In this report I will break down each of my sources based on where they were published, how they influence the course of the essay, and the informational value they contribute. I have selected eleven sources in total, five scholarly articles from academic journals, four popular media sources, one government-funded research institute article, and finally one nonprofit/nonpartisan organization source. I ultimately excluded a journal article titled “A pandemic of the poor: social disadvantage and the U.S. HIV epidemic” published in 2013. (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3700367/) While it did focus on the socioeconomic, cultural, and political effects of the HIV epidemic, it failed to provide any evidence relating to crime needed to correlate with the Covid-19 crisis and the objective of my essay.

My first source is my model essay, “Has Covid-19 Changed Crime? Crime Rates in the United States during the Pandemic.” This is a journal article I located by selecting a link in the explore more section of the Gale Academic Onefile while researching another. The format of this essay is very well outlined with an abstract, introduction, two sub sections and a conclusion. I like how clear and easy to follow the article is arranged as well as the information provided corresponding to my topic. Specifically, the idea the authors present that any reported decrease in crime is deceiving as it correlates with minor offenses, leaving space for the notable increase in violent and more severe law-breaking.

“How Are Substance Abuse and Violence Related,” was written by a licensed Psychologist for Psychology Today and located through a google search. The author provides not only relatively well-known data suggesting that alcohol and drug use are linked to violent acts but also brings to light how substances also increase the risk of becoming a victim of violence. In the beginning months of the Coronavirus pandemic, there was a socially acceptable movement of increased alcohol consumption across the country with wine and liquor markets even being deemed essential businesses. It is an interesting perspective to consider; if the lowered inhibitions of our population as a whole contributed to more accessible crime.

Dr. Nora Volkow wrote “Research at the Intersection of HIV with Substance Use Disorders amidst the COVID-19 Pandemic” for the National Institute on Drug Abuse, a federal government research institute. Another media article found in the same focused google search, it offers useful information with statements such as: “there is great opportunity for HIV and addiction researchers to make important advances in understanding how COVID-19 intersects with substance use, the opioid epidemic, and HIV.” The reason this is significant is the ability to parallel the increased crime rates in the late 80’s and early 90’s due to the HIV/AIDS epidemic and those in question now during Covid-19.

“The improbable transformation of inner-city neighborhoods: crime, violence, drugs, and youth in the 1990s,” is another academic journal article located with Gale Academic Onefile. Dating back to 1998 following the height of the HIV and crack cocaine epidemics, I am uncertain whether I will use it or not. Its connection to my essay is marginal with the bulk of the report angled toward the reduction of crime rates in Brooklyn following the eighties and what actions inspired that shift opposed to the increased crime that transpired beforehand. I am open to another more strongly associated article that could replace this one should the essay feel light in this section.

Matthew Ashby penned a research article for a publication called Crime Science in May of 2020 titled, “Initial evidence on the relationship between the coronavirus pandemic and crime in the United States.” It was located by searching the Gale Academic Onefile and focuses on the first 16 weeks of the pandemic. The data collected in this research shows an insignificant change to crime rates during that period; which leads my investigation toward other explanations for the rise in crime statistics shortly after. This aids in transitioning the essay from stay-at-home order substance use into the next possibility of early release inmates impacting misconduct in late spring and early summer.

Another scholarly report found in Onefile was “The effect of prison releases on regional crime rates.” A statistical data report written for Brookings-Wharton Papers on Urban Affairs and is a very thorough assessment of nationally compiled data. It provides an excess of usable information such as, “To summarize the results…releasing prison inmates is associated with increases in crime. We find positive significant effects of prison releases on the overall violent and property crime rates and for most of the individual felony offenses.” However, this study was conducted several years prior to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The ACLU is a national nonprofit organization that defends the civil liberties of the American people. In the article “Decarceration and Crime During Covid-19” published on their website in July of 2020, they offer an opposing view to the previous article. For example, “Over this time period, we found that the reduction in jail population was functionally unrelated to crime trends in the following months. In fact, in nearly every city explored, fewer crimes occurred between March and May in 2020 compared to the same time period in 2019, regardless of the magnitude of the difference in jail population.”  I chose this article to represent a conflicting stance and bridge the third transition in my research essay allowing the third potential factor to be introduced here.

