Sociology 317 & Soc 310 Paper Guidelines

The paper assignment/project for each course is designed to help refine your research interests for further study in the topic area of your course. If you are enrolled in Soc 317, your topic area will be related to youth within the greater society. If you are enrolled in Soc 310, your topic will be related to media and media impacts upon society. Additional information on the paper and course presentations are provided in class and you are responsible for ensuring that you are present for the paper/project discussions and are aware of all requirements for your course paper or project.

Soc 317

During the first two weeks of the semester, each student will select an institution (family, media, religion, sport, education, government, law enforcement, courts, medicine, etc.) that they would like to explore in-depth. For example, one might look into the ways in which media shapes public opinion of youth, ways in which recent changes in law enforcement processing of minors have impacted the legal system or youth within the system, education and adolescence, historical analysis of youth, etc. Another option is examining various youth-subcultures such as gangs or specific youth groups within the larger social institutions. You must get prior approval for your paper-topic from your instructor.

Soc 310

During the first two weeks of the semester, each student will select a topic of interest for further study into the area of mass communication/mass media and its impact upon society. You might want to look into how media shapes public opinion during elections, the Internet’s impact on pop culture, violence in children’s television, media and fear of crime, the social implications of gender based television stations/programming, etc. When exploring your topic area, you need to examine how the media impacts the area in question and what if any interests they would have in promoting or deciding not to promote any particular area or group. You also have the option of creating a class project. In lieu of a research paper, students can opt to create a podcast, video, website or instructional blog. The instructor must approve your paper-topic or presentation in advance.

General Grading Criteria for Soc 310 and Soc 317 Course Papers:

The course paper must be a minimum of ten pages, double spaced type with one-inch margins in APA, MLA, or ASA format. You must cite within the body of your paper, at least 5 sources (journal articles, books, etc.) and include a reference or bibliography. Your text provides a wealth of information and ideas to help get you started, and is also a good source to use in your 'initial' search for references.

The grade "A" represents an outstanding essay that:

develops and presents creative, perceptive, thoughtful and well-organized ideas; 

develops and presents well-chosen and sociologically/psychologically appropriate concepts, explanations, and supporting evidence for the ideas and theme(s) of the report;

creates an essay that contains no mechanical errors, is written in clear, smooth language and is free of colloquial phrases, slang and incomplete sentences.

The grade "B" represents a very good essay that:

develops and presents a perceptive, thoughtful, and well organized set of ideas; 

has clear, smooth writing which is mostly free of colloquial slang, incomplete sentences and mechanical/punctuation errors; 

is developed with better-than-average choice and development of sociologically /psychologically relevant/applicable concepts, themes and supporting ideas.

The grade "C' represents an adequate essay that:

responds to a topic in a routine way; does the minimum requirements; 

shows some evidence of thought and planning;

is developed with adequate, supporting material, sociologically /psychologically relevant concepts and organization of thought; 

has average writing with few colloquial phrases or slang; 

contains few distracting errors in usage, logic or mechanics (complete sentences, etc.). 

The grade "D" represents a less than adequate essay that:

responds to a topic in a routine, superficial way; 

shows some evidence of thought and planning; 

is developed with less than adequate supporting material, choice of concepts and application/organization of thought;

has writing which is not vigorous and contains colloquial phrases or slang and, incomplete, poorly punctuated sentences;

contains several distracting errors in usage or mechanics.

The grade of "F" represents an inferior and weak essay that:

responds to a topic in a routine, superficial way;

can only be followed and understood with some difficulty;

may contain platitudes or mistakes in word choice, application of concepts and organization of thought;

contains major distracting errors;

does not state a topic or main idea or show evidence of thought, organization or planning;

has enough errors in mechanics and choice/application of concepts to seriously distract the reader;

contains vague, ambiguous diction and phrasing;

contains incomplete sentences that make it difficult to understand the content.