Topic: divorce and its impact on children

Family Issues Research Paper Sociology of the Family, spring ‘19

SOCY 214: Sociology of the Family (35375) Family Issues Research Paper

Final Paper

Due: Sunday, May 5, 2019

For this assignment, you are expected to delve into an area of the family that most

interests you. You will be exploring a specific issue dealing with what you consider to be

one of the most pressing issues facing families today.

Using scholarly research and class readings and discussions, write a 5-8 page research

paper that explores an important aspect of families. In the first part of the assignment, you were

asked to simply summarize the peer-reviewed journal articles and describe how you will

approach your topic. In this final part of the assignment you will be expected to:

 find (at least) one additional peer-reviewed scholarly journal article in order to focus your topic and add academic weight to your paper;

 find connections and discrepancies between the readings;  use the research you have gathered to argue the “why”, “how”, and “what” behind

what you see as an important issue facing families today; and

 critically analyze your chosen topic.

In other words, what have you learned from your research that helps give you

more insight into how/in what ways the family is affected by your chosen topic?

Organize your paper to include the following sections:

o Begin the paper with a very clear introduction in which you state your general topic/research question and the 3-5 specific themes/subtopics you will write about in the paper.

o Demonstrate/argue that it (your topic) is a problem to/for families.

• Although not required, you are encouraged to use information from the class readings, class discussion, and/or websites that I have suggested/used in class in order to make the

argument that the topic you have chosen is worth paying attention to. Use current,

authoritative, reliable statistics in order to give context to this issue facing families.

• Please be sure that your sources are authoritative (a .gov site is a great site to use for these purposes), and that you cite accordingly. You MUST cite the place from which you got

ANY statistic that you use throughout your paper.

o Summarize the research methods (explain how the data were collected) for each of the three academic articles. This section of your paper should be approximately 1-3 paragraphs. Include

the general focus of each article writing about the types of research questions each article was

answering. Identify how the data were collected for each of the studies you read. (Did the

researchers conduct surveys? Interviews? Use data from a larger data set?)

Family Issues Research Paper Sociology of the Family, spring ‘19

o Then, present 3-5 very specific issues/themes/subtopics related to your chosen topic. You should write 2-4 paragraphs per theme. These specific subtopics should emerge by finding 3-5

connections across your research. In other words, what specific aspects of your topic do all

three articles discuss, and what are the findings across them related to each subtopic?

Here are some tips for finding/writing about these themes/subtopics:

 Once you have compiled all of your research (3 academic, peer-reviewed articles), look for some common findings/themes across the articles. These themes can be used as a way to

organize your paper into different sections.

• One way to draw the themes from the articles is to make a list of all of the small, specific findings (that you understand and are able to write about) from each of the three articles.

Then, look across those three lists (one for each article) to see how those findings could

be connected. Those connections will make up each subtopic/theme around which your

paper should be organized.

 As you discuss each theme/subtopic, you should use all of your applicable research in order to explain and give support to each particular aspect of your topic.

• Take advantage of some of the overlap between your articles in order to give additional support and detail to each section. The best papers will highlight the connections across

the research, weaving the findings from each of your articles together based on these 3-5

subtopics.

• Some of the most interesting claims will lie in the very specific details and findings across your research. Use these details in order to give weight to a particular point you

are making.

• It may be useful to use each theme/subtopic as a subheading in your paper. Under that subheading present all of the research you have from each article related to that

theme/subtopic.

• Your articles do not have to reach the same conclusion(s)/report the same findings about these aspects of your topic. In fact, it may be interesting to explore why two (or more) of

your articles started with similar questions, but got different results.

o End your paper with a conclusion in which you highlight the major conclusions you are able to draw based on the connections across the research you read. According to the

research you presented in your paper, how/in what ways are families affected by your

particular topic? A conclusion should not include any new information that is not already in

the paper, but is, instead, a way to highlight and bring together the most important insight

about your topic that you wrote about in your paper.

o The final paper MUST include in-text citations and a references page. Every time you use any information from another source – whether you are quoting, paraphrasing, or

summarizing – you must cite the source in your text where you use the information, and have

a properly formatted references page at the end of your paper.

Family Issues Research Paper Sociology of the Family, spring ‘19

A few notes about the paper expectations:

 The paper should reflect findings from scholarly research. Although the use of popular media accounts and online information is acceptable, it should not take the place of academic literature.

You should have no fewer than 3 scholarly sources. (We have learned in class about what

constitutes a scholarly, peer reviewed article. Some good journals in which to search include, but

are certainly not limited to: American Sociological Review, American Journal of Sociology,

Sociological Inquiry, Journal of Marriage and the Family, etc.)

 The paper should be approximately 5-8 pages typed, double-spaced, 12 point font. I am not strict about page limits – say what you have to say in the length you need to say it. (I would find it

difficult to accomplish the goals of this paper in less than about 4 pages or so, and anything more

than about 10 pages is getting a bit too long…but I’m giving you relative freedom in terms of

length.) I care much more about quality than quantity.

 Please be sure to include working links or additional attachments of all of the journal articles that you use for this paper. (In total, at least three of your sources should be peer reviewed, scholarly

journal articles.)

 I take plagiarism very seriously. Give credit where credit is due. If you use someone else’s idea or a quote, be sure to cite them properly. Whether you are quoting, paraphrasing, or

summarizing, you MUST include an in-text citation at the point in your paper at which you used

the information and a properly formatted references page at the end of your paper. We will

review some basic citation formats during class. Plagiarizing or copying are grounds for failing

the course and may lead to further sanctions.

 The paper is due on Sunday, May 5 (by 11:59 p.m.). The week the paper is due you will receive more instructions about paper submission procedures. You will receive ½ a letter grade

off of the paper for each day the paper is late. I strongly suggest that you hand the paper in on

time! If you think you will have a problem, email me or come to see me before the paper is due.

 This paper is meant to be both fun and challenging. Since we may not get a chance to discuss every issue that families face today, this is a way for you to learn something about an aspect of

the family that concerns you. Please do not hesitate to send me an e-mail or come to see me to

talk about any issue with this paper: topic selection, finding and understanding journal articles,

writing the paper, problems, etc. I am absolutely open to any and all of these discussions; as a

matter of fact, I look forward to them.

Good luck and try to enjoy the paper!