The next three articles are open web sources, two from The New York Times and one from The Huffington Post. “A Violent August in N.Y.C.: Shootings Double, and Murder is Up by 50%,” is a Times article that exposes the “steep rise in gun violence that has intensified the debate over policing,” published in the Race and America section. A feature piece that is meant to stir up emotion and call attention to frightening crime numbers and what could be behind them, it was the article that initially marked my interest in the topic. The information gathered here will help segue into the consideration of recent protests and calls to defund the police being a reason for the reported uptick in crime.

“Don’t Blame BLM For The Rise In Violent Crime. The Real Reason Is Much More Interesting” written for The Huffington Post and “Gun Violence Spikes in N.Y.C., Intensifying Debate Over Policing,” for the Times, both give opposing examples of consequences of defunding the police in the wake of surging activism against police brutality.

Finally, the academic source “To reduce the harm: On defunding the police” published in the Times Literary Supplement this August, is written by Professor of Criminology at Oxford University: Ian Loader. Professor Loader gives a detailed evaluation of the Black Lives Matter Movement and what actions should be taken by law enforcement going forward. He summarizes, “The police can contribute to secure belonging…extending, and experimenting with, deliberative institutions that give Black and minority ethnic groups an equal voice in determining what safety and justice is, and the means by which it is legitimately provided.”

It is here where I will possibly incorporate a not yet secured source on fluctuating crime rates throughout history if the conclusion of my essay requires that kind of supporting information to polish it, although it may not be necessary.

Works Cited

ACLU, “Decarceration and Crime During Covid-19.” American Civil Liberties Union, 27 Jul. 2020, https://www.aclu.org/news/smart-justice/decarceration-and-crime-during-covi19/. Accessed 18 Oct. 2020

Ashby, Matthew P. J. “Initial evidence on the relationship between the coronavirus pandemic and crime in the United States.” Crime Science, vol. 9, no. 1, 2020, p. NA. Gale Academic OneFile, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A624351034/AONE?u=cuny_ccny&sid=AONE&xid=86a8b973. Accessed 11 Oct. 2020.

Boman, John H., and Owen Gallupe, “Has COVID-19 Changed Crime? Crime Rates in the United States during the Pandemic.” Am J Crim Just 45, 537–545 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12103-020-09551-3. Accessed 18, Oct 2020.

Curtis, Richard. “The improbable transformation of inner-city neighborhoods: crime, violence, drugs, and youth in the 1990s.” Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, vol. 88, no. 4, Summer 1998, p. 1233. Gale Academic OneFile, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A54700680/AONE?u=cuny_ccny&sid=AONE&xid=7d939bce. Accessed 18 Oct. 2020.

Hobbs, Michael. “Don’t Blame BLM For The Rise In Violent Crime. The Real Reason Is Much More Interesting.” The Huffington Post, 19 Jul. 2020, https://www.huffpost.com/entry/dont-blame-the-rise-in-violent-crime-on-protesters_n_5f122c8bc5b6cec246c294f3. Accessed 18 Oct. 2020

Loader, Ian. “To reduce the harm: On defunding the police.” TLS. Times Literary Supplement, no. 6124, 2020, p. 10+. Gale Academic OneFile, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A632770147/AONE?u=cuny_ccny&sid=AONE&xid=60d033b4. Accessed 18 Oct. 2020.

NIDA. “Research at the Intersection of HIV with Substance Use Disorders amidst the COVID-19 Pandemic.” National Institute on Drug Abuse, 28 Jul. 2020,   https://www.drugabuse.gov/about-nida/noras-blog/2020/07/research-intersection-hiv-substance-use-disorders-amidst-covid-19-pandemic. Accessed 18 Oct. 2020.

Raphael, Steven, and Michael A. Stoll. “The effect of prison releases on regional crime rates.” Brookings-Wharton Papers on Urban Affairs, Annual 2004, p. 207+. Gale Academic OneFile, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A303451041/AONE?u=cuny_ccny&sid=AONE&xid=1671c8ad. Accessed 18 Oct. 2020.

