How to find sources for a research‐based essay
Assignment
The purpose of this assignment is to demonstrate that you know how to find sources for a
research‐based essay, then construct a persuasive argument that uses material from those
sources for support. The thesis will be the overall judgment you make of this issue, its causes,
and potential outcomes. The thesis must be able to be supported and appropriate to the task.
I. Choose an argumentative topic that refers to your major.
II. A proposal for research, which includes a topic, what you want to learn (research
question), and why you were interested in this topic.
III. Annotated Bibliography: Annotations include a summary of the source and an
evaluation of its usefulness to your research. Also, Include the following:
1. A summary of the source’s content
2. Discussion of the significance/usefulness of the source in terms of your thesis
3. An evaluation of the source’s quality
4. Your reaction to the source
Example:
For entries in APA format: APA formats are double-spaced and listed in alphabetical order.
All lines following in the entry are indented.
Holden, Robert. (2003). New Landscape Design. Oxford: Architectural Press.
Solution
Abstract
The results of civil wars are felt for long periods of time in the countries that have them. Many
people are left homeless and the impact of this is untold suffering to human life. This was the
case for Syria in 2011 when a civil war broke out. This paper analyzes the depth of the suffering
that Syrian refugees underwent and are still undergoing in terms of social, economic and political
aspects. Some governmental and non-governmental organizations have been chipping it their
assistance to try and reduce the suffering though their efforts have not borne tangible fruits.
SYRIAN REFUGEES 3
Introduction
One of the main effects that are brought about by civil wars is the challenge of increase in
the numbers of refugees after the war. Refugees bring about various challenges in their countries
which could be counted in terms of economic, political, and social. Apart from the problems that
result to countries due to refugees increasing the refugees also face problems that can be said to
be specific to them. The governments of countries that are faced with these challenges end up
seeking assistance of other governments and other non-governmental organizations to solve
some of the problems that are encountered. This research paper is aimed at bringing to the
attention of readers the challenges that are faced by Syrian refugees as well as the issues that
were brought about by these refugees in Syria and worldwide.
Method
This paper represents the findings of the research I carried out mainly through scholarly
and electronic sources which have been documented in books and journals. The research is about
the issues that are faced by Syrian refugees while in their country and in other countries. I
interviewed some of the refugees also to find out first hand information about their history and
the background of them becoming refugees and their general experiences in their lives as
refugees. The refugees responded and gave their views on what could be done to reduce what
they termed as adverse effects in their lives resulting from civil wars. Throughout the process of
gathering this information it was evident that refugees from all over the world face almost the
same challenges which could be addressed in the same ways by the governments and human
rights activists.
SYRIAN REFUGEES 4
Annotated Bibliography
Kirişçi, K. (2014). Syrian Refugees and Turkey’s Challenges: Going Beyond
Hospitality. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution
Kirişçi, in his journal Syrian Refugees and Turkey’s Challenges: Going beyond
Hospitality aims at bringing out all the challenges that are faced by Syrian refugees in Turkey in
all aspects and in details. To a researcher this journal is useful as it goes beyond giving an
overview of what is faced by the refugees. However, it has the limitation of being mostly in line
with Turkey which might not be the case for other countries that host the Syrian refugees. In
other words the quality of this source is only limited to Turkish researchers. In my opinion this
source is relevant to all refugee crises worldwide if complimented with other primary sources
such as interviews to the refugees.
Mercy Corps, (2016). Quick facts: What you need to know about the Syria crisis.
According to the information relayed by this source the countries that got affected by the
Syrian refugee crisis are mentioned as most of the Middle East. The source is useful in the sense
that it gives a researcher the guidelines on the places to review and base the research. The source
is of high quality since it reduces biasness but has the limitation of not mentioning the details of
what the crisis brought about. The source in my opinion is reliable based on the existence of
other sources to compliment the work of a researcher.
Özden, S. (2013). Syrian refugees in Turkey
The work of Senay Özden, in the Syrian refugees in Turkey is aimed at evaluating the
effects that were brought about by the influx of Syrian refugees to the Turkish economy. In this
SYRIAN REFUGEES 5
journal article the author recognizes that child labor and forced labor were some of the
challenges facing the Syrian refugees. The usefulness of this source is based on the fact that
effects that were felt in Turkey were also felt in other countries that hosted the refugees though
the reliability of the source could be limited to Turkish researchers. This makes the quality of the
information quite low and has to be complimented by other sources
World Vision Staff, (2016). Syria refugee crisis FAQ: How the war is affecting
children
Children are the most affected by the Syrian refugee crisis as they make up about half the
population according to the information relayed in this document. The document is mostly
limited to the suffering caused to children though it reviews the suffering of adults and the start
of the crisis to some extent. The source is useful as it helps in supporting the issue being
addressed in the topic of Syrian refugees, children involved. Thus the quality of the information
gotten from this source is high due to the fact that it includes information put forward by a
human rights activists’ organization. I find the source reliable because most of the information
has been updated over the years.
