1. In the LECTURE: Consequences of Gender, you learned how gender is constructed by social rules. Why do we have these rules? What are the consequences of them?

Please remember, this is just the Part One of the assignment. I have chosen two topics for you to research while you choose another three – to total five topics addressed each time. Part Two is where you provide substantive, helpful, comments on the work of any three of your classmates. Once your work is submitted, it will be graded and cannot be revised. If you aren’t sure it’s completed, please do not turn it in.

These are my two discussion topics/questions for you. 

1. In the LECTURE: Consequences of Gender, you learned how gender is constructed by social rules. Why do we have these rules? What are the consequences of them?

2. Describe what you learned in the Affirmative Action film with Dr. Michael Sandel as the lecturer. Explain why the students were largely split down racial/ethnic lines in their support or opposition to it. 

Important – here are 13 rules for scholarly research in the social sciences. Please apply all of them to your discussion assignments:

1. 1. 1. Use APA citations and references. Turn to Google for help on how to do this. There is a sample paper below Canvas for you.
      2. When you edit your work, think to yourself, “does this NEED saying”? If not, delete it. Don’t repeat anything that is in your references. That means I don’t need to know something is a film, a podcast, an article, titles of articles, first names or anything re-stated in the references etc. All I need is enough in your citation to get me to that reference…. 
      3. Cite sources as you go. These are your evidence, and you are doing research. This may help: http://www.easybib.com/guides/citation-guides/apa-format/
      4. Citations MUST be in parentheses (so they can be easily seen and cross-referenced by your reader). See the sample posted to the first discussion.
      5. Cite the moment you mention that source of information. Example, Smith (2017) found that 25% of the world’s prisoners are incarcerated in the United States despite the fact that the US has only 5% of the world’s population.
      6. I don’t need to see the titles of journals, articles, webpages etc etc. Just the last name of the writer plus the year is enough.
      7. If there is no author, Google what to do. Google is your friend here.
      8. No first names or initials… Anything else belongs in the references. That’s what they are for. Too much information compromises the readability of your work.
      9. Avoid quotations. Write in your own words. Unless something is beautifully stated (unlikely), then paraphrase and cite as usual. Quotations compromise the readability of your work.
      10. References must be alphabetised and are listed at the end of your work.
      11. Citations must point to the reference. Example, you can cite (FDA 2015) but you cannot reference it as Food and Drug Administration 2015. They must be exactly the same.
      12. Introduce your topic and don’t force your reader back to the prompt or class material in order to understand your piece of research. This means you can’t start your work with anything like: “The article says…” or “Yes” or “What he means …” etc etc. Allow your written response to stand alone.
      13. Lastly, avoid I, me, my – no exceptions. Please don’t tell me about yourself, how you feel, or your experiences, You are one person in a sea of 8 billion people, so how you have experienced the world does not qualify as research (in fact, some of the least reliable testimony is that of eyewitnesses).