Term paper
Students will write an essay applying sociological theories to the study of a specific social issue.
Your assignment is to prepare for a research project that you would like to carry out, but not to actually
do the research. Start with the selection of a topic for your project.
Possible topics (in parentheses, possible questions for study)
• Immigration, identity, citizenship (e.g., who are immigrants, how are they integrated or not into
host society, how are links maintained to society of origin?)
• Refugees and human rights (e.g., who are refugees, how are they identified and accepted or not
in particular societies, how are their right protected or not)
• The Black Lives Matter or other social movement (e.g., who participates, how do they
participate, what objectives, what consequences?)
• Homelessness (e.g., who are they, why are they, and how are they treated by others?)
• Employment and unemployment (e.g., what jobs are available to whom, what jobs are
disappearing and why, who earns more or less income, what are remedies for unemployment?)
• Social media and social change (e.g., how are virtual groups or communities different from those
based on direct interactions, how do they represent social identities or inequalities?)
• Crime and deviance (e.g., which populations are arrested for which crimes, what are
punishments, what are consequences for individuals and communities?)
• Political polarization in the US (e.g., what are its causes, who identifies with which position,
what values are reflected, what are its consequences?)
• Suggest your own topic
Once you have selected a topic, you need to specify a question or set of questions that can feasibly be
investigated. Asking a good research question is often the hardest part of developing a project, and it is
very important to develop it carefully. It is not enough to say, “I want to study or find out about some
issue.” You need to formulate a question that your research will try to answer. As you do the literature
review on your topic, you will likely encounter a variety of questions that others have tried to answer.
Consider how your question might further advance or extend knowledge in that area. If you find that
your question has already been substantially answered, then figure out some new way of approaching
or applying it.
In developing your question(s), please pay attention to the need for specifying the extension of the
project (i.e., its location in time and space). Is your focus on the present, or some particular period of the
past, or is it looking at change over time. Is it about one particular society, or city or region in a society,
or comparisons across societies or communities? A second issue is your project’s level of generality—
how narrow or broad your analysis will be with regard to specific populations, groups, or individuals.
You will also need to do some background research on the topic to locate your project within existing
knowledge and ideas about the subject matter. Try to concentrate on scholarly works and sociological
work in particular, though some unscientific references may be appropriate as sources of ideas or
conjectures to be investigated.
Your paper should be approximately 8-10 pages, constructed as follows:
I. Title page (name, project title, date)
II. Introduction (1-2 pages): Identify the topic of your proposed research project and specify the
question or questions you will be investigating, as well as the scope of the project (i.e.,
extension, level of generality, etc.).
III. Literature review (2-3 pages): Summarize briefly relevant approaches, concepts, data and
findings from other work on the subject.
IV. Theories and expected findings (2-3 pages): Draw on the theoretical traditions you have studied
in this course as well as your literature review to develop some hypotheses about what you
might find when you conduct the research. Your discussion should incorporate one or more
specific theories or approaches from at least two of the theoretical traditions we have covered
in this course (conflict theory, Durkheimian or social order theory, rational/utilitarian theory,
microinteraction theory). Specify which theorists from those traditions you are drawing on and
how their ideas might be applied to your subject.
V. Conclusion (1 page): Summarize the outcome of your proposed project. How do you think your
research might contribute to sociological knowledge and/or to improving the lives or social
conditions of the populations you will study?
VI. References: Follow APA format to list all sources used.
A brief (1-2 paragraph) description of your choice of topic and research questions should be submitted
to the professor no later than October 31.
Papers will be submitted on Canvas through Turnitin.com no later than December 5.
• Papers will be evaluated according to proper form, organization and clarity, theoretical
accuracy, soundness of conclusion, and quality of references.
• Evaluation and grades for papers will be provided by December 11 (90 possible points).
• Review the detailed Turnitin instructions on how to submit your assignments and how to review
the Grademark comments (feedback) from your professor.
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