In what ways does our identity — how we see ourselves as well as how others see us — impact our ability to be successful?

Task

Throughout the semester we’ve read a number of texts — Gladwell, of course, but also Greenstreet, Anwar, Coates and Anderson — that look at the benefits, costs and consequences of identity in our lives. 

For this paper, you will the following question:

In what ways does our identity — how we see ourselves as well as how others see us — impact our ability to be successful?

IMPORTANT: This paper will also require that you use the CCP Library databases to find one source of your own to support your argument.

Format

Your paper should be at least FIVE complete pages in length (even one line less than five pages is too short), double-spaced, with one-inch margins top, bottom and both sides.

More Help

For more information about how you can successfully complete this assignment, see the “Additional Guidelines for Writing Essay 4.”

A successful paper will…

1. Be an obvious attempt to follow the assignment;
2. Have a thesis statement at the end of the introduction;
3. Have an organization that is logical and easy to follow, making serious use of the “they say, I say” design and relevant templates;
4. Have a reasonably well-developed (as in detailed and specific) discussion, including thorough descriptions and explanations of ideas from Gladwell and/or other class readings as well as a clear explanation of the source you got from the CCP Library database;
5. Have paragraphs with organizations that are logical and easy to follow (including topic and concluding sentences and transitions within and between paragraphs that indicate logical relations between your ideas);
6. Have sentences that are grammatically complete, logical and easy to follow; and
7. Have a minimum number of surface feature errors—correct use of periods and question marks, correct spelling, absence of typographical errors, etc., including no use of any form of the pronoun “you.”

Audience and Purpose

Your readers are people who hold standard views about ethnicity, identity and culture.  Your goal is to move readers from what they already believe before they started reading your paper to what you want them to believe by the end of the paper.

Process

• First, you will do research in the CCP Library databases. You’ll need to find one source that helps you to answer the central question of the paper.
• Second, you will compose an annotated bibliography. This will be a record of all the readings you will use in your paper — not just the one source from your Library research but also for the relevant Gladwell chapters or any other class readings you use. You’ll need to use at least two readings from our course in this paper.
• Third, you’ll write the whole paper as a draft.
• Fourth you’ll submit your paper for peer review, and you will peer-review the papers of two of your fellow students in our class.
• Fifth,  you’ll use the comments of your fellow students to revise and improve your paper.
• Sixth, you’ll edit your paper, proofread it, and edit it again.
• Finally, you’ll submit your paper in its final form for your professor to read and assess.

Important Note: Since this is the last paper of the semester, you will not be able to revise your paper for a better grade.

Structure

1. Using one of the templates for “Introducing standard views” found on page 23 of They Say/I Say, your paper should also begin with an introduction that 1) describes the problem you see with the standard view and 2) ends with your thesis statement.
2. The next set of paragraphs should make your own case, supporting your thesis statement, using the moves from They Say, I Say. These paragraphs must have topic sentences and use specific ideas from all your reading.
3. The second-to-last paragraph is where you will present your naysayer — both explaining the naysayer’s position and your explaining your answer to the objection.
4. The paper will then end with a conclusion that makes clear an answer to the question “so what?”