Writing Homework Help

You are taking this course on Engaging Los Angeles in a time of heightened awareness of social inequality–the pandemic, White supremacy, police violence, the economic crisis, the climate crisis. There is no going back to “normal” from this. Our time demands attention to change, and this assignment challenges you to think about making a difference.

A research paper on evidence-based “best” practices or promising practices for impacting some social inequality

(must be based on Los Angeles)

Checklist to self-review your final assignment prior to submission (very important)

We have given you a lot of latitude in determining the format of your final assignment. No matter what format you use for your assignment (eg. paper, podcast, video of a social venture pitch, etc.), please use the following checklist to guide your work. You should be able to check off each item on the following list–that you’ve addressed that item in your alternative format or in a written supplement.

1. You demonstrate your understanding of a specific social inequality issue in contemporary Los Angeles, identifying the scale of your focus (ex., neighborhood-level, city, county) and the particular population(s) impacted.

2. You demonstrate your sociological imagination to look upstream at the root causes and/or contributing factors of this social inequality.

3. You clearly communicate what is the difference you want to make, and then, how you envision making that change happen. Your strategy for making a difference should link directly back to the scale of the social inequality issue (#1) and the underlying causes/factors #2).

4. You clearly communicate how your social change strategy is grounded in an understanding of and respect for the specific people/communities most affected (and not a utilitarian, outsider-based “fix” of the “deficiencies” of the impacted population) (theme of Talwalker’s “Fixing Poverty” article, Week 10).

5. You clearly communicate the resources, organizational infrastructure, or partners you would need to achieve your strategy for change.

6. You clearly communicate how you would plan to evaluate if your strategy has produced your desired social change (and what would be the time frame appropriate to such an evaluation of your change strategy).