Social Science Assignment 1 Activity 2

SCS 100 Project 1: Comparison Template Guidelines and Rubric

Overview Your first longer-term assignment in this course is to complete a comparison template, where you will examine four advertisements of your choice for various aspects that are interesting from a social science perspective. The work you do on this comparison template will directly support your work on two other longer- term projects—an observation journal and a presentation—which are due later in the course. This comparison template assignment will assess the following course outcome, which you focused on throughout the first theme (Weeks 1 and 2): Utilize fundamental approaches to social scientific research in addressing questions related to human behaviors

Prompt To start this assignment, you will gather a set of four advertisements from the provided Advertisement Examples that each feature multiple people. You will then use these advertisements to fill in the provided comparison template in which you address specific social science aspects of each advertisement in preparation for your next project, the observation journal. Specifically, the following critical elements must be addressed and will be graded using the rubric at the end of this document:

I. Question how individuals are represented in the ads. In your template, ask questions about the individuals in the ads that social scientists might ask. For instance, you might ask why a person in the ad is standing outside the larger group, or why individuals are depicted in certain ways.

II. Question how groups and group behavior are represented in the advertisements. In your template, ask questions about groups/group interactions that social scientists might ask. For instance, you might ask why the women are grouped together separately from the men, or why the group seems to have very little diversity.

III. Question how different cultures and cultural identity are represented in the advertisements. In your template, ask questions about the cultures and cultural identities in the ads that social scientists might ask. For instance, you might ask why people who look to be of the same ethnic background are wearing similar clothing, or what certain symbols or interactions may mean related to culture.

IV. Notate how the advertisements compare and contrast to each other. For instance, do you see any commonalities or significant differences among interactions between the ads? What might these commonalities or differences say about human interactions?

V. Pose questions a social scientist might be interested in, based on your observations of the advertisements. For instance, what larger questions about human interactions might they ask? For this, you may build on your comparisons, concentrate on a theme or trend you noticed throughout the ads, or develop a follow-up question related to a particularly interesting ad.

Supporting Work and Resources Throughout the first theme, there are three opportunities to work directly on different elements of the comparison template.

1. In learning block 1-2, you will select the advertisements that you will use for this assignment. You are provided an Advertisement Examples handout, which provides a list from which you can select a series of advertisements as well as selection criteria if you are interested in choosing your own advertisements. Your instructor will provide feedback on this assignment to help ensure you are on the right track.

2. In learning block 1-3, you will begin to work in the template, developing questions and statements in support of at least two of the ads you selected in 1- 2. This learning block also features an Advertisement Observation Guide to support your work. Your instructor will provide feedback on this assignment to help ensure you are on the right track.

3. In learning block 2-4, you will work to finalize your comparison template and submit it to your instructor for grading. This learning block also includes a Comparison Template Submission Checklist that you can use to ensure you have met all the requirements of this project. Your instructor is available to provide guidance and answer any questions you may have as you work to finalize your template.

Rubric Guidelines for Submission: Your submission will contain the completed comparison template. Instructor Feedback: This activity uses an integrated rubric in Blackboard. Students can view instructor feedback in the Grade Center. For more information, review these instructions.

Critical Elements Exemplary (100%) Proficient (85%) Needs Improvement (55%) Not Evident (0%) Value

Individuals

Meets “Proficient” criteria and demonstrates mature awareness of individual behavior

Questions how individuals are represented in the ads using questions social scientists might ask

Questions how individuals are represented in the ads, but questions do not reflect those a social scientist might ask

Does not question how individuals are represented in the ads

19

Groups and Group Behavior

Meets “Proficient” criteria and demonstrates mature awareness of group behavior

Questions how group and group behavior are represented in the ads using questions social scientists might ask

Questions how groups and group behavior are represented in the ads, but questions do not reflect those a social scientist might ask

Does not question how groups and group behavior are represented in the ads

19

Cultures and Cultural Identity

Meets “Proficient” criteria and demonstrates mature awareness of cultures and cultural identity

Questions how cultures and cultural identity are represented in the ads using questions social scientists might ask

Questions how cultures and cultural identity are represented in the ads, but questions do not reflect those a social scientist might ask

Does not question how cultures and cultural identity are represented in the ads

19

Compare and Contrast

Meets “Proficient” criteria, and connections demonstrate a strong grasp of social scientific approaches

Notates how the advertisements compare and contrast to each other

Notates how the advertisements compare and contrast to each other but is overly generalized

Does not notate how the advertisements compare and contrast to each other

19

Pose Questions

Meets “Proficient” criteria and demonstrates a strong grasp of social scientific approaches

Poses questions a social scientist might be interested in based on observations of ads

Poses questions a social scientist might be interested in, but questions are not based on observations of ads

Does not pose questions a social scientist might be interested in

19

Articulation of Response

Submission is free of errors related to citations, grammar, spelling, syntax, and organization and is presented in a professional and easy-to-read format

Submission has no major errors related to citations, grammar, spelling, syntax, or organization

Submission has major errors related to citations, grammar, spelling, syntax, or organization that negatively impact readability and articulation of main ideas

Submission has critical errors related to citations, grammar, spelling, syntax, or organization that prevent understanding of ideas

5

Total 100%