CONTROVERSIAL TOPIC POSITION PAPER Overview This activity gives you practice bu

CONTROVERSIAL TOPIC POSITION PAPER
Overview
This activity gives you practice building arguments, counterarguments, and rebuttals—skills you’ll need for your following assignment. In the field of psychology, just about everything is controversial, and you’ll need to develop your ability to look at things from multiple perspectives. This activity is an example of how we can apply critical thinking.
Preparation
For this assignment, you will choose one of the four following controversial topics and write a position paper of 4–5 content pages (plus a title page and references page) that answers the question posed by the title.
Do we need a common identity?
Is racial profiling defensible public policy?
Is the emphasis on a color-blind society an answer to racism?
Resources
For your paper, use five sources. You may choose two of your five resources required for the assignment from the list below. Find your topic below and review the articles related to your topic.
Do we need a common national identity?
Miller, D., & Ali, S. (2014). Testing the national identity argument. Political Science Review, 6(2), 237–259.
Schildkraut, D.J., Boundaries of American identity: Evolving understandings of “Us”. Annual Review of Political Science, 17, 441–460.
Is racial profiling defensible public policy?
Coleman, M. & Kocher, A. (2019). Rethinking the “Gold Standard” of Racial Profiling: §287(g), Secure communities and racially discrepant police power. American Behavioral Scientist, 63(9),1185–1220.
Dizon, J.P.M. (2021). Protecting the university, policing race: A case study of campus policing. Journal of Diversity in Higher Education.
Is the emphasis on a color-blind society an answer to racism?
Mekawi, Y., Todd, N. R., Yi, J., & Blevins, E. J. (2020). Distinguishing ‘I don’t see color’ from “Racism is a thing of the past”: Psychological correlates of avoiding race and denying racism. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 67(3), 288–302.
Yi, J., Todd, N. R., & Mekawi, Y. (2020). Racial colorblindness and confidence in and likelihood of action to address prejudice. American Journal of Community Psychology, 65(3/4), 407–422.
Organize your paper as follows:
Title page.
Introduction.
Your position and arguments.
Evidence to support your arguments (i.e., data and research), including how the evidence supports the arguments.
Counterarguments to your position.
Rebuttals to those counterarguments.
Evidence to support your rebuttals (i.e., data and research), including how the evidence supports the rebuttals.
Summary and Conclusion.
References.
Additional Requirements
In addition to the essay, use a minimum of five resources, at least two of which are peer-reviewed academic articles.