Latin American and Caribbean Studies

For this assignment, you will have the chance to demonstrate the knowledge you learned and the skills you developed in this course.

Write a critical long-form paper (5 pages) solving a research question related to any issue facing contemporary Latin America and/or the Caribbean. In your paper you may combine images and text in a meaningful narrative.

Examples of research questions:

• How are gender stereotypes depicted in Brazilian social media?
• How have artists shaped protest movements in Mexico?
• How does tourism affect conservation projects in Patagonia?

This assignment consists of four different parts. Each part has been designed to help you advance through the writing process and engage in meaningful conversations with your peers.

1.  Submit Your Research Question on Canvas

Submission of your research question. Due date will be posted on Canvas.

IMPORTANT: A research question is not a thesis statement. The thesis statement tells your audience what you plan to talk about or prove, serving as a preview to the rest of your work. Thesis statements take a position on a debatable topic or make a statement of information, and then the rest of the paper proves the position or provides more detailed information. The purpose of the research question is to tell your reader what you are after as you dive into your investigation. A research question must be debatable but should be an open question rather than one that takes a position. For example, a research question might ask "How does competitive soccer affect adolescent girls?" while a thesis statement on the same topic might state "Competitive soccer provides many benefits to adolescent girls, such as exercise, but may also have negative effects, such as increased risk of concussion. (https://classroom.synonym.com/difference-between-thesis-statement-research-question-1830.html)

2. Peer-Review Workshop

For this workshop, students are expected to exchange full drafts of their papers with their assigned peers. In this activity, each student will read their peer’s work and fill out the peer-review sheet available on Canvas. Please be respectful and thorough with your feedback. The feedback you provide will help your peer improve/expand the final paper. By the end of the workshop, each of you should have a peer-review sheet completed and submitted electronically. You may use this document to complete your final draft.

3. “Pitch” Presentations

Each student will present a 3-minute “Pitch,” or so, a 3-minute presentation that provides the audience with an overview of the ideas that students developed further in their final papers.  The format will be one (1) poster or one (1) display board to aid the presentation visually, and the spoken presentation itself. Students are expected to demonstrate professionalism and the use of technology will not be allowed.  Remember that “Pitch” is not a lecture. It usually starts with a fact, a story, an image, or a quote that will grab the audience’s attention and allow them to engage with the presented information.

4. Final Version

You should cite specific information in your paper and must use in-text citations to reference everything you cite, and visual objects you share. You should include a works cited page at the end of your paper AND the peer-review sheet that you received from your colleague. You must reference a minimum of four academic sources in your papers. While one can be an article/book read in class, the other must be an academic journal article or newspaper article not read or discussed in class. Your paper should be double-spaced with 1-inch margins. Please use 12-point Times New Roman font and number your pages. We will not accept ANY late assignments, handwritten assignments, or assignments submitted via email or outside of class. All assignments must use in-text citations and include a Works Cited page using the MLA Bibliography format.

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