Length No fewer than 6 pages or 2100 words (whichever is more.docx

Length: No fewer than 6 pages or 2100 words (whichever is more); no more than 8 pages or
2800 words (whichever is less). The paper should be double spaced with 11-pt or 12-pt font and
1-inch margins. Font should be Times or Palatino only. Do not include a title page.

Other requirements: Paper must be carefully edited using grammar/spell-check, and also
proofread by a human brain other than your own. Your submission should be written in a formal
tone, without making use of conversational or colloquial English. This paper satisfies part of the
disciplinary communication (DC) requirement, so it must be written with serious care. It needs a
clear introduction with thesis statement, logically developed body paragraphs, and a conclusion.
No citations or direct quotes are necessary, although you are welcome to include a quote from the
original theory if it was one of the ones that we read. If you do use any direct quotes, please
include a “Works Cited” list at the end of your paper. This page is not part of your page or word
count.

TOPIC DESCRIPTION

At the beginning of the quarter, I introduced the idea of a metaphorical “dinner party with social
theorists.” In this paper, you will demonstrate your ability to apply concepts from classical social
theory to the contemporary social world by putting several different theories into conversation
with one another. Your goal is to show how classical theory helps to explain and/or fails to
explain the origin/operation of your social problem or feature of the social world (as you
understand it). Here’s how to proceed:

1. Choose either (A) a social problem that you feel passionate about or (B) a feature of the
social world that you find fascinating. Examples of social problems could include things
like racial tracking in education or the conservative attack on labor unions; examples of
features of the social world could include behavior like internet trolling or trends in
romantic relationships among college-age people. The possibilities are quite endless. The
easiest topic to work with will be specific and narrow, and also something that you are
personally invested in (we will take Weber’s advice about value-relevance here ☺ ).

2. Analyze your topic through the lens of three different theorists that we have covered this
quarter. Most of you will find it easiest to use Marx/Weber/Durkheim, but you are
welcome to use others we have covered as well if you feel inclined to do so.

HOW TO ORGANIZE YOUR THOUGHTS BEFORE WRITING

1. Once you’ve chosen your area of focus, write down some general ideas for yourself about
how you understand it. For example, if you’ve picked the school-to-prison pipeline, you
can sketch out a general statement of what you already know about it, where you learned
what you know, and what questions you still have.

2. Pick which three theorists you are going to use.

3. From each theorist, choose three concepts, terms, or theories. Since we talked about ...

1. Length: No fewer than 6 pages or 2100 words (whichever is
more); no more than 8 pages or
2800 words (whichever is less). The paper should be double
spaced with 11-pt or 12-pt font and
1-inch margins. Font should be Times or Palatino only. Do not
include a title page.

Other requirements: Paper must be carefully edited using
grammar/spell-check, and also
proofread by a human brain other than your own. Your
submission should be written in a formal
tone, without making use of conversational or colloquial
English. This paper satisfies part of the
disciplinary communication (DC) requirement, so it must be
written with serious care. It needs a
clear introduction with thesis statement, logically developed
body paragraphs, and a conclusion.
No citations or direct quotes are necessary, although you are
welcome to include a quote from the
original theory if it was one of the ones that we read. If you do
use any direct quotes, please
include a “Works Cited” list at the end of your paper. This page
is not part of your page or word
count.

TOPIC DESCRIPTION

At the beginning of the quarter, I introduced the idea of a
metaphorical “dinner party with social
theorists.” In this paper, you will demonstrate your ability to
apply concepts from classical social
theory to the contemporary social world by putting several

2. different theories into conversation
with one another. Your goal is to show how classical theory
helps to explain and/or fails to
explain the origin/operation of your social problem or feature of
the social world (as you
understand it). Here’s how to proceed:

1. Choose either (A) a social problem that you feel passionate
about or (B) a feature of the
social world that you find fascinating. Examples of social
problems could include things
like racial tracking in education or the conservative attack on
labor unions; examples of
features of the social world could include behavior like internet
trolling or trends in
romantic relationships among college-age people. The
possibilities are quite endless. The
easiest topic to work with will be specific and narrow, and also
something that you are
personally invested in (we will take Weber’s advice about
value-relevance here ☺ ).

2. Analyze your topic through the lens of three different
theorists that we have covered this
quarter. Most of you will find it easiest to use
Marx/Weber/Durkheim, but you are
welcome to use others we have covered as well if you feel
inclined to do so.

HOW TO ORGANIZE YOUR THOUGHTS BEFORE WRITING

1. Once you’ve chosen your area of focus, write down some
general ideas for yourself about
how you understand it. For example, if you’ve picked the
school-to-prison pipeline, you
can sketch out a general statement of what you already know

3. about it, where you learned
what you know, and what questions you still have.

2. Pick which three theorists you are going to use.

3. From each theorist, choose three concepts, terms, or theories.
Since we talked about more
theories than we read about, you can select from your lecture
notes and slides and/or from
course readings. Example: if Marx is one of the theorists you
picked, decide ahead of



time which three ideas from Marx you’re going to work with
(e.g., alienation, species-
being, and class conflict).

