Gang Violence Unit Plan Research Processes/Text Set Synthesis
1. Choose YOUR research question
How does Gang Violence affect Neighborhoods?
Why do people join gangs?
What makes gangs appealing?
You may create a topic of your own and submit for approval.
2. Start Researching
Find a reliable database/article.
Is the database found on the library homepage? Why do you think this is a good database? Is it relevant to your research? Is it well made and professional?
Does the database end in .gov or .edu? Or does it end in .com or .org?
Who is the author? Are they reliable? Is their writing more opinion based or is it more factual?
Is the article from a well-known and trustworthy site?
3. Start Annotating
Is there bias in this article? How can you tell?
What is the author's opinion on gangs? Are they for or against it? Is the article merely informational?
What audience is the author trying to reach? Did their point come across well? Did it actually target the audience they wanted to target?
What are the author's sources? Are they reliable? Can they back up the information they present?
Search Strategies
Get specific when you search
Suggested Databases
Google Scholar Academic One File NY Times
Omit information that may not be true (height, age, time period)
4. Incorporate and Connect the Text Sets used in class.
"The Outsiders"
"Monster"
How does "The Outsiders" Influence your idea of gang life? Does it influence it?
Do you see connections between your research and "The Outsiders"? Are there similarities between the two?
Does "The Outsiders" represent gang life accurately? How does it compare to your new understanding of gangs?
Are there stereotypes within the novel that are still represented in media today? Have those stereotypes changed over time? Have they stayed the same?
Does the autobiography fit your understanding of gangs?
Did anything about the text surprise you? Or have media interpretations accurately depicted gang life?
What have you learned about gangs? Does this real life interpretation change your outlook? Were your thoughts about gangs correct? Incorrect?
Think... criminals? poor? violent? High school drop outs?
Think... violent acts? shoot outs? running from the law? sticking together in tough times? helping each other?
Think... biases? opinions? symbolism?
What was your opinion before and now after?
Do you see instances where your opinion was brought to life through something Monster said or described?
What have you seen in the news that is similar to situations Monster went through?
Did you view gang life negatively? Or as something that may have been over done and ramped up in the media?
Johnny murders a gang member from another gang to protect his friend.
Dally steals from a shop ultimately leading to his death
Darry creates a new home for his friends whose home lifes are sometime violent and uncaring
Darry wants his brother Ponyboy to do well in school, he wants him away from the violence of the gang life, but ultimately he can't stop it from happening.
Rival gang members attempt to attack Johnny and Ponyboy
Many of the boys steal
Darry finished highschool and almost went to college on a football scholarship
Many of the boys come from low income families. You can see this in the movie by looking at how their homes look and how they are dressed.
Sodapop and other boys have dropped out of highschool
Are there events you have read about that are similar to what you read about in "The Outsiders" or "Monster"
Does "The Outsiders" seem more tame than what you would say the media depicts gangs as/or what you believe gangs to be?
Monster was initiated into a gang in 6th grade... did that surprise you? why?
What about how he got his name?
Were you shocked that someone could commit such violence and be happy with themselves?
Does this fit your idea of gang members?
If this had been the only gang related movie you saw when "The Outsiders" came out, would you have thought that a gang doesn't seem so bad?
Is the media and research right to depict gangs as violent and menacing?
Is there ever a time when gangs are good?
Some of the male characters are depicted as sensitive
Darry is concerned with how his brothers do in school
What affect did both of these interpretations of gang life have on their surrounding neighborhoods?
Violence and death ensued
Looting, theft, stealing
Fear for their lives
Business can not stay within the community, which decreases the amount of money being spread throughout the community
Good families move away
Or they are forced to stay where they are because they can not sell their homes. This allows the cycle of gang recruitment to continue
Jobs are limited and those within the community are forced to find income elsewhere
Has Monster's account of his time in a gang changed your opinion? Has it confirmed what you had originally thought?
Drugs are circulated through the community
Drug trafficking becomes a form of income. In communities where jobs are limited it becomes THE job to have.
You either participate in transporting and selling drugs or you have jobs that may not be as fulfilling (think...Sodapop works at a gas station)
Suggested Search Terms
Gangs and their affect on society EVEN BETTER: Choose a specific place to research
