Making the Familiar Strange

Making the Familiar Strange

Choose any topic that occurs in any society and find a “problem” to make strange. Your topic doesn’t need to be something you consider bad or negative, but it can be. Or it can be about something you’re interested in, such as fashion or music videos or tattoos or gender roles.

Then, find 1 scholarly article and 1 pop culture article from the year of your birth to examine how that topic was part of society at that time.

Then, find 1 scholarly article and 1 pop culture article from the past year on the topic to examine how that topic is part of the same society today.

Using your budding sociological imagination, your paper seeks the complexities of an otherwise taken-for-granted topic, asking questions such as: What has changed? What remains the same? What is going on in the world that might be affecting any changes between then and now? Who participates? Is the language, the visual representation, the media changed? What do the cultural artifacts look like then and now?

Researcher reflexivity: Before and during your research, check your biases about the topic, asking yourself: How am I positioned in relation to the topic? What commonsense knowledge do I bring to the research?

Font: No larger than Times New Roman 12 or equivalent Length and Layout: 1 artistic cover page on computer paper 3 single-spaced pages of scholarly writing 1 separate page for References at the end of the paper

Terminology: Include these 7 terms at least once wherever and however they serve the research: sociological imagination society culture social fact taken-for-granted problematic social institution

References (at least 4 sources) Use at least two pop culture items (such as videos, magazines, newspapers, TV shows, music lyrics, pamphlets, graffiti) and at least two scholarly items (journals, texts). Cite clearly in the body of the paper any points and positions from each source to assist in doing YOUR work on the topic by connecting any dots between what each source says, then adding your impression(s). NO WIKIPEDIA references, please.

Evaluation 30% of final mark. Mark is calculated first out of 100%, then converted to a mark out of 30. 5 % Cover page 25 % Writing, formatting, choice and use of sources 70% Introduction, Discussion, Conclusion

WRITING, FORMATTING, USE OF SOURCES

Write in an active voice, such as: This paper explores… or, This research suggests…

Use any well-known official format, such as APA or MLA (ignore cover page and double-spacing requirements within official format guidelines). Write on the back of your paper’s last page which official formatting guide you’ve used; I will not mark papers without this information. Write well. Ask a friend an enemy to proofread your paper. Make sure to cite all sources in-text. Make sure I know what you are saying and what your sources are saying; I can only give you credit when that is clear. Don’t try to be “right” (ranting = turn-off for reader).

PAPER LAYOUT Use the headings Introduction, Discussion and Conclusion, and feel free to make up any sub-headings you feel are necessary

COVER PAGE Crystallize the topic in illustrative terms. Your cover page will be an artistic piece to reflect the main theme of your paper. It could be a piece of original art or a collage; it will be returned.

INTRODUCTION This holds the paper together and will change until you finish writing – that’s OK. This section of 2 to 3 paragraphs covers: 1. introduction to the topic in general 2. the problem you’ll address, on both the orderliness and messiness of your topic 3. the sociological question that guides your research 4. a brief description on where you found your sources (social media, journals, newspaper, bulletin board) 5. a theory you generate about your topic 6. a short map to the paper, explaining briefly that your findings follow, then the discussion and conclusion. 7. a brief justification as to why your research problem is important (its significance; in other words, Why would anyone care about your research problem?)

FINDINGS In three columns, list as many findings as you can that emerged from: 1. your personal observations about your topic over your lifetime, 2. your two scholarly sources, and 3. your two pop culture sources. You will have discovered many, many moving parts to your otherwise orderly topic.

DISCUSSION of FINDINGS This is your analysis of findings – usually the longest part of a paper where you debunk the orderliness of some aspect of the taken-for-granted world. Let most of those findings “go” and focus on two or three findings from your lists. State something like, “Of the many parts to this complex social activity, this paper focuses on findings related to ….” Push the boundaries of what is known in order to build on, challenge and/or extend that knowledge. Discuss your topic from more than one point of view. Offer your best explanation (THEORY!) as to how the phenomenon persists based on your analysis; how does it relate to the theory you mentioned in the Introduction? From your data gathering and findings, you ought to be able to: - compare the timeline of your topic since your birth - seek what is going on in the world that might be affecting any changes between then and now - ask if the people involved the same kinds of people - distinguish if the language, the visual representation, the media has changed CONCLUSION In one or two paragraphs, offer a brief reiteration of the problem, the question you asked that guided your research, and a summary of the discussion points. Reflect on the limitations of this project (not enough time, no funding) and add a suggestion for future research in the area. Avoid claiming that you’ve “proven” this or that.