4. Make a separate piece of notepaper for each theorist. Write a
few phrases or sentences
near each theory explaining how it is relevant to your topic.
This should take a while and
require some serious thoughtfulness. (Bonus prize: these
sketches will become an outline
for your body paragraphs when you write the paper.)

You should now have three separate lists, with a grand total of 9
terms and their associated
definitions and connections to your social problem or feature of
the social world.

WRITING THE ACTUAL PAPER

By the time you get to this stage, you will already have done the
bulk of the thinking work. The
writing process is just about putting it together. If you have a

4. creative organizational style that
you would like to experiment with, please feel free to use it. If
you are looking for more guidance
in terms of organization, the paper can follow this approximate
outline:

1. Introduction (1/2 - 2/3 page): Lead with a catchy introductory
sentence. Then, write a
sentence or two to draw the reader in and make them care about
the paper they are about
to read. Why does the topic you have selected matter? Why do
you find it worth thinking
about? What is at stake for you in exploring it? Next, write a
thesis sentence that tells the
reader what they can expect to learn from your paper. Your
thesis sentence could look
something like this: “In this paper, I will examine how theories
from (Theorist A),
(Theorist B), and (Theorist C) are relevant to a contemporary
analysis of (Your Topic).”
Conclude your introductory paragraph with a smooth transition
to the first body
paragraph.

2. Application of your three theorists (1½ - 2 pages for EACH;
total length 4½ - 6
pages): Start each “theorist” section with a topic sentence
introducing the theorist and
making a general statement about why they matter to the study
of your topic (this is
basically short section intro). For the remainder of the section,
weave a discussion of your
three key terms with an analysis of your topic. The primary goal
is to show how they help
you to better understand it (i.e., how they’re still relevant), and
where they fail to fully

5. explain it (i.e., in what ways the theory might need to be
extended in order to fully
account for the social problem or social feature that you are
discussing). The easiest way
to organize each theorist’s section is probably going to be to
write a separate paragraph
for each theoretical concept, then do a small compare/contrast
within each paragraph.

3. Conclusion (1/2 page – 1 page): Briefly sum up what you
have said in your paper and
discuss the implications of your analysis. What direction do you
recommend social
theorists go from this point forward if they want to understand
your topic
comprehensively?

IMPORTANT COMPONENTS AND OTHER NOTES



1. Make sure that you briefly explain/define each theory the
first time you discuss it in depth
in your paper. Assume the person reading it is not a sociologist.

2. Please BOLD AND CAPITALIZE each th eoretical concept in
your paper as you
mention it for the first time. This makes it easier for your TA to
verify that you have
included the minimum number of theories. By the end of the
paper, you should have a
total of 9 bolded words in your paper (please don’t continue
bolding after the first
mention of each concept).

3. Aside from grammar basics, do pay close attention to

6. ensuring that your paragraphs are
the length of paragraphs. Three sentences is not a paragraph; a
full page is too long for
most paragraphs. Each paragraph should function as a
standalone argument. You should
begin with a topic sentence that tells the reader what the
paragraph is about. Discuss that
topic comprehensively, and do not discuss anything that does
not fall under the purview
of that topic.

4. Use plain English, and use words whose meaning you are
confident you know. Write with
the same approach that you used for your précis. Avoid using
overly complicated
language. Instead, opt for clearly stated sentences that are dense
with content. Avoid extra
words and phrases that you think might make your writing
sound more sophisticated.
This is a relatively short paper, which means your writing needs
to be tight and efficient
in order to accomplish the goal of communicating your ideas
while not exceeding the
page limits.

5. This is Sociology! Feel free to use the “I” in your writing.
This is supposed to be a topic
you care about, and YOU and your passion should be present in
it.

6. Please be sure that you make at least a brief statements for
each theory about how it
DOES explain and also how it does NOT explain your topic. No
theory is a perfect fit; I
want to see that you can see both sides.

7. 7. While you do need to cover three ideas from each of three
theorists, it’s also fine if you
spend a bit more space in one section than you do on another
(i.e., if you think one of the
theorists advances an argument that suits your topic with
particular elegance).

8. You are welcome to come to my office hours and your TA’s
office hours for guidance in
choosing topics or theories. However, please do not ask your
TA or me to read your first
draft before you submit it. We would love to be able to do so,
but it is a time consuming
process that we cannot conceivably offer to everyone, so we
need to offer it to no one in
order to make sure that some people are not disproportionately
advantaged. I strongly
encourage working together and exchanging drafts for feedback
on early versions of your
paper.

9. Paper scores for the first draft will be based on your
following the instructions and doing
your best to articulate coherent theoretical arguments. Paper
scores on the second draft
will be based on the degree to which you incorporate the
feedback and make the
recommended changes that your TA has requested in their
feedback on the first draft.