Sociology Research Paper

SOCI 3322 Fall 2018

1

Research Proposal Project Part 2: Annotated Bibliography Due: Sunday, October 21 by 11:59pm

Overview: For this portion of the Research Proposal Project, you will provide reference information and a brief overview of the five academic sources you find that are related to your topic. This assignment should follow the criteria below.

Requirements: I reserve the right to refuse an assignment for not following these requirements.

• 12 point font, Times New Roman • One inch margins on all sides • Paragraph format • Double-spaced pages • Proofread for typos, spelling and grammatical errors • The use of headings is encouraged to specify different sections of the proposal,

especially as you begin to put each piece together into a full paper • Include page numbers at the bottom center or right corner of the page • No bullet points, weird spacing, or fancy formatting • No graphics, tables, or charts • Use ASA-style formatting:

http://www.asanet.org/sites/default/files/quick_tips_for_asa_style.pdf • Save your work as “Last Name First Name Part 1” or something else very

specific to this assignment • Do not use any special characters in the saved file name (# % & $, etc) • Save as a .DOC or .PDF only. No other file formats will be accepted.

It is your responsibility that the correct file is uploaded. I will only grade the file you upload to the dropbox. Double-check that you upload the correct file. Save your work often. Save the dropbox receipt eCourseware sends via email as proof of your submission.

Plagiarism and inappropriate group work: Please review the “Academic Integrity” section on the syllabus. Each assignment in this class should be your own original work and will be submitted through the university’s plagiarism software. Papers written for other classes may not be submitted for credit. Assignments found to be in violation of these policies will receive a zero.

Inappropriate collaboration includes, but is not limited to: copying someone else’s work to pass off as your own; changing just a few words to make it seem like your own; allowing someone else to complete your assignments for you. Take ownership of YOUR work!

SOCI 3322 Fall 2018

2

Directions: 1. Revise your proposal based on any feedback I gave you in Part 1. This ensures that you are using variables found in the YRBS and that the academic journal articles you find will be relevant to your project. You should include your (revised) research questions at the beginning of this assignment so I know what your topic is. 2. Using the library’s resources and or Google Scholar, find at least FIVE relevant academic journal articles related to your topic.

a. See the University of Memphis Library’s Sociology Research Guide for more information on the resources available to you. If you get stuck, you can always use the library’s “Ask a Librarian” service.

b. Academic journals contain articles that have been through a process called “peer-review.” This means that the articles were read by experts in that article’s field and they approved it as good research. This is why scholarly journal articles are the best sources for your paper.

c. These articles should be relatively recent. Your sources should be dated within the last 25 years or so. A “foundational” text that defines or develops a concept may be older. Otherwise, look for more current research related to your topic

3. Be sure your resources are credible. Wikipedia is NOT an academic resource. If you are not sure if your source is credible, follow the “CRAAP” test (below), or consult your professor or a librarian.

CRAAP Test: http://www.csuchico.edu/lins/handouts/eval_websites.pdf

4. Write up an annotated bibliography of your five sources.

a. List each article alphabetically based on the first author’s last name. Follow ASA formatting guidelines for providing all the required reference information needed for academic journal articles: http://www.asanet.org/sites/default/files/quick_tips_for_asa_style.pdf

b. Under the reference information for each article, write a paragraph or two on that

particular study’s main findings and how it relates to your topic.

c. This information should include: i. A statement of the major claim of this work (“The authors of this article

argue/explain/deny….. {major claim of work}”) ii. A statement of how the authors develop this major claim (theoretical

orientation) iii. A statement of the authors’ methods with relation to how they explain the

findings for or against their major claim(s).

SOCI 3322 Fall 2018

3

iv. A statement of how this work pertains to your topic. v. Repeat this for each of your five sources.

In your final paper, this section will appear as a literature review where you weave these sources together into coherent paragraphs. Please read “How to Write a Literature Review” and the other useful links on eCourseware under Content  Research Proposal Project – Part 2 and under Week 8. This is a work in progress! I will give you feedback on each portion of the Research Proposal Assignment that you should incorporate, building to your final paper. That said, please be sure to follow the formatting requirements and directions listed above. Below is a sample of what this assignment might look like. Grading Rubric: 25 Possible Points Criteria Possible Points

Research questions from the proposal assignment are included. 2

Five academic sources are represented. The reference information provided follows ASA formatting. 8

Each resource has information that follows the steps laid out in Step 4c, above. 10

Well-written, followed directions, formatted and organized, seems to understand the purpose of this section. 5

EXAMPLE STRUCTURE ON NEXT PAGE

SOCI 3322 Fall 2018

4

Example Structure for Part 2

RESEARCH QUESTIONS

Restate your research questions here so I will be reminded about what you are proposing

to study. Be sure to examine the feedback I gave you from the proposal statement.

Resource #1 {This is a very general example you can use as a model}

Last Name, First Name. Year. “Title of Article.” Journal Name. Volume Number (Issue

Number): page numbers of article.

The author of this article provides evidence to support the claim that cats are better than

dogs. This research is the author’s attempt to find support for the feline superiority theory (Lion

1998) and disprove the canine-complex (Fido 2003). The author draws on qualitative methods by

conducting extensive interviews with cat and dog owners. The main findings are as follows….

This is related to my research topic because…. {the more information you have in these

paragraphs, the better!}

Resource #2 {Here’s a more precise example from a paper I published.}

Reynolds, John R. and Melissa J. Bamford. 2016. “School Gender Culture and Student

Subjective Well-Being.” Sex Roles. 74:62-77.

The authors of this article examine the impact of school gender culture on high school

students’ attachment to school and symptoms of depression. The authors define gender culture as

something that is embedded in social institutions like schools. They draw upon Acker’s (1990)

SOCI 3322 Fall 2018

5

theory of gendered organizations. They also draw on concepts such as hegemonic masculinity

(Connell 1987), manhood acts (Schrock and Schwalbe 2008), and gender transgressions (Pascoe

2007) to formulate their hypotheses.

Using the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (AddHealth), the authors

test whether or not the gender compositions of schools and the gender culture of the school are

associated with students’ attachment to school (derived from an index of items that ask if

students felt close to others at school, felt happy at school, and felt like they were a part of the

school). They also examined if the gender composition of schools and the gender culture of the

school are related to depressive symptoms by using a variation of the CES-D scale. They found

support for the idea that, for girls, attending a school with more girls than boys resulted in fewer

depressive symptoms. Boys’ school attachment was found to decrease as the number of girls in a

school increased. Hypermasculine school contexts, as characterized by fighting and drinking,

increases depressive symptoms in students. Other hypotheses were not supported. This is

relevant to my research because I plan to examine the effects that gender has on school fights.

Repeat for Resources 3, 4, and 5