Choosing the Perfect Primary Source
It's primary source time, y'alll!
Choosing an excellent primary source early in the semester when thinking about the PSA can save you a major impending headache later in the semester when you're working on your SSI or ARP. The image or short video that you select as your primary source will be the basis of each step of the ARP. This source will be the focus of your paper for the entire semester, so if you don't choose wisely, you could be kicking yourself in a couple of months (and we don't want that!)
The Basics
So are you are looking around the interwebs or in magazines for your primary source, ask yourself these questions:
1. When starting out with your search: What different sub-topics that fall under the larger umbrella course theme of Class in America Today interest me? Am I curious about inequality within eduction? Do I want to know more about homelessness? Try thinking about what interests you in general (maybe fashion, real estate, dialects/accents, sports, etc.) and how those could connect to Class in America Today. If you start with topics that you are already interested in, you're much more likely to choose a primary source/topic that won't bore you later on.
2. Once you've found a few options for your primary source: How many different details can I identify within a single source? Think in terms of visual details like a chainlink fence, a boarded up window, an overturned garbarge can, a grey sky, graffiti on the side of a building, etc. If you are looking at a video source or if there are short bits of text written on your image, you can also analyze short words or phrases (i.e. the word "change," the phrase "don't know what to do," etc.) You won't be able to analyze whole scenes or conversations. Think small. Analysis is about breaking a source down into tiny pieces and then making meaning from those little fragments.
3. Looking at different source options: How does this fit into our course theme of Social Class in America Today? (Sometimes students will accidentally choose a source that isn't set in America or that isn't current in representing class as it is now.) Can I make a really specific, narrow connection? (The sub-topics of "homelessness" or "differences in appearance between classes" are still too broad. You will need to find a really focused angle like "the increase in homelessness amongst female veterans." You certainly don't have to know what your exact angle will be starting out, but it's helpful to think ahead because you'll eventually--in the SSI stage and beyond--need to find journal articles that will help you support your analysis of your image/video).
For the comments section: What sorts of subtopics are you interested in that would fit within our course theme? What kinds of sources are you considering for your primary source?
***Either make one original comment or respond to two comments.***
Choosing an excellent primary source early in the semester when thinking about the PSA can save you a major impending headache later in the semester when you're working on your SSI or ARP. The image or short video that you select as your primary source will be the basis of each step of the ARP. This source will be the focus of your paper for the entire semester, so if you don't choose wisely, you could be kicking yourself in a couple of months (and we don't want that!)
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| Don't be like this guy. |
The Basics
- Must be image-based (photograph, advertisement, short video less than 7 minutes like a music video, commercial, or movie trailer)
- Can NOT be text-based (no newspaper articles, journal articles, websites, books. etc.)
- Must fit within our course theme of (Socioeconomic) Class in America Today
- Must have a minimum of 5 different details that you can base analysis paragraphs on
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| Back away from the journal article. Slowly. |
So are you are looking around the interwebs or in magazines for your primary source, ask yourself these questions:
1. When starting out with your search: What different sub-topics that fall under the larger umbrella course theme of Class in America Today interest me? Am I curious about inequality within eduction? Do I want to know more about homelessness? Try thinking about what interests you in general (maybe fashion, real estate, dialects/accents, sports, etc.) and how those could connect to Class in America Today. If you start with topics that you are already interested in, you're much more likely to choose a primary source/topic that won't bore you later on.
 |
| Your HGTV addiction could finally be useful! |
2. Once you've found a few options for your primary source: How many different details can I identify within a single source? Think in terms of visual details like a chainlink fence, a boarded up window, an overturned garbarge can, a grey sky, graffiti on the side of a building, etc. If you are looking at a video source or if there are short bits of text written on your image, you can also analyze short words or phrases (i.e. the word "change," the phrase "don't know what to do," etc.) You won't be able to analyze whole scenes or conversations. Think small. Analysis is about breaking a source down into tiny pieces and then making meaning from those little fragments.
 |
| Example of not enough details. This source could make your life really unfun. |
3. Looking at different source options: How does this fit into our course theme of Social Class in America Today? (Sometimes students will accidentally choose a source that isn't set in America or that isn't current in representing class as it is now.) Can I make a really specific, narrow connection? (The sub-topics of "homelessness" or "differences in appearance between classes" are still too broad. You will need to find a really focused angle like "the increase in homelessness amongst female veterans." You certainly don't have to know what your exact angle will be starting out, but it's helpful to think ahead because you'll eventually--in the SSI stage and beyond--need to find journal articles that will help you support your analysis of your image/video).
