Requirements:
Each response should be 400-600 words (roughly one page single-spaced), which means the word count for the entire exam, excluding the exam questions, should be 800-1,200 words. Prompts will not be included in the word count!
You should copy/paste and number the questions you are responding to in your exam, and each of your essay responses should be self-contained and distinct (in other words, don’t just hand in one long essay, or an exam where it is unclear where one essay ends and another begins).
For each response, significantly engage with the major arguments of at least one of the assigned texts for the course and demonstrate an understanding of this text. You should significantly and substantively engage with at least three (preferably more) different assigned course texts throughout the exam. At least two of these course texts should have been assigned AFTER the MIDTERM (3/24).
Each essay response must provide a thoughtful and cohesive response to the questions, and not just regurgitate the class texts being referenced, although some summary and explanation of these texts is required to demonstrate your understanding of them.
You must cite all sources, including course texts. You really should only be using course texts, but if you are using ideas or text from secondary sources they must be fully cited (and they should be credible (Links to an external site.) sources). “Cited” does not mean adding a link–you must use some accepted academic style, like Chicago.
You must submit your exam on Blackboard (I will not accept emailed exams!) in .doc, .docx, or .pdf format.
Use paragraphs or I will print out your exam for the sole purpose of setting it on fire. Also, you’ll lose a few points, as not using paragraphs is the equivalent of ralphing on your readers’ shoes and suggests that you do not take the exam seriously. Also, use spell-check!
If you are using ideas from classmates (e.g., from a discussion on Perusall), you must cite it (at least informally). For example, you can introduce the idea with something like, “In Perusall, Jake Sisko noted that….”
Exam Questions (Choose any two!):
Define settler colonialism and contrast it with other social structures implicated in genocide or other forms of collective violence.
Identify an instance where one of the authors advocated for some kind of social or policy change. Summarize and evaluate their proposal, as well as at least one potential counterargument.
Describe how a conventional understanding of “innocence,” “protection,” OR “care” (pick one, don’t try to take on all three!) is complicated or challenged by one or more of the authors. What are the different, perhaps even opposing, things this term can mean in a criminal justice or related context (e.g., immigrant detention)? What kinds of presuppositions are involved in shaping these meanings (e.g., who needs “protection” and why)? How does it relate to structures of power?
Drawing on one or more of our course texts (important!) to frame your research question, proposean ethnographic research project to explore an issue having to do with the relationship between “crime” and “culture.” You should specify and justify not only your research question, but also your choice of field site, the group(s) you will be embedded with, and your “choice” of ethnography to study this issue. [Think of the essay as a proposal for funding from National Science Foundation. You can find some sample proposals from students here, although note that your essay should be significantly shorter, less detailed (I don’t need specific dates or budgets, for example), and not broken up into different sections. The most important things I will be looking for are: 1. The way you draw on previous research in our course texts to come up with new questions, and 2. The way you justify your methodological choices (e.g., why focus on participant observation with group x, rather than interviews with group y)?]
Each response should be 400-600 words (roughly one page single-spaced), which means the word count for the entire exam, excluding the exam questions, should be 800-1,200 words. Prompts will not be included in the word count!
You should copy/paste and number the questions you are responding to in your exam, and each of your essay responses should be self-contained and distinct (in other words, don’t just hand in one long essay, or an exam where it is unclear where one essay ends and another begins).
For each response, significantly engage with the major arguments of at least one of the assigned texts for the course and demonstrate an understanding of this text. You should significantly and substantively engage with at least three (preferably more) different assigned course texts throughout the exam. At least two of these course texts should have been assigned AFTER the MIDTERM (3/24).
Each essay response must provide a thoughtful and cohesive response to the questions, and not just regurgitate the class texts being referenced, although some summary and explanation of these texts is required to demonstrate your understanding of them.
You must cite all sources, including course texts. You really should only be using course texts, but if you are using ideas or text from secondary sources they must be fully cited (and they should be credible (Links to an external site.) sources). “Cited” does not mean adding a link–you must use some accepted academic style, like Chicago.
You must submit your exam on Blackboard (I will not accept emailed exams!) in .doc, .docx, or .pdf format.
Use paragraphs or I will print out your exam for the sole purpose of setting it on fire. Also, you’ll lose a few points, as not using paragraphs is the equivalent of ralphing on your readers’ shoes and suggests that you do not take the exam seriously. Also, use spell-check!
If you are using ideas from classmates (e.g., from a discussion on Perusall), you must cite it (at least informally). For example, you can introduce the idea with something like, “In Perusall, Jake Sisko noted that….”
Exam Questions (Choose any two!):
Define settler colonialism and contrast it with other social structures implicated in genocide or other forms of collective violence.
Identify an instance where one of the authors advocated for some kind of social or policy change. Summarize and evaluate their proposal, as well as at least one potential counterargument.
Describe how a conventional understanding of “innocence,” “protection,” OR “care” (pick one, don’t try to take on all three!) is complicated or challenged by one or more of the authors. What are the different, perhaps even opposing, things this term can mean in a criminal justice or related context (e.g., immigrant detention)? What kinds of presuppositions are involved in shaping these meanings (e.g., who needs “protection” and why)? How does it relate to structures of power?
Drawing on one or more of our course texts (important!) to frame your research question, proposean ethnographic research project to explore an issue having to do with the relationship between “crime” and “culture.” You should specify and justify not only your research question, but also your choice of field site, the group(s) you will be embedded with, and your “choice” of ethnography to study this issue. [Think of the essay as a proposal for funding from National Science Foundation. You can find some sample proposals from students here, although note that your essay should be significantly shorter, less detailed (I don’t need specific dates or budgets, for example), and not broken up into different sections. The most important things I will be looking for are: 1. The way you draw on previous research in our course texts to come up with new questions, and 2. The way you justify your methodological choices (e.g., why focus on participant observation with group x, rather than interviews with group y)?]
