1) My opening scene will not be a first hand experience, because I simply don't have access to any pledging or hazing experiences at fraternities. However, I will use a scene from someone who is currently pledging a fraternity instead. I have heard many stories from different pledges, but at this point I'm not sure which one I am going to use. I know that I will have to be very specific when asking questions about a scene so I can make it as complete and vivid as possible. In other words, I will have to do my best to put myself in their shoes to see what they saw, felt what they felt, etc.
2)The quote that I use to conclude the scene will most likely be the pledge's perspective on the experience, how he felt, how he feels now and what he got out of it. I first need to decide which scene I am going to use before I choose a fitting quote.
3)To answer why I am writing about this issue, I will display why hazing is an important issue that needs to be addressed. I can do this in many ways, such as citing people's deaths from hazing, explaining negative effects, and showing that it is very common at Penn State.
4)For background, I will delve into the issue of hazing and what its all about. I will first go into the history of hazing, and how it became so prominent on college campuses including Penn State. Then I will go into what hazing is, give a definition from the school, the state, the dictionary, etc. I think it may be important to explain that hazing is not only an issue in fraternities, but in other areas such as sports, clubs, and the military. At this point I will go into the background of fraternity hazing, and begin to narrow my focus to fraternity hazing at Penn State.
5)Cases of hazing at Penn State
-quotes from pledges and brothers
-stories and rumors that circulate
-are all fraternities hazing, which ones are the worst
6)How hazing affects those involved(is it harmful? Does anything good come out of it?)
-how it affects the brothers
-how it affects the pledges
-short term and long term effects
7)Why do fraternities haze?
-quotes from brothers
-opinions from pledges
-studies conducted to find out why fraternities haze/why pledges subject themselves to it(psychology behind it)
8)Why so secretive?
-investigate why many hazing rituals are kept secret
-look at how many hazing goes unreported, why and how?
-quotes from pledges and brothers
9)What is the school, students, police doing about hazing?
-include organizations such as the IFC who help prevent hazing
-is the school doing enough to prevent hazing?
-quotes from IFC members
10)Hazing is occurring all over the nation
-examples of hazing issues at colleges around the country
-what these colleges are doing compared to Penn State
-how bad hazing problems are elsewhere compared to Penn State
-Penn State is top 10 in Greek Scene by Princeton Review
11)Conclusion- In the conclusion I will start off by summing up everything I covered with my research and interviews. I think the main questions I will try and plant in peoples minds are "Does anything good come out of hazing?", "Why do people continue to do it?", "What can you, the school, or anybody do to fix this issue?". I am not taking a position on this topic, so I think the most important part of this paper is going to be getting a reader to start asking some of these questions and just get people thinking about it.
Justin:
ReplyDeleteI know it's been hard getting access to detailed information about hazing here on PSU's campus, but I think you've done wonderfully despite your many restraints.
I think your first scene will work well, from what I can tell.
Here's where I want you to be careful:
I was just looking over your NUT GRAPH and it is super long. I want you to use the writing of your nut graph to help you figure out exactly what it is you want to talk about in this 4-5 page paper. To simply write about HAZING is way too general. That would be an entire book. Instead, you will obviously focusing on various incidents of hazing at PSU frats that illustrate what: why it's dangerous? why it's wrong? What do you want us to learn, specifically, about hazing.
Remember, we have all heard of hazing before. What is your paper going to add to the conversation? It can't simply regurgitate the info we've gotten before. It has to have a focus: WHAT DID YOU LEARN ABOUT HAZING THAT YOU THOUGHT WAS NEW OR RELEVANT OR INTERESTING.
That nugget is your nut graph. Use it to frame all the information you are giving us about hazing. That, despite it being illegal and frats getting busted, it still happens regularly, thanks to an intense secrecy forced upon rushes by brothers? That would be a good nut graph.
Just make sure the piece remains FOCUSED. Otherwise this could get unwieldy.