July 2013, www.latimes.com/nation/la-xpm-2013-jul-29-la-                          na- child-sex-20130730-story.html

The sources that I have gathered are found from various sites, where the main points are primarily gotten from scholarly papers composed by clinical specialists, while the others are informed from some reliable educational websites.These articles have believability as they are completely talked about from verifiable cases, or expert viewpoints.

The first source, “What Are the Best Ways to Prevent Bullying in Schools? A new study identifies the most effective approaches to bullying prevention” by Diana Divecha , it’s an educational journal type story published in October 2019. The author is a medical doctor and studies child psychology, so the article is highly credible. The article’s research tests two strategies that are most effective in preventing bullying: establishing a positive school climate and advancing social and emotional learning. The article explains the feasibility of these two strategies, and it  shows the research and results, in addition to suggesting the influence of family factors on school bullying. This article supports my point of view and helps me to prove some of my arguments.

One of my primary bachelor’s thesis materials was a related professional research paper I found on a medical dissertation website, “Bullying, Psychosocial Adjustment, and Academic Performance in Elementary School ” by Gwen M. Glew, MD; Ming-Yu Fan, PhD; Wayne Katon, MD; Frederick P. Rivara, MD; Mary A. Kernic, PhD, MPH. This was published in 2005. The paper, which was researched by several M.D.’s so it is highly credible. It investigated what factors are associated with school bullying including student achievement, school attendance, statistical data including mean, standard deviation and frequency of demographic variables, and psychosocial variables. The survey showed that the mean achievement scores of groups involved in bullying in school and psychosocial outcomes were lower than those of bystanders. Studies have shown that students with character deficits or extreme insecurity are more likely to engage in bullying. The purpose of the PhDs investigating and studying this is to demonstrate from the data that the role of the bully and the victim in school violence is often not what it appears to be. Many teachers may decide that the student must not do anything to hurt others because of the student’s good grades. In addressing school violence, it is important to find enough evidence before dealing with the bad qualities of the student. In my opinion, this essay brings a different perspective to the various factors of school bullying.

Another article I found on People’s University’s educational website is a “Definition of Bullying” which is an objective article about the types of bullying, which are cyber bullying, physical bullying, emotional bullying, sexual bullying, verbal bullying and higher education bullying. Among the laws, national anti-bullying laws exist in every state, although there are fewer federal laws on school bullying in the United States. Second, the majority of statistically reported bullying occurs in school hallways, stairways, or classrooms.Students may also be bullied because of their appearance, race, gender, or religion. In fact, students who experience bullying are more likely to suffer from depression as it leads to lower self-esteem. This article helped me to better articulate my point of view and gave me a reliable point of information for my article.

Another source I discovered was an article distributed in the New York Times in 2011 called “Two Students Plead Guilty in Bullying of Teenager” by Erik Eckholm, which is an exemplary instance of school tormenting. This harassing case occurred in South Hadley, Massachusetts, where six students tormented and even  sexually assaulted  a girl named Phoebe Prince, prompting the girl suicide in January 2010. Two of the students, Sean Mulveyhill and Kayla Narey, were seriously charged with violating Prince’s civil rights and causing real damage, while three others deal with similar to those for youth offenses. The last student, Austin Renaud, was charged with rape. This case recounts the account of how destructive school bullying can be. In the law, the bullying student is also punished by the law.

In the profile “Beyond the Bullies: Bystanders and Instigators Enable Aggression” by Denise Wolk, published in July 2010, the article presents the views of the author of the case “Two Students Plead Guilty in Bullying of Teenager”. The article obviously communicates the connection between the bystander, the agitator, and the abuser. Furthermore, Denise suggests that “The Phoebe Prince case points out the importance to schools of providing training and support for both school personnel and students to counter bullying and harassment both within and outside of the school. Schools have an ethical and legal responsibility to create safe learning environments.“ The case of Phoebe Prince violated the Civil Rights Act and the Education Amendment,  so they have an obligation to assume liability for their actions.  This article was very helpful in explaining the solution to the “Two Students Plead Guilty in Bullying of Teenager” case and the prevention of bullying inside and outside of schools. The ideas in this article fit well with my arguments, so I think it’s a great resource.

Works Cited:

Erik Eckholm, the New York Times in 2011  “Two Students Plead Guilty in Bullying of Teenager” www.nytimes.com/2011/05/05/us/05bully.html?_r=1&ref=cyberbullying

Denise Wolk, published in July 2010, “Beyond the Bullies: Bystanders and Instigators Enable Aggression”  https://www.hepg.org/blog/beyond-the-bullies-bystanders-and-instigators-enab

Gwen M. Glew, MD; Ming-Yu Fan, PhD; Wayne Katon, MD; Frederick P. Rivara, MD; Mary A. Kernic, PhD, MPH. November 2005 “Bullying, Psychosocial Adjustment, and Academic Performance in Elementary School ” https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapediatrics/article-abstract/486162

Diana Divecha, Greater Good Magazine published in October 2019 “What Are the Best Ways to Prevent Bullying in Schools? A new study identifies the most effective approaches to bullying prevention” https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/what_are_the_best_ways_to_prevent_bullying_in_schools

People’s University’s  “Definition of Bullying” https://www.uopeople.edu/blog/definition-of-bullying/