Background of the Syrian Refugees crisis
The Syrian refugees’ crisis is believed to have started in 2011 when the Anti-
governmental army members were protesting against the government. The crisis was brought
about by the war that happened in Syria forcing about five hundred thousand people to move to
Jordan. The trend has been ongoing to this day due to the availability of health and other
facilities that are offered in Jordan. The current reports estimate that about thirteen million and
SYRIAN REFUGEES 6
five hundred people have become refugees in Syria, the Middle East and other countries
including in Europe since the civil war started (World Vision Staff, (2016). The crisis
was as a result of what is believed to be the worst war against human life and most specifically it
was the worst after the Rwandan genocide in April, 1994 (World Vision Staff, 2016).
Among the countries that were affected through this crisis are Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey
and Iraq as they had to host the homeless refugees and it ended up being a permanent challenge
in some regions of these countries. The Syrian refugees consist of men and women; both old and
young, and children. Measures to address this problem have since been launched with most of
them not being very successful as the levels of insecurity and terrorism keep rising. The Arab
countries have been faced with challenges that cause the numbers of refugees to keep increasing
due to the various revolts against the government and other social revolts. The possibility of
permanently solving this problem thus depends upon the ability of the government to combat
terrorism as it would assist in the finalizing of challenges caused by civil wars.
Major Challenges Faced By Syrian Refugees
Health Challenges
World Vision Staff, (2016) recorded that most of the populations that were
affected by the Syrian civil war were children who make up about half of the refugees’ group. In
most cases children have a very low immunity against diseases and this supports that they are the
most affected by illnesses that can attack people in the camps. The living conditions in the
refugees’ tents are not exactly very safe owing to the high populations and lack of necessary
facilities such as clean water. The lack of a clean environment which can be said to cause the
illnesses is caused by the plastic trash in the Lebanon camp according to information
SYRIAN REFUGEES 7
documented by World Vision Staff,(2016). Another problem that is causing health
challenges is the fact that most of the children are malnourished as lack of food is also a constant
problem. As some of the children try to make ends meet they end up being taken advantage of
and the result is high exploitation by people who give them tasks to carry out. The implication of
this is that they end up getting sick with no one to take care of them in the end as some do not
even know their parents or they were killed during the war. In this case it can thus be seen that
children in Syrian refugee camps suffer a great deal.
Apart from children, old men and women are at the risk of being faced by challenges of
diseases which they are not immune against. However, this is not limited to the old populations
only as the conditions of living are almost the same for all of the Syrian refugees. According to
information that was released by one of the refugees in the Lebanon camp huge numbers of
refugees die in the camp putting the rest of the refugees at risk because they do not have proper
ways of disposing off the bodies. Some of the refugees had suffered injuries during the war
which means that lack of proper medication has brought about the challenge of people not being
able to heal. Therefore, it is evident that the Syrian refugee crisis has brought untold suffering to
the people it affected, not only to the children but also to adult populations.
Lack of Food, Water and Clothing
The highest numbers of Syrian refugees are faced with the problem of lacking basic
needs, most of the victims being children. Owing to the fact that most of the people are not in
their original homes the problem of lacking enough food which they can say they are used to is
obviously a challenge. The other factor is that they lack financial capability to purchase food and
water in the countries the fled to since the currencies are different and some did not manage to
SYRIAN REFUGEES 8
save any of their financial resources when they were living Syria during the war. A refugee who
was interviewed described this as the major challenge that has not been addressed by the
governments in Lebanon other than the issue of shelter. The case is not different from what is
happening in other countries that host these Syrian refugees since the countries to some extent
already have problems providing for their own citizens. Lacking basic needs especially food,
clothing and clean water is a huge problem against humanity and this means that the refugees
suffer a great deal.
Insecurity and Other Social Crimes
The fact that having proper shelter is a problem for most of the Syrian refugees, it is most
certain that security is a big challenge. The refugees live in tents which cannot be regarded as
very safe places for women and children especially. Some refugees have to seek employment
which is not easy to find and the end product is them becoming criminals as they try to make
ends meet. In most cases these refugees end up making the lives of their fellow refugees harder
as they can easily access them. The threat of women and young girls being raped is also a
challenge being faced by refugees living in camps and out of camps as security may not be
guaranteed. Child labor as has been documented by Özden, (2013, p.7) and a refugee who was
interviewed. Children find themselves as the first victims of forced labor since finding social
amenities such as education is a problem. The forced labor does not pay well for such children as
they do not have a choice for what they do and beyond that it would still be hard for them to find
food and clothing without working on such jobs. Since the influx of refugees also affects the
economy of the countries they move to the chances of getting better lives in the future are limited
because the refugees keep increasing in numbers.
