Solved by verified expert:Instructions: 1. Find and read a news article on a topic of interest to you. The article must come from an established news source (see list of examples on the next page), be fact- rather than opinion based, and be substantial, meaning 250 words or more. (To count words, cut and paste article text into a word processing program and use the word count function.) 2. Think about how the topic covered in the article could be viewed from each of sociology’s major theoretical perspectives: functionalism, conflict theory, and interactionism. It will help to review the perspectives in the course lecture notes and textbook. Come up with at least one idea, claim, question, or hypothesis about the topic that reflects each perspective (a total of three). Keep in mind that there are many correct answers here—theorists from each perspective would have a lot of different things to say about any topic. 3. Write up your thoughts in a five paragraph essay with the following structure: Paragraph 1: Introduce your essay by describing the topic you will be discussing and why you think it is important or interesting. Remember to cite your news article using an intext citation when you refer to or quote from it. Paragraphs 2-4: Write a brief paragraph on each theoretical perspective, in any order. In each, start with a sentence or two describing the perspective in your own words (based on information from the lecture notes and textbook). Then write a few more sentences describing an idea, claim, question, or hypothesis about your topic that reflects the perspective. You may use first-person phrasing if you wish (e.g., “If I were studying this topic using the interactionist perspective, I would focus on…”) or not (e.g., “An interactionist might hypothesize that ….”). Then go to a new paragraph and perspective. Paragraph 5: Write a few sentences on the following: If you were going to do further research on this topic, which theoretical perspective would you use, and why? (Note that answering the “why” question is just as important as picking a perspective.) 4. Formatting: Write in prose (essay style), not a list or bullet points. I am expecting about 2 pages, but quality is what counts. Please use a 12 point font, double line spacing, and one inch margins. Cite your sources, including your news article and possibly the textbook and/or lecture notes—see further information below.
writing_assignment_1_theorizing_the_news.pdf
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SOCI 1101: Introduction to Sociology – Online
Damarin
REV 01/17
Writing Assignment 1:
Theorizing the News
Due:
See Syllabus or Assignment Checklist for due date. Write your assignment as a
.docx, .doc, or .pdf file and submit it through the iCollege Assignments tool.
Points:
This assignment is worth 10% of your course grade.
Objectives:
This assignment will give you practice in analyzing contemporary issues using
sociology’s three major theoretical perspectives.
Instructions:
1. Find and read a news article on a topic of interest to you. The article must come from an
established news source (see list of examples on the next page), be fact- rather than opinionbased, and be substantial, meaning 250 words or more. (To count words, cut and paste
article text into a word processing program and use the word count function.)
2. Think about how the topic covered in the article could be viewed from each of sociology’s
major theoretical perspectives: functionalism, conflict theory, and interactionism. It will help
to review the perspectives in the course lecture notes and textbook. Come up with at least one
idea, claim, question, or hypothesis about the topic that reflects each perspective (a total of
three). Keep in mind that there are many correct answers here—theorists from each
perspective would have a lot of different things to say about any topic.
3. Write up your thoughts in a five paragraph essay with the following structure:
Paragraph 1: Introduce your essay by describing the topic you will be discussing and why
you think it is important or interesting. Remember to cite your news article using an intext citation when you refer to or quote from it.
Paragraphs 2-4: Write a brief paragraph on each theoretical perspective, in any order. In
each, start with a sentence or two describing the perspective in your own words (based on
information from the lecture notes and textbook). Then write a few more sentences
describing an idea, claim, question, or hypothesis about your topic that reflects the
perspective. You may use first-person phrasing if you wish (e.g., “If I were studying this
topic using the interactionist perspective, I would focus on…”) or not (e.g., “An
interactionist might hypothesize that ….”). Then go to a new paragraph and perspective.
Paragraph 5: Write a few sentences on the following: If you were going to do further research
on this topic, which theoretical perspective would you use, and why? (Note that
answering the “why” question is just as important as picking a perspective.)
4. Formatting: Write in prose (essay style), not a list or bullet points. I am expecting about 2
pages, but quality is what counts. Please use a 12 point font, double line spacing, and one
inch margins. Cite your sources, including your news article and possibly the textbook and/or
lecture notes—see further information below.
Examples of established news sources:
Newspapers, e.g., Atlanta Journal-Constitution, New York Times, USA Today
Broadcast networks and their websites, e.g., CNN, Fox, ABC, CBS, NBC, NPR, PBS
News magazines and websites, e.g., Newsweek, American Spectator, Harpers, the Nation
News services, e.g., Reuters, the Associated Press
Citation information
If you quote or paraphrase from any source (news article, textbook, website, etc.), you must cite
it with an in-text citation and a bibliography entry. See the “Citation Guide” file in the
Assignments folder for information on when and how to use in-text citations, and on the
American Sociological Association (ASA) citation style. (I will also accept APA or MLA
citations.) Here is an ASA-formatted bibliography entry for the lecture notes, with information
you need to insert in blue:
Damarin, Amanda. YEAR. “Title of Specific Lecture Note.” SOCI 1101: Introduction to
Sociology course lecture notes. Retrieved Today’s Month Day, Year (full URL).
Use of sources without acknowledgement is plagiarism. If I detect plagiarism, you will get an
assignment grade of 50 (less than one paragraph) or 0 (a paragraph or more). Please let me
know if you have questions about when or how to cite sources!
Grading Rubric
PERFORMANCE INDICATORS
CRITERIA
Very
Weak
55 points
Omits or barely
addresses many
requirements
(15 points)
Describes 1 or 0
perspectives
correctly (13 pts)
Applies 1 or 0
perspectives to
topic correctly
(13 points)
Needs
Improvement
Column total
70 points
Completeness:
Omits or barely
addresses all
addresses some
requirements
requirements
(18 points)
Theoretical
Describes 2
perspectives
perspectives
correctly (16 pts)
Application of
Applies 2
perspectives to
perspectives to
topic
topic correctly,
and/or lacks detail
(16 points)
Introduction and
Description of
Description of
Conclusion
topic (intro) and
topic (intro) and
reasons for chosen reasons for chosen
perspective (concl) perspective (concl)
missing
lacks some detail
(13 points)
(16 points)
Readability;
Major errors; hard Errors harm clarity
grammar, diction, to understand
but assignment is
formatting,
mostly clear
(1 point)
citations
(4 points)
Minimum points for on-time, non-plagiarized assignment: 55
Meets
Exceeds
Expectations
Expectations
85 points
100 points
Addresses all
Addresses all
requirements
requirements,
adequately
some detailed
(21 points)
responses (24 pts)
Describes 2+
Describes all 3
perspectives
perspectives
correctly (19 pts)
correctly (22 pts)
Applies 2+
Applies all 3
perspectives to
perspectives to
topic correctly,
topic correctly and
some detail
in detail
(19 points)
(22 points)
Detailed
Sophisticated
description of
description of
topic (intro) and
topic (intro) and
reasons for chosen reasons for chosen
perspective (concl) perspective (concl)
(19 points)
(22 points)
Assignment has
Assignment has at
more than 3 errors most 3 errors and
but is still clear
is clear & polished
(7 points)
(10 points)
Maximum total points: 100
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