Southall, Ashley, and Neil MacFarquhar. “Gun Violence Spikes in N.Y.C., Intensifying Debate Over Policing.” The New York Times, Published 23 Jun. 2020, Updated 24, Aug. 2020, https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/23/nyregion/nyc-shootings-surge.html. Accessed 11 Oct. 2020.

Vitelli, Romeo. “How Are Substance Abuse and Violence Related.” Psychology Today, 08 Mar. 2018, https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/media-spotlight/201803/how-are-substance-abuse-and-violence-related. Accessed 18 Oct. 2020.

Zaveri, Mihir. “A Violent August in N.Y.C.: Shootings Double, and Murder is Up by 50%.” The New York Times. 02 Sept. 2020, https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/02/nyregion/nyc-shootings-murders.html. Accessed 11, Oct. 2020.

The last week, we are finalized our research question and start our research with some scholarly sources. Also, I found a scholarly source to model my essay. But this week, I am working with my academic sources and gathering some information as much as I can. Also, I am going through some social media (Facebook, Instagram, Youtube) to find some posts that are related to my topic. 

The first source that I found is “Never go out alone” is published in September 2015. One of the authors is Nichole Branda, who is under the University of Maryland. The authors provided their work citations at the end of the article. That helps us to understand the credibility of the source. I found this article in the gale academic one file that is a great source to find some journal articles. This article provides some information about how girls can reduce the risk of rape or their life by using different methods. This article shares some ideas as girls need to alert of their surroundings when they walk or in a vehicle that supports my thoughts. Another source that I found is “Memory of pictures of sexual assault: Sensitive maintenance of ambiguous stimuli” by Jan Hendrick Peters. It is a reliable source because it is just recently published this year, July 29, 2020. This source is peer-reviewed by the journals or experts in this field. The authors provided their work citations at the end of the article.  The purpose of this article is to inform the audience of how a sexual attack can generate fear in women’s minds. I found this source in the gale academic one file. This article supports my ideas because women have to face so many ambiguous situations that contribute significantly to women’s fear of sexual harassment.

I found a source from the gale academic one file that is about what society thoughts about girls. The name of the source is “Bad girls get raped, good girls go to heaven” by Asante Lucy Mtenje. This article is a great source of gender inequality, culture, religion, family, and other genocide. But this article doesn’t fit the criteria of my research. My research had much to do with how to combat rape. But this article doesn’t have that much information that I can be reliable with it. 

I found another source that is in the gale academic one file. Most of the sources I found from this website. The name of the article is, “They all laughed at me and if I enjoy having sex with those guys” by  Siyabulela Eric Mgolozeli and Sinegugu Evidence Duma. It is a great source and has a lot of information that fits my criteria. This article also provides some good topics such as self-protection from rape and killed, seeking justice, family support, and encouragement. The reason I am confused is that this article is talking about a boy who gets raped. But I think both men and women can get raped. But the methods the article used about how to protect us from being raped or killed. I believe these methods can be used by both men and women. So, I am a little bit confused if I can use this source. 

I start to find some social media posts to add some more information to my research. This week I am working with this but still didn’t find some good sources that fit my criteria. I think social media sources are missing in my research. I am looking for some information about what different NGO’s are doing to stop this crime. 

                                                                 Work Citation

Bedera, Nicole, and Kristjane Nordmeyer. “‘Never Go Out Alone’: An Analysis of College Rape Prevention Tips.” Sexuality and Culture, vol. 19, no. 3, 2015, p. 533+. Gale Academic OneFile, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A423856435/AONE?u=cuny_ccny&sid=AONE&xid=92c7a12e. Accessed 21 Oct. 2020.

