Sociology 302 Social Research Methods Prof. J. Badagliacco

Written and Oral Assignment 1: Studying a topic from a sociological perspective

This assignment is worth 40 points toward your overall grade, and is due in class on either Tuesday September 11 or Thursday, September 13 depending upon when your group presents. I expect you to use a word processing program with 1 inch margins and no greater than 12-point type font. Your paper does not need to be longer than three pages; indeed, parsimony and succinctness are good, but you must do the assignment in a thorough and complete manner. Remember that the quality of written expression is very important to research, and how you say something as well as what you say is important.

Recall that this is the first part of your on-going final project; you must hand in this assignment in the folder that you were given. Recall that will keep adding your assignments and turn in the complete folder each time. For this assignment you should read Chapters 1 and 15 in Babbie. You will probably want to review Chapter 15 over the course of the semester.

Part A: (25 points)

As we mentioned in class, throughout this semester you will be working on a research topic that examines poverty in the United States. See the syllabus for the team topics, i.e., you are a member of one of five teams with a specific but broad topic. For this assignment you are asked to write a brief description of your part of the team project. Choose one research question, and keep your focus sufficiently narrow so that you are able to effectively and efficiently research it. In this paper, you should:

· write an introduction to your topic

This should be a paragraph that introduces what it is you are planning to study and research. Usually you would begin your paper with an introduction, mentioning your topic and your research question in the first few sentences.

· fully discuss what it is you want to study

This is the bulk of your assignment. What specifically will you research? State your research question clearly and precisely, and without bias. For example, "What do UK Wildcat fans think about the tensions between athletics and academics?" Here is also where you should begin to formulate your ideas on how you might study your question, although you need not be very specific because we will deal with specifics in future assignments.

· explain to the reader why it is important to study this question

Here is where you answer the "So what?" question. That is, you plan to study XYZ. So what? Why it is important to study this topic? What is the intrinsic sociological importance of this research? What can society gain by your having researched this question? For example, if you were to plan to study UK Wildcat fans attitudes, explain to your audience that it is important because....

· put your topic into a larger context of broad sociological areas of interest

This is your opportunity to be broad and general in your thinking. For example, in your study of Wildcat Fans you would point out the importance of sports in the lives of Americans and Kentuckians, briefly mentioning the sociological implications thereof.

Part B: (15 points)

On either Tuesday September 11 or Thursday, September 13 depending upon when your group presents, you will be expected to give a brief oral summary of your paper, clearly stating the topics above. You may not read your paper. Making presentations of your work is a skill that everyone needs to develop well, no matter what lies ahead for you in the future. So, prepare in whatever way you find works for you but be prepared to give a brief talk about your topic, etc. Please do not create a computer presentation for this assignment.