(1) Develop your research question. It must reflect a sociological perspective of people and
society, rather than another perspective (like a psychological perspective). If you are
unsure of the suitability of your question, please contact me before you get too far into the
literature. If you want feedback on your research question or progress, I’m happy to
respond via email or we can set up an in-person or Zoom meeting.
(2) In your paper, you must at some point apply one or more of the three major theoretical
perspectives (conflict theory, functionalist theory, symbolic interactionism) to your topic.
You are, of course, welcome and encouraged to use and apply other theories and concepts
you come across in your research, as well as ones you have learned in this class.
(3) In your paper, you may argue a particular point of view or maintain a neutral, exploratory
stance, but either way, you need to back your discussion and claims up with credible
sources. Your writing must be informed and supported by sociological concepts from the
course and various outside sources. This involves library research – your sources must be
scholarly – meaning academic journal articles and books. If relevant and high quality, news
articles may be acceptable sources – however, not all your sources should be news articles.
At least five sources should be scholarly. The librarians can be very helpful here! Seriously,
if you’re not sure how to find scholarly sources, talk to the librarians. Or your instructor.
The purpose of this assignment is to learn to do a thorough review of the literature, to
synthesize findings and draw conclusions, to organize material in a systematic way to support a
thesis or answer a significant question, and to write a clear and well-written report on your
findings. Please submit your paper in Word format or RTF. I will not be able to open papers
that are saved in a different format.
Additional Paper Guidelines:
Steps to constructing a well-developed paper:
1. How can the ideas and concepts covered in this course help make sense of a particular aspect
of society or human social relationships? Develop a research question. Begin your paper with
a short introduction including your question and a thesis (a tentative but clear and direct
answer to your question). Here, also outline the ideas you will develop.
1
society, rather than another perspective (like a psychological perspective). If you are
unsure of the suitability of your question, please contact me before you get too far into the
literature. If you want feedback on your research question or progress, I’m happy to
respond via email or we can set up an in-person or Zoom meeting.
(2) In your paper, you must at some point apply one or more of the three major theoretical
perspectives (conflict theory, functionalist theory, symbolic interactionism) to your topic.
You are, of course, welcome and encouraged to use and apply other theories and concepts
you come across in your research, as well as ones you have learned in this class.
(3) In your paper, you may argue a particular point of view or maintain a neutral, exploratory
stance, but either way, you need to back your discussion and claims up with credible
sources. Your writing must be informed and supported by sociological concepts from the
course and various outside sources. This involves library research – your sources must be
scholarly – meaning academic journal articles and books. If relevant and high quality, news
articles may be acceptable sources – however, not all your sources should be news articles.
At least five sources should be scholarly. The librarians can be very helpful here! Seriously,
if you’re not sure how to find scholarly sources, talk to the librarians. Or your instructor.
The purpose of this assignment is to learn to do a thorough review of the literature, to
synthesize findings and draw conclusions, to organize material in a systematic way to support a
thesis or answer a significant question, and to write a clear and well-written report on your
findings. Please submit your paper in Word format or RTF. I will not be able to open papers
that are saved in a different format.
Additional Paper Guidelines:
Steps to constructing a well-developed paper:
1. How can the ideas and concepts covered in this course help make sense of a particular aspect
of society or human social relationships? Develop a research question. Begin your paper with
a short introduction including your question and a thesis (a tentative but clear and direct
answer to your question). Here, also outline the ideas you will develop.
1