Sociology 211
Social Problems
Fall 2001
Dr. Scott SchafferFirst Paper Assignment
Due Date: Thursday October 4/2001 at the start of class. No late papers will be accepted without a compelling, well-evidenced excuse provided in advance. The midterm "exam" will take place on October 4; except in the event of excused absences, you must appear for the midterm exam in order to have your paper graded.
Rules of the Game: This paper is to be a minimum of 4 (four) full and complete pages; there is no maximum length for the paper, so you should write until your paper is fully developed. Your paper must be typewritten, double-spaced, on 8 1/2" by 11" paper, in 10- or 12-point font, with 1 1/4" left and right margins and 1" top and bottom margins. Your paper must have a cover page, on which a creative title ("First Paper Assignment" is simply not creative enough), your name, the number of the topic to which you're responding, and any other pertinent information should appear; your name should not appear anywhere else in the paper.
Your paper must be spell- and grammar-checked; papers that have copious errors will automatically lose one full letter grade and may be returned for editing; if returned, you will have three calendar days to resubmit the paper or you will receive a zero on the assignment. This will also ensure that any other papers submitted in a shoddy fashion will receive a zero (0). You should follow all guidelines in the "How to Write a Schaffer Paper" handout, available on the course web site; these guidelines will serve as the basis for my evaluation of your work. And finally, no direct quotations are permitted in this paper; any materials you use to support your argument must be paraphrased and cited following to guidelines in the paper-writing handout.
Assignment: You are to write a well-argued, well-evidenced paper in response to one of the following topics. Be sure that your paper is not a recitation of what has been said in class or in the readings, but rather indicates your stand with regard to the question to which you're responding as well as the thought process that went into developing that stand.
Please note that each paper contains an outline within it. You should not think of the latter two questions as "one sentence" questions; rather, your response to them should be an argumentative statement supported by paraphrased evidence from the book. In any case, be sure to fully explicate your reasoning behind the claims you make.
The Topics:
1. As we've seen so far in this course, the particularities of social problems are generally culturally specific - that is, many societies have the same kinds of social problems but in different ways. Outline the ways in which two sociological problems occur here in ways different from those in other societies, and compare the ways in which our solutions differ from those in another society. Then, answer this question: To what extent do you think that we should work to learn lessons from other societies in the handling of their sociological problems, and why?
2. Given the increasingly globalized society in which we live, other societies often have much to say about how we handle our social problems. Outline the ways in which two sociological problems occur in our society that have ramifications for those outside our borders, and discuss the ways in which others have responded or might respond to our handling of these problems. Then, answer this question: To what extent do you think that we need to consider the responses of other societies when developing policies to solve our sociological problems, and why?
Note: For each of the social problems you discuss in your paper, you must utilize at least two (2) articles for each of the problems; in other words, you must use at least four (4) articles as supporting evidence in your paper.
Outline: As mentioned above, each paper topic has an outline contained within it. The outline below is meant to detail the thought process that should go into the development of your response.
I. Introductory paragraph
A. Attention-grabbing statement
B. Thesis statement: "In this paper, that I will argue that..." (direct response to the last question in each topic)
C. Path statement: "In order to argue this point, I will first... then... then..." (provides your read with a short outline of your paper)
II. Social problems to sociological problems (repeat this section for the second social problem you talk about)
A. Discussion of social problem (with evidence from articles)
B. Analysis of sociological problem behind social problem
C. "Outside the borders"issue (Q1: Comparison with other societies' handling of sociological problem; Q2: Impact of our handling of sociological problem for those outside the US and their response)
III. Evaluation question
A. Direct response to the big/last question in topic
B. Steps in your thinking that led to your response
C. Evidence from articles and your analysis of social/sociological problems to support your response and how they helped you formulate your responseIV. Closure paragraph
A. Restatement of your thesis and how you got there
B. Importance of your response to the question for understanding social problems, how we go about solving them, etc.A final note: You should begin work on this paper as early as possible. I am more than happy to provide you with feedback on drafts of this paper so long as you start on it soon. Don't wait until the last second to get my feedback on your work.