Requirements for All Writing Assignments

NOTE: Before submitting any paper in this class, make sure you have met all format and style requirements. Failure to meet format and style criteria means a needless loss of credit. Major lapses may result in your having to do a re-write with substantial loss of credit.

FORMAT:

  • All written assignments must be submitted as email attachments in MS-WORD. These documents must be typed, double-spaced, use size 12 font, with approximately 1 inch margins.
  • Indent the first sentence of all paragraphs, and DO NOT “double return” between paragraphs.
  • Spelling and grammar count. I encourage you to use a spell-checker, proofread your own work carefully (perhaps even read it aloud), and have another person read your work before turning it in.
  • Include a reference list with the required number of sources. Remember, all references appearing in the text must be included in the reference list and vice-versa.

STYLE:

  • Non-sexist language: for example, use the plural “they” rather than he (or even she) when discussing examples in the abstract; refer to “humans” or “humanity” rather than “man” or “mankind.”
  • Cogency: write clear and concise sentences and paragraphs that are important to your topic. Build up to meaningful conclusions using coherent logic and reason.
  • Objectivity: strive for an objective tone in your writing. If you are too obviously biased or one-sided it detracts from your credibility.
  • Probabilistic reasoning: talk about relationships in the social world as tendencies or patterns, rather than absolutes or constants. An example: “Unemployed people tend to commit more crimes” is better (and more accurate) than “Unemployed people are criminals.”
  • Cite previous research to back up all of your “facts,” statistics, or other assertions about reality to make them more believable. An example: Urban youths commit crime at a higher rate than youths in rural areas (Smith, 1990). This is especially important for those assertions that are most essential for the logic you use to lead up to your hypotheses.
  • Cite previous research using the correct format (see below).
  • Avoid using quotes. The only time you should quote is when someone says something that is particularly brilliant or the person is very famous. Otherwise, put the quote into your own words and cite the author(s) appropriately. You should almost never use a “block quote.”
  • DO NOT PLAGIARIZE: see description and policy in syllabus. See your professor if you have any questions.

WRITING SUGGESTIONS

  • Make sure that each paragraph has a logical point to make, and that the combination of paragraphs lead to a logical conclusion about the issue at hand. Avoid opinions, extraneous ideas, and make certain you are correct about your assertions of fact – buttress them with previous research that you cite.
  • Don’t write your whole paper at one sitting. Revisions and improvements are easier to make, and typos easier to catch, after spending at least a few hours away from working on the paper. Read your paper aloud – this may help identify problems with flow, meaning of ideas, and other errors.
  • Before turning in any paper in this class, make sure you have met all format and style requirements. Failure to meet format and style criteria means a needless loss of credit. Major lapses may result in your having to do a re-write with substantial loss of credit.

RESEARCH SUGGESTIONS:

  • Go to the Library’s home page and search the library’s book holdings by keywords (e.g., race and arrest).
  • You can also access databases from the Library’s home page, such as the Sociology Abstracts and search by keywords – this will help you to find journal articles, which will generally be more helpful for this assignment than books.
  • Internet: Do not use random websites on the internet as sources. However, I encourage you to use the internet to locate journalarticles and governmental reports, and even to read them in the case of full-text documents.
  • Look in the bibliography of existing sources to generate new sources. This “snowballing” tactic is one of the most fruitful ways to find useful sources. Start with relevant classroom readings.
  • Finally, realize that all the sources you find may not be useful for your research – though they may cite other research that is useful.

How to Cite References

IMPORTANT:

  • All references in the text must be included in the reference list and vice-versa.
  • Alphabetize the references in the reference list by first author’s last name.
  • Use the EXACT format outlined in the examples below.

I. Purpose of citing sources:

  • To convey to the readers that the author has a mastery over the topic at hand. That is, you know what you are talking about and can be taken seriously.
  • To enable readers to examine your assertions of fact by inspecting the previous research you cite. To do this, citations in the text and bibliography must contain certain requisite information so that it can be unambiguously identified and easily located. The style for citations outlined below is intended to do exactly this. Further, this style has become the standard for published social science research. Use of either the APA or ASA format for citations is appropriate.
  • Be considerate about using sources as others may be researching similar topics. Make sure to correctly replace all sources you examine. Only check out sources when absolutely necessary and for as brief a period as possible.

II. Citations in Text:

1. Cite all “facts,” main arguments, statistics, assertions about rates of behavior, etc. In “English” use: open parenthesis... author(s)s” last name(s)... year... close parenthesis... period (if at end of sentence).

EXAMPLES:

For one author: ... Rogers (1994) found that... OR ... divorce is more common when partners are very young (Rogers 1994).

