Remember that the research paper will run between 8-10 pages, will integrate sources from a diverse array of resources using MLA style, will have a clear thesis/research question as the backbone of the paper, will avoid fallacious rhetoric, and will construct logical arguments to advance the ideas in the paper.Here are a few important tips about drafting that you should keep in mind:
Use effective transitions PDF between paragraphs.
Include only those details and sources that support your thesis. Don't go off on tangents or include opinions that don't point back to the thesis.
Each paragraph should have a topic sentence. A paragraph needs at least 5-8 sentences that fully and adequately support the topic sentence.
Use appropriate tone, voice, and persuasion.
Don't use too many quotations in your paper.
Cite your sources properly IN THE BODY OF YOUR PAPER (the text of your paper) according to MLA formatting.
Read your sentences aloud to check for run-ons and fragments.
Don't end a paragraph with a quote. If you quote something, your next sentence should be your own thoughts, analysis, and comments on that quote.
The structure of the family unit today is rapidly changing from the way it has been throughout much of history. The traditional American family consists of a man and a woman who bring children into their home as husband and wife. Children born into homes with a father and mother have proven to be ideal for their happiness and success in life. With divorce and unwedded childbearing at an all time high, more and more children are born each day into single-parent households. According to the 2010 United States Census records, the number of children living in single-parent homes has nearly doubled in the past 50 years. This has resulted in more than 15 million children in the United States, approximately one third of all children, being raised in homes without a father. There have been many studies done testing whether fatherless children are affected negatively, positively, or if there is no effect at all. The effects of not having a father present in the home can be an impacting factor on children's behavior, cognitive development and self-esteem.
The total number of children living in a single-parent household in 1960 was recorded by the United States Census to be 9%, with the divorce rate also at 9%. In the 1960's, it was more common for couples to be wedded prior to having children. Society and those that were closest to them looked down on women who got pregnant out of wedlock. It was very uncommon for cohabitation to exist. Divorce was looked down upon in many communities. In 1980, the divorce rates had nearly doubled since the 60's. There was an increase of 11% of the number of children born into a single-parent household, raising the total to 20%. Unfortunately, the statistics of children being raised in single-parent homes have continued to rise. In the year 2010, the United States Census recorded the divorce rate to have gone down a couple of percentages since the 1980's, but the number of children born in single-parent households has risen to 25%. The effects on children of not having a father present in the home can be seen in a vast number of ways. Zoe Borgan and Franklin B. Krohn define an absent father is on who does not interact with his child on a regular basis and does not play much of a role on their development.
Many studies have been conducted on the results of not having a father present in the home and how it affects children. Psychologists Danielle J. DelPriore and Sarah E. Hill evaluated several women's physical and psychological life situations to determine the effects of having a father who is not engaged in their upbringing. The authors also observe the sexual behaviors of these women compared to women who were raised with fathers who were involved in their upbringing. Franklin B. Krohn was an esteemed faculty member at State University of New York at Fredonia. Zoe Bogan is a resource management professional as well as a leadership council member with many different women's groups. They introduce statistics demonstrating that women who grow up without a father figure in their life are at a higher risk for teenage pregnancy, college dropout, and low self-esteem. Other effects of fatherless daughters are disorders, suicide, and homelessness.
Rich Batten has an extensive background in studies of healthy marriage and family relations and has over 20 years of experience in his field. Batten provides a wealth of wisdom based on his specialized experience in fatherhood. He talks about how every child has a need for their father inherently imbedding within them. He believes that father's have the most untouched resource in the lives of children. Batten provides information on how to be a helpful father verses a harmful father. Not all are support the idea that there are negative effects that come from children not being raised by a father. Michele Weldon states that growing up without a father can in some cases protect children from what could be abusive and hostile relationships that they could have with their father. She talks about how mothers are often encouraged to leave abusive relationships with men, but are then stereotyped into a certain class. "The government itself sends the message that children need their fathers. But sometimes the absence is an improvement" (Weldon).
Children who grow up in homes without fathers are more likely to have behavior issues. Jeffrey Rosenberg and W. Bradford Wilcox say in their manual, The Importance of Father's in the Healthy Development of Their Children, that one of the most beneficial relationships children can learn from is that of a mother and a father. As boys watch the way that their fathers treat their mothers, they learn the way in which they should treat women. As girls observe the way their father interacts with their mother, they learn the type of man that they should look for in their life. When children do not have a father as a good role model, many different behavioral issues can be manifest in a variety of ways. Some of the most commonly seen manifestations of behavior issues are children acting out in anger, children having a difficult time making friends with others, and children putting on an aggressive persona.
There are many outside factors, which could affect these behavioral statistics. "...It can be hard to tell to what extent an absent father causes the problems that father absence is associated with, and to what extent other factors related to both family structure and child outcomes are to blame" (Sutherland). The fact that there are so many outside sources that could influence children's behavior, such as the family's income level or the parent's way of disciplining their child, data must be taken taken from a variety of different types of families. Rebecca Ryan, a professor of Psychology, Amy Claessens, a professor of Public Policy, and Anna J. Markowitz, a graduate student of psychology, say in their journal, Family Structure and Children's Behavior, that children who do not have their father present in the home due to divorce, re-marriage, or death, result in having more behavior issues than children who are raised in a home with both of their biological parents.
