ASSIGNMENT GUIDELINES
An important part of your grade will be participating in two group projects and writing up a 1 page preparatory for research assignment and a 6-8 page research proposal. While many students do not like group projects (it's sometimes difficult to get together with other members, someone in the group slacks off and effects the work of the rest of the group, etc.) I feel that such projects are more reflective of actual challenges that you will face outside of the college environment when you go to work at your first "real job." In short, this assignment is not just a way to earn points, but to learn valuable skills that can be put to use outside of the classroom. You will learn, for example, how to deal with conflict, how to work cooperatively to achieve goals, how to become a better communicator, and how to interact with others that may be different from you ethnically, socially, culturally, etc. Groups will consist of four members and will be formed by the instructor. No one is allowed to work independently on a research proposal. Below are guidelines for the proposal. MAKE SURE YOU FOLLOW ALL GUIDELINES AND STEPS IN THIS HANDOUT TO THE LETTER IF YOU WANT TO MAXIMIZE YOUR LEARNING EXPERIENCE AND GAIN MAXIMUM POINTS. NOTE: DO NOT COME TO ME AFTER I GRADE YOUR GROUP PROJECTS TO COMPLAIN ABOUT YOUR GRADE OR HOW YOU FEEL IT IS “UNFAIR” THAT YOU ARE GRADED ALONG WITH YOUR GROUP MEMBERS WHEN YOU FEEL LIKE YOU DID MORE WORK, DID BETTER WORK, ETC. THAN THEY DID. YOU HAVE A CHOICE….. IF YOU DON’T LIKE GROUP PROJECTS OR DON’T FEEL THEY ARE FAIR, DROP THE COURSE NOW!!! I DON’T WANT TO HEAR YOUR COMPLAINTS LATER SO DON’T BOTHER. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED…..
ASSIGNING GROUP ROLES
Each group member will have specific roles as described below. It is up to the group to decide who will be assigned which roles. If you need my help, do not hesitate to get in touch with me. Keep in mind, however, that I am here to guide you, not do your work. If any group member refuses to participate or perform h/her agreed upon role(s) or task(s), that student should be given one written warning signed by the remaining group members. If the member still does not participate s/he will be removed from the group and be responsible for (1) an individual preparatory for research assignment, (2) research proposal, and (3) research paper. The topic, page length and format of the paper will be chosen by the instructor.
1.Discussion Leader/Meeting Coordinator- Keeps the group on task by structuring meetings and guiding the discussion. Also schedules meeting times and places keeping in mind each member's school/work schedule and contacts all group members about meetings
2.Recorder- Keeps minutes of each meeting (paying particular attention to work assigned to members) and distributes the record to the rest of the group members via email.
3.Intermediary- Meets with or emails the instructor to report any problems that the group may encounter.
4.Processor- Responsible for integrating members' rough drafts into a group paper (this responsibility is expected to be shared by other members). The processor should make sure that the paper is free from grammatical, spelling, and any structural errors. S/he should also make sure that the paper “flows” well and that sections are not simply stapled together after being written by each group member.
COMPLETING ASSIGNMENTS
The group will be responsible for two assignments. Both assignments must be typed and turned in on time. Points will be subtracted from everyone's total score for each assignment turned in late (see syllabus for details). I would recommend turning the paper in during class.
ASSIGNMENT 1 PREPARATORY FOR RESEARCH
Research is an important aspect of not only academic life, but corporate life as well. More employers are requiring that employees not only communicate, write, and think well, they expect them to be able to conduct proper research. This is not a true research assignment since it does not require you to analyze the data and test your hypothesis. Rather, it is a preparatory for research assignment designed to help you acquire some of the skills needed to conduct proper research. This assignment may be rudimentary for some of you, it will be the first taste of research for others. Follow the steps carefully and you should learn something valuable not to mention earn an easy 15 points. If you have any questions, please see me.
Step One:Chose a topic (worth 1 point)
This can be anything. The purpose is to chose something that is of interest to you.
For example, your topic might be rock music, recidivism rates, health care, the
military, or gender. It should be something broad at this point.
Step Two:Narrow your focus (worth 1 point)
If your topic is gender you might, for example, narrow your focus to something
like gender and alienation, or gender and spouse abuse.
Step Three:Formulate a research question (worth 2 points)
This is the question that you would seek to answer if you were really going to do
some research. For example, to continue our gender and alienation example, we
might formulate the following research question: "Who generally experiences more
alienation in life, women or men?
Step Four:Formulate a hypothesis (worth 3 points)
This is what you think might be the answer to your research question that you
formulated in step 3. Thus we might suggest the following hypothesis: "Women
are more likely than men to experience alienation."
