Organizing Information
Before you can begin writing your essay, you need to start thinking about what you want to say. You probably have a lot of feelings, opinions and ideas about your topic. You will need to articulate these conclusions, and provide evidence from your sources that you can use to support them. Evidence may take the form of quotes, summaries, illustrations, data, and/or applications, but before you accept something as "good" evidence, make sure that it comes from a credible authority on the subject.
For example:
| Research Topic & Question: Police Reform | To what extent could police reforms reduce the number or deaths caused by police violence? | ||
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Source
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Edwards, Frank. "Police are more likely to kill men and women of color." Gale Opposing Viewpoints Online Collection, Gale, 2021. Gale In Context: Opposing Viewpoints, link.gale.com/apps/doc/KBTLBE044782240/OVIC?u=nysl_me_nycitysl&sid=OVIC&xid=47d81f26. Accessed 21 Apr. 2021. |
Underhill, Stephen M. "Decades of failed reforms allow continued police brutality and racism." Gale Opposing Viewpoints Online Collection, Gale, 2021. Gale In Context: Opposing Viewpoints, link.gale.com/apps/doc/REWHTM158056184/OVIC?u=nysl_me_bhsdact&sid=OVIC&xid=d9b8a2ba. Accessed 21 Apr. 2021. |
| Main Idea & Relation to Topic |
Police officers have contributed to a significant number of deaths in the last 20 years. The author argues that BIPOC face a greater threat of being killed by police than white people. The author concludes by calling for improved accountability, effective reform, and common-sense interventions to reduce the rates of death. The article relates to the topic because it describes why police reforms are needed and shows how the issue disproportionately effects young men of color. It also describes the kinds of reforms that could help to reduce violence. |
Police have used excessive force to assert their authority and advance their objectives since the 1920s. While police officers have supposedly received training in scientific methods to prevent violence, but the police continue to be militarized, and they continue to cause harm especially within the Black community. The author does not believe that reforms will have a significant impact. The article outlines the history of police violence describes how previous attempts at reform have not worked. This would suggest that another kind of reform is necessary, or at least a different approach than previous efforts. |
| Evidence |
Statistics 1,000 and 1,200 deaths per year since 2000. 52 of every 100,000 men and boys, and about 3 of every 100,000 women and girls, will be killed by police. 1 in 1,000 black men and boys are likely are killed by police. Between the ages of 25 and 29, about 2 of every 100,000 young men in the U.S. are killed by police Investment in community based mental health and social services would reduce the use of police, jails and prisons as catch-all responses to social problems. |
Quotes In 1931, the Wickersham Commission said police made frequent use of torture as a method of law enforcement and that "confessions of guilt frequently are unlawfully extorted by the police from prisoners by means of cruel treatment, [...] employment of methods which inflict suffering, physical or mental, upon a person, in order to obtain from that person information about a crime." President Nixon's domestic policy chief, John Ehrlichman, recounted that the drug war was designed to link the Black community with narcotics and thereby "arrest their leaders, raid their homes, break up their meetings, and vilify them night after night on the evening news." Barack Obama explained that Americans have "seen how militarized gear can sometimes give people a feeling like there's an occupying force, as opposed to a force that's part of the community that's protecting them and serving them." |
| Conclusion | Even though attempts have been made at reform in the past, the US government has undone those reforms in order to vilify individuals and communities of color. In order for reforms to work, they will have to be focused on incorporating police into the communities in which they serve, rather than be seen as an occupying force. | |
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Cause and Effect Causes are the factors that lead up to an event and effects are the results of events or changes. You will need information about the event or change, itself and what happened before and after. This may include first-hand accounts, images or or quantitative data. This type of analysis is well suited for examining:
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Compare and/or Contrast Comparing looks at similarities and contrasting looks at differences between two or more things. First, you must find a basis of comparison to be sure that the two things have enough in common. After that, you identify their differences. alternating method stating one aspect of one thing and immediately discussing the same aspect of the other item and how they are similar or different block method discussing all of the aspects of one thing and then discussing all of the aspects of another This type of analysis can be helpful when examining:
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Classification and Division In classification and division essays, you may group multiple concepts or events into categories to highlight commonality; or you may break down a complex topic into subtopics for clarity and explanation purposes. Next, you might evaluate them against each other or another measure; or you might make separate points about each one individually. For example:
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Definition In this kind of essay, you may establish a definition or criteria for a topic or concept, and then demonstrate the ways in which something (an event, a work, a phenomenon) does or does not illustrate that definition or meets those criteria. This type of analysis may be useful when examining:
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Process A process essay is structured around the goal of providing the reader by which something occurs or is achieved. This may be useful is examining:
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Five Ways to Organize Information
Think about which of these methods will work best for your topic. What information will you group together? How will you structure each section of your final paper?
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LOCATION
Information relating to a particular place is grouped together. Example: In an essay comparing the development of capitalism in Post-Soviet Ukraine and South Korea, you might put all of the information about Ukraine in one section, all the information about South Korea in another section. |
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ALPHABETICAL
Information is organized by the letters or numbers it contains Example: In an essay analyzing the theme of immigration in the works of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, and Josef Brodsky, neither author is more important; so you may choose to analyze Adichie first and Brodsky second in order to be impartial. |
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TIME
Information is organized in the order that it happened, chronologically Example: In an essay analyzing demographics in a particular neighborhood over time, you may describe changes in the area over time in the order they occurred. |
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CATEGORIES
Information is grouped based on categories of similarity Example: Discussing the effects of the Spanish-American War on the Philippines, you may make groups or categories of similar effects, such as the political effects, the economic effects, and the social effects. |
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HIERARCHY
Information is organized based its importance or inclusiveness, relative to other information. Example: in an essay analyzing how the structure of a company is impacted by a particular business model, you may first consider the effects on the company as a whole, and then zoom in on a particular group or individual with the company. |
