For your paper I am going to ask you to think like a sociologist, and to reflect on and include what you are learning. By the time this paper is due we will have been studying socialization, families (where much of your own socialization has taken place), gender (a fundamental part of the socialization that has taken place for each of you), race, and class. Your paper will include this material.
Paper Topic
This paper will address the development of your own socialization, as an example, particularly within your family, and the impact of the social construction of gender in particular, as well as race, and class. As people are most familiar with their own lives, this paper will ask you to relate material we have been addressing so far during this course to those examples from your own life. It is OK to apply the assignment instead to someone very well-known to you if you are uncomfortable writing about yourself, however be aware that most students do better when relating examples that are best known to themselves (such as from their own lives), and I will not be sharing the contents with others unless your paper is so good that I ask permission to use a paragraph from it as an example (anonymous) for future courses.
What happened during your socialization that constructed you in terms of gender (all should address this aspect) in particular? Were there specific aspects of your family of origin, or whoever raised you, that you believe made a particular impact upon the identity that you developed, particularly in terms of gender, race, and class? Use course material to examine and analyze that impact. How might the material on gender socialization, and the development of gender identity in Chapters 4, 12, and 8 and the associated lectures that reference socialization, families, and gender, relate to your own life? How did the material in Chapters 9 and 7 (on race and social class) and the associated lectures relate to your life?
Issues your paper may also include are: What about the impacts of other agents of socialization? Was it a smooth process, or did you contest your socialization? How, and with what results? What impact do you think your gender socialization and experiences, as well as race and class socialization and experiences has had or will have upon your choice of occupations, or other past and future choices and/or behavior? Why? What forms of gender, race, and class inequalities have had an impact upon your life, and in what ways?
Again, relevant chapters include Chapter 4, Chapter 12, Chapter 8, Chapter 9 and Chapter 7, as well as lecture materials on those topics.
Format
The paper is to be 4 to 5 full pages in length, with no gaps (points will be deducted for papers less than the assigned length). It is to be typed, double-spaced, with 12-point type and standard margins. Each paper should have a cover page (which does not count as a page of the paper itself), which is where you should put your name, the date, the class, and a title if you choose (a title is not required). The body of the paper itself should start at the top of the first page, using a standard margin – no gaps at the top for info (your name, etc.) as that should have been put on the cover page, and with no gaps between paragraphs.
Each paper is to use course materials only, using material from Chapters 4, 12, 8, 7, and 9, and readings from our course online page, as well as lecture materials.
Requirements and sources
Key to doing well with this paper is a recognition that your story is to be used as an example, to help you apply and examine course materials. It is not a simple autobiographical account – in other words, you MUST include appropriate course materials that are well explained and cited, and that enable you to examine what happened from a sociological perspective.
This assignment will involve a combination of your own description of your own experiences, relevant course materials, and your own analysis relating the course material to the examples you include from your own life.
It will require that you apply theories, material and insights from our text, lectures, and class exercises as a part of your analysis. Be careful to cite page numbers for all material from the text, and use quotation marks for all quotes.
One of the things we will be working on with this paper is practicing proper citation in the body of your writing.
You are NOT required to quote in order to cite material from the text. Paraphrased (explained) material should be cited as well. In fact, it is generally better to include an explanation of what your source said, in your own words (being very careful to make sure you are using the material correctly). This is known as paraphrasing, and is what you should most often be aiming at with college level writing. The key is that whenever you explain material you need to cite your source – for example: (Conley: 234), just as though you were quoting. The only difference is that if you do include any quotes (meaning you use the words used by your source) you must put quotation marks at the beginning and end of all quotes.
Be sure to name whoever you are referencing when you discuss the ideas or research of others. This not only gives proper credit for that material, but shows you have really done your own research into the materials you are using. You will ALWAYS benefit from citing your sources in social science papers.
Bear in mind, if you are using phrases (even 5-6 words strung together) that are taken directly from your source, then that is a quote, and needs to be put into quotation marks and properly cited. Changing a few words here and there in a quote does not make it your own explanation – if the wording you are using from your source is not indicated by you as a quote, with quotation marks, it is plagiarism, even if you cite your source. This is because when you don’t use quotation marks to indicate you are using the words of others, it means you are telling the world that these are YOUR words, not those of your source.
You may cite the text materials for this paper by using the last name of the text author (Conley), and page number, or assigned online reading (last name of author or authors: page) – or from lectures by citing (Chap, title of lecture: slide number). Identify where you found information in Conley, other reading, or a lecture, like this, at the end of the material you have used from that page (Conley: 52) for instance. It is also acceptable to write in your sentence that the material is, for instance, from Conley, or Chap, on Socialization, and put the page number(s) in parentheses at the end, like this (p. 103). When you quote directly you must use page numbers to point out where you found the material, as well as use quotation marks. When you use information that you are putting in your own words you should also use a page number for material from a specific page, as this shows where you got it, and that you did the research. Citing your sources, whether quoted or not, will raise your grades in social science courses, including this one.
If Conley, or other course materials such as my lectures, refer to the ideas or research of someone else, you should include the name(s) of that person, or those persons in your discussion of those ideas or that research. For instance, you might say: “According to Conley (p. 290) Connell argued….” Do NOT put the sources used by your source into parentheses (Connell), unless you looked up that source yourself, and are using it as a primary source – which no one is doing for this paper in any case.
Do be aware that this paper is to demonstrate familiarity with and understanding of the readings and lectures. However, you may also use and cite other relevant course materials, such as a video clip. Again, if you are using something from the text or lecture, and Conley or I did cite a particular source, cite the last name of the author(s) in the text itself – for instance, “According to West and Zimmerman’s theory…. (Chap, title of lecture…..: slide #)”