Step Five:Identify the independent and the dependent variables (worth 3 points)
For our gender example we would identify the following:
Independent variable = Gender
Dependent variable = Alienation
Step Six:Go to the library and find five sociology articles or books (worth 5 points)
You now need to go to the library and find five sociology SCHOLARLY journal articles or books related to your narrowed focus in step 2 (in our case we want to find articles and books on gender and alienation). If you cannot find 5, find as many as you can and make up the difference by locating SCHOLARLY books and journal articles related to your broad topic in step 1 (in our example, if we only found three books or articles related to gender and alienation we would need to find two more related only to gender). What do I mean by “Scholarly” books and articles? These are books and articles written for a scholarly (as opposed to a popular) audience. Scholarly books are generally published by universities (e.g. University of Pennsylvania Press), while scholarly journals are generally small in format. For an example of a scholarly journal, go to the library and look at a copy of American Sociological Review (a.k.a “ASR”) in the periodicals section.
TEMPLATE FOR THE FIRST ASSIGNMENT
Scott Paynton
17 June 2003
Sociology 105
Step One:Choose a topic
Gender
Step Two:Narrow down your focus
Gender and alienation
Step Three:Formulate a research question
Who generally experiences more alienation in life, women or men?
Step Four:Formulate a hypothesis
Women are more likely than men to experience alienation.
Step Five: Identify the independent and dependent variable
Independent Variable = Gender
Dependent Variable = Alienation
Step Six: Locate five sociology journal articles or books
Benson, Margaret. 1989. "Worlds Apart: Women, Men and Technology." Media and Values. 49:16-17.
Cable, Sherry. 1992. "Women's Social Movement Involvement: The Role of Structural Availability in Recruitment and Participation Processes." The Sociological Quarterly. 33(1):35-50.
DeBerg, Betty A. 1990. Ungodly Women: Gender and the First Wave of American Fundamentalism. Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press.
Fonow, Mary and Judith A. Cook. 1991. Beyond Methodology: Feminist
Scholarship as Lived Research. Bloomington, Indiana: University Press.
Holden, Constance. 1991. "Is the "Gender Gap" Narrowing?" American Sociological Review. 33(3): 959-60.
ASSIGNMENT 2-- THE RESEARCH PROPOSAL
The second assignment builds off of the first one. Each group will be required to submit a mini research proposal worth 40 points. NOTE: your group will not actually be doing research, rather, you will write up a proposal as if you were going to do the research at a later time. Your group will need to write up a brief (3-6 pages, dbl. spaced) proposal telling me how you would study your topic and what you would argue if you were really going to do the actual research. Your proposal needs to include:
(1) a statement of the research question and the thesis that you wrote for the first assignment.
(2)statements telling me how you would gather your data and how much data you would gather.
(3) a brief explanation of the structure of your research paper (in other words, what are you planning on
saying and how will you say it if you were actually going to do a research paper?).
(4) A bibliography with ten sources (you may use the five from the first assignment provided that they were good sources).
HEADINGS AND ORGANIZATION
Students generally ask me about the expected format for a proposal. Obviously, everyone has a different style of writing and way of organizing material. Typically, however, research proposals have a similar format that they follow. Your proposal, therefore, needs to be divided into the following sections and must use the five I have provided (Introduction, Theoretical Orientation and Methodology, Expected Findings, Conclusion, References.
I.INTRODUCTION (Roughly 1-2 pages)
A.In this section, you should state what has been done by others on your topic. You are
doing a small review of the literature. You need to tell your reader what has been done
on this topic and explain why your topic is unique. You also need to explain what your
topic and thesis is.
1.It is good to show that while people may have researched your topic, no one has
researched it in the way that you would like, or, if they have researched your topic, why
you want to replicate a previous study. Devote a few paragraphs to reviewing
the current literature. The following is an example of this:
Much has been written on the subject of music from a social/historical perspective. Some authors have concerned themselves with the developmental and historical aspects of musical forms (Baker 1979; Carlin 1988), others have focused on the sociological implications of music (Curtis 1987; Wicke 1987). Few, however, have compared styles of music, especially the forms I analyze in this paper, namely, Negro spirituals and early delta blues, and Christian and secular thrash metal. (taken from Charles M. Brown 1995. "Musical Responses to Oppression and Alienation" in the International Journal of Politics, Culture and Society 8(3):439).
2.You should mention that others have researched similar topics, but have not looked at yours if your topic is one that has never been researched before.
