SOCIALOGY

Writing Assessment Instructions

This assignment is designed to assess your critical thinking, written and visual communication, and empirical and quantitative, and social responsibility skills.  The primary focus this academic year will be to assess Social Responsibility .  The components of Social Responsibility are the ability to demonstrate:

1. Intercultural Competence, which is the ability to identify, compare and contrast one’s own cultural patterns with others; understand diverse cultures and effectively communicate in a variety of cultural contexts.  

2. Knowledge of Civic Responsibility and Engagement with Communities.

See definitions and rubrics for both components below.

· Intercultural Competence -includes knowledge of one’s own culture and how it has shaped one’s world view, knowledge of significant characteristics of other cultures, the ability to compare and contrast different cultures and the ability to adjust one’s actions to successfully interact with someone from another culture. Culture includes history, values, politics, economics, communication styles, beliefs and practices.

· Knowledge of Civic Responsibility and Engagement with Communities – includes active participation in the public life of a regional, national, and/or global community in an informed, committed, and constructive manner, with a focus on common good.

SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY RUBRIC

This assignment will require students to analyze and interpret the sociological document above that includes quantitative data (e.g. graphs or other visual illustrations) using sociological terminology in an essay format.  The following writing assignment is meant to help you use the concepts you have learned in this class to explore and analyze an important current issue in our society.  As you write your paper, focus your attention on how you as an individual can respond to this current issue using your sociological imagination.  

After reading the assigned article above, “ Online Socializing: A New Agent of Socialization ”, write an essay answering the questions below regarding the article, (250 words minimum, using college level Standard English) and submit electronically on eCampus.  The minimum requirements for this assignment are to:

1. Draw three main conclusions from the article.

2. Describe two important elements of data presented on the charts/graph and briefly interpret each data element.

3. Describe the ways in which this can be defined as a personal trouble or social issue.  Be sure to cite specific evidence from the article to support your position (i.e. be sure to include other cultural perspectives in addition to your own);.

4. Explore how the social phenomena discussed in the article may or may not contribute to human suffering and or social disorganization (i.e. be sure to include other cultural perspectives in addition to your own).

5. Based on your exploration on prompts numbers 1-4 make three recommendations including, but not limited to:

5. A need for future research on this social phenomenon,

5. The development of new laws or public policies to address this issue

5. Relevant programs to assist individuals and groups regarding the issue.

You are encouraged to support your argument with direct textual evidence, personal experience and your sociological insights (applicable terms and concepts learned over your semester of study). Be sure to avoid plagiarizing and cite your sources.