topic proposal

Research project questions (you are NOT answering all of these questions in this proposal):

How is social change possible through law, including Supreme Court decisions and legislative action? What was or is the social problem? What kind of legal remedy did activists seek? What happened? Did the legal remedy address the problem? What legal change or policy can help cement the remedy? What are some advantages and disadvantages to effecting social change through law?

You’ll be addressing these questions over the course of the research project. You are not answering all of them now. You’ll work on the project in smaller chunks, answering two or three of these questions at each step. The first step of the project is identifying the topic.

What’s a good topic? How should I start?

In the second half of the semester, we’ll be examining a number of examples that will allow us to explore the questions posed above. They include: voting rights, abortion and reproductive rights, same-sex marriage, desegregation in schools, and affirmative action. You can choose one of these examples and dig deeper than the course does. You can choose a topic not covered in the course. Students have examined a range of non-course topics, including disability rights, fire safety, and workers’ compensation. To get a sense of what might be appropriate, you might want to take a look at the topics covered in the course.

To help you get started, I’ve made the modules in the 2nd half of the course available – in DRAFT form. That is, you’ll see most of the assigned readings, videos, lectures, etc. These modules may or may not be edited when we get to that week in the semester. Take a look at them for topic ideas – especially if you decide to choose one of them.

Logistical Requirements:

1. Create a Google Doc and share it with me: leecatheriney@gmail.com. Give me “Editor” access. Please, do NOT send me an email notification. Begin and finish your essay in Google Doc. This includes all notes, outlines, and drafts. I need to be able to see your work progress in Google Doc’s history.
2. When you’ve completed your essay, copy and paste the Google Doc hyperlink at the top of the essay.
3. Copy and answer the following Honors Pledge and questions regarding Grammerly and reference sources. These statements MUST be included at the top of your assignment, below the Google Doc hyperlink. Failure to do this will result in an incomplete for the assignment.
4. On my honor, I [State Your Name] have neither received nor given any unauthorized assistance on this essay project, including the use of AI programs such as ChatGPT.
5. Did you use Grammerly, Google Translate, or other similar tools (editing or translation)? If yes, explain. Please note, you may use Grammerly to check your paper for grammatical errors AFTER you have written your assignment.
6. If you did not use an AI tool, how did you identify your references? E.g., did you use a library database, Google Scholar, etc.?
7. Download a PDF of the essay and upload this file to Canvas. This is the version I will read and grade. However, I must have access to your Google Doc file for the rest of the semester. (You will be adding to this file in subsequent assignments).

Documenting AI Use for Generating Scholarly Sources

1. At the end of the References section, state the AI tool used. Copy and paste your prompt(s) and the output selections you chose from the AI-generated suggestions.
2. Include full citation, including links, in the list of References.
3. Please note: you are NOT allowed to use any AI-generated text, including source summaries, in the proposal or the annotation/description of the reference sources you select.

Substantive Requirements:

SUBMIT: topic proposal, list of five references (minimum) with brief description, and three scholarly references fully annotated

1. Write 400 to 500 words, describing your topic. You need to explain what the social problem requiring legal action was. For example, if your topic is voting rights, the social problem would have been the denial of voting rights (through intimidation and violence), especially for Black Americans prior to the Voting Rights Act of 1965. If your topic is abortion rights, the problem for advocates was the medical and social harm women experienced (deaths from unsafe abortion e.g.) that the lack of abortion rights created.
2. Provide a list of at least five references (see below for what counts as an acceptable reference) with a brief explanation (one or two sentences) for each reference, explaining why you’ve selected the source. Be sure to use a clear citation style (any). All relevant information, including a link to the source, must be included. See any citation style (APA, MLA, etc.) for details. I ask you to do this, because students sometimes select articles or books that sound relevant based on the title. Unfortunately, the pieces can turn out to be irrelevant. So spend at least 5-10 minutes on each article or book and see why or how it might be relevant for you. Does the article/book provide background history? Does the article/book explain current legal challenges? Does the article/book discuss the activists and their strategies?
3. Read and annotate at least three of your sources. I strongly suggest that you read and annotate at least one scholarly source that provides a solid historical overview of your topic. Mark a PDF version of the source you are reading or create a PDF of a hard copy you have marked. Submit these three PDFs (as three separate files or one long file) along with your topic statement and list of references.

When you refer to an idea/argument or have a direct quote, you MUST cite your source(s), including the relevant page number(s), when relevant. This is an important way to demonstrate you’ve done the research. Keep track of your notes, facts, direct quotes, etc. for this and future assignments. You can keep a running list of these notes in your Google Doc at the end of your proposal to demonstrate your work. I highly recommend this.

References

• References can include scholarly journal articles, scholarly books, news articles, documentaries, or podcasts. At least three of your five sources need to be scholarly articles and/or books. Course materials can be included. However, at least three new references must be included. To be clear: you need a minimum of three scholarly sources, and three of your references need to be new (not from the modules). You need a minimum of five sources in total.
• If you select a topic covered in the course, I strongly encourage you to look at the materials included in the relevant module, especially the scholarly sources.
• Be sure to use a clear citation style (APA, MLA, etc.). All relevant information, including a link to the source, must be included.

What does NOT count as a reference source or as a scholarly source?

• Legal summaries offered through sites like oyez.com do NOT count toward the minimum number of sources. These summaries are helpful for understanding legal decisions. However, they are not enough for answering the research question.
• Advocacy websites like Planned Parenthood may have helpful materials like timelines or brief summaries of key events. These materials may be helpful for your understanding of the history. However, they are not peer-reviewed, scholarly sources and therefore advocacy websites do NOT count toward the minimum number of scholarly sources.
• History blogs or websites geared toward a general audience (e.g. the History Channel). They can be useful guides, but general history websites are not scholarly sources and do NOT count toward the minimum number of scholarly sources.

What is a scholarly source?

• Articles and books written by an expert (usually a professional researcher/writer and peer-reviewed). This website has a brief guide for helping you to identify whether a source is scholarly:

Some important reminders about the assignment:

1. The research project prompt asks you to consider how social change is possible through law. You do not know the answer to this now, and that’s OK! I don’t expect you to know.

2. Some of the sources of information you find online may be helpful for background info. However, they will likely not be enough. These types of sources may include articles found in popular press, including general interest magazines like Time or newspapers like The New York Times. You can include them in your list of references, but you still need a minimum of three scholarly sources.

3. Where can you find more sources that help you to write an essay for a Law & Society course that requires some historical and background information? Again, the modules have some resources. At this stage of your research, you will be best served by historical books and/or articles.

4. You may find these sources also helpful:

a) For understanding particular Supreme Court cases (remember, these do NOT count toward the minimum number of references):

b) Government and research sites that often have great articles written by historians and other scholars:

There are lots of other think tanks, policy and research centers, advocacy organizations, and media organizations that have articles that may or may not be helpful. Some of these organizations employ professionals who do good research and write nuanced articles (e.g. Pew Research). Others – less so. If you are unsure about a source, please email me.

5. How to conduct social science research: this is a very helpful guide from

. You can find research databases on our

site.

Some Additional Scholarly Sources Related to Topics Covered in Modules (Be sure to check out the DRAFT modules in the second half of the semester for topic ideas and relevant materials)

1. Abortion and reproductive rights:

Mary Ziegler is included in the abortion and reproductive rights module. She has other books as well, including more recent post-Dobbs stuff:

Other historical works on abortion exist as well, including:

2. Voting rights

3. School desegregation:

4. Marriage equality: