Daniel Susan

Professor Kay Bell

Writing for The Social Sciences

May 5, 2021

To what extent have I achieved the course learning objectives?

I will be honest, prior to taking this class I would take notes and analyze them when writing my essay. In retrospect, this was a detriment to the quality of my writing. Rather than hashing out my thoughts and ideas prior to writing my essay, I would work out my thoughts in the actual paper. Thankfully, double entry notes lessons provided by professor, made it so that I wrote my essays with clear comprehension of the topic involved. Additionally, another skillset that I have adopted as a social scientist is establishing intent prior to research and writing. This useful tool made it so that my writing is as effective as possible because it ensured all my research tied back into a specific idea. Think of it like this, it is much easier to succeed in life when you establish a tangible goal. Without setting a real goal for yourself such as making “x” amount of money by the end of the week, will endanger your success in saving up money. The same can be said for writing. When I establish intent prior to researching, I was able to convey a much more convincing argument than if I had not. Personally, I believe these two be two of the most essential skills that I have learned as a social scientist.

The role of a social scientist is to study all aspects of a society to understand the different ways individuals, groups, and institutions make decisions, exercise power, and respond to change. And It is safe that with the help of Professor Kay Bell, and her lessons, I was able to adopt the role of a social scientist. Learning how to play the role of a social scientist meant that I had to immerse myself within a community, which is what allowed me to grow as a social scientist. Some goals that I have met as a social scientist was clearly establishing writing goals when writing my papers, using critical thinking when making notes, and forming a strong stance from the get-go. All these techniques made it so that my writings had a clear understanding of what I was talking about as well as an effective impact upon the reader.

In what ways have my perception on what writing is and does evolved this semester?

            During this semester, I have learned that writing is not some half-baked idea that you put together in the hopes of making a compelling essay. Rather, I learned that to make a strong essay I must, establish intent prior to researching, analyze the research that I have collected, and establish what point I want to get across to the reader after they have read my work. Not only do these points make for a more streamlined writing process, but they make for a more convincing argument. For example, when I looked at the draft of research proposal, I was just bringing up so many points and facts, that it made it seem like I was arguing for 30 different things. Although my points all had to do with transgender inequality, their connection between each other was sparse. Yes, they were valid facts to bring up about gender identity inequality. But, since I brought up so many different arguments for gender identity inequality, it made it so that I could not come up with a plan for resolution. For my final draft, I created a much more specific thesis, “By reaching out to congressman / congresswoman, we can ban certain laws that enable violence towards transgender people such as the trans panic defense law, and we can also advocate for new laws that protect transgender people from discrimination in the workplace, and public health setting.”. Now, with this updated thesis, I knew exactly what I had to research, and knew exactly the message I wanted to get across, ultimately giving me a much more concrete argument & advocacy plan. In short, this semester I learned the importance of being specific in my thesis prior to researching as well as the importance of analyzing my findings so that it directly ties into my thesis.

How have the research I have done in this course helped me to understand the importance of providing evidence for my claims?

            An argument without evidence, is an argument that is very susceptible to being dismissed. During this course, I have learned how important it is to provide evidence in my writing. Originally, in the draft of my research proposal I mentioned the trans panic defense law, which excuses the assailant of a transgender person. However, in the draft, I did not include any evidence of the law being used, essentially sweeping the impact of that law under the rug. It was not until I updated my essay to include the fact that James Miller, who received 10 years’ probation for brutally stabbing his 32-year-old neighbor, Daniel Spencer because he claimed spencer tried to kiss him, that my argument was convincing. Adding evidence to one’s argument, makes it very difficult to disprove said argument. At the end of the day, arguments are just opinions, but if you can back that opinion up with UN-arguable evidence, then you have won.

How have I learned to investigate without bias to produce a comprehensive view of a topic?

            There are several methods that I have learned during this course that have helped me produce an unbiased, comprehensive view of a topic. Furthermore, ill list each of these methods in the order that I have used them when writing my essays. The first method of three, is to ask questions, rather than making assumptions. This is important, because often, the assumptions we make turn out to be wrong or in some cases offensive. Asking questions before assuming, allowed me to get more clarity on a subject and come up with a more definitive conclusion. One example I can bring up, is when we were discussing lowering the NYPD budget during class. You see, this topic never really made sense to me, as I was under the assumption that lowering the NYPD budget would just result in an increase in crime. However, after asking the question of “what the benefits of would be decreasing the NYPD budget” during class, I was met with several convincing responses. I recall professor telling me that there would not be an increase in crime because the money deducted from the NYPD’s budget would go towards community wellness programs, which would ultimately decrease the number of crimes committed / reported. In short, it is always best to ask questions before assuming. The next step in producing a comprehensive view of a topic without biases, is to ask questions that do not include a stereotype / asking a question objectively as possible. Furthermore, if you ask a question which includes stereotypes or your own opinion, it will most likely inhibit the answer that you receive because the other party may have taken offense to what you have said. One of the ways I made sure to ask questions objectively as possible, was by correcting any unchecked bias I may have had, so that I could get the most accurate response when asking questions. The last step I use in producing a comprehensive view of a topic is using double entry notes to further analyze my thoughts. Using double entry notes allowed me to fully understand my analysis of a subject, prior to writing the essay. This ultimately allowed me to create compelling arguments that had cohesiveness throughout as well as made me a better social scientist.

What have I learned about the importance of issues that marginalized communities face?

            During this class I have learned that marginalized communities live right under our nose, and we may not even realize the disadvantages that some of these communities’ face. For example, I was absolutely disgusted when I learned marginalized communities are literally exploited by cigarette and alcohol companies through increased advertisement in these neighborhoods. Often, marginalized communities live along side a system which only purpose is to break the individuals of that community down. Being a social scientist, allowed me to understand how communities are marginalized against and the importance of offering the same privileges and advantages to the people all around us, not based on skin color or race, but on a human level where everyone matters. I’m forever thankful to this class for opening up my eyes to the world around me, because the first step towards change, is acknowledging that we have a problem.