Project 2: Experience-Based Theory Critique - Social Science
Purpose: 1) To read and understand writing in the social sciences, with emphasis on analysis of theory-based argument, 2)To practice using different kinds of evidence (textual evidence and personal experience/observation), 3)To practice articulating yourself clearly, in a well organized fashion
Assignment:Write a 5-6 page essay where you apply a social scientific theory to your own experience to explore how well the theory explains social behavior.
Audience:Other social scientists studying the same behavior
Citation:APA Style (We’ll discuss more in-depth throughout this unit)
A common assignment in social science classes is to analyze a theory in light of your own experience. This kind of analysis involves two primary parts: understanding and explaining the theory, and applying it to personal experience.
Exploring a Theory
Choose an essay (Allport, Rimmerman, or Orr) and carefully answer the questions in Inq. 3.4 (discussed further in class). The more extensively you answer the questions, the more fully you will understand the article and the more prepared you will be to write this essay. When you are responding (Questions 5 & 6), think particularly about your own experiences and how well the theory/study at hand explains them. Brainstorm as many of your own experiences as you can that seem relevant, and spend some time thinking carefully about the ways in which the theory/study explains them.
Writing the Critique
An experience-based theory critique is an essay that uses personal experience to analyze a theory. As an essay, there are certain elements that any such critique needs to have. You will need to give your reader a summary of the theory, an explanation of your experience, and an analysis of the connections between them. In addition, you’ll need to offer an assessment of how well you think the theory explains your experience and what research you believe needs to be done on this issue.
In the Introduction
- Introduce the issue and its importance.
- Introduce the theorist, the thesis of the article, and the part of the theory you are examining in your essay.
- Provide your thesis, which should indicate your level of satisfaction with the theory as an explanation for a behavior; be sure your thesis addresses the theory specifically and not just the idea or topic of the theory.
In the Body
- Summarize the entire argument and the theory you are addressing; in addition, you may want or need to provide a more detailed summary about the specific part of the theory that you are addressing.
- Apply the theory to at least one specific experience from your life; in your application, be sure to use the terminology and definitions that the theorist uses.
- Critique the theory in light of your experience, including both places where you think the theory provides an adequate, useful, or otherwise positive explanation and places where you find the theory lacking.
In the Conclusion
- Briefly summarize your argument about where the theory works well and where you find it lacking.
- Suggest directions for research in order to test this theory more fully.
Evaluation
When I evaluate your experience-based theory critique, I will be looking to see how well you have met the goals of the assignment. That is, I will be looking for how well you analyze the theory and show relationships between the theory and your personal experience. If all you do is string summaries and descriptions together with minimal analysis and application of the theory, your critique will not be successful. In addition, you will need to make sure that you’re summarizing the author’s theory correctly and attributing the theory you are examining to the theorist who developed it.
Your critique will also need to meet the general criteria of good academic writing: a clear focus, logical and purposeful organization, strong use of supporting evidence (in this case your actual experiences), and thoughtful development of the ideas you are presenting. And, of course, it will need to be well written both stylistically and grammatically.