Charles W. Weisgerber: The Birth of Our Nation's Flag, 1893.
Charles W. Weisgerber: The Birth of Our Nation's Flag, 1893.

Sociology 235: Writing Assignments

Introduction

The Sociology 235 writing assignments give you the opportunity to place into practice the concepts and techniques discussed in the classroom lectures. The assignments are designed to, as much as possible, emulate tasks required of professional sociologists. The assignments ask you to interpret social problems from the sociological perspective and suggest policies for mitigating the negative consequences of social problems. It is anticipated that, through these assignments, you will gain experience in understanding social problems from a broad perspective.

Assignments

The directions listed below apply to both papers. Thus, you will select one topic of interest for Paper #1 and a second topic of interest for Paper #2.

Directions
  1. Select a social problem you are interested in writing about from Units 2-5.
  2. Find 2 articles from the popular press (newspapers, magazines, web pages) and 2 articles from a social science journal (see directions below).
  3. Write a brief review of each of the four articles. For the articles in social science journals you need only read the abstract, introduction, and conclusions/discussion.
  4. Select one of the sociological perspectives: functionalism, conflict theory, symbolic interactionism. Interpret the social problem from this perspective. Your interpretation should reflect what you have learned from your four readings. Be specific in your interpretation about what you learned from each reading.
  5. Suggest a social policy to mitigate the negative consequences of the social problem.
  6. You do not need to attach copies of your four articles to your papers. Be certain, however, to provide full citations to them.
  7. The paper should be no more than 5 pages in length (see: Writing Instructions).
Due Dates:

Paper One is due at 5:00 p.m. on Thursday, March 13th.
Paper Two is due at 5:00 p.m. on Thursday, April 24th.

How to access articles in Social Problems:
  1. The license agreement with Social Problems requires that you logon from an ISU computer.
  2. Access the web site for Social Problems.
  3. Click on the link "Search This Journal."
  4. Use the keyword search to locate articles related to the social problem you have selected. Restrict your search to Sociology Journals (i.e., click on the box to the left of "Sociology" in the "These Discipline(s) and or Journal(s)" section.
  5. Click on "Download" and "PDF High Quality" to download the article. The article will download to your computer where you can view or print it.
How to access articles in other professional sociology journals:
  1. It is not required to use articles from Social Problems. If you want to use articles from another sociology journal, then follow these directions.
  2. Go to the web site for Sociological Abstracts.
  3. Click on "Sociological Abstracts." Notes: You will need to login with your ISU ID and library pin number.
  4. Enter the key words of interest to find articles.
  5. In many cases, you will be able to download .pdf versions of articles from journals through your access to the ISU library system.
Grading

Each assignment is worth 25 points. Assignments will be graded based upon the completeness of the answers and your defense of them. You should rely upon the concepts and suggestions provided in the Charon and Vigilant textbook and the class lectures to explain your responses to the assigned tasks.

Assignments will be graded for the quality of your writing. Please check your responses for errors in grammar, diction, and spelling. Please refer to the Writing Instructions for information about how to write and submit your papers.

Assignments must be turned in by the due date unless you make prior arrangements with Ms. Nielsen.