I am interested in the topic of affirmative action in the college admissions process. Affirmative action policies impact all college applicants and their chances of being admitted to different universities across the United States. However, the policies take the applicant's race and ethnicity into high consideration when reviewing applications. My research question is whether or not race based affirmative action should continue to be used in the college admissions process. Affirmative action was instituted in the early 1960's to help reverse the discrimination by Americans against minorities and was once a relevant and necessary policy. However, I believe it is now outdated and unfair to both racial minorities and majorities in the college admissions process. This policy has allowed colleges to evaluate the academic performance of minorities on a different scale in order to foster racial diversity. For example, in an article in Stanford Magazine David Sacks and Peter Thiel report that, "The average SAT disparity between Stanford's African-American and white admittees reached 171 points in 1992" (4). While racial diversity is important, college admissions have become less about the applicant's intelligence and more about the color of the applicant's skin. This research topic strongly affects my values because I believe that every person should be treated equally regardless of race. The affirmative action policy conflicts with my views because it is unfair and I believe it is an inadequate admissions policy. As one of the millions of students in the United States of America, I believe I am qualified to write about this topic, and I think an alternative to affirmative action is necessary to make the college admissions process fair.

An article on the NCSL website gives a basic and brief analysis of the history of affirmative action as well as an analysis of both sides of the argument. Affirmative action was instituted after the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s in order to benefit racial minorities who were discriminated against by the American government. The policy originally applied to the job-hiring market as well as discrimination in the workplace. However, shortly after the policy was instituted in professional settings, many universities began to adopt a similar policy in their admissions process. The values and interests of this article are to inform the reader about affirmative action and the history of the policy. This source identifies the historical background of affirmative action as well as the arguments for and against the policy. In addition, this source also identifies major dates in which affirmative action became relevant in the United States. The source is credible because it comes from the National Conference of State Legislatures, which aids the members of state legislatures in America. This source is unbiased because it is purely factual information and it gives arguments both for and against affirmative action as well as an unbiased analysis.

"The Case Against Affirmative Action" was written by David Sacks and Peter Thiel, two graduates of Stanford University. They argue that Stanford has been discriminating in favor of racial minorities in admissions for over twenty five years. They claim that the affirmative action policy instills race-consciousness as well as reverse racism because it is wrong to assume that only minorities can add certain ideas or perspectives (Sacks and Thiel 6). They argue that this assumption is not only wrong but offensive as well because Caucasian students can add as much diversity with their experiences as could minority students. Many Caucasian students come from different backgrounds as well, such as low-income communities and their experiences could be beneficial to the university as well as to their peers. Sacks and Thiel's main argument is that they believe Stanford should admit purely on a "color-blind" basis and should evaluate students on based on academic achievements in order to achieve fairness in the admissions process. David Sacks and Peter Thiel are both graduates of Stanford University and are pursuing higher education.  They have knowledge of the admissions process as well as their personal experiences, thus making them credible. Although they are potentially biased, being two white male students, they do make a compelling as well as factual argument. 

In the article: "Race and College Admissions: An Alternative to Affirmative Action", Mark C. Long analyzes an alternative option to affirmative action. Long introduces a policy instituted in both Washington and Texas which allows any student within a certain percent of the top of their class to be automatically admitted to any state university. He argues that this policy is beneficial because it is "color-blind", any student regardless of race can achieve being in the top of their class. This source analyzes the efficiency of the top x% programs and evaluates whether or not this program is a viable replacement for affirmative action. In addition, Long analyzes specific states and universities in which this policy has been instituted in order to build evidence. Mark C. Long holds a PhD in economics from the University of Michigan. He has done a substantial amount of research on the effects of economic opportunity in education, thus making him credible on the topic of affirmative action. This article is biased because Long opposes affirmative action policies and is therefore providing an alternative method.

The issue of affirmative action in the admissions process is highly controversial in the educational field as well as in the American government because many people believe it is unfair to admit students based on race rather than intelligence. It is arguable because there are viable cases for and against affirmative action. While my first source is more informative then argumentative, my last two sources are in stasis. Both sources agree that affirmative action in the college admissions process is outdated and should be replaced with a better and more efficient policy. The relationship of stasis between these two sources is relevant because they support my argument and allow me to develop my thesis statement more thoroughly. The perspectives of these two sources are valuable because they give a broad analysis of affirmative action in America as well as viable alternatives to it, which I can use to argue in my research paper. I don't see myself revising my topic in the future. I believe that the research question of affirmative action in the college admissions process is a well thought out, specific, and very arguable topic.

