Pick one or more of the thinkers, texts, concepts, ideas etc covered in the course so far and explain how it/they can help us better understand
multiculturalism in theory and/or practice.
Structure
The response papers must be Garamond 12-point, double-spaced, with 1-inch margins, 2.5-3 pages in length, and uploaded to bCourses as a WORD or PDF
file. You do not need to reproduce all the instructions on the prompt on your paper: your name (for Thomas’ sections, put your SID, not your name), the course
number, section number/GSI, is all that is required. You need to indicate clearly which thinkers and texts you are engaging with, and you may use the
referencing style of your choice. My advice would be to avoid long quotes, which are deeply inefficient. The bibliography or endnotes will not count towards
the page limit, but if you stick large chunks of text in the endnotes to avoid the page limit your grade will suffer.
Content
In terms of content, you have a great deal of freedom in terms of what you present on. What I really want you to do is talk about something you found
interesting, illuminating, or exciting in the course so far. This could be a particular text, a thinker, an idea/concept, or even the whole module. Given the length
of the paper, however, I would recommend being selective, utilizing the aspects of the readings you find the most interesting. You should look at key
passages, arguments or ideas, highlight important points of interpretation, explain what you think is useful, raise interesting points for discussion, and make
comparisons to other thinkers or key themes of the course. In particular, you should highlight key issues, passages etc that you think people may want to
reread and think about in more depth. However wide or narrow you go, you will need to provide a clear account of the text/thinker/idea/module, explain what
you found engaging or insightful about it, and why you think it says something illuminating about multiculturalism, contemporary issues, or even yourself.
You can cover the same topic, thinker etc that you presented on, but if you do we will be expecting more detailed analysis and critique than you previously
provided.
In terms of some general advice, I have the following: choose the thinkers/texts you cover wisely; plan your response paper properly; do not waste time on a
fancy introduction (a one or two sentence summary of what you are going to say will suffice) or long quotes; make sure to leave enough room for substantive
analysis/critique; and proof your work (or ask someone else to proof it for you).