10-12 Page Paper

 Final Paper Guidelines (150 points) The purpose of the final paper is to provide an opportunity to reflect critically on the significant issues facing urban schools, their communities, and their students. This course has focused on various topics that seek to explore the more pressing concerns for urban teachers. As a task, this paper presents the prospect of selecting one or more areas through which you can explore the problems and opportunities for impacting the culture of the urban school as a teacher. The format for the paper is as follows: • An introductory section that explains the specific problems that will be explored in the paper which: 1) clearly describes the issue(s)/problem(s); 2) explains why these are significant issues for urban schools; and 3) a specific thesis indicating why these should be addressed. • A review of the literature discussing the issue(s)/problem(s) described in the introduction, in terms of their impact on urban schools and their communities both in the context of teaching/learning and outcomes for students. This literature can include articles used in the course readings, articles and other media reports used for education in the media work, as well as new sources that may be specific to the issue(s)/problem(s) • A discussion section that presents a discussion of how these issues might be addressed, and how classroom teachers can play a role in creating a more equitable and just educational process/system for all students. This should clearly connect to the sources and argument presented in the literature review – as well as addressing a means to “solve” the issue(s)/problem(s) as presented in the thesis. The overall length of the paper should be 10-12 double-spaced pages (not including title page, references, or appendices) using Times New Roman 12pt font (APA 6th Edition; be sure to remove the extra “space” word adds between lines). All sources cited in the paper should be listed in a Reference section at the end of the paper using APA 6th Edition format. A rough guide for each section would be: Introductory Section, 2 – 3 pages; Review of the Literature, 4 – 5 pages; and, Discussion, 3 – 4 pages. Use the Purdue Online Writing Lab to help format your paper correctly. I also highly recommend using Grammarly as a method of copy editing your work before submission. Drafts should be sent via email to [email protected] by the “Draft Due Date” below if feedback is desired. Your final paper is due via Blackboard by midnight on the last day of the Summer Session. 

 Papers will be evaluated as follows: • Significance of issues: 15% o Statement of the problem o Thesis statement • Quality of supporting rationale: 25% o Connection of problem to urban schools o Relationship to social, political, economic, cultural, educational and similar factors • Quality of literature review: 25% o Appropriate use of sources o Clearly presented argument o Minimum of 10 sources used • Quality of discussion: 25% o Connection to the problem o Relationship to argument of literature review o Role of classroom teacher as change agent o Addresses a possible solution to the problem • Quality of writing: 10% o APA style (Use the Purdue Online Writing Lab) o Grammar and spelling (Use Grammarly) o Logic of narrative