Touchstone 3: Presenting a Research Plan

Write a paragraph (approximately 6-8 sentences) describing the community group you have chosen. In particular, be sure to answer the following questions:

· What is the community group?

· What are the attributes or characteristics of this community group?

· What kind of experience with or access to this community group do you have?

The community group I have chosen to focus on for this assignment is Greek-letter social organizations, fraternities and sororities. These groups or memberships offer social, professional, and recreational opportunities for college students, also helping young people cultivate leadership skills and social identities. Diversity in sororities and fraternities does vary by school, but generally, many colleges are working to create more diversity and inclusion. Many universities are implementing new strategies to limit cultural insensitivity and ensure that all students feel welcome to join, or "pledge," if they wish to. Diversity in Greek-life is very important. A sorority, more specifically, this group is exclusive to women, focusing on building social skills, character development, leadership challenges, civic engagement and philanthropy. Strayer University offers Alpha Chi National Honor Society, while not necessary a fraternity or sorority, is the closest thing the institution offers comparably. Otherwise, the only experience and knowledge I have in regard to this type of organization comes from research. Comment by Jennifer Osborne: Good work identifying your community group. You included details about the memberships, the strategies to include diversity, and where there are offered. Comment by Jennifer Osborne: You included your experience with this group and how you have access to them.

Write the question you have formulated for your study and identify the independent and dependent variables.

Are diversity experiences of students who participate in fraternities and sororities positive? Comment by Jennifer Osborne: Good start to the question. When considering the variables I suggest eliminating gender as this will be considered anyways, and how else can you incorporate a sociological theme in to the question?

Two independent variables (group and gender) and three dependent variables (self-identity, self-efficacy, and goal instability) 

List 4-6 articles, books, or other resources that relate to your question for your literature review. Use the simplified method to format sources for your bibliography. Include five key elements for each source, with each element separated by a period:

· Author’s name(s)

· Publication date

· Title of the source

· Page numbers (if applicable)

· Source's location for web-based texts (URL)

Example:

1. Alireza Behtoui. 2015. Beyond social ties: The impact of social capital on labour market outcomes for young Swedish people. p. 711-724. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1440783315581217 Comment by Jennifer Osborne: You did well selecting some articles to support your study. I suggest using academic publications to ensure you are able to analyze the data for your study.

1. Parker, Eugene T. and Pascarella, Ernest (2018) “On Greek Row: Diversity, Socially Responsible Leadership and Fraternity and Sorority Membership,” Oracle: The Research Journal of the Association of Fraternity and Sorority Membership,” Orachle: The Research Journal of the Association of Fraternity/Sorority Advisors: Vol. 13: Iss, 1, Article 3

http://scholarworks.wm.edu/oracle/vol13/iss1/3 Comment by Jennifer Osborne: Was the title typed in twice? Looks almost the same for title of article. All information should be separated by a period.

2. Olivia, Bienvenue 2017. Campus Greek life plays important role in diversity, inclusivity. The Daily Illini

https://dailyillini.com/life_and_culture-stories/2017/04/12/campus.greek-life-plays-important-role-diversity-inclusivity/

3. Nair, Ajay. “Greek Life on Campus: An Asset and a Challenge.” INSIGHT Into Diversity , 17 Oct. 2017, www.insightintodiversity.com/greek-life-on-campus-an-asset-and-a-challenge. Comment by Jennifer Osborne: There are a few minor changes that need to be done in this citation. The date should be year only format, separated by periods, and title should follow date.

4. Laird, Thomas F. Nelson. “College Students’ Experiences with Diversity and Their Effects on Academic Self-Confidence, Social Agency, and Disposition toward Critical Thinking.” Research in Higher Education, vol. 46, no. 4, Springer, 2005, pp. 365–87 , http://www.jstor.org/stable/40197372. Comment by Jennifer Osborne: This source has the title after the author when it should be date. All information should be separated by a period.

5. Chang, Clio. “Pledging a Diverse College Experience.” The Century Foundation, 5 May 2016, tcf.org/content/commentary/pledging-a-diverse-college-experience /?agreed=1. Comment by Jennifer Osborne: Same here. The date should follow the author then the title with source information following.

6.

Touchstone 1: Developing a Research Plan

Rubric Category

Feedback

Score (acceptable, needs improvement etc.)

Thesis Research Question

Research question is sufficiently specific for research but does not tie into broader themes in sociology. Independent and dependent variables are clearly identified but are not in the correct relationship.

Good start to your question and variables are identified. I suggest including a sociological theme into the question and removing gender as an IV as this will be considered in the study anyways.

See comments on page for feedback.

12/15

Identify Community Group

A voluntary, recreational community group is identified and described thoroughly. Group attributes/characteristics and discussion of the student’s experience with or access to this group is provided.

Good work with discussing your community group and detailing the attributes of the group.

See comments on page for feedback.

15/15

Bibliography

Only 1 credible, relevant, recent, and properly cited source is provided.

You provided some good articles to support your study, some minor changes are needed in formatting, and two of them need to be reviewed for data.

See comments on page for feedback.

9/15

Writing Mechanics

There are 0-2 errors in grammar, punctuation, spelling, and capitalization.

You did well with spell checking, using proper grammar mechanics, and punctuation.

5/5

Overall Score and Feedback:

41 /50