Course Logistics, Politicized Identity Concepts, and Expository Essay Guidelines

Course Schedule and Assignment Logistics

  • Essay 1 Submission Deadline: Due on Friday, October 9. Late submissions are strictly prohibited.
  • Current Phase: Students must be in the drafting phase, actively incorporating research and evidence into their drafts.
  • Fall Break Schedule: Fall break occurs during the week following the Essay 1 submission deadline.
  • Course Material Access: Documents not directly uploaded into the course main folder are accessible via embedded hyperlinks in the Weekly Agenda. Any dead hyperlinks should be reported immediately.
  • Week 7 Reading Assignments & Schedule:
    • Gottni / Cottonee and Occupy Wall Street: Two articles available in the Week 7 folder.
    • Frederick Douglass Piece: "What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?" accompanied by a required video analysis.
    • Ida B. Wells Piece: Biographical article on journalist Ida B. Wells (scheduled for Wednesday).
  • Week 7 Discussion Forum Deadlines:
    • Sunday: Discussion entries due for Gottni / Cottonee and Occupy Wall Street.
    • Tuesday: Discussion entries due for the Frederick Douglass text and accompanying video.
  • Friday Office Hours: On the Friday draft submission date prior to Fall Break, dedicated office hours will be held during normal class time for citation verification, draft reviews, and point loss prevention.
  • Subsequent Course Opening: Week 8 folders and discussions will open following the final evaluation of discussion board links.

Essay 1 Specifications and MLA Requirements

  • In-Text Citations & Direct Quotation Rules:
    • In-text citations are mandatory.
    • Direct quotes must be actively integrated alongside paraphrasing. Essays relying exclusively on paraphrasing will not receive high scores.
    • Work must demonstrate how source materials converse with one another and contribute directly to the central topic.
  • MLA Formatting Requirements:
    • Font: Times New Roman, 12-point size.
    • Spacing: Double-spaced throughout.
    • Works Cited Page: Required in standard MLA structure. Citations must be arranged in alphabetical order.
    • Word / Page Count Exclusions: The Works Cited page is excluded from the total page and word count requirements.
    • Annotated Bibliography Integration: Citations finalized during the annotated bibliography assignment should be directly transferred to the Works Cited page, incorporating adjustments based on instructor feedback.

Course Arc for Phase 2

  • Phase 2 Structural Overview: Focuses on the development and recurring patterns of social movements, comparing historical echoes (e.g., 18th-century dynamics) to 21st-century collective action.
  • Sequence of Social Movement Modules:
    1. Labor Movements & Occupy Wall Street: Historical economic protests and wealth inequality activism.
    2. Civil Rights Movements: Structural investigation of racial justice and equality campaigns.
    3. Women's Rights Movements: Examination of gender equality advocacy across distinct historical waves.
    4. Environmental Movements: Analysis of ecological mobilization and global climate activism.
  • Final Course Phase:
    • Development of Essay 2.
    • Individual office hour consultations.
    • Student Presentations: Presentations serve as the primary output and evaluation for Essay 2.

Theoretical Frameworks: Politicized Identity and Digital Protests

  • van Stekelenburg et al. Theoretical Framework:
    • Examines how identities are shaped and structured both internal to and external from social movements.
    • Analyzes individual identity construction relative to broader societal structures.
    • Explores how individual identities coalesce into collective alignment and pivot toward tangible political action.
  • Arab Spring Case Study:
    • Provides a macro-level empirical case study of digital protests and technology-driven social movements.
    • Highlights the crucial role played by the internet and social media platforms in contemporary group mobilization.
    • Demonstrates the fluidity, volatility, and historical continuity of group identities striving for improved societal conditions.
    • Serves as a foundational comparative framework for modern movements such as Black Lives Matter (BLM) and the Me Too (#MeToo) movement.

Key Terms and Sociological Concepts

  • Politicized Identity / Politicization: The process through which a shared group identity transforms into an explicit political instrument to engage in power struggles within societal structures.
  • Social Identity: An individual's sense of self derived from perceived membership in relevant social groups.
  • Collective Identity: A shared sense of belonging, purpose, and mutual recognition among members of a group engaged in collective action.
  • Dual Identity: Simultaneous identification with both a specific subgroup identity and a broader overarching societal identity.
  • Cross Pressure: Competing psychological, social, or political forces resulting from conflicting loyalties or group affiliations.
  • Inner Obligation: A moral or psychological duty felt by an individual to act on behalf of a group or social cause.
  • Efficaciousness / Political Efficacy: The internal belief among group members that their collective actions possess the agency to effect meaningful social and political change.
  • Consciousness: A heightened shared awareness among group members regarding their specific social position, collective interests, and systemic grievances.
  • Salience / Identity Salience: The degree of importance or prominence attached to a specific identity in a given contextual situation.
  • Antagonistic Relationships: Hostile or opposition-driven interactions existing between competing social groups or systemic authorities.
  • Supply and Demand Framework in Social Movements:
    • Demand Side: Societal grievances, structural inequalities, and opportunities that generate a desire for protest action.
    • Supply Side: Organizations, resource networks, and social infrastructure that provide the means to execute protest action.
  • Social Psychologists: Researchers who analyze how individual behavior, cognition, and identity formation are impacted by actual, imagined, or implied group dynamics.

Group Activity Specifications

  • Cohort Formation: Students form groups of 3 or 4.
  • Deliverables Workflow:
    1. Select 4 to 5 key terms or concepts from the van Stekelenburg et al. article.
    2. Provide formal definitions for each term.
    3. Formulate concrete illustrative examples for each term using empirical evidence from the Arab Spring reading.
    4. Select 2 discussion questions drawn from group members' prior individual discussion board submissions.
    5. Compile all terms, definitions, examples, and selected discussion questions into a single Word document.
    6. Place all group member names at the top header of the document.
    7. Email the final document to the instructor with the subject line ENGL 223.

Expository Essay Guidelines and Writing Mechanics

  • Page Length Requirement: Must be 7 to 8 pages in total length.
  • Core Purpose & Analytical Stance:
    • An expository essay provides an in-depth, comprehensive exploration of a designated subject.
    • While primarily informative, it requires a clear analytical perspective or angle (e.g., examining both positive and negative societal impacts of a phenomenon rather than providing a passive summary).
    • Research sources must be integrated to support an overarching analytical approach rather than presenting isolated summaries of individual works.
  • Academic Writing Mechanics:
    • Elimination of First-Person Voice: Avoid first-person phrasing (e.g., "I believe" or "In my opinion"). Remove personal prefixes and state assertions as direct declarative facts.
    • Introduction Framing: Introductory paragraphs must establish the broad overarching topic, context, and issue. Papers must not begin with source-centric references (e.g., "This article discusses…") without establishing prior topic context.
  • Institutional Writing Support: Consultations through instructor office hours and the university Writing Center should be utilized to refine document structure, analytical depth, and citation accuracy.