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Instructions for Sociology Papers College Essay Examples

Essay Instructions: Essay Description
Please select one of the following four essay prompts to respond to. You will be required to carefully analyze the relevant course readings for the prompt, and develop an argument (summarized in your thesis statement at the end of the first paragraph). Since your paper should be no longer than 6 pages, you will need to be selective in terms of what issues you choose to discuss and analyze. Thus, your thesis
statement should help you focus your argument, indicating those portions of the readings that are most relevant for the purposes of developing your thesis.
Each prompt provides a number of questions about the readings and other suggestions. It is not necessary that you address all of these points, but your essay should at least speak to them indirectly. Your essay should be a textual analysis. That is, the purpose of this essay is to carefully analyze and interrogate the ideas presented in the primary texts, and their interrelation to one another. This means that your essay must reflect a very careful reading of the relevant works?citing sources and page numbers
when appropriate?although it is acceptable to draw from lecture materials to provide contextual and background information. The handbook A Guide to Writing Sociology Papers (2008. The Sociology Writing Group. 6th Ed. New York: Worth Publishers, p. 119) provides the following advice: ?In textual analysis, the text is not only your data but also the source of your question. That is, your question will arise from the author?s ideas and arguments presented in the text and from your analysis of them. Your question is a vehicle for conversing with the author about the thesis or argument of the work.
This conversation should be conducted in an analytically critical manner, which means that to carry on your end you must raise questions about the logic of the argument, the type and credibility of the evidence, the soundness of the conclusion, and the fundamental assumptions on which the argument rests.?
Make sure to engage with the appropriate and relevant concepts of the thinkers, defining them thoroughly by drawing from both the primary readings and lecture. You may also wish to discuss the historical and other examples brought up by the thinkers to make their case.
Also, please put forward a clear and compelling thesis in the first paragraph, develop support for the argument in subsequent paragraphs by providing evidence (with each paragraph making one argument stated in the topic-sentence that relates to and supports your essay?s thesis), and end with a concluding paragraph that not only summarizes the argument made in the essay, but draws out and emphasizes the implications of the points you have made. One strategy is to construct an outline of your essay for you begin writing. The writing should be clear, concise, and grammatically correct.

Essay Guidelines Paper Requirements
? Answer one of the essay prompts. Please note on the first page which prompt you are responding to, in addition to your name and other information.
? Provide a thesis statement in your first paragraph that states your argument.
? This is an academic paper and should follow the conventions of formal essay-writing.
? 5-6 pages (i.e., 5 full pages with some overlap onto a sixth, but no more than 6 full pages).
? Paper format: double-spaced, 12pt font, Times New Roman, 1-inch margins.
? Follow APA citation format for references. That is, employ parenthetical citations within the with a list of full references at the end of the paper.


Put forward a clear and compelling thesis in the first paragraph, develop support for your argument in subsequent paragraphs by providing evidence (with each paragraph making one argument stated in the topic-sentence that relates to and supports your essay?s thesis), and end with a concluding paragraph that not only summarizes the argument made in the essay, but draws out and emphasizes the implications of the points you have made. One strategy is to construct an outline of your essay for you begin writing.
Your writing should be clear, concise, and grammatically correct.




Essay Prompts
Select one of the following sub-prompts:

1.) The Sociology of Knowledge: Classical Statements
a.) Karl Marx: Analyze the materialist conception of history and its critique of German
philosophy (i.e., idealism). What is the relationship between social consciousness and social being? What determines the ruling ideas of a particular epoch?
b.) Emile Durkheim: Analyze Durkheim?s argument that the categories of the understanding have a social origin. How does Durkheim contrast his sociological approach with those of the empiricists and a priorists? Why are the categories (and all concepts) collective representations and, therefore, social facts? How do the particular categories (i.e., space, time, contradiction) of the understanding reflect social organization and the need for collective renewal?
c.) Karl Mannheim: Analyze Mannheim?s discussion of the nature and scope of the sociology of knowledge. How are thought-models related to the social positions of given groups? How does Mannheim?s relational perspective differ from relativism?
d.) Synthetic/Comparative: Synthesize or compare the ideas from two or more of the classical theorists discussed in this course.

2.) Merton?s Sociology of Science
Analyze Merton?s institutional approach to the sociology of science. For example, you may want to discuss the normative structure of science, the reward and communication systems of science, and /or the ambivalence among scientists that emerges when scientific norms come into conflict. (the paper must engage with at least 3 of Merton?s articles).

3.) Synthetic/Comparative Paper
Develop an argument that synthesizes ideas and support from Merton and at least one of the classical thinkers. Alternatively, develop an argument by comparing the works of Merton and at least one of the classical thinkers.

Excerpt From Essay:

Title: Working mothers

Total Pages: 10 Words: 3705 Sources: 10 Citation Style: MLA Document Type: Research Paper

Essay Instructions: Final Paper: Your final paper should be 10-12 pages long and include at least 10 scholarly sources. Please look at my handout “Final Paper Checklist” for more detailed guidelines. Also, depending on the approach to your paper (library or ethnographic research paper), revisit the appropriate chapter in A Guide to Writing Sociology Papers, by the Sociology Writing Group, 2008, Sixth Edition. The original proposal with my handwritten comments must be resubmitted with the final paper.

