3.0

credits

Average Course Rating

This course will help students develop graduate writing and research skills. Through the rich scholarship of past and present social movements and civic engagement initiatives, students will gain an in-depth overview of the fundamentals of academic writing, style, and composition. They will learn how to compose a strong research-based argument, thesis statement, supporting paragraphs and conclusion using credible resources with the proper use of citations. These skills will help strengthen their ability to write, synthesize and argue at a graduate level. In the third week of the term, students will identify their own independent research topic, and in the latter part of the term, they will shape it into a research question, learn how to engage in critical inquiry using Hopkins’ library resources, and through a writing process broken into scaffolded steps, will formulate an original argument in a cumulative paper. Through learning modules that focus on early social movements like the Women’s Suffrage Movement, Civil Rights Movement, Environmental Movement, the White Power Movement, and more contemporary movements like “Me Too”, “Black Lives Matter”, and Climate Justice, students can explore and analyze how well the United States has realized its democratic ideals and obligations while improving upon their research, writing, and critical thinking skills. The course is intended for those enrolled in one of the Center for Advanced Governmental Studies (CAGS) graduate programs and for other Advanced Academic Program (AAP) students with the permission of their advisor.