The Opposite of Hate – Sally Kohns
Our next writing assignment will tie into an idea or theme drawn from either Chapter 2 (How We Hate: The Former Terrorist), Chapter 3 (Hating is Belonging: The Ex-White Supremacist), or both chapters. You will shape your writing for an academic rhetorical situation, with an academic audience. You may either A. inform an academic audience about scholarly research on your topic, OR B. research a controversy on your topic, and use scholarly research to explore multiple sides of the issue, ultimately arguing in support of your own position in this controversy. Some possible topics to get you started: • an exploration of our discussion topic from Chapter 2, Kohn’s statement that “[h]aving reasons to hate doesn’t make hate reasonable” (70).
• Fromm’s “rational, reactive” versus “character-conditioned” hate
• the Palestinian/Israeli conflict itself, or perhaps a subtopic such as examining the legality and/or ethics of Israeli settlements in occupied territories or the history behind the establishment of the state of Israel.
The Opposite of Hate – Sally Kohns
• an in-depth analysis of Sherif’s Robbers Cave study (or any other research project that Kohn describes in Chapters 2 and/or 3), its implications, and its influence on subsequent research
• connections-spaces and their role(s) in promoting healing and community
• a profile of a particular white supremacist or other extremist group, such as its history, current status, major figures, recent activities, etc.
• another topic of your choice from Chapter 2, Chapter 3, or both chapters!
Expectations – to get a passing grade on this SA, you should do the following:
• Write an informative research paper that provides an overview of some of the research, controversies, and/or issues about your chosen topic and takes an objective, neutral stance (it would be appropriate, however, to evaluate the merits of and/or critique a specific research study, if you wish). You are reporting out on a topic of interest, NOT establishing a claim or position!…OR
The Opposite of Hate – Sally Kohns
• Write an inquiry research paper that asks a central question about a topic, reviews a variety of perspectives and research with a balanced eye, and answers the question…OR
• Write an argumentative research paper that describes a controversy on which you take a position, and then examine arguments and evidence both in support of and in opposition to your position
• Write for an academic audienceLinks to an external site. that is NOT expert in your topic area. This means you’ll need to spend some time defining any terms that might be unfamiliar to your reader and summarizing or paraphrasing relevant parts of researchers’ work in your topic area to help your readers understand some of the breadth of research around your topic. 2 You will also need to use the linguistic conventions of academic writing!Links to an external site.
The Opposite of Hate – Sally Kohns
• Use AT LEAST two scholarly sources, as well as our book, Kohn’s The Opposite of Hate, which is a popular (rather than scholarly) text. You may use any materials that we’ve used for class (available in Canvas), but you MUST use at two scholarly sources from peer-reviewed journals, edited books aimed at an expert audience, or similar sources. I STRONGLY encourage you to use knowledgeable resources to help you with locating potential scholarly sources (Butte College librarians, CAS tutors, NetTutor, Ask-a-Librarian online service, etc.). You may also use popular sources, but your scholarly sources should provide at least half of the outside (not your own) material/ideas that you discuss in your SA.
• Include a Works Cited (MLA style) or References (APA style) or similar bibliographic page in the approved style system that you’re using.
• Be typed in 11- or 12-point font, 1.25-inch (standard) margins, double-spaced.
The Opposite of Hate – Sally Kohns
• Be a minimum of 1500 words as an indirect measure of depth and thoroughness (this should not include your bibliography in the count).
• Show that you have carefully read Chapter 2 and/or 3, and the other sources that you use, and that you have fully digested and considered the different viewpoints and evidence regarding the topic you’ve chosen.
• Shape your assignment into a formal research paper in MLA format (or other appropriate style, as discussed with me), and make textual decisions that use the conventions of the academic research paper genreLinks to an external site. effectively (objective tone; more formal word choice; complex patterns of grammar and sentence structure; straightforward, “writer-responsible” structure of text; MLA (or other style) formatting and citation of sources).
• Include well-chosen details, examples, and quotes from your sources to help you develop a detailed overview of your topic. Remember to cite page numbers in parenthesis and to give credit to the original source.