Social Issues to Examine:
Gender Inequality (#MeToo Movement, Gendered pay inequality, LGBTQ Movement
Social Science Disciplines to Examine
Sociology
Anthropology
Psychology
History
Economics
Political Science
Your final paper should include the following:
A brief discussion of your social issue, and how it rises to the level of social concern.
A brief discussion of each of the social science disciplines you have selected to gain insight on this social issue. Discuss the main goals of these disciplines as discussed in Part II of your textbook.
Using the sources selected in week 3, analyze how your selected social science disciplines have examined your selected social issue.
In your examination, identify if the authors used qualitative or quantitative methodologies and why they selected these methods.
Discuss one similarity and at least two key differences in the approaches or conclusions of these studies and relate these to the disciplines involved.
Explain, based upon your research, how using research from two social science disciplines can lead to a more complete understanding of social issues than only using research from a single discipline. In other words, how do the approaches and conclusions of your sources contribute to an interdisciplinary understanding of the topic? How is this a more complete understanding than a set of conclusions from sources only in one discipline?
Finally, explain how this interdisciplinary understanding might be applied within a social context in order to attempt to address this social issue.
Your Final Paper should generally be organized according to this structure and include the following content:
Introduction: Introduce the social problem and the two social science fields you will use to explore it.
State the thesis of your paper. Your thesis should relate to how these disciplines could be used to address this social problem.
Define the social issue selected as a social problem using relevant concepts from the course (1 paragraph).
Definition of social problem as a social problem.
Discussion of disciplines and their applicability to this social problem.
Discussion of disciplines and their applicability to this social problem (1 paragraph).
Describe how the concepts and theoretical approaches of your first social science field contribute to the understanding of your social problem.
Describe how the concepts and theoretical approaches of your second social science field contribute to the understanding of your social problem.
Discuss at least two differences between the approaches or findings of your chosen social science fields.
Analyze how the selected sources have examined your social problem (2-4 paragraphs).
Identify the methodologies used in the studies as quantitative or qualitative, and why these methodologies were used.
Discuss one similarity in the approach or findings of these studies.
Discuss at least two differences in the approach or findings of these studies and relate these to the disciplines you have examined.
Usefulness of approaching the issue from two social science fields (1-2 paragraphs).
Discuss how examining social issues from more than one social science field contributes to understanding society.
Explain how the interdisciplinary approach of looking at your problem from more than one social science perspective helps you to gain a more complete understanding of your social issue compared to using only one perspective.
Explanation of how social science research can help address social problems (1-2 paragraphs.)
Explain how the findings of these sources can be applied within a social setting.
Conclusion
Sum up the primary points of the paper.
Restate your thesis
The Final Paper:
Must be five to six double-spaced pages in length (not including title and references pages) and formatted according to APA Style as outlined in the Writing Center’s APA Style resource.
Must include a separate title page formatted according to APA.
Must document any information used from sources in APA Style as outlined in the Writing Center’s Citing Within Your Paper guide.
Must include a separate references page that is formatted according to APA Style as outlined in the Writing Center. See the Formatting Your References Listresource in the Writing Center for specifications.
For further assistance with the formatting and the title page, refer to APA Formatting for Word.
Must use at least four scholarly or peer-reviewed sources in addition to the course text.
The Scholarly, Peer-Reviewed, and Other Credible Sources table offers additional guidance on appropriate source types. If you have questions about whether a specific source is appropriate for this assignment, please contact your instructor. Your instructor has the final say about the appropriateness of a specific source for a particular assignment
Requirements: 5-6 pages
Final Paper Preparatory Assignment
This assignment will help you prepare for your final paper and will be completed over the first three weeks of the course. Specifically, this assignment will assist you in researching and analyzing scholarly sources, creating an annotated bibliography, and crafting a preliminary thesis for your week 5 paper. The suggest timeframe for completion for each of the components of this assignment are included below. Much of this work is targeted for completion in Week 3, though you can always work ahead.
This assignment is due to your instructor, submitted through Waypoint, by the end of Week 3.
After your instructor has graded this assignment, please be sure to use it and the feedback provided to you by your instructor as you construct your final paper. As a reminder, you can also access your feedback through Waypoint directly.
1. Identification of Social Problem & Social Science Disciplines (Week 1):
In your week 1 discussion, you selected a social problem to examine for your final paper. Please discuss this social problem and why you selected this topic below. In addition, discuss the two social science disciplines you selected to examine this social problem and why,
2. Identifying & Evaluating Sources (Weeks 2 and 3)
Research is heavily dependent upon the identification and evaluation of sources, which is a necessary step prior to the writing process. During weeks 2 and 3 of this course, you will be responsible for identifying and evaluating two scholarly sources from each social science discipline that you have selected. At least one of these sources should be identified and described by the end of week 2, as discussing this source will be an important part of your Week 2 Research Checkpoint.
Remember, scholarly sources are published in scholarly journals, or if books, scholarly presses. The library has a great tutorial on what a scholarly source is and how it is different from a popular source. You may also find the How to Read a Scholarly Article and tutorials helpful for this portion of your assignment.
In the space provided below, you will provide APA-formatted references and annotations for each source you will be using. An annotation is an examination of your source that:
Explains what the source is
What this source can tell us about your social problem
What research methods were used within the study
How this source will help you prove your thesis.
Please make sure to be specific, as reflecting upon your sources will help you with your analysis later. Your annotations should be 1-2 paragraphs in length. .
First Social Science Discipline:
APA Citation for Source 1:
Provide the APA citation for your source.
Annotation for Source 1:
APA Citation for Source 2:
Annotation for Source 2:
Second Social Science Discipline:
APA Citation for Source 1:
Annotation for Source 1:
APA Citation for Source 2:
Annotation for Source 2:
3. Discipline Specific Reflection (Week 3)
Next, you will need to reflect upon how each discipline examined the social problem collectively. In a paragraph for each discipline, make connections between the two sources for each discipline. How do the approaches within these sources exemplify the approaches of the discipline itself? Based upon these sources, how does that discipline lend itself to the study of your social problem
For example, if you chose Anthropology and History, discuss how the anthropological sources examined the topic from an anthropological point of view, and how, based upon these sources, how anthropology lends itself to the study of the social problem. Then do the same from a historical perspective.
Select your first discipline
Select your second discipline
4. Introduction and Thesis Statement (Week 3)
Develop a draft of your introduction and thesis statement for your final paper. An introduction introduces your topic and approach. A thesis is a sentence length statement of the main idea of your paper. A good introduction and thesis should be informed by the findings of your sources, and your analysis of the ways in which those findings apply to the final paper prompt.
For more information about thesis statements, consult the UAGC Writing Center’s and UAGC AEC How To Write a Thesis video.
Draft of Introduction and thesis:
Final Paper Preparatory Assignment Outline
Thesis statement: The paper will show how various disciplines offer different yet complimentary viewpoints on the issues causing gender inequality and its effects on LGBTQ people’s lives through the analysis of scholarly sources.
Identification of Social Problem & Social Science Disciplines
The social issue I have chosen to research is gender inequity among LGBTQ people.
Identifying & Evaluating Sources
In their study from 2019, Englund, Basler, and Meine explore a novel educational strategy to help students become more adept at conducting sensitive sexual history exams for LGBTQ patients..
Discipline Specific Reflection
By concentrating on broader societal and cultural processes, the sources within the field of civic ideals and practices provide an in-depth analysis of the social issue of gender disparity within the LGBTQ community.
Introduction and Thesis Statement
The LGBTQ community is just one of the many populations that are impacted by gender inequality, which is still a serious social problem
