General Education Objective: Students will write a clear, well-organized report.Course Objectives: Students will apply two or more theoretical paradigms as they describe and explain the causes of a social issue that has occurred within the last 10 years.Preparation
Choose a recent social issue (within 10 years) and study it in at least 5 different sources that are available in the database, Opposing Viewpoints in Context through the John E. Mayfield (NSCC) Library. The instructions for locating these items are at the end of these instructions.Read: Chapter 12 on Family and Chapter 15 on Authority and the State. Choose another chapter (10, 11, 13, 14, 16, 17, 18) that might help explain the the social issue that you will study for this report. Research: Use the same articles, essays and other sources that you located for Report #3. If you did not complete Report #3, follow the instructions below.Link to the database Opposing Viewpoints in Context. If you are off campus, type in your user name and password for MyNSCC.
Locate one social research article in an academic journal. Be sure that the article discusses an actual research project by looking for sections that discuss methods, sample, data analysis, results, findings or conclusion. If these sections, or something similar are not part of the article, it is probably not research. Look for a more appropriate article. Examine this sample article to see these various parts.
Locate two essays that discuss viewpoints about the issue in the database Opposing Viewpoints in Context.
Record the bibliographic information in your works-cited list for this report. The database provides this in the citation tool.
Read the article, the essays and other sources and refer to them in your report. You may use these same sources for Report #4.
Report Outline
Because this is a report and not an essay, you can simply write your responses in the order of the questions. Each question can be a separate paragraph. Respond to the questions completely. Include the underlined concepts in your responses.A. Introduce the issue (5 points)
Write the introduction AFTER you have written the body of the report (sections B-D), Come back and write the introduction with a statement that tell me what you will be writing about in each section.references to the textbook and/or the articles you found in your research on the issue. What is the social issue that you studied? Why did you study it?
Summary statement about section B.
Summary statement about section C.
Summary statement about section D.
Summary statement about conclusion.
B. Analyze microlevel causes (15 points)
Refer to the textbook and/or the articles you found in your research on the issue. Use the underlined concepts in your responses to the questions.How do individual interactions and decision-making cause problems related to the issue? Give specific examples from the articles you read or the textbook.
How should individual interactions or decision-making change to alleviate problems with the issue? Give specific examples from the articles you read or the textbook.
C. Analyze macrolevel causes (15 points)
Refer to the textbook and/or the articles you found in your research on the issue. Use the underlined concepts in your responses to the questions.Which social institution is most involved in contributing to this issue? Family, Education, Politics, Economy, Religion, Medicine/Healthcare?
How is it involved? Use information from the articles you read, the textbook and this chart to explain how the institution contributes to the issue.
Which social institution offers solutions to the issue?
What solutions is it offering? Use information from the articles you read, the textbook and this chart to explain.
D. Apply theory to explain the causes (20 points)
HINT: Examine this document: Paradigms (theories and concepts).html. It will help you identify paradigms, theories and concepts.Which microlevel paradigm in sociology would explain the causes most accurately? Paradigms at the microlevel include symbolic-interactionist and some feminist.
Why is this paradigm the best at explaining the issue?
Use one argument or theory from the microlevel paradigm to explain the causes of the issue.
Use two or more concepts from microlevel paradigm to explain the causes of the issue.
Which macrolevel paradigm explains the causes of the issue best? Paradigms on the macrolevel include functionalist, conflict and feminist.
Why is this paradigm best at explaining the issue?
Use one argument or theory from the macrolevel paradigm to explain the causes of the issue.
Use two or more concepts from the macrolevel paradigm to explain the causes of the issue.
E. Conclusion (10 points)
How do individual actions contribute to the issue that you researched?
How do social institutions contribute to the issues that you researched?
What macro or mesolevel social changes are necessary to alleviate the issue that you researched?
How can individuals contribute to social changes that might alleviate problems in society?
Do you think any one sociological paradigm or theory explains everything in social life? Why?
F. References/Works Cited (10 points)
For this report, cite all of the sources that you located in Opposing Viewpoints in Context, other sources and the textbook. The Opposing Viewpoints software gives you the tools to copy and paste the citations. This should be easy. When you use quotes from the book, an article, audio, or video, make sure you place the words in quotation marks and include internal references to the article. This means, at the end of the sentence with the quote, type the authors name, the date of the publication and page number where you found the quote. Put parentheses around this information. It should look something like this (Conley 2017, p. 275).You need a bibliographic citation for these quotes at the end of the report. If you are not sure how to write a citation, please see the instructions at the library’s website. Click HERE to see a library guide for citations.Grading Rubric
I will evaluate your report and award points according to the answers you give to each question. If you answer half the questions, you may receive no more than half the points. The points assigned to each section are listed with the instructions for writing.
You must address each question fully to earn full points.
Because this is a report and not an essay, you can simply write your responses in the order of the questions. Each question can be a separate paragraph.
Demonstrate your understanding of sociology by including key concepts from the textbook, definitions and/or examples of them that show your understanding of the concepts and how to apply them to the topic of the report. If you include a definition of a concept, be sure to put quotation marks around the definition and cite the source (i.e. textbook).
Use college level grammar, expression, phrasing and organization. I do not look for fancy writin’, but clear writing is very important. Hint: Go to the Learning Center or have a friend listen to you read your paper to see if you clearly stated what you intended to express.
Use spell-check.
Instructions for locating sources
Choose a recent social issue (within 10 years) and study it in at least 3 different news sources that are available in the database, Opposing Viewpoints in Context through the John E. Mayfield (NSCC) Library.When you go to this database, look for the term “Browse Issues” on the left hand side of the black bar across the top. Look at this list of issues to get some ideas for your report. Choose ONE issue for the report.
When you click on the item to read or listen to it, you will see a list of “Tools” to the right of the article (see below). This list gives you several ways to keep the article so that you can refer to it as many times as you like. Did you notice the citation tools? HELPFUL.This is the first screen you will see in Opposing Viewpoints.Read the introductory section at the top of the page. You may need to “view more” to see all of it.
Do you see the “Featured Viewpoints” and “Viewpoints” lists below? When you click on these words, you can see all of the essays in these lists. This shows the information that I found when I searched the issue “sanctuary cities” in the database, Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Read, view or listen to different sources of information (i.e. academic journals, primary sources, statistics, audio, video, news, magazines, websites) that are provided on this page.This image shows the screen from Opposing Viewpoints that includes lists of several types of media stories about sanctuary cities.I recommend that you print each article or send it to yourself in an email message.When you click on the item to read or listen to it, you will see a list of “Tools” to the right of the article (see below). This list gives you several ways to keep the article so that you can refer to it as many times as you like. Did you notice the citation tools? HELPFUL.The image shows the title of an article in the database Opposing Viewpoints.Instructions for formatting the report
In the top left hand corner of page 1, please type your full name, date, and title of the report.
Sections A-F should be typed in 4-5 pages.
Use double-spacing between the lines and 12-point font.
Save the document in a Word document (.doc) or .rtf. I cannot open Word Perfect documents. If I receive a document electronically, and cannot open it, I will notify you and it may be considered late.
When you save your document, be sure to label the file with your last name and the name of the assignment. Example: YSimermanReport1.doc
Instructions for submitting the report
To submit your file in the dropbox, go to the dropbox with the instructions for the report. Scroll down to “Add a File” and then choose your file.
