Reflective Essay, Group Project & Discussion Question Guidelines for Effective Writing
Peace Studies 1050, Introduction to Peace Studies Spring, 2009
FOR ALL ASSIGNMENTS: Be sure to have your name AND lab section (A,B,C,D,E, or F) at the top of the assignment!
One reflective essay (four to six pages), one Group Project, one final essay and fourteen discussion questions ( ½ to ¾ page each—may be longer) will be assigned at various times throughout the term (see the Syllabus, the Readings & Assignments Calendar and the Blackboard website for due dates). They are an opportunity for you, the student, to pose your own sociological questions about the assigned topic or reading material. You might want to think of these essays/questions as conversations with me in which you can develop your own line of sociological reasoning and critical thinking about peace studies. Keep in mind that critical analysis = thoughtful, academically grounded questioning rather than making a negative attack. Write in the first person and use active voice for all assignments. ***Note: be sure to include appropriate citations!!***
The essay and/or discussion question cluster should be based on the following outline:
1) Begin by framing a question about the assigned reading— keep in mind that this question will form the basis of our classroom discussion. Some of the themes from which questions might be drawn include— a. Ethics, comparisons among readings (e.g., if Johnson makes one claim about social justice, but Nibert makes another claim then you might ask why they are different); b. Personal experience (e.g., if you have ever joined a student protest (or not) and your observations about the experience are different from Johnson’s then you might ask why he sees things in a different way—first trying to see things from his point of view as a sociologist!); c. Suggestions for how things might be different (e.g., questions about how the