Sociology Paper

Introduction to Sociology Research Paper Guidelines

This research project will provide you with the opportunity to conduct a sociological analysis on a topic of your choosing. You will write a 4-6 page, not including the title page or reference page, analysis of an issue of your choice (see suggested ideas below). For this paper, you will need to do some outside research to explore your topic and use course concepts to analyze and organize your findings. You will need at least 3 sources. One of the three sources must be your textbook. You will also need a reference page listing your sources. The length of the paper (4-6 pages) requires you to condense a lot of material, be sure that you narrow your topic down to a workable paper.

REQUIREMENTS:

• Papers must be turned in on or before the due date, no late papers will be accepted. You will turn in your paper in assignments under Sociology paper. Your paper will automatically go through Turn it in, when you turn your paper in. Your Turn it in score must be under 20%, if your score is above 20% please fix it and resubmit your paper, failing to do this will result in a grade of 0.
• Your paper must be typed, double-spaced, one-inch margins, 12 point Times New Roman font only.
• Your paper should be between 4-6 pages in length.
• You must use peer-reviewed journal articles as your sources; failure to do so will significantly lower your grade.
  

  Finding articles in scholarly/peer-reviewed journals

  Go to the COD Library’s article databases and limit the search results to peer-reviewed or scholarly articles by doing one of these depending on the database:

  • do an Articles (Search) in the search bar at the top of this page. Look for articles tagged as peer-reviewed.
  • checking the box “Scholarly (Peer Reviewed) Journals” under limit or refine search.
  • clicking on the tab “Scholarly Journals” or “Academic Journals” while viewing results of a search.
• You must use and incorporate one of the major theories discussed in class.
• Format your citations and bibliography using ASA or APA style. The bibliography does not count toward the page requirement.
• You should be familiar with proper citation, as well as the appropriate use of quotations. The links on ASA on my website are quite useful for guidance in this area. Papers that excessively use quotations will lose points. Your paper should be in your own voice, which means using quotations selectively and only when necessary.
• You do not need an abstract
• You need a cover page for the paper; I don’t care about the format or images as long as it has your name, paper title, class and section.
• Please proofread your paper.

Suggestions for selecting a topic:

Pick a topic about which you can find information easily (i.e. not something to obscure).

Choose something about which you are interested — you will read and write about it for several weeks, so it might as well be something you will enjoy exploring. The following is a list of general subjects from which you might select a specific project topic. This list is very general — use it to spark an idea for a specific, well-developed topic. You need to think through how you will conduct an analysis of your particular topic, what questions you will answer, and what your specific focus will be. Most importantly, be creative and have fun with it.

(I chose Health, illness, and health insurance.)

Once you have selected a topic for your research paper, you need to focus and narrow it into a specific research question.

State how/which sociological theory provides insight to your topic.

Identify how each article contributes to addressing your topic.

Your paper should follow a general flow, give consideration to writing your introduction, body and conclusion, however keep in mind that you may have subtopics within each. Be sure you stay on topic and fully address your question.

It is very important that your paper should include the following basics:

• Define your question
• Identify why your question is important
• Outline what others have found out about your topic (gathered from your articles)
• Which sociological theory applies to the topic and explain
• What conclusions can you infer based on what you have read

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

1. Evaluation Process: Paper will be graded in terms of content, insight, originality, analytical skill, organization, clarity of expression, overall presentation style, spelling and grammar, and proper referencing protocols.
2. Plagiarism: students should be aware of the penalties for plagiarism and other form of academic misconduct. Please read the COD catalog for the college’s policies on cheating and plagiarism. Evidence of plagiarism from other students’ work or published materials will result in a grade of zero and disciplinary action will be taken.
3. Computer or other technological failures: Unfortunately, these things do happen. However, they will not be accepted as an excuse for not handing in your assignment. In this day and age saying ‘my printer failed,’ ‘my hard drive/flash drive crashed,’ or some other such thing simply isn’t good enough. And it isn’t good enough for one simple reason: you should be backing up your rough drafts as you write them. If you do this and then come the due date your computer does fail, all you need to do is send me your rough work and then something can be worked out. It’ll not only save you getting zero on your assignment, most importantly it will save you a lot of stress.