My research question will be “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?”.

This question interests me because it talks about transgressions that are threatening the lives of indigenous communities living in the Amazon. This question will help me explore the current effects of these illegal activities on indigenous tribes living in the Amazon as well as any future repercussions they may suffer if these illegal activities were to continue. Apart from the environmental effects caused, I also plan on writing about the ‘war for survival’ by indigenous tribes against invading loggers, miners, and farmers as another effect. This question will also help me address public policies that help protect indigenous tribes and their lands and those that lack effort in fighting to solve this problem and in enforcing them.

By the end of next week, I should have all of my scholarly sources. I need to do more research on ways the governments can improve on protecting indigenous tribes, their lands, and those who protect the rainforest.

The intended audience for my essay is people who don’t understand the impact logging, mining, and farming has on indigenous communities and/or those who don’t believe these illegal activities affect them. I want to change their perspective and inform my audience on the severe consequences these actions have on native tribes who live in the Amazon. I’ve chosen this model essay called “Effects of Deforestations” by Pachamama Alliance (https://www.pachamama.org/effects-of-deforestation) to model my essay after because I want to structure my essay in a way that my audience won’t have a problem following. I will begin with explaining the causes of illegal logging, mining, and farming, as well as the effects it has on the Amazon which, in turn, affect indigenous communities who depend on the rainforest to survive. I will then follow with writing about the ‘war for survival’ which indigenous warriors have found themselves being forced to fight against invaders (illegal loggers, miners, and farmers) in order to defend their lands. I then plan on finishing off with different plans of action governments can implement to help make a change and solve this issue.

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.

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

I ended up choosing this question with the help of the professor. I knew I wanted to analyze how our local government either criminalizes or uplifts our homeless population. This question allows me to examine how the local government affects our homeless population in terms of criminal justice, education, accessibility to resources, etc.  I have seen homeless people all around the world, from California to China, Philadelphia to the Philippines, New Jersey to Nicaragua, and so on. I personally know people that have been homeless at some points in their life. My mother and father included. We, as a society, have grown so comfortable with this issue, it has become an acceptable injustice. I believe this topic is important as it is our duty as humans to be there for one another and improve the quality of life for people who are struggling. Because of the prevalence of this issue, although my essay will be specific to New York City, I am sure one can apply my findings to other homeless communities throughout the country. Even throughout the world.

My audience are New York Citizens and representatives in our local government. I want to inform fellow members of my community. If one is aware of how the local government is or is not improving the predicament of this vulnerable population, one can better understand what needs to be done and start doing what they can to advocate for any changes necessary. Or even be the change themselves. This can also enable local representatives to be more vigilant when it comes to solving this issue in our city. There needs to be a shift in how we view homeless people, this essay will do just that.  I plan on having a more extensive list of secondary sources, as well as a completed outline with some content in each section, by Friday. This also means I will have completed research for my secondary sources by Friday. I hope to have a completed first draft by next week Friday. 

MODEL ESSAY: https://ny.curbed.com/2020/2/25/21146143/homelessness-new-york-city-how-to-fix 

I feel like this essay is appropriate as a model for my own essay. This is because there is a relevant picture shown which I want to include. Also, the organization of each sector in this essay makes sense and I can envision what titles I will give my own portions. The title of this essay is a question, which I want to replicate for my own essay. This model essay is over 1500 words, is related to my topic, and includes secondary sources. Thus, conforming with the requirements for our model essay.

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. 

Question: What are the social and psychological effects of rape culture on victims and how can our society help to limit these consequences?

