Highlight the main points from each of the readings, synthesizing them, and reflecting on potential contradictions

1.The essay should highlight the main points from each of the readings, synthesizing them, and reflecting on potential contradictions, themes, questions raised and the like. The goal is to pull the material together to provide a mini-lecture that reflects your perspective on the readings, and not simply to delineate all the points made in the article. The format should be a wide-ranging and flexible format, but I would encourage you to focus on the ideas and content, and to try to have a conversational tone (and not to simply read off a script).

2.Issues from the assigned material are articulated and synthesized. The various articles are brought together in service of a larger argument or narrative about the topic.

3.The essay is focused and coherently integrates examples with explanations or analysis. The essay demonstrates awareness of its own limitations or implications, and it considers multiple perspectives when appropriate. The entry reflects in-depth engagement with the topic

Find below links to the assigned readings for the week. Be sure to give yourself time to read through them before your scheduled discussion section, and come prepared with a list of reactions, questions, and comments:

“Three Miles (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site..” Chana Joffe-Walt. 550: Three Miles. This American Life. WBEZ, Chicago. 13 March 2015. Web. [Listen to Act 1.]

Reardon, Sean F. “The Widening Academic Achievement Gap Between the Rich and the Poor: New Evidence and Possible Explanations.” Whither Opportunity: Rising Inequality, Schools, and Children’s Life Chances. Ed. Greg J. Duncan and Richard J. Murnane. New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 2011. 91-116. Print.

Sykes, Jennifer, Katrin Križ, Kathryn Edin, and Sarah Halpern-Meekin. “Dignity and dreams: What the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) means to low-income families (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site..” American Sociological Review 80, no. 2 (2015): 243-267.

Rivera, Lauren A. “Diversity Within Reach: Recruitment Versus Hiring in Elite Firms (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site..” The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 639.1 (2012): 71-90.

4095_30