Northampton Community College American Ethnicity Questions Exam
Question Description
American Ethnicity
Midterm Exam
The Midterm Exam is a series of five essays. Each essay should be a minimum of 200 words; this length requirement is to give you a sense of the minimum level of detail expected in your writing. Essays should not exceed 300 words. Essays should demonstrate that you understand the information well enough to explain your ideas in your own words, can draw from multiple course sources to support your ideas, and provide original examples where appropriate. Plan to use course sources, exclusively, to complete this assignment and to cite your sources/attach a works cited page using the MLA or APA format.
Specifically, you will be graded on:
The quality of your answer content: Did you demonstrate critical thinking in your response? Did you integrate specific facts and ideas from multiple course sources (assigned readings, videos, and activities) into each of your essays? Did you use sociological ideas in a meaningful way?
The clarity with which you present your ideas: Are your ideas readily understandable to the reader? Did you carefully proofread your work to minimize writing errors?
The accuracy of your citing and works cited page: Did you use in-text citations? Is your paraphrasing comprehensive? Did you attach a works cited page? Did you use course sources exclusively?
The Fine Print:
Any and all forms of plagiarism (including failure to properly paraphrase your work) will result in a grade of zero for the assignment. Plagiarism is a serious offense, so when in doubt, ask. The NCC Library website has a lot of information about plagiarism as well as guidelines for citing sources. A link to this website is posted in the Assignment Guidelines folder in Blackboard. *** I encourage you to use the Learning Center as a resource for your writing. Also, consider scheduling a conference with me to review rough drafts of your work. Together we can talk about ways to improve your final draft. Online students should conference with me in person or via email. On-campus students should conference with me in person. *** Essays must be submitted through Blackboard as a file. Please do not submit via Google Docs or other such services. Contact the Help Desk at 610-861-5413 if you experience technical or software difficulties. *** Late essays will be penalized 10 points for every day late. Late work will not be accepted after one week has lapsed from the original due date.

Writing Prompt:
The lesson at the core of our work so far this semester is: RACE AND ETHNICITY ARE SOCIAL CONSTRUCTIONS; RACIAL AND ETHNIC INEQUALITY ARE SOCIAL REALITIES. The Midterm Exam asks you to use course materials to explain and analyze this lesson. Use multiple course sources to answer each of the following questions:
In “The Difference between Us”, Part 1 of the documentary “Race: The Power of an Illusion,” anthropologist Alan Goodman states: “Race is not based on biology, but race is rather an idea that we ascribe to biology.” Using multiple course sources, explain what this means.
Using multiple course sources, present specific facts, ideas, or concepts that we’ve learned to support this idea.
Describe and provide examples of institutional discrimination. How has discrimination been built into the structures of American society? Use multiple course sources, including “The House We Live In” (Part 3 of the documentary “Race: The Power of an Illusion”) and “Where Race Lives,” the interactive website that accompanies the film, to address these questions.
To understand racial and ethnic inequality in the United States today, we MUST consider total discrimination. Explain why, using multiple course sources.
Conclude your paper with a reflection: apply this information to your personal experiences, your career (present or future), and/or the world around you. Using multiple course sources, share something that we learned that will stick with you. Why do you think this information is important?
Grading Rubric
A
Thoughtful, well formulated and clear response
Makes strong connections to course material and/or real world
Incorporates information from multiple course sources in a meaningful way
Directions followed
Paraphrases and cites source materials using MLA or APA Format
B
Thoughtful, well formulated and clear response
Makes connections to course material and/or real world
Incorporates information from multiple course sources
Directions followed
Paraphrases and cites source materials using MLA or APA Format
C
Thoughtful but unclear response
Makes weak connections to course material and/or real world
Incorporates information from multiple course sources
Directions followed, but with mistakes
Paraphrases and cites source materials using MLA or APA Format
D
Not thoughtful, poorly formulated and unclear response
Makes few/no connections to course material and/or real world
Does not incorporate information from multiple