Model Essay: “Sexual assault and posttraumatic stress disorder: A review of the biological, psychological and sociological factors and treatments” by Kaitlin A. Chivers-Wilson.
(https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2323517/)
I want my paper to highlight the effects rape has on victimes and how we can help to stop it. Others might forget it after few weeks or months, but the victim suffers from this for the rest of their life. Growing up I was used to seeing parents including mine being overprotective about their girls even though I did not know the reason behind it. As a kid it seemed like a part of our culture to me until I witnessed people getting harassed right in front of me. It is rare for a girl to not get harassed in those societies if she is out all by herself espacially if its night. Parents are constantly in fear for their daughters which leads them into being very controlling. Girls are always required to dress a curtain way, go out with a reliable person, get home earl, etc. Whereas most guys are free to go anywhere, anytime without having to fear about getting raped. Even though it is rare there are boys who were sexually harassed and majority of the time it is by the male population. “He was allegedly raped by his teacher, Alauddin, the principal of the madrasa.” (Md Shahnawaz Khan Chandan) The society protests for it for a short amount of time but the victim suffers from both mental and physical pain for a very long time which includes getting flashbacks, nightmares, depression, guilt, shame, self-blaming, anger, numbness, confusion, shock, disbelief, low self- esteem, physical injury and many more. Our society is very much involved in making it worse for the survivors. Blaming the victims is one of the biggest issues. Rather than acknowledging the crime a rapist commits, many people of our society will blame the female for the way she dresses, or where she was. Which gives the rapists a huge amount of support. Tolerance of sexual harassment, defining manhood as dominant, assuming that men don’t get raped are some of the example of rape culture. Parents needs to teach their kids about sexual harassment from a younger age and also learn to treat their kids equally, which will help them understand each others value.
The audience for my paper is the people who supports human rights. It is for people to understand the value of speaking up and not tolerating any type of offensive jokes and to be able to make a change. From this article, I want people to understand the situation victims go through and help them to try and live a better life. They will also be informed about the actions that they can take to reduce rape in their society.

Timeline: I will need the next week to do further research for my secondary sources to find more information about different ways to support survivors and shut down the supporters of rape culture.

The model essay I have chosen for my research question is “Sexual assault and posttraumatic stress disorder: A review of the biological, psychological and sociological factors and treatments” by McGill University. This essay is about the effects of rape which is similar to my essay. It consists many effects that rape causes. However, I have to do more research on how it can be handled and also different ways to decrease the rape rate.

Bibliography:
Chivers-Wilson, Kaitlin A. “Sexual Assault and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: a Review of the Biological, Psychological and Sociological Factors and Treatments.” McGill Journal of Medicine : MJM : an International Forum for the Advancement of Medical Sciences by Students, McGill University, July 2006, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2323517/.

Chandan, Md Shahnawaz Khan. “Abuse behind the Closed Doors of Madrasas.” The Daily Star, 18 Apr. 2019, www.thedailystar.net/star-weekend/education/news/abuse-behind-the-closed-doors-madrasas-1731775.

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

“Rape Culture.” Womens Center, www.marshall.edu/wcenter/sexual-assault/rape-culture/.

Name of publication: The effectiveness of the broken window policing in the community.

Model Essay: https://cebcp.org/evidence-based-policing/what-works-in-policing/research-evidence-review/broken-windows-policing/

My new research question will be how effective is broken window policing in the community. I didn’t know that there was a broken windows theory at all before until I saw feedback talking about it as a suggestion. The first research question was about defunding the police which was too new of a topic to find a lot of sources on so taking from the suggestion I started researching about broken windows theory. Broken windows theory is basically an idea that if a disorder is seen or begins somehow, the neighborhood will begin to spiral out of control and lead to bigger crimes. Think, the butterfly effect, one small thing can lead to much bigger reactions. Sights of graffiti, drug use, trash everywhere will lead the neighborhood to take on a sign that it is uncared for and unwatched which leads the people living in it to do crimes. I am very interested in this topic because it just seems so interesting to me that there exists this type of theory that makes quite a lot of sense to me and it’s very relevant to social actions as well. The reason for the question of how effective the broken windows theory worked is due to a couple of tests from the articles I found. People questioned its effectiveness when comparing it to other communities that don’t have the broken window policing. At first, it worked like a charm, crime rates dropped significantly from the actions the police took notice of which is the small crimes, littering, graffiti, and such. But then people turned their heads towards other communities without this policing in place, some had the largest arrests on minor crimes and yet they also had such a large drop in violent crime. So, did the broken window theory work as intended and effectively, or was it not necessary in the first place. my audience includes the communities where crime rates are high, the communities that have tons of small crimes, and those that want to learn more about the types of policing.
I had sources that talk about defunding the police but I couldn’t use those anymore.
The first part of my essay will be talking about what the broken window theory is coupled with examples of the experiments for the theory then it will be on how effective the theory is on the community. Next, I’ll write about other communities that have around the same crime rate drop but without the broken window policing and how it is possible or how it had achieved that effect. Finally, I will write about other views on the theory.

