Overview
Draft 1/The Midterm (Due Jan 15)
In this paper you will outline the key ideas from a theorist from part 1 of the class (Marx, Durkheim, Weber, Simmel, or Du Bois) as well as the key elements of your current event that are relevant.
Effectively writing requires a constant back-and-forth between your current event and the ideas a theorist with effective and reliable citations. I am looking for an understanding and application of the theoristsarguments about the way the world works. It is far less important to have a grasp on the fact that Weber saw religious ideologies shaping capitalism, and far more important to understand how he saw ideologies, interests, and institutions coming together to shape the world. This is because you can ten take those processes and ideas and apply them to a modern context.
When considering the relevance of theorist’s ideas it is also important to understand the limitations of theorists. Therefore, you might want to consider ways in which theorists may not be helpful.
If you are going to talk about why a theorist’s ideas do not hold up, make sure it focuses on the key arguments in the text in a way that the ideas written cannot be applied.
For instance, say you were writing about budget cuts at schools and used Weber. A BAD example of this would be saying that Weber’s theory doesn’t hold up because race influences the decision making and Weber doesn’t talk about race. This is faulty for two reasons. First, Weber does talk about race in things that we do not read in class. Second, we can still think about how he sees the relationship between ideologies, interests, and institutions as it relates to race.
A GOOD way to talk about the limitations of Weber is that he arguably underplays the importance of material conditions over the importance of cultural and ideological beliefs, and how material conditions shape what is occurring above all else (to make this argument, you of course need to show it is material conditions that are shaping the causal factors).
Think big when writing this up. While stretching and abstracting the ideas of theorists to new situations can be challenging, it is also what makes great theorizing. So when you look at their ideas and arguments and try to apply them to a modern context. This is how we demonstrate that we understand the fundamental ideas and arguments behind theorists processes, and are not simply restating what they believe.
If you are having trouble narrowing down a topic, or are worried that there may not be theorists that will work with your interests (we cover a broad range of topics and perspectives so this should not be an issue) please send me an email or visit my office hours.
The first draft of the paper should be 4 pages.
The Final Draft (Due Feb 26)
The final draft of the paper compares a theorist from the first half of the class with one from the second half. This means you need to go back, edit, and refine your writing from your midterm and add another 4ish pages showing how a theorist from the second half of the class would explain the same event. The final part of your paper should also have an analysis where you make a claim about who can explain the current event you are writing about better and why you think they can do so. In total, the final draft should be 8-10 pages.
General Paper Guidelines
1. Formatting: Papers must be in Calibri 11, Aptos 11, or Times New Roman 12 font, double spaced, and with standard margins. Any paper not submitted in this format will receive an automatic 0. You will have 24 hours from when I see the paper/give it its grade to fix it in order to receive credit.
2. A formal academic writing style is expected. The degree to which this matters increases is raised with each draft.
3. Full in-text citations and a reference sheet are expected with each draft. The reference sheet does not count toward the page limit.
4. Anything past the page limit will not be read/not counted as submitted.
5. Doing a paper like this requires synthesizing, analytic skills, and the ability to write with depth in a concise manner. This means finding where arguments and points overlap between different pieces and linking them together in the same paragraph, sometimes the same sentence. It also means learning to boil down articles to a few key points and arguments and learning how to line them all up in a logical order. This is the point of the paper's design. To teach you to develop your own ideas and process a large amount of information, synthesize it, and present your own theory-based analysis in a clear and concise manner.
6. Avoid the use of unanalyzed quotes.
7. I am always happy to look over rough drafts. However you need to email me your draft beforehand and/or provide a hard copy in person. If you are unsure about something or want feedback before submission, please visit my office hours.
8. To help you with both the assignments and the readings an additional reading and writing guide has been posted to Canvas.
Above all else: BE BOLD. What matters here is the work you put into thinking big and making connections between theory and the empirical world. It involves build reasoning skills above all else. What matters to me is that you are taking the effort to build the analysis and explanations you need. When it comes to theory there are some limits to this (ex: you can't say that the class domination theory of power posits that all groups engage in political action and have equal chances for success) but we don't all need identical readings. I will always favor creative and well thought out theorizing over a cautious coverage of what is going on and not thinking about how it connects to theory and/or everything and everyone else in the world.