Peters, Jan Hendrik, and Michael Hock. “Memory for pictures of sexual assault: Sensitive maintenance of ambiguous stimuli.” PLoS ONE, vol. 15, no. 7, 2020, p. e0236873. Gale Academic OneFile, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A630938579/AONE?u=cuny_ccny&sid=AONE&xid=96990fc9. Accessed 21

Mgolozeli, Siyabulela Eric, and Sinegugu Evidence Duma. “‘They all laughed and asked me if I enjoyed having sex with those guys’: Exploring men’s lived experiences when reporting rape to police in South Africa.” PLoS ONE, vol. 15, no. 8, 2020, p. e0235044. Gale Academic OneFile, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A633157699/AONE?u=cuny_ccny&sid=AONE&xid=9ce25224. Accessed 21 Oct. 2020.

Crowe, Jonathan, and Bri Lee. “THE MISTAKE OF FACT EXCUSE IN QUEENSLAND RAPE LAW: SOME PROBLEMS AND PROPOSALS FOR REFORM.” University of Queensland Law Journal, vol. 39, no. 1, June 2020, p. 1+. Gale Academic OneFile, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A628069869/AONE?u=cuny_ccny&sid=AONE&xid=8ac755e5. Accessed 21 Oct. 2020.

Bedera, Nicole, and Kristjane Nordmeyer. “‘Never Go Out Alone’: An Analysis of College Rape Prevention Tips.” Sexuality and Culture, vol. 19, no. 3, 2015, p. 533+. Gale Academic OneFile, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A423856435/AONE?u=cuny_ccny&sid=AONE&xid=92c7a12e. Accessed 21 Oct. 2020

My sources are found in different sections, some of them are through articles of “Academic One File”, and “Opposing Viewpoints in Context” (from the CCNY page). Others come from other reliable websites. However, all of them are trustworthy because they either are peer-reviewed, authored by scholars, contain a bibliography, or elements of a scholarly source.

I found three popular media sources and six scholarly sources. In the popular media sources of “‘A lack of evidence for six times more anxiety and depression in US graduate students than in the general population” and its “Reply,” they both argue the rate of depression among graduate students, which show an opposite viewpoint, and how each of them uses their resources to support their arguments. Next, ” Depression and College Students” briefly describes the causes and effects of depression among college teens while also including some basic treatments. All these sources can help me support my paper on the topic of depression, some of them contain arguments (opposite views), while others illustrate the concept of depression.

As well, my scholarly sources provide deep knowledge of the issue of anxiety because each of them explains with further detail and shows a specific cause and treatment for each one. The articles ” Suicide and depression among college students: A decade later” and “Depression, Delinquency, and Suicidal Behaviors Among College Students” both show a connection between depression and suicide, which emphasizes that their emotional states influence their behavioral responses. Next, “Behavioral problems and their relationship to maternal depression, marital relationships, social skills and parenting” shows the differences in groups of people from different backgrounds and religions manage the issue differently because of their beliefs and views. While in the article, “The Relationship between Insecure Attachment to Depression: Mediating Role of Sleep and Cognitive Reappraisal” shows a big link between sleep quality and depression. Moreover, there are two other articles written by the same author, which provides causes of depression among college students in ” Depression and Anxiety Among College Students” and the treatments of the subject in “Depression Treatment.” They both have connections to one another and explains the same topic.

A source that I excluded while conducting my research was “Major Depression” (https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/statistics/major-depression.shtml) because it does not clearly relate to my research question. It mainly focuses on depression and its prevalence in the United States but does not provide explanations and connections to the concerns of college students. Next, a source that I am considering to use is “Depression and College Students” (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4527955/) because it links to my research question, but at the same time, I am also thinking about using too many sources, that might cover the same stuff. However, it is a good source because it provides useful data about the problem I am looking for, which is also related to my intended goal. It is reliable because it has been peer-reviewed and contains citations supporting it.

After all, I don’t think I missed anything in my research because I tried to complete my sources at first and to give me a general idea of what I am going to talk about in my paper. Since I like to do things at a stretch to reduce my time next week when I write my first draft, so I think it will be easier to carry all my sources with me now. However, I am considering giving “Depression and College Students” since it would give a lot of information to my audience and to myself while writing the research.

Works Cited

“Depression and College Students.” National Institute of Mental Health, 2012, infocenter.nimh.nih.gov/pubstatic/NIH%2012-4266/NIH%2012-4266.pdf.

