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Soci 1120
Topic 5–Global Stratification
Oh, Canada!
Canada is still referred to as a semi-peripheral country, despite our advanced infrastructure and standard of living, because of our small population, lack of multinational corporations, and our inability to own and control our own natural resources. As such, we are under the economic and cultural influence of the US, subject to economic influence by other core societies such as Germany and Japan, and lack the political and economic power of other first world nations. Irvin Studin suggests that if we were to increase our population to 100 million, we could become a core country with a real voice on the global stage. But what would we need to sacrifice in the process and would it be worth it in the long run? This assignment is a thought experiment that requires some research as well – taking Studin as your starting point, think about and research what Canada might be like as a core country with 100 million people, and what it would take to get there in terms of population growth, immigration, economic development, geographical distribution, infrastructure, etc. What would be the benefits? What would be the drawbacks? Is this the Canada you want to live in? Why or why not?
Note: You cannot do this assignment without reference to Studin so I have provided the appropriate resources below. However, you will need to do additional research – remember that any opinion you provide MUST BE BOTH INFORMED AND SUPPORTED BY RESEARCH.
Resources:
Irvin Studin’s article, Canada – Population 100 Million:
Interview with Studin: (17 minute video)
Remember that writing counts. Regardless of the brilliance of your thinking on the subject, if it is poorly expressed, you will not get a good mark (I call this ‘when bad writing happens to good ideas’). Poor writing and grammar have a negative impact on the clarity and quality of your argument, and will be penalized. Proof-read, spell-check, grammar-check, and double check.
SOURCES:
For this assignment, you are required to use external sources beyond the lecture notes and thus you do need to know how to citeproperly. And since it is now the second or third assignment for all of you, if your citations are not correct, you will be penalized more heavily.
All sources must be properly referenced IN THE TEXT AND in the Bibliography/References/Works Cited. What this means is that any information you take from a journal article or other resource (that is not considered “common knowledge” and is not your own idea) must be referenced in the text. This does not only apply to direct quotes. Even when you take the information and put it in your own words (paraphrasing), you still must reference the author(s)/source of information in the text. Paraphrasing something taken from a research source does not make it your idea.
You may not take information from online sources (such as Wikipedia or government websites) and present it as the majority of your paper (either quotes or paraphrased). You must use your sources to SUPPORT your argument/claims, not as the actual argument or claim. Papers that are made up essentially of paragraphs or quotes drawn from online sources will be graded with an F.
Improper referencing = PLAGIARISM. Plagiarism is a very serious offence in the academic world, as it is essentially taking credit for someone else’s ideas. The penalties for plagiarism become more severe as you progress through school. If you use external resources andIF YOU TURN IN A PAPER WITH NO CITATIONS IN THE TEXT AND/OR NO BIBLIOGRAPHY, YOU WILL RECEIVE AN AUTOMATIC F because it means the paper was plagiarized. No exceptions. There are many methods of in-text citation – MLA, APA, ASA, etc. Which one you choose is up to you but make sure you learn how to properly reference journal articles. You can find instructions on different citation formats and how to use them on the Langara Library website.
Note that all in-text references must include page numbers. Even if the citation method you choose states that page numbers are not required, for the purposes of this assignment, you must include page numbers in all in-text citations. For journal articles online, sometimes the page numbers are not immediately accessible; you may have to go into the full reference to find the page numbers and number the pages yourself. Internet references do not have page numbers but must be correct according to the method of citing you are utilizing.
You must include a Bibliography/References/Works Cited as the final page of your paper. It is important that you learn how to properly reference journal articles and online information as the format for these is quite different than books. Each citation method may have a different way of doing this.
FORMAT OF PAPER:
Length:
This paper must no more than 1,000 words in length, DOUBLE-SPACED at 12 point font. You must include a Word Count (not including title page) at the end of your paper. Papers that go significantly over or under length will be penalized. PLEASE INDICATE WHETHER IT IS YOURSECOND OR THIRD PAPER.
Submission format:
All papers will be submitted to the Dropbox on D2L by 7:00 pm on Thursday, April 6 and MUST BE IN PDF OR WORD FORMAT. NO EXCEPTIONS. Late papers submitted to the D2L Late Dropbox must also be in PDF or Word format.
LATE PENALTIES
The assignment is due Thursday, April 6. Any and all papers submitted after this date into the D2L Late Dropbox will be assigned a 5% per day late penalty, regardless of the ingenuity of the excuse. Therefore, if your computer crashes, printer quits or runs out of toner, flash drive is lost, erased, run over by my motorcycle, or dropped in a mud puddle, make sure this happens before the due date, and that your paper is submitted on time. No exceptions unless you have notified me in advance that your paper will be late and you are able to provide formal documentation.