Works cited-

“Broken Windows Policing.” The Center for Evidence-Based Crime Policy (CEBCP), cebcp.org/evidence-based-policing/what-works-in-policing/research-evidence-review/broken-windows-policing/.

Broken Windows Theory. www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/broken-windows-theory.

Lough, Todd. “Community Policing: Broken Windows, Community Building, and Satisfaction with the Police.” CORE, 2007, core.ac.uk/reader/48605416.

Vedantam, Shankar, et al. “How A Theory Of Crime And Policing Was Born, And Went Terribly Wrong.” NPR, NPR, 1 Nov. 2016, www.npr.org/2016/11/01/500104506/broken-windows-policing-and-the-origins-of-stop-and-frisk-and-how-it-went-wrong.

Considering the feedback I got for my Topic Reflection, I decided to narrow my question down to “What are the social and psychological effects of excessive social media use on adolescents?”. After careful consideration of the research reflection, I found it important to research about the social and psychological effects of extreme use of social media by adolescents. As I stated in my topic reflection, younger generations are using social media drastically more in the last decade. Such situations have caused many emotional issues in adolescents and made them more insecure, anti-social, and addicted to the internet. This question interests me because I feel like younger people are living in a fake world and the internet is tricking them to believe everything they see. I personally see the impact social media has on me. When I watch a sad video, it impacts my mood and I think about that all day. When I see an ad for some food, I want to buy it. It is simply addictive. However, as I mentioned in my topic reflection, the documentary “The Social Dilemma” has influenced me to rethink the usage of social media. The documentary shows the visual description of how addictive and manipulated the internet can be, and how people of my age are being tricked and controlled by big tech companies. A large population of people urgently trying to get “likes” is young teenagers. The fact that young people are anxious about how many people “like” their Instagram post, is terrifying. 

Timeline: In the next two weeks, I will have completed my research for secondary sources, so I have this week and the other to research more about the impact of social media on adolescents. I also found some additional articles that I will include in my bibliography for further use. 

My intended audience is mostly young adolescents age 12-17 since they are mostly from the point of view and are newly introduced to the internet. I want to be a resource for them to reduce their amount of internet usage. I want to introduce new ideas and reflect new perspectives on the negative impact of social media on teenagers with my research. For this essay, I decided to use two modal essays that resonate with my research topic. 

My paper will be modeling the article/study report called ”The Psychological Effects of Social Media on Teens” published by Newport Academy. Such an essay is related to my topic since it explains the psychological effect of social media such as sleep deprivation, lack of physical activity, and cyberbullying. This article displays a study report of 13,000 teens over three years of social media usage. They also self-reported that there were mood swings, anxiety, depression, etc. It also points out how cyberbullying is a lead cause of anxiety, depression, loneliness, suicide, and depression of adolescents. 

Bibliography:

Minow, Nell. “The Social Dilemma: Review”. Roger Ebert Publications. September 8, 2020. https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-social-dilemma-movie-review-2020

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

QUESTION: How has the #BlackLivesMatter movement influenced public policy, and how has it been impacted by different factors in America?