Duffy, Meghan, et al. “A lack of evidence for six times more anxiety and depression in US graduate students than in the general population.” Nature Biotechnology, vol. 37, no. 7, 2019, p. 711+. Gale In Context: Opposing Viewpoints, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A592073094/OVIC?u=cuny_ccny&sid=OVIC&xid=4020f821. Accessed 24 Oct. 2020.

Evans, Teresa M., et al. “Reply to ‘A lack of evidence for six times more anxiety and depression in US graduate students than in the general population’.” Nature Biotechnology, vol. 37, no. 7, 2019, p. 712+. Gale In Context: Opposing Viewpoints, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A592073095/OVIC?u=cuny_ccny&sid=OVIC&xid=244b0822. Accessed 24 Oct. 2020.

Furr, Susan R., et al. Suicide and Depression among College Students: A Decade Later. 2001, psycnet.apa.org/record/2001-16220-015.

Liu, Yige, et al. “The Relationship between Insecure Attachment to Depression: Mediating Role of Sleep and Cognitive Reappraisal.” Neural Plasticity, 2020, p. NA. Gale Academic OneFile, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A624880387/AONE?u=cuny_ccny&sid=AONE&xid=ca1624b2. Accessed 24 Oct. 2020.

Jeglic, Elizabeth L. “Depression, Delinquency, and Suicidal Behaviors Among College Students.” Crisis, 1 Jan. 2014, econtent.hogrefe.com/doi/abs/10.1027/0227-5910/a000226?journalCode=cri.

Each of my sources gathered have something that they bring to the table. The one I am using as my model is the article by National Geographic, as it clearly explains a breakdown of the issue, explaining what it is, how it works, and how we can fix it. I knew that National Geographic covered issues such as these and is extremely credible. The other sources took longer to find and make sure were from valid sources. The first source I will talk about next is coming from the Marine Debris Program which is a federal US government department which are the lead for addressing Marine Debris. Within their article they have two important sections that I will focus on when using this as a source. One being the impact on the environment and the second being the only viable solution experts believe exists. The MDP as well as the National Geographic both suggest that cleaning up the patch with nets and ships will take too long, cost a fortune, and be extremely tedious with some of the plastic being 5mm small. They suggest that instead the best way to clean up the patch is to prevent more plastic from coastlines and shores from joining the patch. The next source I have is an article published by Nature Communications titled “River plastic emissions to the world’s oceans”. It focuses on Rivers as being a source of plastic emissions into oceans and into the Pacific Garbage patch. At first, I was unsure of using this as a source however it brings up the importance of looking not only to the coastlines but to the rivers as well. It acts as further proof that pollution no matter what kind is connected. Factories pollute rivers and the air, which in turns pollutes rainfall, air and the oceans. The targeted audience of my paper must understand that the problem goes beyond the Pacific Garbage Patch and it is much more spread out than most might think. My next source is from Ocean’s cleanup which is a non-profit organization that works on technologies to rid the world’s oceans of plastic. From their breakdown of the Pacific Garbage patch I found a few of my sources. However, I unsure if I will end up using this article as a proper source as it is mostly a breakdown of the company’s studies and conclusions. Which basically cover the contents of said patch such as the mega plastics and categorizes them. The only part of this article I am considering using is their section on effects on marine life and human society. This part might be crucial in showing my audience the effect to which this can and does affect their lives, however I am still deliberating on it. A source I decided to remove is an article by the magazine Discover which doesn’t really bring anything new I would want into my paper. The only thing I found I would want more information on would be the impact on humans and the focus on the major source of garbage in the Eastern patch being the United States. The Great Patch is technical two parts on either side of Hawaii the bigger one being the one on the East side. I may focus more on that side during my paper, so I may want to look more into that. But this source didn’t provide me with enough credible evidence to base that on. So, I am no longer using it. The next 2 and last sources I will be using come from a website called Nature.com which is the world’s leading multidisciplinary science journal containing reports, journals, and articles from credible sources that have been working since 1869. The first one of them covers new information gathered in 2020, focusing on the plastic fallout that is now starting to vertically transfer to the underlying sea from the patch. The second one is from 2018 focusing on the continuous accumulation of plastic by the patch that is still only increasing. These are important sources for me to use in my paper to show that the issue is ongoing and is only getting worse. What I can conclude from writing this report on research progress is that I want to look into the impact the patch has on human society, and possibly have that as a section of my paper.
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
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
Merel Kooi, et al., “The effect of particle properties on the depth profile of buoyant plastics in the ocean,” Scientific Reports 92, 1-2 (March 2015): 170-179, http://doi.org/10.1038/srep33882
OR&R’s Marine Debris Division “Garbage Patches” Last edit was 10/18/20th https://marinedebris.noaa.gov/info/patch.html

