SOC. 2201 RESEARCH PAPER ASSIGNMENT RUBRIC
(20% OF OVERALL GRADE) TURNITIN
Choose ONE of the following assignments:
Option A
Songs
1) Take a sample of at least 100 songs from your music collection
2) Create categories of songs and list the percentages for each song that fall into those
categories. (EX: Fun, protest, love, etc.)
3) Create a list of the genres of songs and the percentages for each. (EX: Pop, Classical,
Country, Hip Hop, etc.)
4) PAGE 1: List the categories and genres of songs; Number per category + percentage (You
may use tables, charts, pie graphs, or just write out these statistics in paragraph form to
illustrate the breakdown of these statistics.
5) PAGE 2-4: Critically analyze your findings and answer the following questions in essay
format: What does this say about you and your influences? How have your family, peers, &
society influenced your music tastes? Use at least 3 sociological concepts from notes,
readings, and/or video clips assigned to help explain how you developed your answer.
Option B
Commercials
1) Watch TV at 3 different times of the day (morning, afternoon, and evening).
2) List times, and names of shows – count the number of commercials for men, women, and children;
what are the products? List the percentages for each.
3) What are the different categories of commercials? (i.e. food, beer, cars, toys, etc.) List the
percentages for each.
4) PAGE 1: List shows, times, and categories of commercial products. Number of commercials
for men/women per category + percentage (You may use tables, charts, pie graphs, or just
write out these statistics in paragraph form to illustrate the breakdown of these statistics.
5) PAGE 2-4: Answer the following questions in essay format: What does this say about the
shows? Who’s expected to be watching? What does this say about our culture generally?
What social functions/behaviors/things are important? Use at least 3 concepts from notes,
readings, and video clips assigned to help explain how you developed your answer.
Criteria for grading:
3-4 Pages Doubled-Spaced
Times New Roman, 12 point Font
Incorporation of sociological concepts from
your textbook
Organization/flow of writing
Categorizations
Findings/Patterns/Conclusions
Proofreading
No typos/grammatical errors
Creativity
Organization
Originality
Tips and Guidelines
a) For songs, make sure you have a random sample of at least 100 songs. Avoid putting
something like “50 songs are about partying and 50 songs are about fun.” Be creative; make sure
you try to find different categories.
b) For commercials, make sure you tune in to channels that have programming changes
depending on what time of the day you are watching. DO NOT use channels where the
programming is relatively the same all day (ex: Nickelodeon, MTV, Sci-Fi, History Channel).
This defeats the purpose of the assignment. If ABC shows cartoons in the morning you shouldn’t
expect a Budweiser commercial to appear suddenly. You want to look for patterns of who is
expected to be watching.
c) Do not “space grub.” That is, using more than double-spacing or bigger fonts for your essay. If
it is shorter than 3 pages, do not try to make it look longer by doing this. Also, try not to go over
the 4-page maximum. It is ok if you go over a sentence or two, but don’t add on additional pages.
d) Make sure you list percentages. Do not just give me the raw number/count
e) Do not analyze music lyrics. Rather, we are looking for influences on musical tastes, what you
find yourself listening to most/least, and what you think this says about you. When/Where /how
did you discover your musical tastes (family, peers, movies, media)?
f) For commercials, your analysis should be more on the societal level, since it is meant for mass
consumption. For music, it should be more personal, and how you relate your personal biography
to the rest of society. Everyone should have a different story about his or her musical influences.
Just tell yours.
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(20% OF OVERALL GRADE) TURNITIN
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