For two authors: ... Rogers and Selvin (1994) ... OR ...(Rogers and Selvin 1994).

For more than two authors: ... Rogers et al. (1994) ... OR ... (Rogers et al. 1994).

Citing more than one source at a time: “Homicide rates have been decreasing since 1992 (Rogers and Selvin 1994; Watterson et al. 1998).”

Internet: Title of page [edit if very long] (year you observed the page) … OR … (Title of page 1993).

Government publication (or some other organization without author): Bureau of Justice Statistics (1998) … OR … (Bureau of Justice Statistics 1998)

2. Do NOT cite by title of the book or article.

3. To cite a Quote in the text: (author year: page numbers) An example: Rogers (1994:12-13) states that “urban youths commit crime at a higher rate than youths in rural areas.” OR “Urban youths commit crime at a higher rate than youths in rural areas,” (Rogers 1994:12-13).

III. Citations inReference List:

Cite alphabetically by first author’s last name.

EXAMPLES:

Books: Rogers, William J., Willie Makeit and Betty Wont (1994) Title of book underlined. City published: Publisher.

Book published by governmental agency: U.S. Department of Justice (1998) Sourcebook of criminal justice statistics 1997. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office.

Articles: Rogers, William J., Willie Makeit and Betty Wont (1994) “Title of article in quotes.” Name of journal underlined. volume number of journal: starting and ending page numbers.

Chapters in books: Rogers, William J. (1996) “Title of chapter in quotes.” In Frank Selvin (Ed.) Title of book underlined. City published: Publisher.

Internet: Title of page [edit if very long] (year you observed the page). Web address.

Synopsis of Writing Assignments:

The Research Proposal

All of the writing assignments that you will complete for this class will be individual parts of a larger project, called a research proposal, that you will work on throughout the semester. You will turn in these individual parts on the due date and then get grades and feedback from me soon after. Because these assignments build on each other, you will be revising and improving the original versions. This work will culminate in the completed research proposal, which will be a polished version of a real research design.

The goal of this on-going project is to (1) allow you to learn about all of the elements of a good research project and give you the opportunity to “re-write” some things you may not have done particularly well on the first time, (2) result in a real research proposal that you might do in the future, (3) to improve your writing and thinking skills, and (4) to provide you with a sense of accomplishment and a good example of your written work that you can use in the future for job interviews or application to graduate school.

Submitting papers: Save for the completed portfolio and binder (assignment #5), all papers will be submitted electronically. Send me your papers as attachments in MS-WORD to . I will make comments in your papers and assign grades using the “track changes” function under “tools” in MS-WORD. You will be required to print all of your graded papers to include in assignment #5.

LATE PAPER POLICY All papers are to be submitted on the day specified. However, there is a 1 day grace period… meaning that you can submit your written work anytime the following day until 4:45 p.m. without any loss of credit. Papers one day later than that lose 10%, two days late lose 20% and so on. Remember, failure to complete any one of the writing assignments will seriously jeopardize your grade. If you notice that you are encountering problems in an effort to meet the deadlines, see the instructor as soon as possible.

Topic Selection Paper

Assignment #1

dueMonday, February 6th. This assignment is worth 25 points

This assignment is intended to get your creative juices flowing as you begin to think in a social scientific manner about society. This assignment requires you to decide on a specific social issue or problem that interests you and that will serve as the focus for the remainder of your writing assignments. Give this decision plenty of careful thought and find something that you like and think is important. The topic should also be amenable to systematic observation – thatis, you can devise hypotheses (ideas which if right or wrong would have implications for the topic) about the topic and test them using social science methods. Think about something that is both “do-able” and interesting to you.

One way to generate ideas about finding a specific topic or narrowing down a general interest is to peruse or scan some books or journals pertaining to a general topic (e.g., crime or the family). Also, read the newspaper, newsmagazines, or watch the news on TV. Please talk to me or the TA if you are having trouble generating ideas or if you want to run your ideas by me for informal feedback. I realize that your specific focus may change slightly over the course, and this is fine.

Think about the topic selection, statement of the problem, and the literature review papers as assignments you will be working on at essentially the same time – you will just be expanding and improving on each new version. Do some serious legwork now and you will find that the rest of the assignments will flow from this effort, making you better prepared and saving you from the anxiety and anguish of doing a month’s work in a few days or, even worse, the night before it is due.