A behavior that is often seen specifically in women raised in fatherless homes is sexual behavior issues. The lack of a male figure in the home can create the need within young girls and women to receive attention from men outside of the home. This can begin at a very early age in a young girl's life. "Adolescent girls raised in fatherless households are far more likely to engage in promiscuous sexual activity before marriage, to cohabit, to get pregnant out of wedlock and to have an abortion" (DelPriore, Hill). In Gary Chapman's book, The 5 Love Languages, he addresses the 5 different love languages through which people give and receive love as being words of affirmation, quality time, service, gifts, and physical touch. Some people, for example, only feel love through the physical touch of another. If young girls are not getting physical touch from their father, such as from a hug or sitting on their dad's lap, they may seek it elsewhere. The same goes for words of affirmation or quality time. The need to feel love can drive people to desperate measures to receive it.
Men that are raised in fatherless homes are more likely to commit crime and become incarcerated. As Birgitta Kofler-Westergren, Johannes Klopf, and Bernhard Mitterauer, professors and medical doctors of neuropsychiatry and psychoanalysis, conducted a study of 75 men who were incarcerated. In their journal, Juvenile Delinquency: Father Absence, Conduct Disorder, and Substance Abuse as Risk Factor Triad, they concluded that "66% of all juveniles had experienced father deprivation, 20% had never been living with the father, and 25% had an alcoholic father. The most negative effects were registered in 32 juvenile delinquents growing up without a father..." (Kofler-Westergren, Klopf, Mitterauer). Although this information is mostly consistent with their idea that expressions of crime are seen more in men who were raised in a home with an absent father, their statistics do not take into account family structure, personalities, and other diagnostic variables.
Children who grow up in homes without a father can experience a decrease in cognitive development. "Among the areas of cognitive development are information processing, intelligence, reasoning, language development, and memory" (Bright From the Start). The Georgia Department of Early Care and Learning defines cognitive development as "the construction of thought processes, including remembering, problem solving, and decision-making, from childhood through adolescence to adulthood" (Bright From the Start). Children begin developing cognitively at birth. Mary Shinn conducted research on the negative effects that can take place in a child's cognitive development very early in a child's life in her journal Father Absence and Children's Cognitive Development. After evaluating children's IQ levels, test scores, overall grade point averages, and achievement tests, the results seemed to show a positive correlation between father absence and children's cognitive development. If children do not develop cognitively, it can greatly affect how they do in school early on. Children who struggle in school at a younger age are more likely to have struggles throughout their school career.
Children who grow up in homes without a father are less likely to go to college. There are several factors that can play into why fatherless children do not go to college; many of them have been previously discussed. Children who have struggled their whole loves in school because of their lack of cognitive development are less likely to continue their education at a college level. Another factor that can have an influence on children's education level is whether or not they have the actual ability to put themselves through college. Monetary factors can prohibit children from the opportunity to go to college.
Single mother's are often the sole providers of their family and sometimes do not receive child support from the fathers. If children do not earn financial aid or scholarships, it may not be possible for the single mother to pay for their child to attend college. As fatherless children are known to be more likely to engage in sexual activity at a young age, the chances of them becoming pregnant at an early age is increased. It is far less likely that young, sometimes single, teenage mothers would have the means or ability to put themselves through college. It seems to be a vicious cycle that is extremely difficult to break.
One of the leading causes for low self-esteem in children is the absence of a father in the home. Essentially, a father should be there to be a role model for their children. They are to be examples to their boys of how to be a man. Men have a lot of responsibilities in the world and if they did not have a positive father figure to look up to, they may not have the confidence needed to take on all of those responsibilities. Fathers can be positive role models in how to work, get an education and raise a family. Boys who grew up without fathers may feel that they are inadequate or may not have the work ethics needed to be successful in life.
Girls are to look to their father as examples as to how a man should love a woman. Daughters will often reflect on the relationship they have with their own father and judge other relationships with males through the experience they have had with their father. If daughters have not have not had a loving relationship with their father, this can cause it to be harder to accept love and give trust to others. It can affect their view of themselves and their view of the world. Having a low self-esteem can also lead to even greater tragedies in young children and adolescents lives.
Children who grow up in fatherless homes are twice as likely to commit suicide than children raised in a two-parent household. Suicide is often a result of poor self-esteem. Fatherless children are at a higher risk for suicide because of their low self-esteem. Kevin Caruso, President of The Suicide Website on the Internet, a suicide survivor himself, said that over 90% of people who die from suicide die from the most common mental illness, which is depression. Unfortunately, a common result of divorce on children is depression. Some argue that there are too many outside factors to determine that suicide is linked to children being raised in fatherless families. Children may experience depression from chemical imbalances or a variety of other life situations that may have occurred.
The American society needs to put a greater emphasis on the importance of marriage between man and woman so that every child has the opportunity to be raised by a mother and a father. The benefits that come from being raised in a two-parent household far outweigh those of being raised in a single-household. Although there are many who believe otherwise, children who are raised by a mother and father have better behavior, increased cognitive development, and a higher self-esteem. Statistics have proven that the ideal setting for raising a family is in a traditional family where both parents are involved in raising their children.
