Choose a topic that interests you. You will turn in an annotated bibliography, interview two people, and then write the paper.GOALS: To help you understand how public policy and homophobia have affected the lives of two LBGTQ persons.
ASSIGNMENT: Interview two LGBTQ people from two different generations. (A generation could be as little as 7-8 years, although longer is better.) The project has four stages: a) selcting your topic, choosing two people to interview, getting their consent, and formulating the questions; b) interviewing; c) conducting research and generating an analysis; and d) making connections between the experiences of your interviewees and your research and course materials.
A number of books contain interviews with ordinary and not so ordinary LGBTQ folks. For example, Neil Miller's, In Search of Gay America is a series of interviews with diverse folks across the U.S. This is just one of many such books in this genre.
The best papers will focus on Sections II and III of the Outline and make strong connections to your research and the course materials.
STAGE 1: FORMULATING QUESTIONS
Formulate questions which will help you learn about the cultural, economic, and political forces and events which have shaped or limited these people's lives. Any topic included in the course is appropriate and the list of topics for the public policy paper can also be used. Don't try to cover every subject. FOCUS, FOCUS, FOCUS!! It is my expereince that the best papers have generally focused on a single topic, such as work, religion, famliy, coming out, etc.Start your research on your topic so you can formulate good questions.
STAGE 2: INTERVIEWING
Explain the nature of your project and assure the interviewee that zhe may remain anonymous in the report if zhe* wants. Tell zhim there are no "right or wrong" answers and that you are interested in zher opinions and experiences. Tell zhim to ask for clarification or feel free to criticize any line of questioning. Ask permission to tape record the interview and explain why you are doing this.(*Follow link for essay on the use of zhe, zher, zhim)
Ask open-ended questions such as "What do you think about____?" rather than leading questions such as "Don't you think that ____?" Follow up with questions like "You mentioned ___; could you tell me more about that?" If your interviewee does not mention things you expect, ask "Did ___ happen?" or "Was ___ a consideration?"
STAGES 3 & 4: RESEARCH, GENERATING AN ANALYSIS & MAKING CONNECTIONS
The paper is a blend of your research, summaries and notes of what the interviewee said, verbatim transcription of important responses, analysis, and connections between the lived experiences and the research. For example, if an interviewee says zhe has never experienced discrimination of any sort, is this typical? What does the research tell us?OUTLINE:
I. INTRODUCTION (short and to the point)
-Who you interviewed, biographical profiles
-Design of the study (procedures, methods, questions)II. COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS
-What have you learned?
-What patterns and themes, based on the research and the
interviews, can you identify? How are the two people similar
and different?
-What can you conclude about the forces that affected their lives
and how they coped with them? How have things improved and
not improved?
-Substantiate with quotes from the research and the interviewees.III. MAKING CONNECTIONS
-What connections do you make between the interviews, your
research and the readings?
-Substantiate with quotes from the research and the interviews.
