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Over the course of this semester, all members of this course will conduct independent research into a particular social problem of their choice. This research will be the basis for an oral presentation accounting for half of a class period as well as for a final written paper along with a series of smaller preparatory assignments. The goal of this project is to enable you to have practice conducting policy analysis; enhance your sociological research, writing, and analysis skills; develop your oral communication and presentation skills; and to expose class members to a variety of social problems. Timeline
Detailed instructions for each portion of the assignment are listed below, along with information on assignment submission and grading. [back to top]
Working in teams It will be possible to develop your project in groups of no more than two. If you are interested in working with a classmate, you should note this on your topic choices sheet. Each student will still need to turn in a separate topic choices sheet. Not all topics are suitable for a team project, so you may wish to meet with me in advance if you wish to work in a team. If I approve the group arrangement, all other assignments related to the course project, except the presentation critiques, can be completed as a team; teams will receive a single grade modified slightly by their individual performance on the presentation. Do be aware that teams will be expected to develop longer presentations and write longer papers; the expectations for this will be noted in the appropriate section of this document. Topic Choices Due In class on February 7th, you will need to turn in a sheet of paper listing your three top choices for a social problem to research. Because of the fact that you will be doing a class presentation based on your research, I will need to ensure that each topic is researched by only one class member. I will do my best to allocate as high a choice as possible to all class members, and if necessary will apportion an individual topic into several parts, but I can not guarantee first choices. Your topic choices sheet should include a brief summary (about a paragraph) stating what you believe some of the main claims and claimsmakers active in relation to each of the three social problems you list are. This does not need to be based on extensive research, but should display at least some deep thought grounded in course readings. I will do my best to have made firm topic assignments by February 12th; anyone who turns in a topic choices sheet late will see a grade penalty and will not enter the allocation pool until everyone who turned in a topic sheet on time is allocated. [back to top]
Presentations and Critiques Scheduled This is an approximate date; I reserve the right to conduct the scheduling slightly earlier or later, and may do it electronically. However, by February 19th, you should have obtained syllabi, team schedules, and lists of other major commitments that might affect your availability on specific class dates and made a list of days when you may not be available to present. When we conduct the scheduling, you will need to tell me when you are likely to be unavailable as well as your general choices for a presentation early, in the middle, or late in the month of presentations. Because two presentations need to be scheduled in each class period, some people will have to go early—strongly consider being one of them and getting this project out of the way earlier in the semester. Do be aware that because of time pressures, it will be extremely difficult if not impossible to reschedule presentations and I will only accommodate students who miss presentations because of dire emergencies (documented hospitalization or other severe illnesses, deaths in the family upon being contacted by a dean, etc.). Oversleeping, internship interviews, athletic competitions, hangovers, and minor illnesses will not be acceptable excuses for missing presentations. Do remember that the presentation is worth 30% of your grade, so if you miss the presentation it will be impossible for you to earn a grade above a C- in the course (and unlikely that you will earn even the C-). At this time we will also schedule students to do critiques. While you will be expected to be actively involved and participating in all student presentations, you will be expected to do written critiques of four of your classmates’ presentations (barring unusual circumstances, one critique each week). These critiques will require 1-2 pages of written commentary responding to a set of specific questions. If you discover that you need to reschedule a presentation or a critique after the dates have been assigned, it will be your responsibility to find a classmate to switch with, and the arrangement must be cleared with me before being finalized. I reserve the right to refuse any swapping request, and will do so for reasons such as someone doing two critiques in the same class, doing a critique the same day they present, or incompatible presentations being scheduled together. [back to top]
Annotated
Bibliography Due