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

As the years go by, a social issue that has been a point of reference in many confrontations is discrimination, whether for religion, beliefs, appearance, race, gender, or anything else that makes a person feel inferior. In this case, I would focus on women’s discrimination in the workplace ambits and how it is influenced by other forces such as social norms, stereotypes, and culture. During WWI, the United States Employment Service published a list of “suitable work” for women to fulfill the country’s necessities during wartime. During the next few years, women continue doing men labor while they were at war but not receiving the same pay. In 1918 the National War Labor Board suggested that because women were doing the same job as men ordinally do, they should be allowed to receive equal pay, but after the war, the demand for equal pay loses steam. 

I don’t want people to think that I want to write my essay about this topic for the simple reason that I’m a woman disadvantaged in a world ruled by men. I want people to understand that I cared about this social issue, and I want a change. 

In the article “Relevance of Equal Pay Day In the Midst Of COVID-19” by Forbes Magazine, the author how our world changed drastically in the last few months, focusing on the relevance of equal pay for equal work [From Home] in this article, the author studies a recent survey made to 1,500+ U.S. Workers impacted by remote work. This survey highlights the pay gap that exists between full-time remote father and full-time remote mothers. Where men usually earn three times more likely to earn a higher salary than a woman. The world is living one of the worst crises, economically and socially. Parents make the best to educate their children, but living in a world where people support more than one gender because of social standards and stereotypes would not make the world better. Having a better understanding of what equal pay means admitting that they are wrong with the system we all are accustomed to seeing. But, doing nothing is giving your back to a chance of hope and expectation of a new future. 

Because I recently change my topic, I haven’t read a specific amount of sources that can help me, but I checked in the library. It seems that it is a pretty good material to work with. I hope that I’ll have time to go over during the weekend t and then outcomes with my specific sources for this assignment. 

The intended audience for my essay is young adults, males, and females. As the next generation, we have in our hands the direction to change the course of this country. It is time to change old stigmas and stereotypes that our ancestors created and start creating a whole new universe of understanding and equity. For this essay, I would use as my model essay an article called “The State Of Gender Pay Gap in 2020.” Because I think it fulfills and touches all the essay requirements, such as an in-depth analysis of data and sources. https://www.payscale.com/data/gender-pay-gap

Bibliography: 

https://time.com/3774661/equal-pay-history/

https://www.forbes.com/sites/hvmacarthur/2020/03/31/relevance-of-equal-pay-day-in-the-midst-of-covid-19/#2208adf8da0d

https://www.ncsl.org/research/labor-and-employment/the-current-state-of-equal-pay-laws.aspx

