Sociology 448
Seminar: Social Change
Fall 2003
Dr. Scott SchafferTerm Project Assignment
Due Date: This paper will be due in the class session in which you sign up to present your research project. These sessions will take place on Mon Nov 24, Mon Dec 1, Wed Dec 3, and Mon Dec 8. The session you sign up for at the start of the semester will be presumed to be the one you will present your research in at the end of the semester. Any changes must be made no later than Wed Nov 19 at the start of class. Any paper not submitted at the time you agree to will receive a zero (0) unless other arrangements have been made in advance.
Rules of the Game: This paper is to be a minimum of twenty-five (25) pages in length, and a maximum of thirty-five (35) pages in length, not counting a cover page, bibliographic materials, appendices, other required materials, and/or statistical output. The paper is to be typed, double-spaced, in 10- or 12-point font, on 8 1/2” by 11” white paper, with 1 1/4” left and right margins and 1” top and bottom margins. Pages are to be numbered. Please staple your papers; do not submit them in binders of any sort. You must have a cover page on which your name, a creative title for the paper, and appropriate course information appear. You may include a running head with your name, the title of the paper, and the page number, so long as this information appears in either the header or footer of the page; do not put a running head inside the text area, or this space will be taken off the total page count.
Your paper absolutely must be spell- and grammar-checked and proofread; any paper that has copious spelling, grammatical, or typographic errors will automatically receive a zero (0) on the assignment and a F in the course. Direct quotations are allowed for this paper, though they should be used judiciously (i.e., only when the quotation directly supports your argument) and must follow the format described in the paper-writing handout. All references to the material must be cited. Failure to cite all references will result in an appropriate deduction from your letter grade. Anything that appears as academically dishonest will be treated as such, meaning that any sanction from an “F” on this paper to an “F” in the course and referral to the Dean of Students for disciplinary action will be applied.
The Topic: This paper is designed as a cumulative research project that represents all you have learned during your time at MU. As such, there is no particular “big question” that you have to answer.
As this is a seminar on social change, your paper must be on some form of social change. This can be some currently existing form of social change in which you are interested, some form of social change that occurred in the past, or some social movement in which you are involved. After choosing a topic to do research on and the method by which you will pursue that research, you need to develop a research question that will serve as the “big question” for your project. That research question will appear on your paper in a form to be discussed below.
Depending on the particular method by which you pursue this research, your paper will contain some or all of the following elements, following the standard sociological research article format:
I. Introductory statements about the form of social change you’ve researched
II. Discussion of the theoretical position and analytic framework you are starting from
III. Discussion of the research method you’ve chosen to pursue this research
IV. The findings of your research (whether statistical, ethnographic, interview-based, or library/historical research)
V. Your analysis of those findings from the theoretical position and analytic framework you’ve chosen
VI. How your analysis has answered the research question you’ve set for yourself
VII. Conclusions you draw from this answer to your research question, and the importance of your research for those engaged in projects of social change or scholars of social change.
An abstract, providing one- or two-sentence responses to each of these seven issues, should appear on the second page of your final project (in other words, the first page after the cover page). This page should be numbered “i”. Not having an abstract for this project will result in a full letter grade deduction; not having a clearly stated research question in the abstract will result in a two-thirds letter grade deduction without appeal.
A brief table of contents, listing the contents of your paper by section, should be the second page after the cover page and numbered “ii”.
A full and complete works cited page, following standard American Sociological Association citation formats, must appear at the end of the paper. Also, any statistical output, graphs, interview schedules, surveys, or other appendices must appear at the end of the paper after the works cited page. If your project relies on these sorts of material and they do not appear, there will be a full letter grade deduction. These pages do not count in the total page count.
