Sociology research paper

Length: No fewer than 6 pages or 2100 words (whichever is more); no more than 8 pages or 2800 words (whichever is less). The paper should be double spaced with 11-pt or 12-pt font and 1-inch margins. Font should be Times or Palatino only. Do not include a title page.

Other requirements: Paper must be carefully edited using grammar/spell-check, and also proofread by a human brain other than your own. Your submission should be written in a formal tone, without making use of conversational or colloquial English. This paper satisfies part of the disciplinary communication (DC) requirement, so it must be written with serious care. It needs a clear introduction with thesis statement, logically developed body paragraphs, and a conclusion. No citations or direct quotes are necessary, although you are welcome to include a quote from the original theory if it was one of the ones that we read. If you do use any direct quotes, please include a “Works Cited” list at the end of your paper. This page is not part of your page or word count.

TOPIC DESCRIPTION

At the beginning of the quarter, I introduced the idea of a metaphorical “dinner party with social theorists.” In this paper, you will demonstrate your ability to apply concepts from classical social theory to the contemporary social world by putting several different theories into conversation with one another. Your goal is to show how classical theory helps to explain and/or fails to explain the origin/operation of your social problem or feature of the social world (as you understand it). Here’s how to proceed:

1. Choose either (A) a social problem that you feel passionate about or (B) a feature of the social world that you find fascinating. Examples of social problems could include things like racial tracking in education or the conservative attack on labor unions; examples of features of the social world could include behavior like internet trolling or trends in romantic relationships among college-age people. The possibilities are quite endless. The easiest topic to work with will be specific and narrow, and also something that you are personally invested in (we will take Weber’s advice about value-relevance here ☺ ).

2. Analyze your topic through the lens of three different theorists that we have covered this quarter. Most of you will find it easiest to use Marx/Weber/Durkheim, but you are welcome to use others we have covered as well if you feel inclined to do so.

HOW TO ORGANIZE YOUR THOUGHTS BEFORE WRITING

1. Once you’ve chosen your area of focus, write down some general ideas for yourself about how you understand it. For example, if you’ve picked the school-to-prison pipeline, you can sketch out a general statement of what you already know about it, where you learned what you know, and what questions you still have.

2. Pick which three theorists you are going to use.

3. From each theorist, choose three concepts, terms, or theories. Since we talked about more theories than we read about, you can select from your lecture notes and slides and/or from course readings. Example: if Marx is one of the theorists you picked, decide ahead of

time which three ideas from Marx you’re going to work with (e.g., alienation, species- being, and class conflict).

4. Make a separate piece of notepaper for each theorist. Write a few phrases or sentences near each theory explaining how it is relevant to your topic. This should take a while and require some serious thoughtfulness. (Bonus prize: these sketches will become an outline for your body paragraphs when you write the paper.)

You should now have three separate lists, with a grand total of 9 terms and their associated definitions and connections to your social problem or feature of the social world.

WRITING THE ACTUAL PAPER

By the time you get to this stage, you will already have done the bulk of the thinking work. The writing process is just about putting it together. If you have a creative organizational style that you would like to experiment with, please feel free to use it. If you are looking for more guidance in terms of organization, the paper can follow this approximate outline:

1. Introduction (1/2 – 2/3 page): Lead with a catchy introductory sentence. Then, write a sentence or two to draw the reader in and make them care about the paper they are about to read. Why does the topic you have selected matter? Why do you find it worth thinking about? What is at stake for you in exploring it? Next, write a thesis sentence that tells the reader what they can expect to learn from your paper. Your thesis sentence could look something like this: “In this paper, I will examine how theories from (Theorist A), (Theorist B), and (Theorist C) are relevant to a contemporary analysis of (Your Topic).” Conclude your introductory paragraph with a smooth transition to the first body paragraph.

2. Application of your three theorists (1½ – 2 pages for EACH; total length 4½ – 6 pages): Start each “theorist” section with a topic sentence introducing the theorist and making a general statement about why they matter to the study of your topic (this is basically short section intro). For the remainder of the section, weave a discussion of your three key terms with an analysis of your topic. The primary goal is to show how they help you to better understand it (i.e., how they’re still relevant), and where they fail to fully explain it (i.e., in what ways the theory might need to be extended in order to fully account for the social problem or social feature that you are discussing). The easiest way to organize each theorist’s section is probably going to be to write a separate paragraph for each theoretical concept, then do a small compare/contrast within each paragraph.

3. Conclusion (1/2 page – 1 page): Briefly sum up what you have said in your paper and discuss the implications of your analysis. What direction do you recommend social theorists go from this point forward if they want to understand your topic comprehensively?

IMPORTANT COMPONENTS AND OTHER NOTES

1. Make sure that you briefly explain/define each theory the first time you discuss it in depth in your paper. Assume the person reading it is not a sociologist.

2. Please BOLD AND CAPITALIZE each theoretical concept in your paper as you mention it for the first time. This makes it easier for your TA to verify that you have included the minimum number of theories. By the end of the paper, you should have a total of 9 bolded words in your paper (please don’t continue bolding after the first mention of each concept).

3. Aside from grammar basics, do pay close attention to ensuring that your paragraphs are the length of paragraphs. Three sentences is not a paragraph; a full page is too long for most paragraphs. Each paragraph should function as a standalone argument. You should begin with a topic sentence that tells the reader what the paragraph is about. Discuss that topic comprehensively, and do not discuss anything that does not fall under the purview of that topic.

4. Use plain English, and use words whose meaning you are confident you know. Write with the same approach that you used for your précis. Avoid using overly complicated language. Instead, opt for clearly stated sentences that are dense with content. Avoid extra words and phrases that you think might make your writing sound more sophisticated. This is a relatively short paper, which means your writing needs to be tight and efficient in order to accomplish the goal of communicating your ideas while not exceeding the page limits.

5. This is Sociology! Feel free to use the “I” in your writing. This is supposed to be a topic you care about, and YOU and your passion should be present in it.

6. Please be sure that you make at least a brief statements for each theory about how it DOES explain and also how it does NOT explain your topic. No theory is a perfect fit; I want to see that you can see both sides.

7. While you do need to cover three ideas from each of three theorists, it’s also fine if you spend a bit more space in one section than you do on another (i.e., if you think one of the theorists advances an argument that suits your topic with particular elegance).

8. You are welcome to come to my office hours and your TA’s office hours for guidance in choosing topics or theories. However, please do not ask your TA or me to read your first draft before you submit it. We would love to be able to do so, but it is a time consuming process that we cannot conceivably offer to everyone, so we need to offer it to no one in order to make sure that some people are not disproportionately advantaged. I strongly encourage working together and exchanging drafts for feedback on early versions of your paper.

9. Paper scores for the first draft will be based on your following the instructions and doing your best to articulate coherent theoretical arguments. Paper scores on the second draft will be based on the degree to which you incorporate the feedback and make the recommended changes that your TA has requested in their feedback on the first draft.

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