For the comments section: What sorts of subtopics are you interested in that would fit within our course theme? What kinds of sources are you considering for your primary source?
***Either make one original comment or respond to two comments.***
As a health science major, I am really interested in healthcare. For my topic, I would like to combine our theme of class in America with healthcare by perhaps focusing on the healthcare homeless people receive, or the difference in healthcare received by people belonging to different socioeconomic classes in America. For this topic, I would like to find an image that demonstrates the hardship illness and hospital bills place on Americans of a lower class standing, that likely cannot afford the healthcare they need.
ReplyDeleteMorgan.1464
ReplyDeleteAs an individual from the Bay Area, gentrification is a large problem. I would like to talk about how even though updating/renovating areas is positive for the economy and the upper middle class, it displaces the lower class- and a disproportionate amount of minorities at that. If gentrification proves to be a difficult topic to find Primary Sources on, then I would most likely do my PSA on foodstamps and why many people are embarrassed to use them
Jason Morgan.1464
I am very interested to study how brands and nonmaterialistic things can define a person and which class they are in. Its been a big thing in America, and I have experienced it myself as well in middle school and high school. I would like to research this to understand if this causes barriers between people in society. For my primary source, I am considering of finding a picture or a video of famous celebrities promoting brands or of a video of what upper class wear, middle class wear and what lower class wear. An image would accurately represent this.
ReplyDelete-Vidhi Daga
Ryan Hess
ReplyDeleteHess.530
As a native of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, I have witnessed the change and diversification of the workforce from a industrial steel and iron producing workforce, to a workforce with leader in technology, healthcare, and education. With this transformation of the economy, the social classes in the greater Pittsburgh area have substantially changed in the past fifty year. I am considering an image that illustrates the construction of new technology, healthcare and education buildings. From this image I intend to explain how each industry changd the socioeconomic structure in the area.
Isaiah Green
ReplyDeletegreen.1970
For my topic, I would like to combine technology with the economic classes that we established because I want to know if you gave the same pieces of technology to a lower class, would they succeed or fail. Also, I want to know how each class would use the technology given to them because even if you gave someone the technology they do not have to use it.Then I would like to see the free technology that is available to each class and see how many of them actually use the technology. Then I would see why people are so scared to use the free technology available for them.
I am interested in inequality in education. In the course, Sociology 1101, I have learnt knowledge about the inequality in education in America, and I found that part very attracting. As inequality in education education, for example: students loans and the idea of meritocracy, is often relate to different class, this topic fit our course's requirement. I am going to find some video, maybe on YouTube, about interview or news about education inequality in America.
ReplyDelete--Yukun Zheng
Cadmon
ReplyDeleteI am very interested of the impact that education can affect an individual and help them climb the social ladder and at the same time how someone can be brought down the social ladder by it. There are many personalized stories which focus around the struggles that both people of low social class face, and at rare times, people of a very high class. I wish to uses sources like this, mostly from the JStor. The reason why I am interested in also the upper class just as much as the lower/poorer social class, is to relate the struggle of staying poor, and the requirements of staying rich, which involves, at times, the stepping over the poor to keep them there.
For my topic, I am interested in homelessness and the different possibilities there are for someone to rise out of it. I have always felt sympathy towards those who find themselves in a state of homelessness, but I have never really known the best way for me to try and help solve the problem. I am hoping that with this project I will be able to educate myself more on the topic of homelessness and in that process, hopefully I will be able to find out the best ways for them to rise out of it and make a better life for themselves.
ReplyDelete--Nick Durstock
For my topic, I would like to discuss education inequality associated with social class. I believe education has a great impact on social class and social class can also affect education as well. Also, I find it interesting that social class might be changed by education. There are many education inequalities existing in current society in terms of education resources, education gap, education facilities etc. For primary sources, I plan to provide one youtube video to show the impact of education on social class and also two pictures to compare the education resources from different social class.
