Final Paper

(150 points)

PROMPT AVAILABLE: Monday November 25^th
ONLINE VERSION DUE: Monday December 2nd , 9:30am (or 11:45am)
FINAL HARDCOPY VERSION DUE: Wednesday December 4^th, 5:00pm
FINAL REVISIONS TO ONLINE VERSION: Monday December 9^th, 5:00pm

Objective: To critically examine the imbrications of gender, race and LGBT rights in the modern era.

One of the key features in the writing process is revision. I would like you to take one of your previously written papers (see #1, #2,or #3) and revise and extend it to be a 6-8 page (1500-2000 word) essay which includes multiple concepts from the class.

In particular, as you again respond to the particular prompt of the paper you have chosen to revise, make sure that your analysis includes references to at least FOUR of the following course themes:

q       Hybridity

q       Intersectionality

q       Citizenship/Legitimacy

q       Law as a social construction

q       Historical events affecting the LGBT community

q       Marriage (interracial, same-sex, as an institution which produces and reduces rights)

q       Social Construction (of Race, Gender, Sexuality, etc)

q       Binary Oppositions (and Liminality)

q       Constitutional jurisprudence (fundamental rights, strict scrutiny, rational basis, suspect classifications)

q       Contemporary LGBT rights controversies during (and with) the Obama Administration

q       Identity Politics/essentialism

q       The salience of social media and other web 2.0 tools  (in the context of social justice/ contemporary civil rights struggles)

Your paper should be published online (to your blog with a #CSP6 course blog post linking to your paper) by 11:45am (or 9:35am) on Monday December 2nd to allow other students to read and comment on your paper, which you can then include in the final version of your paper (and online assignment). The point is to use other students' ideas and comments in your work to demonstrate the nature of hypertext and the notion that students can both produce and consume knowledge.

Assignments which take greater advantage of the online medium (links, color, images, etc) will be evaluated more highly.

Your essay must have a clear, well-written thesis and be analytic, not merely descriptive.

REMINDERS
0) YOUR NAME SHOULD APPEAR NOWHERE ON YOUR PAPER UNTIL THE BACK OF THE VERY LAST PAGE (ON WHICH YOU CLEARLY HAND WRITE  IT ON THE REVERSE OF YOUR WORKS CITED PAGE).
1) NO LATE PAPERS WILL BE ACCEPTED WITHOUT PRIOR APPROVAL.
2) YOUR PAPER VERSION SHOULD BE DOUBLE SPACED, IN 12 POINT FONT WITH 1-INCH MARGINS AND INCLUDE A TITLE AND WORD COUNT.
3) YOUR PAPER VERSION SHOULD INCLUDE A THESIS STATEMENT (BOLDED) WHICH DEMONSTRATES A CRITICAL EXAMINATION OF THE CONCEPTS REFERENCED ABOVE AND WHICH RESPONDS DIRECTLY TO THE PROMPT. TOPIC SENTENCES SHOULD BE UNDERLINED.
4) YOUR PAPER SHOULD INCLUDE A "WORKS CITED" PAGE OF ANY ARTICLES YOU REFERENCE IN YOUR ESSAY. YOU MAY USE MLA OR APA CITATION STYLE.
5) A SUCCESSFUL ONLINE FINAL ASSIGNMENT WILL INCORPORATE QUOTED TEXT FROM (AND A HYPERTEXTUAL LINK TO) AT LEAST ONE OTHER STUDENT'S ONLINE ASSIGNMENT COMBINED WITH A SHORT ANALYSIS OF THAT QUOTE.
6) SUCCESSFUL ONLINE VERSIONS OF PUBLISHED PAPERS WILL TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE MEDIUM IN WHICH THEY ARE PUBLISHED (i.e HYPERTEXT, IMAGES, WEB-BASED TOOLS, ETC)