Overview
GUIDELESS and HEADINGS FOR WRITING FINAL COURSE PAPER 50% of course grade; 100 points possible DUE by December 11 |
INTRODUCTION
(1-2 pages – 10 points)
Introduce your topic, explain why it is important, and set the project into a larger theoretical context. This section will introduce your main issues of concern, explain how others (sociologists/other scholars, with citation) have dealt with the issue, and describe what you will attempt to accomplish with your contribution.
1.What are you studying? Clearly specify your research question and its theoretical and sociological importance in the first paragraph of the paper. (This is the development of Paragraph 1 of your proposal.)
2.What is generally known about this topic? Develop and introduce at least two-three themes, issues or problems that relate to the broader topic you are investigating. You can provide demographics, descriptive information, an historical overview of the topic or other background material in this section you may want to use.
BACKGROUND AND SIGNIFICANCE
(5-6 pages – 30 points)
This section outlines your theoretical orientation for the study, and reviews the literature on the topic. Organize this section by the themes you identified in your first draft. Remember to incorporate at least ten empirical studies that are specific to your topic/themes.
1. In approximately 2-3 pages for EACH theme (NOT each article), compare and contrast the findings and the theoretical framework used in the various sources and how they went about contributing explanations of your topic. Do you agree or disagree with the finding of the studies? What other theoretical or methodological approaches might be taken to answer this question?
2. In the last section of the literature review, specify the broad research question(s) to be analyzed in your paper based on the findings of your literature review and your thoughts on your topic. Include a clear conceptual definition for each concept.
RESEARCH METHODS
(6-7 pages – 40 points)
This section will introduce the study’s methodology, and then describe the representative findings from your pre-test/pilot study.
1.Describe and justify the plan of your research design and analysis. Detail exactly how you would test your hypotheses and/or address your research question.
Present the information in this order:
-Will you use original or archival data, qualitative (eg., intensive interview) or quantitative (eg., survey, existing data)?
-Justify and provide details concerning your population, sampling frame (how will you find them/what source will you use), sampling strategy, and sample size.
-How will you address ethical concerns?
-Describe the questions you will ask or data you will use, and explain how your conceptual and nominal definitions align. Include your data collection instrument in an Appendix (questionnaire, interview schedule/guide, archival database, etc. as applicable)
oIf you are using existing survey items, you must provide citation; if you are developing your own, you must clearly indicate why this is necessary and include your plan for validating them. Include a clear nominal and operation definition of each concept, justifying the connection to your conceptual definition for the independent and dependent variables. Include information on any necessary control variables needed to test the relationship between your independent and dependent variables of interest.
oFor qualitative studies, provide nominal definitions for your concepts of interest, describe the questions in your intensive interview guide, and the analysis strategies you will use.
oFor archival studies, provide nominal definitions for your concepts of interest, describe the data you will use and justify the connections/limitations of this data for your concepts.
-Describe what type of analyses will be necessary to conduct the test of your research question/topc with the data you collect. What are your basic comparisons?
2.Then, discuss the insights gained from your pre-test/pilot study. Explain what you expect to find in the larger study. If you have competing hypotheses which do you think will be supported? What specific results (percentages for example) would lead you to conclude that your hypothesis is supported? You might also construct some type of sample graph or table to demonstrate.
Do not discuss the “results” of your pre-test/pilot study as though you have completed the proposed project analyses, provide specific information concerning what you learned from the pre-test/pilot study in terms of your research design and data collection strategy.
DISCUSSION and CONCLUSIONS
(2 pages – 20 points)
1.This section will consist of your interpretation of what the findings will mean for theory, and the implications of your expected findings. Think broad social processes and structures, reflecting on the sociological significance of your study. Don’t write this as though you actually did the research – just write for example: If I were to find that….then this would have….consequences.
2.Discuss the ethics and limitations of your study – what questions related to your topic cannot be addressed with your research design, what issues will remain to be studied, what new issues for future research might be uncovered.
3.Conclude with a paragraph about what you learned about yourself as a sociologist, sociological research, writing papers, and/or yourself or others in conducting this study.
REFERENCES and APPENDICES
(pages as needed)
Must follow ASA style; inaccurate or incomplete citations will result in point deductions.
Include your finalized data collection instrument and any pre/pilot test data.
PROOFREADER
Specify the initials of at least one person who proofread your paper, and the day/time this occurred.
ADDITIONAL COURSE PAPER INFORMATION/REQUIREMENTS
Failure to follow these requirements will result in point deductions.
1.The final course paper is to be an approximately sixteen (16) page, double-spaced, typed paper. See Writing Guidelines below for specifics.
2.References. A minimum of TEN references for empirical studies on your topic, plus any additional scholarly sources (background, analysis, and/or supplementary materials).
3.Appendices.
Include a prototype of a survey instrument or intensive interview questions, or a description of an archival source, etc. as applicable.