ReplyDeleteI am not sure how to phrase this, but an idea that came to mind involved food/restaurants. For example, the lower class depend on food stamps and governmental help. In addition to, we characterize this class with fast food chains like McDonalds, where they can find food cheap. On the other hand, the upper class explore a wide variety of high end restaurants with exotic foods. I am considering photos as my primary source because you can interpret multiple meanings from a single photo. -Brooke Peterson
ReplyDeleteAs a soon-to-be nursing major, I am interested in the topic of health care. I think it would be really cool to research the treatment of patients and their health care experiences based on race and class, especially within the same hospital setting. I’ve heard many times of black women that go into urgent care complaining of intense pain that are not seen immeadiately due to the stereotype of exaggeration by black women. Due to this stereotype, health care professionals may unconsciously doubt the level of pain felt by the patient. My source will probably be a photograph of an African American woman in the emergency room.
ReplyDeleteThis wouldn't work for a primary source, but if you haven't checked out Serena Williams' birth story and how spectacularly she was failed by her medical staff, you should.
DeleteI am interested in luxury brands and material goods are associated with class. As a marketing major I am interested in how these items are portrayed to elicit a sense of high class or wealth. I am also interested in the divide between the demand for necessity items and luxury items and how they differ between classes. I believe a short video ad of picture will act as a reasonable primary source. - Sara Kodish
ReplyDeleteYanzhe jiang
ReplyDeletejiang.1647
When i first have a glance at our title about homeless, the first question came up in my mind is how to solve it. What can we do to help those homeless people and what can government do to help them as well. I think it might me a small topic for me to do research about and a direction for my article to organize.
As a Neuroscience major, I am interested in the topic neurological disorders and its correlations to children based on race and socioeconomic status. Children from African American impoverish communities are at higher risk for psychological disorders such as Anxiety, Depression, Autism, PTSD, etc. I'm also interested in how race and socioeconomic status can vary health care experiences and treatment. I'm considering showing a video on children's mental health and showing either one or two pictures to interpret about the healthcare experiences.
ReplyDelete-Indira Guha
Hi Indira,
DeleteThat is so cool that you are a neuroscience major! I took psychology last semester and that has motivated me to choose a primary source that will allow me to write about the link between socioeconomic class and mental health. One other comment I responded to as well wanted to take a closer look at how social class affects different stages of development, and I would be curious to see if she also looks at the concentration of psychological disorders at the childhood stage based on class or race, after what you have mentioned.
-Kristin Stremlaw
I would like to talk about the difference of life quality between the rich and the poor. Not only the difference of the average education but also the stuff in daily life. Poor people have to walk to school and work hard to get into good university however people from rich famous famous family can enter good university easily. And poor people could only choose the low price food in walmart but rich people could choose the whole food for health. The goal of eating is different for these 2 classes. I would like to choose a relative documentary of these 2 classes to fit my paper.
ReplyDelete-Feifan Wang
I'd be very interested in seeing how immigrants deal with social class and how many of them start off in the new world. I come from a family that has recently immigrated and I'd like to know what other families in similar situations had gone through. Along with that, I'd like to know how what the majority of immigrants start off like in America and if they face any discrimination. For my primary source, I was thinking about something detailing towns of immigrants. Possibly an image of a family after they've moved over. I know when my family moved over, they lived in a community of people from the same area so I'd be interested to see what it was like.
ReplyDelete- Brad Knez
I am interested in the employment environment people have in different classes. People in the higher social status might enjoy more flexible work hours, professional employees care and better working environment. It is also worthwhile to have a detailed investigation of different jobs people have in different social status, for instance, citizens in lower class might have job require more physical strength.
ReplyDelete- Yang Jiang
William Liu
ReplyDeleteLiu.7111
I think I would be interested on looking into the different kinds of diets depending on socio-economic class. I've shopped at a decent range of grocery stores and it would be cool to show the difference of how products are presented or the different products marketed toward different classes. For a source, I could use a commercial for a higher end grocery store such as whole foods or an advertisement or menu for an expensive restaurant.
I am interested in the different kinds of food that different classes of Americans eat. I watched a documentary about this topic before. In the documentary, most upper or middle class American families choose to eat healthier, get more organic food. For others, because of the limitation of income, they can only choose unhealthy food which eventually led to illness. For the primary resource, I will try to find an image or a youtube video about Americans daily diet.