PUBLICATION: Portland State University

ESSAY MODEL: “#BlackLivesMatter: This Generation’s Civil Rights Movement” By Tanika Siscoe

https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1327&context=honorstheses

As I stated in my topic reflection #BlackLivesMatter has always been a topic that I am constantly thinking about. This year in particular I have taken an extensive amount of time trying to educate myself and trying to spread awareness about different topics. For my essay I chose the question, “How has the #BlackLivesMattermovement influenced public policy, and how has it been impacted by different factors in America?”. I was given the suggestion to try and combine all of my questions into one. However, I still wanted to explore the idea of how the movement has been influenced by America instead of only the other way around. I wanted to be able to do more research on how #AllLivesMatter has tried to combat the movement and why people believe this in the first place.

Although the death of Trayvon Martin sparked the idea of #BlackLivesMatter, police brutality, or brutality against the black community in general, was nothing new. The lack of equality for people of color has been a problem for as long as e can remember. Even though the Civil Rights Act was a huge accomplishment for the black community, with the amount of systemic racism and hate crimes against the people, it seems as though the government is always 10 steps ahead. This is why #BlackLivesMatter is such an important movement. It brings awareness to the injustice the country faces. By making others aware, especially those who are not people of color, it is easier to bring about change. When more people of different races, religions, sexualities, and genders, come together as one the leaders of this country could finally realize how important this matter is.

For this essay, I plan to pace myself and really take the time to read through each of my sources and make note of anything I can possibly add to support my research question. This week I want to look for more sources and read through some cases involving police brutality. I would like to create a timeline for myself which includes important dates and accomplishments the movement has brought about. I also want to conduct more research on AllLivesMatter and try to find out who started that and how it has influenced the movement. During Donald Trump’s presidency, the number of hate crimes has risen, I would like to try and include this in my essay and acknowledge the connection between racism in America and the president. I feel like there are many factors I can include in my essay. In the end, I would like my essay to be able to persuade my audience (those who are not educated on the topic enough to be in support of the movement) to want to be apart of this and recognize that change is needed.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

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/.

Question: How do the conditions of the foster care system in the United States influence adverse behavior among foster youth?

Originally, my research question addressed the negligence of foster kids in relation to drug abuse and homelessness, however this new research question tackles the situations foster kids undergo along with the effects it has on future behavior. This research question interests me because there are numerous children, including individuals I’ve crossed paths with, who’ve suffered through terrible predicaments due to the poor conditions they’re placed in. Not only have these circumstances endangered their well being, but it has also impacted their psychological state. This is an important social issue because it occurs to various foster kids that are not only mistreated while under the care of the system, but are also thrown into the real world without any guarantee that they’ll survive. Kids are given to foster families with abusive tendencies. Once they age out, they’re released with no social skills, no connections, no survival skills, and with no support. How are adults with no experience of living outside the system, supposed to thrive? It’s important to take notice of individuals that aren’t offered the same privileges as others, that are expected to survive without family support or reassurance. Most individuals that age out, become victims of sex trafficking, are unemployed, convicted, pregnant, or never get the chance to earn a college degree.

The target audiences are social services, the Department of Child Protective Services or Human Services, even previous foster care kids. By correlating the conditions in foster care systems to the behavioral effect it has on the kids, it brings light to the way these services are handling the situations. The only way to make a change to the way things are being run, is to address it to those in charge. By also targeting the past foster kids, it might encourage them to also speak up about the situations they experienced and how it impacted their behavior. 

Model Essay: Ferrara, Pietro, et al. “Foster Care: A Fragile Reality Needing Social Attention, and Economic Investments.” Redirecting, EUROPEAN PAEDIATRIC ASSOCIATION PAGES, 1 June 2016, doi.org/10.1016/j.jpeds.2016.02.036

The reason for choosing this model essay is because I want to follow a similar idea for my research-based essay. Starting off with a summary of what the research will be based on and why it’s an important social issue. Along with that it will have subtitles to highlight what the following paragraphs will be addressing. It will consist of a summary, then the situations the foster kids face within the system, followed by the impact it has on their behavior, and concluding with how their influenced behavior led to struggles outside of the system. As for sources, most secondary sources have already been gathered relating to situations within the system and outside. However, I have to do a bit more research on the behavioral aspects. Despite that, I have a clear idea of how I will approach this research-based essay.

