women's studies paper

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WS 201 Online Interview Assignment

1) Interview Assignment:

Part A: Interview a woman who is of grandparent age. For traditional age students in the

course this means that you will need to interview a woman who is 58 years of age or

older. For non-traditional age students in the course this means that you will need to

interview a woman who is grandparent age, which will be determined by your own age.

You will explore the following topics with her: 1) marriage, 2) family, and 3) children.

Below are some questions to help guide your interview:

Womanhood:

1. How did you learn what it meant to be a woman? 2. What influence did your family, friends school, church, news/newspapers/media

play in your ideas of womanhood?

3. Did you feel like you adhered to the standards of womanhood at the time? Did you resist any of these conventions? If so, how?

4. Do you remember the first time you felt gendered?

Marriage, Family and Work:

1. What were you taught about marriage and your role in this institution?

2. What influence did your friends, family, school, church, and/or media play in

your views on marriage?

3. Did you plan to marry? At what age?

4. Did you feel you were expected to marry (social or family pressure)?

5. Did you know anyone who remained unmarried or un-partnered for their life

time? What are your thoughts on those who choose to remain single? Has this

changed over time?

6. Did you know anyone who cohabited or divorced? What are your thoughts

about those who cohabit or divorce? Has this changed over time?

7. How were women and work framed when you were growing up? What jobs

were you told were appropriate for women?

8. In your community, was it common for both mothers and fathers to have

employment outside the home?

9. Were you expected to work? Expected not to work?

10. Did you want to work? What kind of career did you have in mind? Was your

career path influenced by the jobs you were told were appropriate for women?

11. Did you think you would continue to work once you had children?

12. If you work or worked outside of the home, how do you feel about it?

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13. How did you handle the combined roles of career woman, mother, and

spouse/partner?

Children

1. Did you plan to have children? At what age?

2. Did you feel like you were expected to have children (social or family

pressure)?

3. Do you know anyone who chose not to have children? What are your thoughts

on those that remain childless? Have your thoughts changed over time?

4. If you and your spouse/partner do not have children, how have family, friends,

and/or society in general reacted? Were you questioned why you did not have

children? How were you made to feel by not having children?

5. What influence did your friends, family, school, church, media, etc. play in your

decisions regarding your children?

6. How were your parenting roles split up between you and your spouse? What

functions did each person perform with regards to the children? How involved

was your husband and in what specific ways?

7. Did you discuss parenting techniques and approaches before you had children?

During?

8. What did you teach your children about what it means to be a boy/man or a

girl/woman? Was it different from what you learned?

9. Looking back on being a mother, what did you like/dislike about it? Is there

anything you would change?

Note: You should feel free to also create your own questions as they relate to the topics of

marriage, family, children or womanhood in general.

Part B: After conducting your interview, you will compose, edit and submit a formal

paper in which you do the following:

o Compare and contrast your interviewee’s comments on marriage, family and

children with your own beliefs/thoughts keeping in mind the influences that shaped

your understanding of these topics (media, family, church, school, etc.).

o Examine your interviewee’s response in the context of historical events. Where did

they grow up? What was going on around them? Were they aware of other historical

events taking place? How would their beliefs be different if they had grown up

elsewhere (keeping in mind the period in which they grew up)?

o Critical Analysis: Connect your thoughts and observations in your interview

compare/contrast to the topics, themes and vocabulary in the course readings and

any additional outside sources you find relevant. You MUST include a minimum of

4 CITATIONS, of which at least 3 must come from course readings.

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o Attach a copy of your interview questions and notes with your final paper.

Paper Formatting and Submission:

o The paper will be written using New Times Roman (12 point font), double-spaced,

1-inch margins, APA style, and will be a minimum of 5 full pages in length. The

cover page and reference page are NOT counted as part of the 5 page minimum

length. Additionally, be sure that the settings in MS Word do not add an

additional space between paragraphs. As this is a formal paper, you should write

an introduction, body, and conclusion consisting of well thought out and well

developed paragraphs that include smooth transitions from one idea to the next.

(Note: A complete paragraph should consist of a minimum of three (3) well-

developed sentences that create a unified idea.)

o Citations: Please use proper APA citation for all cited materials in-text and in your

Reference List.

 Important Note: APA format has a specific set of rules for citing an

interview. Please refer to the APA guidelines for “personal

communications” in the link provided for you in the Module 3

folder, or on the main “Course Content” page of Blackboard.

Failure to cite your interview properly will significantly reduce

your grade.

o Filename: Please save your paper using the following naming convention:

yourlastname_interviewpaper (For example, if I were submitting this, my filename

would read: goebel_interviewpaper.doc). Note: MS Word will add either .doc or

.docx to the end of the filename DO NOT type this into the file name.

o Submitting Your Final Draft: Within Module 3, you will find an icon labeled

“Interview Assignment Submissions.” When you are ready to submit your final

revised draft, you will click on this icon, and under Section 2, “Assignment

Materials,” there is a button labeled “Browse My Computer.” Click on this button,

navigate to where your paper is saved on your computer and upload your file.

o The assignment is due by 5 p.m. (CST) on Wednesday, July 9, 2014. I will contact

you if I do not receive your paper to ensure there were no technical difficulties.

Remember NO late work will be accepted, so leave yourself enough time to

troubleshoot any problems that may arise.

The grading rubric for the Interview Assignment is located in the course syllabus.