ReplyDeleteZherui Zheng
Lihuang Zhang
ReplyDeleteI'm an international student, so I am interested on the difference between different kinds of social classes, and how to across lower class to upper class. For my topic, I want to focus on the method to solve or alleviate the social problem of homelessness, or whether lower class can transplanted themselves into another classes. I think my primary source is video, because the videos can explain some detail for my point better than some photos. Also, the video can give us more description about homelessness than other source and indicate my topic.
zhang.8657
Lihuang Zhang
ReplyDeleteI'm an international student, so I am interested on the difference between different kinds of social classes, and how to across lower class to upper class. For my topic, I want to focus on the method to solve or alleviate the social problem of homelessness, or whether lower class can transplanted themselves into another classes. I think my primary source is video, because the videos can explain some detail for my point better than some photos. Also, the video can give us more description about homelessness than other source and indicate my topic.
zhang.8657
I
ReplyDeleteam interested in the amount of homeless veterans. Many people in my family have served for our country, so I hold our soldiers close to my heart. I think researching this would not only be educational, but it would also give me an idea on how to help veterans
in different social classes. The government definitely gives them benefits, so I want to see why some end up homeless! My primary source may be a picture, or even a short video.
--Miqaela Weller
Focusing on maybe a health or psychological view here, I'm curious as to how socioeconomic status affects individuals in different contexts of development. For example, how are teenagers affected by their social standing in terms of social behavior? Class clearly creates differences in the way people may identify, behave, and feel, so I want to use a short video that would be able to capture this.
ReplyDelete--Faiza Rahman
Hi Faiza,
DeleteI too am planning on taking the psychological route with this project. I think that there is a lot to be said on the link between social class in America as well as mental health in the country. I'm hoping that I'll avoid digging myself a hole over the course of the semester, as so often it has been brought up, by choosing an interesting topic. With both social class and mental health having such stigmas around them, I'm also looking forward to diving into the taboos of the two. Furthermore, I'm assuming you are or already have taken a psychology class like me with your reference to contexts of development. I'm planning on using my PSYCH 1100 notes as a reference for this project.
-Kristin Stremlaw
I am really interested in researching the "fakeness" so to speak of many people in society; or in other words, the corruptness of people's views of socioeconomic class. Today, it seems as though everyone is doing things to make them appear better to other people (a.k.a. doing things for the "clout"). These are people spending crazy amounts of money to buy things with designer names and jewelry with more diamonds than anyone has ever seen. But, are they all really as rich as they are appearing to be? Are they spending all of the money they make on this stuff and not on their families? Or are they actually rich? In addition to just buying this stuff, people spend endless amounts of time on social media to 'flex' on everyone else that doesn't have these things. So, does that mean everyone else is just poorer than them? Obviously the poor won't brag about how little they have, but do the truly rich brag about it either? Can people even be 'fake' rich? To make things worse, these people will then video tape themselves (in their expensive clothes) just throwing their money onto homeless people. (Yes there are actual videos of people wearing $100k chains and watches just throwing a stack of $20 bills on a person who is sleeping on the side of the street) (I'm thinking of using one of hundreds to use for my primary source). Now, do these people feel bad for the homeless, or are they doing it for the reaction that they'll get when it gets posted on social media. Doing it for the reaction can also mean doing it for the money they'll get-- if the video is popular enough Instagram will have to give them money (the amount, I'm not sure). But if they are truly doing it to give back, why advertise it? Why make a big deal? But, does this make these people bad people? They did give some of their money to some in need. All of this is so bizarre to me. It is almost frightening to see society turning in this direction. So, I think this is where I am going to focus for my project- for now, it seems like a good fit but it could definitely change.
ReplyDeleteVictor Caraballo.29
ReplyDeleteFor my project I may want to look into the technology aspect and how what you own may "define" you. Although its a joke among many the whole "can't hear your poor, I'm wearing air pods "could be a major topic. Cellphones and the company or model could also be a cool thing to look into. Maybe for example Apple iPhones tend to be owned by those of a higher class or want to be owned by those of a lower class to give the idea of being rich. It could be an interesting topic to talk about. Images or videos might help with the primary source.