Research methods: You are allowed to use any research method you choose, so long as it follows standard ASA ethical conduct regarding research. (See the ASA web site at http://www.asanet.org if you have any questions on this.) Should you choose to pursue library, historical, or archival research, there is nothing additional you have to do. However, should you choose a research method involving people, you must develop a formal proposal regarding this research, including potential risks and/or harm that may come to your research subjects. This includes survey research, interviews, and/or ethnographic or participant-observation research. This proposal must be submitted to me, along with any relevant interview schedule or survey, no later than Sep 30/2003 at 4pm so that I may ensure that no formal human subjects committee hearing will be necessary. You should also make sure that any interview schedule or survey you develop is submitted to me for review prior to this date so that the Sep 30 submission is final. Failure to do so will result in a full letter grade deduction.
Research presentation: On the date you’ve selected for the submission of your paper, you will present the results of that research to the class. These presentations will cover the essential highlights of your research project (as listed in points I-VII above), and should be no longer than twelve (12) minutes in length. Your presentation will be cut off at 12 minutes, so please be sure to rehearse the presentation so that you can complete it in the time allotted. At the end of the presentations for that day, your classmates will be able to ask you questions about your research; you should anticipate these questions and prepare responses for them. These presentations will be evaluated separately from the paper, and that evaluation will include the issues discussed in the course syllabus, as well as how well you have prepared to engage critiques of your research findings.
Research sources: The standard sociological research sources – scholarly books and journal articles, newspaper or news magazine sources, and Internet sites – are fair game for this assignment. While there is no minimum number of sources, you should keep two guidelines in mind as you prepare your resource list: First, you want to use as much useful research and sources as possible; and second, you want to use the most recent research available (preferably within the last ten years if you’re studying a current form of social change). Part of the evaluation of your project will be based on your use of evidence, so you want to ensure that your paper has as much evidence as you need to develop the argument you make.
Timeline: This timeline is provided for your benefit, so that you can maintain a consistent effort on this research during the semester and not be swamped with it at the end of the term. You are not required to submit anything on these dates; however, I am more than happy to review any work you wish to have my feedback on. I am also willing to review drafts of your written paper, provided they are submitted to me no later than 72 hours before your submission date.
Wed Aug 28: Assignment handed out and discussed
Mon Sep 8: Project topic chosen
Mon Sep 15: Preliminary research question formulated
Mon Sep 22: Research question refined; preliminary interview schedule or survey questionnaire prepared
Mon Sep 29: Research question finalized; analytic framework developed
Tue Sep 30, 4pm: Research project proposal with finalized interview schedule or survey questionnaire submitted for those pursuing human subjects research
Mon Oct 13: Resource list compiled – books, journal articles, Internet sources, and interviewee/survey list
Mon Oct 27: Preliminary outline prepared
Mon Nov 10: Final outline prepared
Fri Nov 21, 2pm: Drafts submitted for review for those presenting on Mon Nov 24
Mon Nov 24: Research presentations begin
Required contents of the final paper:
Cover page
Abstract page with short responses to the seven key issues required in the paper – numbered page “i”
Table of contents page, listing section headings and the page numbers they start on – numbered page “ii”
Twenty-five to thirty-five pages of brilliant text (page numbered)
Works cited page (page numbered)
Any needed appendices, including the survey administered, interview schedule, statistical outputs, graphs or charts, diagrams, etc. (page numbered)
A final note: All of you have pursued research projects before, whether for my courses or for others, and most of you have taken the required Research Methods course. You know how to do this kind of work. You will survive this.
The key thing to remember as you’re pursuing this semester-long project is that it is a semester-long project. Do not put this off; you will only ensure that you do not do well on the paper and in the presentation. Start now, work consistently on it, and consult with me whenever you have questions on it, and you will do just fine.
Also, be sure to find something that you are currently interested in. Since we do not start on particular case studies until a time when you should be well into the project, do not wait for those case studies to give you ideas for the project. Begin with your interests now, and find a project that will engage you for the entire semester.
As always, I am here to help with this project. Don’t hesitate to come to me when you have questions, issues, concerns or problems. And enjoy this – it’s probably one of the last times you get to do work on something you are interested in…