Requirements:

  • 1-2 pages
  • Title: devise a title that communicates the specific topic you address (“Social class and political party affiliation” is better than “Democrats and Republicans: Who the heck are they?”)
  • Briefly relate what your specific topic is and why it is interesting to learn about.
  • Think about the following questions as you discuss your topic: Why is it important for society to learn more about your topic?What are the sociological implications of studying your topic? What important social questions might you help to answer?
  • State the specific hypothesis you intend to use for assignments #4 and #5. If you wish, you may use several related hypotheses.
  • Use at least one citation in the text and in the reference list.

*** I realize that some of these requirements will be difficult for you to answer right now, but you must begin to think about them, and it is your thoughts that I want at this point.

Statement of the Problem Paper

Assignment #2

dueWednesday, February 20th. This assignment is worth 50 points

Building from assignment #1 and my feedback, give an improved statement about what you are studying and why. This statement should be concise and convincing. This is the part of a research paper where your skills as a writer, advocating for the importance of your research, are put on display. You have to convince anyone reading your research why it is relevant for them to continue reading. Identify the different social issues and problems your research will speak to and what the potential implications might be. Discuss how your approach to your topic is innovative or exciting. Demonstrate a sound understanding of your topic by discussing what prior research has discovered and how you will build on this accumulated knowledge. Feel free to critique prior research (tell what it lacks or why it is incomplete, and how you might address these shortcomings).

Finally, state your hypothesis using probabilistic logic and the names of your variables; and identify the independent and dependent variables. [Example. The hypothesis used in this research project concerns religious affiliation and attitudes toward the death penalty. Specifically, among Protestants, those who are more fundamentalist are hypothesized to have more favorable attitudes toward the use of capital punishment than less fundamentalist Protestants. The dependent variable is “attitudes toward capital punishment,” and the independent variable is “Protestant fundamentalism.”]

Requirements:

  • 3-4 pages
  • Introduction:
  • Explicate (describe in detail) what specific social problem or issue you are going to address for the remainder of your writing assignments.
  • Body:
  • Make a case for why it is an important issue for the social science community to learn more about your topic
  • State the specific hypothesis you intend to use for assignment #4. If you wish, you may use several related hypotheses.
  • Identify the dependent and independent variables in this hypothesis.
  • Conclusion:
  • Discuss the potential implications of studying your topic might have for the larger society. Describe what one type of research finding would mean, then describe what a contradictory finding would mean for society.
  • Use at least three sources as demonstrations of what we, as the scientific community, know about the issue, what we need to know about the issue to further our understanding of it. Provide a reference list that includes these sources.

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Literature Review Paper

Assignment #3

due Wednesday, March 8th. This assignment is worth 100 points

Here you will expand on your “statement of the problem” paper by (1) improving your discussion and treatment of your topic, (2) more extensively citing important assertions of fact, and (3) (most importantly for this paper) reporting on the current state of knowledge for your topic in social science research.

What this paper requires that the statement of the problem did not, is a thorough review of the research “literature” pertaining to your specific topic and what other research has been done that is more tangential, but still relevant to your topic. Here, you will need to do considerable library research that will expand and improve your own knowledge of your topic. You will then communicate the major findings of the literature you uncover. You will also critique this literature, by identifying (1) areas where knowledge is lacking or inconsistent, and (2) discussing the strengths and shortcomings of research methodologies.

However, rather than plodding through each source one by one describing the findings and research methods, organize these sources according to some criteria that makes sense to you (e.g., positive findings vs. negative findings; old research vs. newer research; good methods vs. poor ones; or some logical sequence that tells how the study of your topic evolved over time). For a conclusion, determine what this general morass of findings, approaches and methods tells you is appropriate to do, and what should be avoided, when you go to study the topic.

Requirements:

  • 4-6 pages
  • Introduction:
  • Provide a clear and succinct (1-2 pages) version of your “statement of the problem” as a way to introduce your topic. Use the criteria from the previous assignment for this part of your paper.
  • Body:
  • Provide a coherent, well-organized synopsis of social science research pertaining to your topic using at least 10 sources, cited appropriately in both the text and reference list. These sources must be scholarly journal articles, book, or reports. Many of these sources can be found using the internet, but non-scholarly sources will not be accepted. We will discuss how to find sources later, and check any sources with me if you have questions.
  • Remember, don’t describe each and every study in detail, though you may want to discuss either a very good or a very poor study as an example of certain points you may wish to make.
  • Discuss the research from a general standpoint by identifying common themes and ways to organize your discussion, especially as they deal with the variables and hypotheses you intend to use in later assignments.
  • Conclusion:
  • Make general determination of what this body of research literature has found and the social implications of these findings
  • Evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of methodological approaches of these studies.
  • Identify your hypothesis and the independent and dependent variables.
  • Discuss why, given your remarks in the body of the paper, your hypothesis is a good one to learn more about.

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