I am interested in social stratification. Social stratification is mainly about inequality among people, for instance, gender stratification between male and female. Also, the inequality in education due to different social class. For this topic image or video that showing different life between upper class and lower class might be helpful.
ReplyDeleteYou Zuo
Potential topics:
ReplyDelete- How "food deserts" influence lower-class obesity rates
- The effect of class on drug and alcohol abuse
- The role of micro finance corporations in the lives of the poor
- The plight of the working poor
At this point in time, I am leaning toward a topic related to the opioid epidemic. I will probably use a picture or short video
My family works together to run our own private business, so something along the lines of small businesses being impacted by what political views are in power with respect to how much the upper classes are taxed and such. In our experience, as taxes go down, the upper class people are more inclined to do business with my family since they have the money to spend. I know that there are pictures taken of our family business from an article written about us, so maybe a picture with regards to small businesses and such would be what I would use.
ReplyDeleteThis blog post was written by Jacob Gordon. Oops.
DeleteI'm a finance major and the only reason I'm going into finance is to support my hobbies. I always wanted to be a racer but everywhere around the world (including America) it's a super expensive hobby/career to sustain and the chances of you becoming a professional in Formula 1 is basically at 1 percent. It's expensive to maintain your kart or cars and entering races cost a lot of money to. Not to mention insurance or your license. When your career does pick up, it gets a lot easier with everything else. The thing about starting is the financial hurdle. I feel like you have to be extremely wealthy to be able to even start off and here in America you don't really see that often (Besides Europe). The kids who race that I interacted with usually their parents run some sort of business and they can support that but after a year me racing, my parents couldn't afford to keep me entering new races. I'm interested in how your socioeconomic class in America can afford you different opportunities like hobbies or profession when you're older.
ReplyDeletesince I come from China, I barely know the information about American Social Class. So what I can write might be relating to China's Social Class situation with the America's. The comparison might come up with some new ideas and deeper arguments. Although these two countries are totally different in some parts, I may still try to find some commons to discuss.
ReplyDelete--Duoyuan Wang
I think I want my topic to be along the lines of class vs. sports. Why is it that sports such as golf, tennis, and swimming are associated with higher class people? While sports like basketball and football tied to those of lower class? Also the topic of race and sports. Why are there so many African Americans in the basketball and football leagues but so little in golf, tennis, and swimming, or even baseball?
ReplyDeleteI am not sure what I will use for my primary source yet. Probably a beaten down basketball court in a area of poverty.
I’m a big NBA fan and I’d like to somehow relate the NBA to classes in America. As of right now, I’m thinking about whether the economic class NBA players grow up from can affect their overall career performance. I’ll most likely use pictures as my sources such as photos of the NBA players before the getting drafted into the NBA etc.
ReplyDeleteRyan Goh
I'm not very sure yet about my topic. But my main focus would be on the environmental concern with nations' economic development. Should we focus on the national economy and ignore the environmental issue? Which is more important? How to build a continuous society to minimize the pollution of the society and keep economy growth?
ReplyDeleteSiyuan Zhang
One topic I am interested in exploring is the lower socioeconomic class. Specifically, the differences in quality of life between the working lower class, the non working (welfare, EBT, etc) lower class, immigrants in the lower class, as well as homelessness and how it correlates with veterans, mentally ill, and all together lifelong US citizens vs immigrants that are struggling with homelessness.
ReplyDeleteI am interested in how to improve the education level for the poor. In some countries like China, children leave school and start to work before college, for example, Chinese government offer students free education just for nine years, which means the opportunity of receiving higher education for many poor students can't be guaranteed. Also, In many countries, children need to do many works after class for their parents like looking after little brother/sister, so their time for learning is less such that they can't get good grades in school. I plan to search a picture about children education levels that distinguished by families' economic level to prove that education level for the poor is totally lower than others, and another picture about the amounts of income with different education levels to illustrate the importance of education for living standard.
ReplyDelete-- Huaijin Yang
For my topic, I would like to observe the effects of gentrification and how it changes the lifestyle of an area. I know many area, even outside the U.S are affected by gentrification, so I wanted to look at its effect on a global scale and study data as to how it changes socioeconomic statuses. I also wanted to look at how it affects different demographics (i.e. the black community, immigrants, POC vs. white people). Examples of primary sources, I can use is graphs, pictures, and videos, much like the ones we watched about the different classes.