An annotated bibliography is a bibliography in which you provide a short (a sentence to a paragraph long) description of each source and its usefulness to your project after the bibliographic entry. In class on March 4th, you will need to turn in an annotated bibliography reflecting the sources you have located for your project so far. You will also email a copy of your annotated bibliography to Reid Larson, the reference librarian who is working with our course. Your annotated bibliography must use proper citation format. I would encourage you to become familiar with the American Sociological Association citation format (a style guide is available to help you with this), but I will accept annotated bibliographies that properly use MLA, Chicago, American Psychological Association, or other recognized formats. If you are using a style and do not know what it is called or all of the rules for using it, it is not a good choice and you should take the time to learn how to write your bibliography and in-text citations in American Sociological Association style. At the point when you turn in your annotated bibliography, you should have located the following types and numbers of sources: --All course readings that you think are relevant to your project. Your textbooks can be referenced as complete books, but individual articles by other authors in Rubington and Weinberg should be referenced separately. --At least four and preferably six academic sources (books from university presses or academic journal articles). At least two of these sources should be journal articles from well-regarded sociology journals unless your topic makes this absolutely impossible, in which case you can substitute journal articles from well-regarded journals in cognate disciplines. Students who work in pairs should locate at least six and preferably eight academic sources. If you do not know how to find these articles, you should see me or Reid Larson during your literature search process. --Websites or published materials representing the primary claims and claimsmakers involved in your social problems. --Governmental sources, such as legislation, court decisions, and proposals related to your social problem, if available. --At least one or two sources of quantitative data, including public opinion data and data documenting the extent of the problem. These must be reliable sources; you can include sources that are part of the claimsmaking process as well. --At least five news articles discussing your social problem. Students who work in pairs should locate at least eight such articles. --Additional sources as relevant to the particular social problem you are discussing (films, songs, advertising campaigns, non-scholarly books, magazine articles, maps, or anything else relevant). Please remember that you are welcome to continue finding more sources as you continue researching for your project, but your annotated bibliography must contain the minimum number of sources as outlined above. You do not need to have completely read all books or worked through all the data at this time, but you do need to have spent sufficient time to write the annotation for each source. All sources you present as part of your annotated bibliography must appear in the final project, even if you eventually decide they are less helpful than you anticipated. [back to top]
Select a Reading
On Thursday, April 3rd you will bring to class the reading you intend to assign to your classmates for them to read prior to the class when you do you presentation. This reading should be approximately 30-40 pages in length; it can take the form of a single journal article or book chapter; a pair or group of such articles; or article(s) coupled with a website, newspaper article, or magazine article. Students who work in pairs should select 60-80 pages of reading. In general, you should choose reading materials that will provide background and prepare your classmates for discussion, that do not closely replicate large sections of your presentation, and that are accessible to those who do not know about your social problem. In general, I expect that at least a portion of the reading you choose will be scholarly in nature, though exceptions may be granted if necessary. You will need to turn in complete and properly formatted citations for each source you have chosen as part of your reading assignment, including complete URLs for any websites; a complete photocopy or printout of each article (this is not necessary for websites), including title and copyright pages (for books) and bibliographies and endnotes (for all sources), that is clear and legible enough for the e-reserves staff to scan and upload; and a brief explanation (less than a page in total) of the reasons you chose the sources you did and how they will support your presentation. In addition, you will need to write five multiple choice questions (four or five answer choices per question) that you think would fairly assess the degree to which your classmates read and understood the readings you have assigned. Consider the types of questions you have been answering as you design your own questions. Students who work in pairs will need to develop ten multiple choice questions. [back to top]
Schedule a Meeting
By Thursday, April 3rd, you will need to schedule a meeting with me to discuss your presentation approximately one to two weeks prior to the date on which you will present. We will conduct scheduling electronically. You should assume that your meeting will be about a half hour in length; you should bring to the meeting an outline of your presentation and any questions you have about the presentation process or the content you will be discussing. Those students who will present on April 8th and 10th should have their meetings and should choose their reading assignments PRIOR TO SPRING BREAK. Those presenting on April 15th and 17th may want to have their meetings the week after Spring Break and should thus should consider engaging in the scheduling process prior to break. [back to top]
Wiki Assignment
By 9 am on Tuesday, April 8th, you must have completed the Wiki Assignment, which will serve as the rough draft for your paper. Complete instructions for completing the Wiki Assignment are available on the Policy Options Wiki. Depending on your particular social problem area, you will choose either an Issue Overview or an Issue Brief, or possibly both. You will be graded on the extent to which you follow the requirements outlined in the instructions for the Policy Options Wiki as well as on the extent to which your work displays research, content knowledge, and understanding of course materials. Do be aware that others will be able to edit your work, and that you can go back and edit your work as the semester goes on (which I encourage you to do!), but you will be graded on the Wiki as it stands on Tuesday, April 8th. If you are doing an early presentation date and want to get comments on your work prior to your presentation, you can submit your Wiki prior to Spring Break, but this is optional. [back to top]