https://news.un.org/en/story/2020/09/1072722

Each of my sources was found when I found an article stating the different reasons (policy reasons) why there is a significant wealth gap between white and black Americans. They stated key words such as, “The New Deal”, “GI Bill”, “Slavery”, “Discrimination”, etc. Using these keywords, I connected them to something along the lines of, “how it influenced the racial wealth gap”. I first searched on JSTOR, Gale Academics, and Google Scholar. If I couldn’t find a source, I would search it up under the popular media source category. The sources are going to come together to support my idea of how there are policies that the US government passed that hindered black American’s growth in wealth. Starting from the beginning of American history, my sources explain the impact of slavery and discrimination and how it hindered black American’s growth. There is also the GI Bill and how it was not beneficial to black Americans and they weren’t able to pursue a good or higher education, which is another factor that prevents them to go higher in their socioeconomic status. Another source explains how the New Deal was discriminating and it helped white Americans more than black Americans during the Great Depression. There was also redlining which was when the banks would avoid investments and it impacted the dominant black American neighborhoods. There are also sources about current policies where there is racial unequal taxation. My source about the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) would be my counterargument. It explains how there are current policies that are implemented to prevent the racial wealth gap. Medical care is not available to the lower socioeconomic group (which is mainly black Americans) because medical care is expensive. If the people in this socioeconomic class were to receive medical treatment, they would be in enormous debt, thus, preventing them from doing well economically. All my sources are going to be in chronological order and the historical and current policies are going to connect together to support the idea of why there is a wealth gap between the 2 races.

The sources that I have compiled so far are credible, the scholarly sources are from Gale Academics and JSTOR, they are also peer-reviewed. As for my popular media sources, they all have secondary sources to back up their article. Furthermore, one of them discusses how the New Deal and how it impacted African Americans in a historical way, Therefore, I believe they are credible.

When I was typing my research proposal, I wanted to have all my sources ready, therefore, I’ve completed my research for my sources. While researching, the sources that I have discarded any sources that don’t go in-depth with the historical and current policies that influence the racial wealth gap, because it wouldn’t be beneficial for my essay that needs to go more in-depth with the reason why and how these policies cause the wealth gap.  There is still, however, one source that I am still debating about, whether or not I should utilize it. The article, “Examining the Black-white wealth gap” by Kriston Mcintosh, Emily Moss, Ryan Nunn, and Jay Shambaugh (URL: https://www.brookings.edu/blog/up-front/2020/02/27/examining-the-black-white-wealth-gap/), although it briefly discusses the reason why there is a racial wealth gap by referencing the historical policies that contribute to it. They also give several statistics about the current racial wealth gap, however, they do not discuss in-depth about the policies. I was debating if I should use this source as an introduction to my research essay as a way to give background by giving statistics.

Bibliography:

Popular media Sources: 

Schermerhorn, Calvin. “Why the Racial Wealth Gap Persists, More than 150 Years after Emancipation.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 19 June 2019, www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2019/06/19/why-racial-wealth-gap-persists-more-than-years-after-emancipation/.

“African Americans and the New Deal.” Digital History, www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/disp_textbook.cfm?smtID=2.

Blumberg, Yoni. “Obamacare Helps Save Low-Income People from Losing Their Homes, Study Shows.” CNBC, CNBC, 29 Jan. 2019, www.cnbc.com/2019/01/29/obamacare-helps-save-low-income-people-from-losing-homes-study-shows.html.

Austin, Algernon. “Obamacare Reduces Racial Disparities in Health Coverage.” Center for Global Policy Solutions, globalpolicysolutions.org/resources/obamacare-reduces-racial-disparities-in-health-coverage/.

Scholarly Sources:

Herbold, Hilary. “Never a Level Playing Field: Blacks and the GI Bill.” The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education, no. 6, 1994, pp. 104–108. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/2962479. Accessed 19 Oct. 2020.

Scheper, Jeanne. “Mortgaged minds: faculty-in-debt and redlining higher education.” Radical Teacher, no. 107, Winter 2017, p. 32+. Gale Academic OneFile, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A496085867/AONE?u=cuny_ccny&sid=AONE&xid=e5f883c0. Accessed 19 Oct. 2020.

O’Connell, Heather A. “The impact of slavery on racial inequality in poverty in the contemporary U.S. South.” Social Forces, vol. 90, no. 3, 2012, p. 713+. Gale Academic OneFile, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A294505509/AONE u=cuny_ccny&sid=AONE&xid=24b33315. Accessed 19 Oct. 2020.

 Palma Joy Strand and Nicholas A. Mirkay, Racialized Tax Inequity: Wealth, Racism, And The U.S. System of Taxation, 15 Nw. J. L. & Soc. Pol’y. 265 (2020). https://scholarlycommons.law.northwestern.edu/njlsp/vol15/iss3/1

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.