SYRIAN REFUGEES 9
Shelter
Lacking a place to live in is one of the challenges that are faced by Syrian refugees, not
only in Syria but also in the other parts of the world where these refugees fled to. Mercy Corps,
(2016).documented that due to the increasing numbers of refugees who get to Iraq, Lebanon and
other countries on a daily basis, it has been a challenge for the government to offer enough tents
for the refugees. The refugees are forced to live out of the camps and some go to the extent of
living in abandoned buildings which are not very safe places to live in. The fact that some of the
refugees have had to move to urban areas even in countries where they have problems of
language barriers is another reason why having shelter is a problem owing to the fact that the
urban centers are already densely populated and accommodating the refugees will obviously not
be a priority. Lacking a proper shelter which has a clean environment brings about challenges
that could be viewed as permanent due to the effects this could have on the refugees. Evidently,
lack of shelter is a major challenge for the Syrian refugees and should be addressed so as to
reduce human suffering.
Political Challenges and Instability
Apart from the social challenges the refugees are faced with the problem of regaining
political stability as they try to re-establish their political background. The chances of returning
to the original political system in a fair way are limited and the reinstatement of the good
political leaders is mostly impossible. Refugees may not get the chance of participating in the
political activities of the countries that host them mainly because they are not citizens of those
countries. Efforts to become citizens in the countries that have hosted them for nearly five years
also turn out to be quite hard because the countries introduce many formalities to be met and in
SYRIAN REFUGEES 10
some cases deny them directly. The refugees are robbed of their political rights to participate in
making their country Syria better especially considering that they do not have economic
resources to cater for the political requirements. Syrian refugees have to be ruled by the members
of the countries that host them and in most cases may not be in a position to air their grievances
to the authorities and in some cases these leaders do not even support the refugees (Kirişçi, 2014,
p. 30). There could be possibilities that the denial of Syrian refugees to participate in the political
activities is one of the issues causing political revolts and other cases of terrorism in such
countries. Denying people of their political rights causes human suffering which is not an
exception in the case of Syrian refugees.
Conclusion
The evidence of human suffering that is caused to refugees who are not necessarily from
Syria is documented in reports of various organizations. Syrian refugees get alienated from their
original culture on being forced to live under the rules of the leaders of the countries that host
them. Syrian refugees who are consistent of women, men and children face economic challenges
that force them to work even for little pay which is against human rights. Lack of basic needs
such as food, water, clothing and shelter is one of the main challenges that Syrian refugees face
in the countries that host them as well as in their own country. Increased insecurity is another
problem that is evident in the lives of refugees. Governments and non-governmental
organizations have been trying to solve the problems by providing the refugees with the basic
necessities though this has not been possible. The implication of this paper is that refugees have
been found to go through a huge amount of suffering owing to the civil war that caused them to
be homeless.
SYRIAN REFUGEES 11
Interview with the refugees
Interviewer: what are some of the challenges you have been facing since the onset f the civil
war?
Refugee 1: most of the challenges we face are social because we lack social amenities such as
schools and social halls.
Interviewer: has the government been able to reduce any of these challenges in your opinion?
Refugee 2: a high number of the challenges have been addressed but not all have been solved
especially because our problems as refugees cannot be addressed away from our
homeland.
Interviewer: are there any other groups of people who have been trying to assist in bringing to a
stop the problems you face?
Refugee 3: Yes some non-governmental groups and organizations of human activists have been
assisting in providing us with shelter.
SYRIAN REFUGEES 12
References
Kirişçi, K. (2014). Syrian Refugees and Turkey’s Challenges: Going Beyond
Hospitality. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution. Retrieved from;
http://www.brookings.edu/~/media/Research/Files/Reports/2014/05/12%20turkey%20syr
ian%20refugees%20kirisci/Syrian%20Refugees%20and%20Turkeys%20Challenges%20
May%2014%202014.pdf
Mercy Corps, (2016). Quick facts: What you need to know about the Syria crisis. Retrieved
from; https://www.mercycorps.org/articles/iraq-jordan-lebanon-syria-turkey/quick-facts-
what-you-need-know-about-syria-crisis
Özden, S. (2013). Syrian refugees in Turkey.retrieved from;
http://cadmus.eui.eu/bitstream/handle/1814/29455/MPC-RR-
2013%2005.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y
World Vision Staff, (2016). Syria refugee crisis FAQ: How the war is affecting children.
Retrieved from; https://www.worldvision.org/wv/news/Syria-war-refugee- crisis-FAQ
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