Social Problems in the U.S
Sjones4400Social Problems in the U.S
a year ago
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files (4)poverty-reflection2.docx
FinalInstructionsforSocialProblems.docx
- SocialProblemsBook.pdf
- PopularUrbanization2.pdf
poverty-reflection2.docx
This week, you should write a short reflection responding to the topic: "Poverty."
You should demonstrate what you have learned about the basics of "social problems" from this introductory chapter, discuss your response to the reading, and pose any questions or critiques.
Reflections should be 700 words, give or take, and key components of your reflections should:
Note essential concepts, theories, and overarching trends from the readings.
Organize your reflection around themes found within the readings and any additional resources.
Reflect on the material and what you learned.
What are your thoughts about the topic?
Relate the material (using terms and concepts accurately) to your personal life or a real-life example.
Discuss any questions you might still have concerning the topic or provide a critique.
Discuss anything you found confusing or that you do not understand.
If you thought the readings did not address an essential aspect of the topic, you can discuss that here, too.
Always provide support! You should cite from the reading(s) and any outside sources throughout your reflection.
While opinions are welcome, as graduate students, you should always be ready to show support beyond yourself for any statement you make.
"Anyone can say anything, but can you support it?"
When reflecting and relating the material to your life or a real-life example, I will assess how accurately you use the terms - not your opinions. Opinions cannot be graded, but whether you provide support for your opinions and how accurately you use and apply the terms and concepts can.
Reflections should not summarize the reading, and you do not need to address all the material/concepts in the chapter. The goal is for you to think critically about and apply the material (see the first bullet).
https://www.povertyusa.org/facts
This is the link to the poverty article
Listed below is the book for this class: This assignment will come from Chapter 2:
Required Materials: Barkan, Steven E. 2020. Social Problems: Continuity and Change Version 2.0. FlatWorld. ISBN: 978-1-4533-9215-7
This is the feedback from my teacher gave me about the last reflection I did:
Nicely done! You do a great job touching on each part of the prompt.
What I would like to see going forward is a bit more emphasis on what you learned from the chapter and readings while interweaving it with your reflections.
For example, you provide separate sections for each part of the prompt: What you learned, Your thoughts, Examples, Questions/Critiques, and Final Thoughts.
This is fine, but how might you identify major themes and then address each in turn? You do not need to talk about everything in the chapter.
But, in your next reflection, you might talk about the poverty line in one section of your reflection. In this section, you would address what it is (what you learned - with citation) but overlay that discussion with your thoughts or a real-life example.
Then, in your next section, you might address statistics of poverty, synthesizing them with one (or more) of the theories and then address a real-life example.
You do not have to provide a real-life example for everything you address, but I would like to see your reactions to each. Some might have more detail, others less - and that is fine.
FinalInstructionsforSocialProblems.docx
Instruction
While the Analysis paper focused on one topic (such as poverty) and then how others (race, gender, crime, etc.) ran through it, your final should not focus on one topic (such as gender) but take a more holistic approach, balancing several topics equally and discuss their intersection.
Overview & Prompt:
For your final, you should write a cumulative paper discussing "Social Problems in the U.S."
Here are the five (modules) I will use:
· Poverty- chapter 2
· Race and Ethnic Inequality- chapter 3
· Gender Inequality- chapter 4
· Sexual Orientation and Inequality- Chapter 5
· Urban and Rural Problems
Required Materials:
Barkan, Steven E. 2020. Social Problems: Continuity and Change Version 2.0. FlatWorld. ISBN:
978-1-4533-9215-7
To start, select at least five (5) modules discussed throughout the semester and formulate a thesis that addresses some cumulative understanding from those modules. Include a title that addresses your main idea in some way: "Social Problems in the U.S.: [insert interesting title]."
The thesis should be a comprehensive statement that synthesizes all of the modules you selected.
My example only uses three (3) modules but demonstrates what I expect.
For example, suppose you use modules 2, 3, and 13. You might use "Poverty and racism intersect to exacerbate discrimination and increasingly prevent minorities from being successful in school and the workplace" as your thesis statement.
Poverty (Module 2), Race (Module 3), and school and the workplace (Module 13).
However, while your thesis should incorporate all five (+) modules in some way, it does not have to mention them all directly. As long as the thesis and supporting arguments use the five (+) selected modules in a balanced manner, you will meet the criteria.
After establishing your thesis in the introduction, using the modules you selected, support your thesis with three or more supporting arguments that use material from the textbook, other course material, and any additional external sources you choose.
The supporting statements in the body of your essay should not be bound to a single module. Just as your thesis should draw from multiple modules, every supporting statement should draw from at least two modules.
I want to see how well you can synthesize the information you have learned. As such, one goal of the paper is to practice synthesizing the material to develop an overarching understanding.
Guidelines/Rules:
Your Final should be original work, focusing on synthesizing the selected modules.
Your aim should be to create an overarching thesis and wrap-up of "Social Problems in the U.S."
As such, you should not copy and paste from your weekly assignments. Your weekly papers predominately focused on the corresponding module. Now, you need to put everything together to discuss the larger picture.
Include support with citation. Not citing is plagiarism. If you need to review citation methods, please see Review: Citations and References in the module.
Grades will be determined by three major criteria starting with:
Synthesis
Using 5 Modules
Clarity of your arguments/ how you build your argument/ support thesis
Copy-and-paste/ no citations will result in a zero (0).
Formatting:
Your paper should include the following:
Introduction (with the thesis)
Body (with the supporting arguments and citations*)
Conclusion
Reference section*
Your final should be in Times New Roman, 12-point font, with one-inch margins.
Your Finals should be at least eight (8) pages, but at most twenty (20).
[I'll need time to grade them by the end of the semester after all 😉]
Excerpt from the Syllabus: Graduate students will complete a final and cumulative paper as their final for the course. Graduate students should demonstrate a firm understanding of social problems from a sociological perspective.
Here are links on different topics from each module: use them along with the book and other resources
https://www.povertyusa.org/facts
https://www.ted.com/talks/aaron_huey_america_s_native_prisoners_of_war?language=en
https://www.vox.com/2015/4/22/8465027/lgbt-nondiscrimination-laws
https://rainn.org/statistics/victims-sexual-violence
