due sunday 28th

SOC 100: Introduction to Sociology, Winter 2016 () The Presentation of Self Paper Assignment

Goal: In 5-7 pages, reflect upon, analyze, and compare two everyday social setting applying key concepts and ideas from Goffman’s “Presentation of Self” and any relevant information from the Conley textbook or other assigned readings. You must include a minimum of five (5) key concepts, theories, and ideas that have been covered in the course thus far. NOTE: The concepts, theories, and ideas from Goffman’s work that you are required to address in your paper do NOT count toward the five (5) minimum concepts, theories, and ideas. The paper, worth 50 points, is due via Blackboard on Sunday, February 28 by 11:59PM. Your paper will be graded on the following criteria: content—including application of course material--(30 points), logical organization and flow of ideas (10 points), and clarity of writing and proper in-text citation & bibliographic/reference/work cited information (10 points).

**KEY CONCEPTS, IDEAS, THEORIES MUST BE IN BOLD AND IN ITALICIZED FONT IN YOUR PAPER OR POINTS WILL BE DEDUCTED AS PART OF ORGANIZATION CRITERIA

Read the following instructions carefully to complete your paper!

PRIOR TO STARTING THE PAPER
Selecting Two (2) Social Settings: Choose any two (2) social settings that you typically experience in a given day or week. Make sure that each social setting you choose is clearly different from one another. Once you have selected two settings, you will “observe” yourself in each setting, preferably for 20-30 minutes. Each social setting you choose does not have to be “dramatic” or “out of the ordinary” to do this assignment. Pay attention to how you manage giving your best impression of self in each setting. After you have “observed yourself” in each setting, write down notes about how you attempted to give the best impression of yourself. (Suggestion: review Part II of the paper guidelines below to know what you should pay attention to as you observe and later take notes about your behavior in each setting.) You do not need to submit the notes you take about your behavior as part of the final paper—the notes you take will help you complete your paper. Be sure to write your notes as soon as possible after the interaction has taken place in the setting.

PAPER OUTLINE

I. INTRODUCTION: This is the section of the paper where you provide a brief introduction about your paper. This includes identifying each setting you selected to analyze and compare for this assignment. Explain why you chose each setting for analysis and comparison.

II. ANALYZING YOUR PRESENTATION OF SELF
Once you have observed yourself and have taken notes about how you presented yourself, address the following questions for each social setting you selected.
A. Setting #1

•   Provide a brief description of the setting (you do not have to use the actual name of the setting), the individuals involved (you do not have use their real names—use pseudonyms), and their statuses and roles that relate to the setting. Also describe your status and role related to the setting. Include any additional information that is relevant for your analysis.

•   Identify and describe the “frontstage” and “backstage” areas for the setting. What activities did you do in the backstage to prepare for the frontstage in this setting? What was your actual performance in the front stage? In discussing your frontstage behavior consider the following: What type of front did you experience in this situation? Relatedly, what personal front did you bring to the situation? Did you use any props, scripts, and/or openings in the situation? Explain. What were your “expressions given” and “expressions given off”? Be specific.

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•   Were there any instances in your frontstage performance where you gave a mismanaged impression? If so, what happened? What type of face-saving behavior did you do to “save” your performance? Were there any additional face-saving strategies you used to “rescue” your performance—or did another person help you “rescue” your performance. Explain what happened. Did you have to “rescue” someone else’s frontstage performance? Explain.

•   After your frontstage performance, what did you do in the backstage? How did you evaluate your behavior in the frontstage of this setting? Do you feel you gave the best impression of your “self” in this setting? Why or why not?

  B. Setting #2

•   Provide a brief description of the setting (you do not have to use the actual name of the setting), the individuals involved (you do not have use their real names—use pseudonyms), and their statuses and roles that relate to the setting. Also describe your status and role related to the setting. Include any additional information that is relevant for your analysis.

•   Identify and describe the “frontstage” and “backstage” areas for the setting. What activities did you do in the backstage to prepare for the frontstage in this setting? What was your actual performance in the front stage? In discussing your frontstage behavior consider the following: What type of front did you experience in this situation? Relatedly, what personal front did you bring to the situation? Did you use any props, scripts, and/or openings in the situation? Explain. What were your “expressions given” and “expressions given off”? Be specific.

•   Were there any instances in your frontstage performance where you gave a mismanaged impression? If so, what happened? What type of face-saving behavior did you do to “save” your performance? Were there any additional face-saving strategies you used to “rescue” your performance—or did another person help you “rescue” your performance. Explain what happened. Did you have to “rescue” someone else’s frontstage performance? Explain.

•   After your frontstage performance, what did you do in the backstage? How did you evaluate your behavior in the frontstage of this setting? Do you feel you gave the best impression of your “self” in this setting? Why or why not?

  III. CONCLUSION: In analyzing your presentation of self in each setting you discussed in Part II, what have you learned about your “self”? Explain. How would you describe your “self” in each setting? How is your “self” similar or difference in each setting? Are there expressions given and expressions given off that would be inappropriate in one setting when compared the other setting? Be specific in your explanation. Prior to doing this assignment, were you aware that you present your “self” in different ways? Explain.

  Overall, based on what you have observed and written about comparing your best impression of self in each setting, do you think you have only one “true self”? Or would you consider having “multiple selves”? Explain why.

  **You must use one of the following citation styles for in-text citations and the bibliography for works cited in your paper: ASA, APA, MLA, or Chicago Style. You will lose points for improper/lack of in- text citation use and bibliographic/reference/works cited information.

  NOTE: If given sufficient time, we will read through a paper outline or a partial rough draft of your paper and provide general feedback. However, we will not read a full paper draft. And, of course, if you have any questions about how to begin writing your paper, then please ask Dr. Dugan or the TAs for help.

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Paper Format Guidelines & Additional Information

•   The assignment must be typed, double spaced, have 1-inch margins, and no larger than 12-point font

•   Include page numbers, but you do not need a cover page for this assignment

•   You must submit a document for each research assignment through Blackboard. Do not type your

  assignment in the text editor box on Blackboard. If this is done, you will have 5 points deducted from your final score and will receive little feedback on your work.

•   Do not submit your final paper through the “Message the Professor” link on Blackboard. Use the process of uploading your assignment through the “Presentation of Self Paper Assignment” link that is located in the content folder titled “The Presentation of Self Paper Assignment” found in “Course Content”. If an assignment is submitted via a Blackboard message and you did NOT report having technical problems with Blackboard, 5 points will be deducted from your final score. If you are not clear on how to upload a file to Blackboard, then please ask Dr. Dugan or the TAs for help.

•   We are willing to skim/discuss outlines for partial rough drafts of a paper before the due date; however, we will not do so 48 hours before it is due. Moreover, please have your paper draft reviewed for content, grammar, organization, and sentence structure at the Writing Resource Center. Submitted papers with excessive writing errors will lose points.

•   The excuse of “I submitted my rough draft instead of my final paper draft to Blackboard” will not be accepted. What you submit is what will be graded. No exceptions.

 The document must be saved in one of the following extensions for it to be graded: doc or

docx. Documents saved and submitted in Apple Pages, Adobe PDF, or Microsoft Works

(wps extension) will not be graded.

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