Sociology

Writing a research essay is similar to telling a fact-based story.

Think

What do I want to tell my reader? A thesis should tell the purpose of the paper.

You would never build a house without a blue-print, so why would you write an essay without one? Build the scaffolding before filling in the details. Write sections and topic sentences first so you know where your paper is going, and you know your research needs. 

Identify your keywords before doing any searching. Use a thesaurus to come up with synonyms for the same word to expand search results.

Find a good article? Check the citations or reference list and search OCtopus to find the articles used by the author.

Research Paper (5-6 pages) DUE March 24th

1. Choose from one of the general topics covered in Weeks 2-7 (Family, Education, Health, Religion, Deviance). This topic will be studied as it relates to gender, race, sexuality, or class in Canada.
2. Identify a minimum of 4 peer reviewed journal articles.  Each article must be research based (the authors must have done a research study on the topic), Canadian, less than 10 years old (Published in 2003 or later) and at least 10 pages long (not including notes and bibliography).  Sociological sources are the strongest.  If you choose psychological papers, you must show how societal power or inequality is addressed in the article.
3. Formulate a clear sociological argument based on the chosen articles. The argument (underlined in your first paragraph) must take into account inequality or imbalances of power. This could be institutional, ideological, or interpersonal. However, if you choose an interpersonal approach, it must have sociological significance.

BONUS MARKS and A LATER DEADLINE for collaborative papers! 

As an alternative to the individual paper, students may choose to collaborate on their final paper. Collaborative work is graded as a single paper and all members of the group receive the same grade.  Group work must be approved by the instructor no later than 14 days before the deadline (Approval deadline: March 14th).

Criteria and expectations for collaborative work (Maximum  6-8 pages for two people-9-10 pages for three):

• Topic choices are the same as above, only each student chooses a different focus (same topic).  For instance, if you chose Education, one person might focus on gender, and the other on sexuality.
• Each student identifies 2 unique (not the same as anyone else in your group) sources (Use the same criteria for sources as for individual paper – see above) on topic and area of focus.
• Students each write 2 pages on their articles. You must not simply summarize, but you should provide a clear synthesis (what did the articles have in common? What are some differences?) and identify at least one important lesson that you learned from each.
• Each team member should review and provide feedback on each member’s submission (in terms of content, formatting, grammar, etc.), as errors or omissions in each part will affect the overall grade.
• Your team should then collaboratively write a maximum one page introduction and one page conclusion:
• An introduction should provide an overview of the topic. Consider:
• What is your topic?
• Why is it important to society?
• Why is an analysis of power relations important to an analysis of this topic?
• A conclusion provides an overview of common themes found in all the articles your group has chosen.  Do not simply summarize. Instead, draw connections between findings. Consider and address the following questions:
• Why is it important to understand all (both) of the areas of focus?
• How might these perspectives intersect? (For example, if you chose race and gender, how would a black woman experience things differently than a white woman or a white man?)
• What are the similarities and differences between how each focus was addressed?
• What are the limitations of studying each of these perspectives separately?
• At least a week before the deadline, compile the paper in one document which includes all individual portions and the group portion.  The documents should include a title page with all group members’ names, the introduction, all individual portions, a conclusion, a single bibliography which includes all cited sources.
• Circulate this document.  All members are responsible for proofreading the entire paper.
• Identify ONE student from the group who will submit the final paper through Moodle. Make sure all group members’ names are on the assignment.