ReplyDeleteI was thinking my topic either be about dying cities and the loss of low skill jobs, or the effects on the cost of living caused by rapidly advancing technology. Both of these topics are personally significant to me since, first, I come from a dying city (Youngstown, Ohio), and always grew up in the shadow of the steel mills and the immense prosperity that the city had in the 20th century. Second, I'm a CSE major so I believe knowing the social impact of the products that my industry produces is important.
ReplyDelete-- Parker Spielvogel
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeletePeople in every class face health issues. I'm interested in how one's class affect on his health. What are the major diseases for people in different social classes and how these diseases related to one's class. I'm trying to find a picture or a short video that shows health issues that people in different classes are likely to have.
ReplyDelete-----Yoyo Zhang
As I was researching about my topic , I came across a nice quote " You are what you wear" . I really liked it and would like to use it in my paper. For my topic I am intrested to study in how clothes can define one's class in society. And how it is very common that people tend to buy clothes from top brands even if they aren't useful. Displaying of wealth through clothes and other materialistic things is very common this days. For my primary source I was thinking of finding some pictures where people are wearing clothes of famous brands or pictures where the people are wearing different kind of clothes depending on their social class.
ReplyDeleteI think for my topic healthcare access between different classes would be interesting. I've always had a heart for the medical field and I want to be a nurse. I think some subtopics of healthcare could be the access to healthcare or the cost of healthcare between different socioeconomic classes.
ReplyDelete-Christen Alguire
There are a few different topics I am considering that I find interesting. One of them is how the flow of money can effect people in poverty, for example when someone who lives in poverty becomes wealthy, is there an effect on others if they spend their money in the businesses near where there is poverty versus spending it on high end items? For a primary source I could use either a photo or a music video from a song where I first heard this theory. I believe it was potentially Jay-Z who brought up that theory, which is also interesting because he grew up in poverty and has made himself into one of the wealthiest men in the world.
ReplyDeleteNoah Ball
I want to search about the difficulty of the people in lower classes improving their social class. Because that recently some of my friends told me that they feel compared to their parents, it is more difficult for them to upgrade their social class. I’m interested in that if this problem also happens in America, so I want to write about it.
ReplyDelete- Yunjie Shi
Ok my post vanished again.
ReplyDeleteI major in Economics and I am interest in some stuff related to economy or marketing. Products are made for fulfilling different needs of different kinds of people, including different people from different classes of course. So this might be intriguing because there might be different ways that seller or brands sell their product to different people. So my topic could be around how different brands or sellers sell their products to different people or are there any brands and products specifically made for particular people in different classes. I will go find some short viedos related to how a seller sells his/her product to different people who are from different classes.
I was thinking about homelessness as a depending crisis on the streets of America. It is a really big problem today and figuring out ways to help or make sure there is support to give them options etc.. Still all in the works but i feel like i can go in depth with this topic.
ReplyDeleteMy post vanished again.
ReplyDeleteFor my topic, I will think about how people in lower class live in the America and what they do to survive and improve their class because I'm always concerning about the poor. I have seen how poor people lead their lives in China and have taken actions to help them, and I have no idea about the poor in America so I'd like to see that.
Alexa Marshall
ReplyDeleteFor my primary source, I plan on doing an advertisement of Chanel or Luxury brands that are only attainable to those of the upper class. Mainly because Chanel is an impactful and powerful brand that many consumers fawn over and work to attain. Although I am a pre-med major, I am highly interested in fashion design. I believe that a Luxury brand advertisement would be good to show the things our society works for. The upper class can attain this easily, but the lower class has to work extremely hard for it.
Henry Huang
ReplyDeleteFor my primary source source, I'm interested in the class between musicians and audience. Since the audience are normally separate on broad class of people, it would be interesting to investigate the relationship and characterizes of those group.
I would search several images that shows how shiny a singer/djs/ musicians are in the stage and the audience stand on the floor. In that moment, it looks like a two different class are stand in the same page. I would search for some music videos that reflects those low-class life. There are numerous amount of music video try to use their music to show how music can be a healing method for those poor people and I believe it would be very interesting to investigate.