Course
Presentation
On your assigned date, you will be responsible for giving an in-class presentation on the social problem topic you have chosen. Each class meeting from April 8th to May 6th will be split into two segments, with one presentation scheduled in each segment. The expectation is that you will use about half of a class for your presentation, including any interactive exercises or class discussion. As a rough guideline, you should prepare somewhere between 20 and 30 minutes of presentation—on the lower end if you anticipate including more interactive elements, discussion, or questions, on the higher end if you are more of the lecturing type. Students who work in pairs will be allocated one entire class meeting for their presentation; including questions, these presentations should take at least one hour of class time. Your class presentation must incorporate a PowerPoint presentation, though exceptions will be granted to this requirement given compelling reasons such as your desire to explore an alternative presentation format, in which case you must seek approval prior to Spring Break. Grading criteria will include the content covered in the presentation, the use of course materials and social problems frameworks, organization, presentation skills, ability to respond to questions, and proper use of PowerPoint. Students will not suffer a grade penalty for failing to be interactive, but those who incorporate discussion or other activities may see a benefit in their presentation grades. I strongly encourage you to visit the Oral Communication Center at least a few days prior to giving your presentation in class. Presentations must include the following elements: 1) A statement of the problem 2) Historical information about the emergence of the problem 3) A discussion of the various claims and claimsmakers active in responding to the problem 4) A discussion of constituencies affected by the problem 5) A theoretical approach to understanding the problem drawn from the course readings 6) At least two, and preferably more, approaches to solving the problem, preferably with some information about the potential effects of choosing each of these various approaches 7) Data of some kind on the problem itself and, if possible, public opinion about the problem 8) Connection or reference of some kind to the reading you assigned 9) On the PowerPoint, proper use of parenthetical citations and proper attribution for graphics and data In addition, you should attempt so far as is possible to fairly present all of claims, claimsmakers, and solutions related to your problem, even if some sound like crackpots. Your goal here is to educate classmates who may not know much about the problem and who may have very different political perspectives than you do. You want to educate, not alienate. There will be a place for you to discuss your own opinion, if you choose to do so, in the final written paper you hand in at the end of the semester. You must be prepared to answer questions about your social problem. That does not mean that you know everything about the problem (no one does); rather, it means that you do your best to respond to queries from me or from your classmates, that you admit honestly if you don’t know the answer rather than making something up, and that you write down questions you can’t answer so that you can get back to the questioner with the answer in the future. As for your PowerPoints, they should be well-designed, include appropriate graphics and data, be referenced, be well-organized and keyed to your presentation, and avoid overloading us with text. For help with PowerPoints, contact the Multimedia Presentation Center. [back to top]
Presentation
Critique
You will prepare presentation critiques for four specific class presentations, as assigned. Barring unusual circumstances, these will be due at the beginning of the Tuesday class following the presentation (so those who complete critiques for presentations given on both April 8th and April 10th, for instance, will return their critiques on April 15th). If you can not comply with these requirements, you should speak to me no later than the day you complete your critique to get an extension. When you turn in your critique, you will need to bring two copies, one for me and one for the person whose presentation you critique. Critiques should be approximately one to two pages in length and should be typed. The expectation is that you will take detailed notes and be an active participant during the presentations you critique—as you always should, but step it up a notch for these four presentations. Your critiques should include your name and email address; the date, author, and topic of the presentation you are critiquing; and comments on the following issues: 1) To what extent did the assigned reading relate to and prepare you for the presentation? 2) Did the presenter incorporate frameworks for understanding social problems that we discussed in class? Do you feel he or she did a good job of this? Do you have any suggestions for improvement? 3) How was the presenter’s PowerPoint presentation? Did it add to or detract from the presentation? Do you have any suggestions for improvement? 4) How were the presenter’s oral communication skills? Did you notice any annoying “verbal tics” or strange physical behavior (only looking at certain parts of the room, using hands weirdly)? Was the presenter confident? Do you have any suggestions for improvement? 