TERM PAPER RESEARCH PROJECT
The second semester long project in this course is the term research project for this course, and it is to be research on a particular human interaction, situation, or activity using existing sources and applying your sociological imagination. This is where students will actually practice sociological research by conducting their own investigation on a particular topic.
the final submission which should be 8-9 pages, with an 11 or 12 point font, one inch margins, and double spaced, and incorporate results of the research and discussion of the results connected to the theoretical paradigm(s) in APA format.
Final Submission: After conducting the literature review, it is time to gather your data using your selected keywords. For this portion of data gathering, you are free to use a wider range of sources, including news articles, magazines, videos, etc. as long as you use your sociological imagination to connect this data with your research topic. For example, if the topic of research is a social movement like Black Lives Matter, the researcher could use conflict theory to analyze news stories about Black Lives Matter from newspapers, magazines, the internet or news programs. Once you have gathered your data, it is time to present your findings, in a formatted paper with several sections, including an introduction drawn from the research proposal, the literature review, the findings of your research, a discussion of the findings, and a conclusion. This paper should be 7-9 pages in length, and should be in the APA format. This paper should be a coherent presentation of the findings of the research of the student connected to one of the theoretical positions presented in the text with a defensible interpretation of the relevance of the findings to social science. Some questions to consider in the discussion of your findings include; did you support or reject your hypothesis?
How do your findings relate to the three theoretical paradigms; structural functionalism, conflict or symbolic interaction? Can you generalize from your findings to the larger society? How could your findings apply to social policy? Remember, be objective and allow your data to speak, even if it does not support your hypothesis. Negative results are still good scientific results. The final submission should also include a title page, an abstract page, and a reference page with sources in APA format, all of which are to be included in the page count. You should have at least five sources in addition to the textbook. The body of the paper should be 4-6 pages, and page numbering, a running header, and any visual representations (graphs, charts, etc.) should be included in the body of the paper. Points will be deducted for errors in theory, method, format, grammar and punctuation in the grading process for the final submission, which is worth 100 points. Points will also be deducted for papers that do not meet the minimum length requirement.
Refer to the Term Paper Rubric located in the Rubrics folder in the Resources tab for further information on grading requirements.
Component Submission: Each of the first two components will be submitted through a journal in the Journals tool in the Communications & Tools tab. The research proposal should be submitted through the Term Paper Research Proposal journal, which can be accessed through the Assignments and Assessments folder inside Class Session 3 folder, and through the Journals tool in the Communications & Tools tab. The literature review should be submitted through the Term Paper Literature Review journal, which can be accessed through the Assignments and Assessments folder inside Class Session 7 folder, and through the Journals tool in the Communications & Tools tab. You may submit them either as a text submission or as a file attachment. The third component will be submitted through the Term Paper Research Project assignment located in the Assignments and Assessments folder inside Class Session 14 folder. All three components need to be submitted in order to receive the grade. For further information on using Journals, refer to the Journal video in Blackboard Help.
Individual Discussion: Students may use course messages or e-mail, whichever your instructor prefers, to discuss the term paper or any other topics.