Please write the paper from the conflict/critical perspective. Frame the issue in relation to changes and stresses facing families where both adults work outside the home and women's additional shift (house and kids), and lack of men's contribution in the home.

Criteria for Grading:

1.Thesis or question clearly stated.

2. Evidence presented:
a. quality of evidence collected
b. presentation and organization of appropriate evidence

3. Logic of argument: Topic adequately introduced, major issues discussed and critically examined, summary of the relationship between the major issues presented and conclusion addressing the implications of the topic under discussion. Originality and creative integration of readings, your own thoughts and the materials presented in lectures and discussions provides the foundations for a well-organized paper.

4. Writing mechanics: checking for proper format such as editing and sentence construction, paragraphs, spelling, punctuation, etc. Required Reading: A Guide to Writing Sociology Papers, by the Sociology Writing Group. Also check for adequate references and proper reference format.

There are faxes for this order.

Excerpt From Essay:

Title: Zapatistas

Total Pages: 6 Words: 1757 References: 0 Citation Style: APA Document Type: Essay

Essay Instructions: I need a research paper using the research question: Who are the Zapatistas, what is their purpose, and how have they affected society in Mexico?
The first section of the paper should include description, discussion, and analysis of the research questions and issues. THe idea of the sociological imagination needs to be used. I will fax a reading on it. The next section should cover: What does prior research show about the topic and the questions? The conclusion should include the implications of the findings for social policy and peoples lives.
I will fax many articles to aid in the writing. They are titled: What is it that is different about the Zapatistas?(pages 1-25), Following in the footsteps of the Zapatistas (1 Page), Globalization, New Internationalism, and the Zapatistas (pages 9-35), Globalization and resistance in post cold war Mexico: difference, citizenship and biodiversity conflicts in Chiapas (pages 1045-1061), The Sociological Imagination (pages 1-5), and THe seven Loose Pieces of the Global Jigsaw Puzzle (pages 1-18). I will fax these to the CA number.
The work cited page needs to be in the format described in the book Guide to Writing Sociology Papers. If you don''t know this format, then please use the MLA format.THank You
There are faxes for this order.

Excerpt From Essay:

Title: Ted Bundy

Total Pages: 7 Words: 2139 Works Cited: 5 Citation Style: APA Document Type: Research Paper

Essay Instructions: How Criminal Logical Theories relate to Ted Bundy
Please follow the guidelines below:
A useful source:

A Guide to Writing Sociology Papers -- by Sociology Writing Group; Paperback NewYork: Worth Publishers, 2001
Hunting Humans by Elliot Leyton

Format:
The final format of your paper [its different parts] should look like this:
1. Introduction: in which you present the main point and an outline of your paper. An introduction, usually in the form of one or two paragraphs, tells the reader what the essay is about. It outlines the topic and the specific ideas that are going to be presented in the essay. It should give the reader an idea as to why the topic is interesting and why it has been selected. By the end of the second paragraph it is essential that you have told the reader what the purpose of your paper is and what your central argument / thesis is. If you read the first two paragraphs of your paper and the goals and purpose of the paper are not very clear, please revise. I would also suggest a ?map? paragraph at the end of the introduction that tells the reader where we will be going in the paper. (For example, ?I first explain?.then argue?.by presenting evidence about three themes?.?)
2. The analytic section: contains your literature review, discussion and analysis. In this section present and develop your argument by providing several distinct pieces of information / evidence in support of it. Make sure that paragraphs are organized in a logical and coherent order. Transition sentences, or sentences that link one paragraph to another, are very helpful for reminding the reader of what has already been presented, and for introducing the reader to the next idea or set of ideas that is coming up.
3. Conclusion: in which you sum up the main point(s) of your analysis. A conclusion, usually in the form of one or two paragraphs, sums up the ideas and findings in the essay. It also raises questions for further research that might be explored, and suggests how this might be done. Briefly summarize your argument here and think about what the implications of your argument are more broadly. If


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your findings raise questions about other topics covered in this class, please make those connections briefly here. If you have concluded, after writing this paper, that you want to know more about your topic, explain what the next steps might be. etc. Often what happens is the first general idea you want to work out in the essay becomes clearer and more refined in the writing of the essay, so you want to go back to the introduction and make sure it precisely reflects what has been written later on. After finishing their first draft, most people need to take the conclusion to their paper and use it to rewrite their introduction!

Bibliography:

The paper must list all references cited. You should formally cite a reference any time you mention someone else?s ideas. Employ the ?in text? reference system. (click here for link to York University Libraries Style & Writer's Guide information) (scroll up to Style & Writers' Guide section) http://info.library.yorku.ca/depts/ref/refweb.htm#Style%20&%20Writers%27%20Manuals
Please use footenotes

5. General Instructions:
? Your paper must be approximately 7 typed, double-spaced pages.

Please use this scheme in writing the paper:

? Theory: Explanation and Critique
? explain Ted Bundy's life
? Theory/Topic Application

Excerpt From Essay:

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