4.Format. The paper is to be written in ASA style as described in class:
a.Bibliographic references at end of paper
b.Use of references in text
c.Use of headings – major headings are centered and in capital letters, sub-headings are in lower case letters, underlined, and to the left side.
d.Cover page
WRITING GUIDELINES
1.All papers must be typewritten and double-spaced with margins of 1” all around. All papers should have a cover page stating the name of your topic, your name, the class name or number and the date. Papers must be written in a size 12 font, using Ariel or Times New Roman print. The cover page should also be in size 12 font – not in boldface print. Pages must be numbered in the upper right corner. The cover page is page one (1). Do not show the page number on this page. The first typed page is page two. Papers not meeting these specifications will have their grade lowered.
2.Clarity of Communication: A well-written paper communicates ideas of information in a clear and concise, understandable-to-the-reader style.
Consider visiting the Center for Excellence in Writing & Communication.
Three types of services are provided to undergraduate students:
o Writing Specialist/Consultant Appointments: Writing Specialists/Consultants see students by appointment for consultations up to 50 minutes, but these appointments are in high demand. The optimum times to look on our website for available time slots are the first week of the quarter, Thursday evenings, Friday afternoons. You can also check any other time to see if a time slot has opened, due to a cancellation. Students can access Writing Specialist/Consultant appointments on the website: https://www.writingcenter.uci.edu/.
o Peer Tutor Appointments: Peer tutors see students by appointment for consultations up to 25 minutes. These appointments are ideal when students have focused concerns or would like to talk to a tutor who’s more familiar with the undergraduate writing experience at UCI. Students can access Peer Tutor appointments on the website: https://www.writingcenter.uci.edu/.
o Asynchronous Writing Consultations: Students may receive feedback asynchronously by uploading an essay draft through the appointment scheduling system accessible on our website: https://www.writingcenter.uci.edu/. Asynchronous Writing Consultations generally take 2-3 days to complete, so keep that in mind when requesting.
3.Style of Writing
a.Do NOT use direct quotes from articles, text etc. in your paper without citation. If you copy word for word without citation (quotation marks; parentheses, author, date and page number), you are committing plagiarism. Note that direct quotes should be used sparingly! Paraphrase the author’s key ideas in your own words as necessary, and always cite the author, date.
b.Write your paper in active voice. Sentences should specify the subject, verb and object, in that order. In the English language, it is easier to understand sentences written in active, not passive voice. If you do not know what active voice is, please talk with me.
c.Sentences are most easily read when they are short. When in doubt, break your work into shorter sentences.
d.Write your paper using either the first (I, me, my) or third (he, she, they) person. DO NOT use the second person (you, your we, us).
e.Break writing into a new paragraph with each change of subject. A good rule of thumb: three or four paragraphs per page.
f.Format, references in the text, and list of references at end of the paper must follow ASA style.
g.Any paper not following the above criteria will lose points for these oversights.
4.Common Writing Errors: The following represent common errors frequently made by students in this class:
a.Numbers Below 10. Any number between zero and nine needs to be in word, not numeric form. Number 10 and higher may be written in numeric form; however, when starting a sentence, do not write the number, write the word for the number.
b.Starting Sentences with Adverbs and Conjunctions. Do not begin a sentence with words such as “so,” “while,” or “whereas.” Do not start sentences with words such as “and” or “but.”
c.Sentence Fragments and Run-on Sentences. All sentences must have a subject, verb and object. Use of adverbs, in (b) above, frequently results in a sentence fragment or incomplete sentence. Sentences containing more than one subject, verb, and object may result in a run-on sentence (two sentences merged into one) unless the writer knows how to write a compound sentence.
d.Number vs. Amount; Fewer vs. Less. Use the term, number, when referring to discrete units of something. An example would be the number of students in a class or the number of seats in a classroom.
e.Spelling. You should know the difference between affect and effect and when each word is used. Your work in this class should always use correct spelling.
f.Use of Second Person (you, your etc.). Scholarly papers are usually written in third person (he, she, they, their etc.). More recently, papers also include first person designations (I, my, me, our etc.). Do not write in second person (you, your) unless you know what you are doing, or you are writing to a particular person, as in a letter, or these instructions. It is usually inappropriate to refer to “you,” etc.
g.Use of Contractions. While we use contractions in every day speech, they are inappropriate in scholarly papers (e.g. it’s = it is. They’re = they are). Use the two words.
h.Use of Vernacular (everyday terms). In everyday spoken language, we use terms such as mom, kids or stuff. In a scholarly paper, use the more formal terms such as mother, children, or specify the things to which “stuff” refers. Do not use the term “et cetera” or “etc.”
i.Use of Authors’ first names. Authors should always be referred to by their last name, without salutation. For example, “Smith noted that…” versus “Adam noted that…” or “Mr. Smith noted that…”
j.Inappropriate use of big words. Do not blindly follow the thesaurus. While repetitive use of words is not recommended and will be corrected accordingly, using words you do not understand will only muddle and confuse your writing. Say what you mean to say and know what you mean to say.