SOCIOLOGY OF RACE AND ETHNICITY

SOCIOLOGY 128: SOCIOLOGY OF RACE AND ETHNICITY DISCUSSION MEMO GUIDELINES

Each memo needs to be no longer than 1 single-spaced page. These memos are brief, critical responses to course readings should be written in narrative form, and are not meant to be summaries of the readings.

Please write your essays in black ink and 12-point font. Please, no funny business with fonts or margins. Please include page numbers for all quotes, and of course, indicate where the quotes are from. Your grade will be based on your argument as well as your prose (grammar, spelling, etc.). More details about these memos will be provided in class and on GauchoSpace.

For each memo, please write a critical response to course readings. You should not write a summary of the readings, but rather you can do one of the following:

1. Identify a claim in the reading that you dispute, and explain why you disagree with the logic or the facts of the claim. 2. Pose an interesting unanswered question you have from the reading. 3. Suggest a method for resolving an issue raised by the reading. 4. Describe a current event or news item that is an excellent example of an idea in the reading. Show how the example embodies or illustrates the reading. 5. Show how something in the reading connects to real life, your own or someone else's. 6. Give a real-life counterexample to one of the claims made in the reading. Explain why the theory is inadequate to deal with examples of this type.

These are intended to be brief, critical responses to assigned course materials. A critical response evaluates an important concept or theory by applying it to a relevant context such as other theories, history, politics, an organization, or your personal life. An essay written in the narrative form has the following characteristics: it is written from your point of view, it is written and organized for maximum clarity, and it has a clear purpose. Using the 1st person (I, We) in a narrative essay is acceptable.