3.You should clearly state what it is that you will be looking at in your proposal.
a)Your research question and thesis statement should be clearly written out so that your
reader will know what you would intend to argue if you were actually going to do a
research project.
b)Explain why you think your hypothesis is correct. For example, if you hypothesize that
“abused children are more likely to commit violent crimes” then explain why you think
this is the case. In short, theorize….
4.You should mention why you are choosing to study this topic and why it's important.
5.End this section by clearly stating how the proposal will proceed. For example: "This
proposal will proceed in the following manner: First we will explain the methodology
we plan to use and how and why these were chosen; Second, we will provide a brief
explanation of the structure of the paper and our expected results,” etc.
II.DATA AND METHODOLOGY (Roughly 3-4 pages)
A.In this section, you should state how you would do your research project. You should address
the following:
1.What methodology will you use, surveys, participant observation, interviews,
content analysis, formulaic analysis, etc.,
a) Make sure you explain why you chose the method(s) you chose. In other words,
explain why these methods will help you test your hypothesis.
2.Detail, step by step, how you would go about testing your hypothesis. Make sure you
include:
a)How many pieces of data you will collect
1)Data can be books, CD's, people interviewed, etc.
2)Explain, in detail, how you will go about choosing the data.
b)If you are conducting interviews or surveys, you need to tell me how many people
you will sample, the number of males and females, the age spread (e.g.. "subjects
will range in age from 1856"), average class level (working, middle or upper class),
and any other demographic data you deem appropriate.
1) Also make sure you tell me what types of questions you would ask and explain
how these questions will help you gather the information needed to test your hypothesis.
2)If you are comparing groups in order to test your hypothesis, be sure to tell me how
many people will be assigned to each group, as well as other demographics.
3.How will you control for spuriousness and time order?
III.CONCLUSION (Roughly 1/2-1 page)
A.In this section, you should reiterate why your study is important.
1.Begin with a short paragraph reminding the reader of your main thesis.
2.State why your proposal is important in a paragraph or two.
3.Are there any weaknesses in your methodology? If so, what might
they be?
4.How have you controlled for spuriousness and time order? Could there be a problem? If
so, what might be some alternative ways to answer your research question?
V.REFERENCES
A.Put your reference list in this section. Remember to follow ASA format and list
sources alphabetically. You do not need to number the sources.
WRITING THE PROPOSAL
Formatting
*The proposal must be between 3-6 pages in length excluding references. No more, no less.
*The proposal is to be double-spaced, typed or word processed in a regular 11 or 12 point font (such
as Roman, Times, or Courier) with one inch margins on all four sides.
*Page numbers must be included on all pages of the proposal.
*The proposal's margins must be justified.
*The proposal must use the headings I have provided and be organized in that fashion.
*Follow the instructions regarding citing material in this handout TO THE LETTER. FAILURE TO DO SO LOOKS A LOT LIKE PLAGIARISM AND IS GROUNDS FOR NOT ONLY FLUNKING THE COURSE, BUT EXPULSION FROM THE UNIVERSITY.
*Proper grammar, spelling, and sentence structure are expected. Make sure you use formal
English. Do not use slang unless you are quoting someone else.
*A title page that includes the names of all group participants, the title of the proposal, the date, and the course name must be stapled to the front of the proposal.
*the previous assignment must be included with your proposal and both must be turned in in a folder.
*Every group member needs to write the following on two sheets of paper: (1) your name, (2) the name of each of your other group members along with your score for each group member. Put both copies in a small envelope and seal it. Each group should then collect each member's envelopes and place them in a 9" by 12" or similar sized envelop along with the finished group project. Please put the group number and names of all five group members on the outside of the large envelope and turn this in to me. Those individuals who do not turn in peer grades by the due date will *NOT* receive grades from their peers (In other words, you will receive a "0" for your peer grade) and I will subtract 20 points off the total score given for the second assignment. The rest of the group will be unaffected in terms of scores.
*At least 10 scholarly written sources must be collected and used in your proposal.
GRADING THE PROPOSAL
Here are some things that I am looking at when I grade your proposal:
1.Is the proposal well organized?
2.Is the proposal free from grammatical, formatting, and spelling errors? (Poorly written papers will be
severely penalized)
3.Does the proposal reflect a "formal" as opposed to an "informal" tone?
4.Is your proposal free from "filler?" Do you avoid wandering off the subject?
5.Have you followed each of the guidelines in this handout to the letter? Have any one of those
instructions been ignored?
6.Do you provide a good rationale for the methodological orientation you use in your proposal?
7.Will your methodology answer your research question and allow you to adequately test your hypothesis?
CITING SOURCES WITHIN THE PROPOSAL