Bay Area Gentrification
Write a six page (6 for text, 1 for Works Cited, 1500 word minimum in text) source-based essay on a Bay Area gentrification-related topic problem. The essay should focus on a controlling idea (thesis), supported by explanation, quotation and paraphrasing of several sources. The paper should define the problem clearly and logically, and be both informative and discussion-oriented (meaning it needs to critically review a range of differing approaches or opinions in the field). It should be grounded in some field of knowledge, as well referring to Walker’s Pictures of a Gone City, and Kamiya’s Cool Gray City of Love. It must use the MLA system of documenting sources in text, and an MLA-style “Works Cited” page at the end of the text, and cannot be passed unless these linked parts work coherently.
Focused reading and note-taking must precede essay writing. These notes need to be careful, and thoughtful, a foundation for the essay. Up to 15 pages of on-time notes can be submitted to receive special credit (10 points per page, not 5). A student must submit a minimum of 10 pages of notes before November 16 on Canvas as a pre-condition for submitting a first draft essay.
Essays are not Note-taking. Despite all its references to sources, an essay needs to focus on your own strong ideas, concentrated into a clear thesis statement on the first page, and periodic evaluation in the body. The challenge is to keep the details you write in strict relation to major supporting points, and not get lost in details and sources. An introduction should include a brief quoted definition of gentrification from an academic web site and explain its relation to your sub-topic problem, and thesis. This introduction and the body should include a range of approaches or opinions in its field, but it doesn’t have to be organized as an explicit argument. The integration of sources, paraphrased or quoted, in relation to your own original ideas, is the key to writing a coherent paper, so that you are using the sources, not the sources using you.
MLA citation is required. Quotations (minimum of 3) and cited paraphrases (minimum 3) should be cited in-text by MLA norms. Two quotations from relevant sections of Walker and one from Kamiya are a required, and should relate to the paper’s main idea. Quoted sources should be listed in a “Works Cited” page (on a separate page). At minimum, cite at least 2 popular internet sites, 4 data base sources, and twice from Walker and once from Kamiya. Only sources discussed in your text and relevant to your topic can be included in your Works Cited page. Copying without quotations, patch-writing, or “forgetting” to insert in-text citations when paraphrasing / quoting is plagiarism and can lead to the paper being failed. This fate is easily avoidable: bring any questionable paraphrasing/ quoting to me before submitting it for a grade, and we will make sure it is appropriate. You will not be penalized for making mistakes until the final draft.