5) What did you learn about the social problem the presenter was discussing? What do you think the 2-3 most important points the presenter made were? 6) Was the presentation well-organized? Did it flow? Did you find yourself confused or lost at any point during the presentation? 7) How did the presenter handle questions or other forms of interaction from the class? Did the presenter organize their presentation to encourage such interaction, or did the presenter seem to stifle discussion? Was the presentation engaging? 8) Are there issues or questions you feel were not adequately addressed during the presentation? What are you left wanting to know more about? 9) What do you think were the 2-3 best aspects of the presentation? What did the presenter do really well (these can be presentation skills, PowerPoint skills, or aspects of presentation content)? 10) What were the 2-3 biggest problems with or limitations to the presentation? Where should the presenter focus his or her efforts to improve his or her presentation skills? 11) What suggestions would you give the presenter as she or he revises her presentation into the final course paper? 12) Any other comments as necessary. [back to top]
Final Course Paper
During the final exam period, you will turn in a written term paper about your social problem topic. This final paper should contain generally the same information as your presentation, with perhaps more attention to scholarly debates and to theoretical approaches to understanding social problems. It must incorporate suggestions for revision derived from comments on and edits to your Wiki assignment and from the presentation critiques authored by me and by your classmates. Papers will be graded based on content knowledge, understanding and proper application of course frameworks, writing style and organization, and incorporation of suggestions for revision. I strongly encourage you to visit the writing center prior to turning in the final draft of the paper; while I will meet with you to discuss the paper and while I will give you comments on the Wiki assignment and the oral presentation, I will not read subsequent drafts. The final paper should be approximately 8-10 pages long, double-spaced, with 1 inch margins. Students who work in pairs can choose to write individual papers on seperate aspects of the problem following the general guidelines; alternatively, they may choose to write a joint paper of approximately 14-16 pages. You should include a title page with the title of your paper, your name, and the address to which you would like the paper returned (a home address, a summer address, or your campus mailbox number). Papers that are less than 8 pages are unlikely to be able to cover all the bases required by this assignment; if you wish to write more than 10 pages, that is okay, but remember that concise writing is always better. Data tables, graphs, and other images do not count towards the page limit but should in most cases be included. All graphics and tables must be labeled and numbered and referred to in the text by their number. The paper must use proper citation format and a proper bibliography (NOT annotated) must appear at the end of the paper. As in the presentation, you should strive for fair coverage of all claims and approaches to solving the problem in the body of your paper. In the Conclusion, you may continue to take this approach. If you do, you should suggest reasons why it is difficult to determine the “right” answer to the problem—reasons grounded in our course discussions—and outline some further research which might be beneficial to developing a better understanding of competing approaches to the problem. However, if during the course of your research you have developed a sense of what solution to the problem would work best, you are permitted to conclude with an additional page (meaning your paper would need to be 9-11 pages long) outlining the solution you think would be best, why you think so, how the data and evidence you have gathered supports that conclusion, and how you would respond to those who disagree. If you do this, you will not be graded on which position you choose, but rather on the degree to which your position is supported by the data and evidence you marshal. [back to top]
Assignment
Submission and Grading
Unless otherwise noted, all assignments are due at the beginning of class on the date for which they are assigned. I prefer that all assignments be handed in on paper unless otherwise noted. If you will not be in class, your assignment should be turned in to my mailbox in the sociology department by 8:30 am the day the assignment is due. Assignments turned in to locations other than my mailbox have been known to disappear, and you should also be aware that North and South Court are sometimes locked. If you have spontaneous printer problems or other major issues, you may email your paper to me prior to 8:30 am; please save all emailed documents as *.doc, *.rtf, *.html, or *.pdf files (pay particular attention to this if you use Office 2007, as the default file type for your program is incompatible with campus computers). If you don’t know how to do this, instructions are available on the ITS website—just search for “office 2007”. If you do not receive an email from me stating that I have received and opened your paper, it has not been submitted and will be considered late. All papers and assignments that are turned in after the start of class will be considered late unless you have sought prior permission for an extension. Late assignments will begin losing points as soon as class starts. A few assignments, such as scheduling, may be dealt with electronically. In these cases, I will send out emails several days in advance with instructions. It is your responsibility to check your email and to make sure you are under the email quota so that you can receive emails about assignments, and it is your responsibility to reply in a timely fashion. Grading
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Copyright 2007 Mikaila Mariel
Lemonik Arthur.