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

Question: Is the government’s requirement for people to wear masks a violation of human rights?

Model Essay: “A New perspective on Gun Control,” By Aristotle Aung

A New Perspective on Gun Control

In the beginning when trying to make a decision to choose a question to focus on I found myself constantly thinking about this specific question. Personally, my life has been impacted severely by the pandemic, this is the first time remote learning is introduced to me and personally adjusting to school at home has been difficult due to several factors. Due to the huge impact, the pandemic caused it changed many people’s lives economically, socially, and even politically. Due to the long duration of quarantine people are becoming restless due to frustration, income lost, and many other reasons. These people have been going into the streets protesting for the release of the lockdown. While educating myself on this situation I found it kind of unique. Everyone knows the purpose of the lockdown but protestors are now saying that the lockdown and quarantine are a violation of their human rights and is socially unjust. Many people are speculating and debating whether or not the requirement for facial covering in public areas is truly necessary. There are also people who are beginning to claim that masks are useless and do not prevent the spread of the virus and that the government is simply violating people’s human rights by creating the hoax that masks prevent the spread of diseases. Even our president, Donald Trump, is making outrageous claims on the usage of masks and the necessity of them. Due to this reason, people are protesting against their government so that quarantine may be lifted. I on the other hand wonders if this is truly an example of social injustice. When writing about how this event affects people I will look for secondary sources to find people’s experience regarding the pandemic and their opinion on whether or not the policies the government made for this pandemic are socially unjust or not. The intended audience I am trying to focus on is the people who are currently stuck in quarantine or lives which have been severely impacted both negatively or otherwise by the pandemic. The reason why I am targeting this specific group is that I have personally been affected a lot because of Coronavirus and by writing this essay I hope I can reach out to other people who are experiencing the same problems and going through the same thought process during the quarantine and help people understand the situation we are currently in and whether or not our social rights are being violated. The model essay I will be using will be “A New Perspective on Gun Control,” by Aristotle Aung. I really like the way the author structured their essay, for me it really elaborate and precise, and straightforward, the author addresses the issue, elaborates on it, and further expands on their idea through the implementation of their sources which leads to a clear conclusion. While writing my own essay I hope I can also structure it similarly to Aristotle Aung so I can make sure my points are clear and precise.

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/.

So my original research question was “What causes school shootings, and how is this linked to the education system and social media?” my idea was to go from the rhetorical analysis essay into more issues regarding young adult death such as school shootings and how they are all linked. However, I could not find any credible source that would provide a decent essay model to go off that talked about how the education system in this country is also a relevant factor when it comes to school shootings and suicide. Which was honestly very strange to me, considering how many students are in depression (mostly because of the school system and the environment, rather than bullying, not to exclude that as also a relevant and important factor). Besides the point I decided to revisit some other issues I was interested in. So, my question is “How can Marine Pollution be prevented, what causes it, and how does it affect our environment?”. I chose this topic that for a long time now Marine Pollution was something that has been bothering me. There is a 20+ long island of garbage that is in the Pacific Ocean that has been growing at a steady pace over the last decade. It is now bigger than Manhattan and is continuously growing. Earth has been dying slowly over the past couple of centuries, issues like Global Warming, and Green House Gases are leaving our planet in a wreck. Its all because of the way we treat it. I want to break down one of the worst ways we do so. Garbage Pollution. So, it is my goal during this paper to reiterate the facts and opinions of professionals to raise awareness and thoroughly explain the topic.

My paper will be modeling the article/encyclopedia entry published by National Geographic on July 5th, 2019 called “Great Pacific Garbage Patch”. The reason I chose this entry/article is because it is almost the perfect breakdown of the issue, explaining what it is, how it works, and how we can fix it. The model essay used the information gathered by National Geographic’s experts and teams as credible information to present this issue to the world, so more people are aware of it. This article will help me structure and write my paper, with a lot of other articles acting as secondary sources that I will analyze to break down the issue even more. Going into as much detail as possible. The targeted audience of this research paper will be people who are unaware of this issue. Surprisingly despite its massive size very few people know about it or bring it up when talking about the state of the environment. So, the purpose of this paper would be to spread awareness regarding the garbage patch providing different perspectives, statistical analysis, and ways people can help. Furthermore, there are also people that may have heard about this issue and are trying to learn more because they see that action needs to be taken to help our planet.
Model Article/Entry: https://www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/great-pacific-garbage-patch/
Works Cited:
Lebreton, L., Slat, B., Ferrari, F. et al. Evidence that the Great Pacific Garbage Patch is rapidly accumulating plastic. Sci Rep 8, 4666 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-22939-w
Egger, M., Sulu-Gambari, F. & Lebreton, L. First evidence of plastic fallout from the North Pacific Garbage Patch. Sci Rep 10, 7495 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-64465-8
Thomas M. Kostigen Discover “The World’s Largest Dump: The Great Pacific Garbage Patch” July 9, 2008 8:00 PM https://www.discovermagazine.com/environment/the-worlds-largest-dump-the-great-pacific-garbage-patch
https://theoceancleanup.com/great-pacific-garbage-patch/
Laurent C. M. Lebreton, et al., “River plastic emissions to the world’s oceans,” Nature Communications 8, no. 15611 (June 2017), http://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms15611
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OR&R’s Marine Debris Division “Garbage Patches” Last edit was 10/18/20th https://marinedebris.noaa.gov/info/patch.html

Question: How can we improve the quality of the education system?

Publication name: Inside Higher Ed

Model essay: Bok, Derek. “Inside Higher Ed.” How to Improve the Quality of Higher Education (Essay), 2017, www.insidehighered.com/views/2017/09/21/how-improve-quality-higher-education-essay. 

This is my research topic because this question initially interested me since this was a similar topic for my last essay and I wanted to research more about it. This is an important social issue because I feel like there are a lot of things wrong with the quality of the education system. I want to understand ways to improve this system so that students can have a successful future and learn effectively. I can relate to this social issue because I’ve also experienced some of the flaws of the system such as having teachers that aren’t professional or aren’t dedicated to teaching students. There are other major issues such as defining grades to be the most important thing in life. I feel like students need to have a balance between their studies and what they do in their free time. This creates some sort of pressure for students to succeed and have high expectations for them. Furthermore, I believe that the method the system implements isn’t ideal since it mostly deals with memorization of a subject rather than a hands-on approach which I feel like should be how the system teaches. I feel that people need to be conscious of this situation especially parents because it is the foundation of nurturing young children into becoming successful in the future. For the growth and development of the students, a flawed system would not be desirable because it would negatively impact them in the future. Students often tend not to study properly in the classroom and doing a lot of homework can have a negative effect on them as it can put pressure on them. This kind of expectation can potentially result in depression and hopelessness. I believe it needs to be more lenient on the students and implement better teaching methods. The education system needs its attention on its students rather than trying to teach every student the same method because every student learns and adapts to material differently. I conclude that students need to be more lenient and adopt improved methods of teaching. Instead of attempting to teach each student the same methodology, the education system needs its emphasis on its students because each student learns and adapts differently to content.

The model essay I chose was  “How to Improve the Quality of Higher Education” published by Inside Higher Ed. This relates to my research because it addresses the issues within the quality education system and potential solutions on how to fix the quality of it. The model essay uses studies to observe how students are performing at a higher education.  Furthermore, the essay conducts its own research on how to improve the quality of education and increase the number of students who completed their education. This essay would help me craft some ideas revolving around my question. My audience would be mainly educators since they are mainly in charge of ensuring the education of students. They need to understand possible solutions in improving the quality of American education so the students can be nurtured well and not fall victim of the flaws of the system such as being pressured to perform well due to the certain expectations it has. I plan to complete my research for my secondary sources by the end of the week.

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.