Instructions
Step 1: Choosing your current event
Step 1: Choosing a topic
A current event refers to something that is happening in the world at present and they are usually described on the news and in mass media. I would like you to choose a media-based report of some current event that took place within the past year in the US.
These past couple of years have been a wild ride for society, and weve seen some major, large-scale shifts occur. Whether its this global pandemic, the uprising against police brutality and the movement for Black lives, or an influx of laws and policies that push the boundaries of basic human rights, as sociologically-minded people weve got a lot of material to work with.
In order to write the paper, you will need to do some background research on the event itself so you can answer the basic who, what, where, when, why, and how of it. This background information will help you write a solid introduction to your paper and give the necessary context to understand your current event sociologically.
Step 2: Deciding why your event is sociological
Once you have chosen your current event, your next goal is to spend some time figuring out exactly what element you want to build out as the sociological focal point.
For instance, if my current event is COVID-19, I could take it in many, many different directions: I could write about the racial, class, or gender disparities associated with this public health issue; I could write about its impact on the social institutions like education, family, or religion; I could write about its interaction with mass incarceration; or I could even write about how its changing our relationship to labor and what that means for society.
As you can see, once you select a current event, there will be myriad ways to explore it sociologically. Whichever way you choose will depend greatly on your personal interests.
Of course, I know some of you will end up taking one of my examples from above as your topic– and thats totally ok– but I also want you to know that anything can be (and everything is) sociological, and so I would really love to see you get creative with this assignment.
Remember, to look at something sociologically usually means you are exploring power dynamics, you are looking at the social meanings that are enforced and created, and you are connecting what seems like an individual situation to the larger social structure and placing it within the context of history. Although this is a multi-step paper, this step is the key to earning an A on this assignment, because its where you will be making critical connections and building out your analysis.
Step 3: Selecting your sources
Once you have come up with your current event and an idea of how you want to frame it sociologically, your next task is to find sources to contextualize your claims.
Ultimately, I would like you to pick three concepts from your text/ videos as well as three scholarly articles to substantiate your claims.
In order to get access to scholarly articles for this assignment, please visit the Colleges Library website www.ccsf.edu
In the search box select the articles tab and enter your topic and/or key words related to your topic. (note: sometimes helps to actually include the word sociology so I might search for the term Covid-19 racism sociology etc.)
Check out my example below:
Once you see your search results, filter them using the following options on the left side of the screen: available online, peer-reviewed journals, journals, and articles.
You will then select the best 3 scholarly, sociological articles that speak to your topic.
Step 4: Writing the paper
The goal of this assignment is to show you can deploy sociological concepts and theory to interpret the world around you. Doing so means you will introduce your topic and then build out a systematic argument advocating for its sociological relevance.
Please review this general outline for an idea of how to structure this paper:
Paste a link to your report at the top of the page
Please include a direct link to the report discussing your current event. Please be sure to rename the link to the title of whatever the report is– I do not want to see potentially long URLs which will take up valuable space on the page.
Introduction
The introduction is used to establish the context of your current event. To establish the context, it is important to do the following in this opening paragraph:
Introduce your current event and provide any background information that helps your reader to understand it.
Explain the overall goal of your paper and explain how you will go about accomplishing it.
Explain why you chose this particular current event.
Body
This section is all about going through your sources to make a case for why your current event needs to be understood sociologically. This is where you will introduce relevant theories, concepts, and/or empirical information that helps to prove your point. Remember, even though I said everything is sociological doesnt mean we just take that as truth, it must be proven– so this section of your paper is where you will do the work of convincing the reader that your current event is sociological because its either:
Dealing with power dynamics between social groups
Dealing with the social construction of social categories/ norms/ etc.
A product of some historical legacy
Explained by the characteristics of the larger social structure
If you can use your sources to make these points, you are on the right track.
Summary
This is the last paragraph of your paper. This is where you summarize your case in the strongest terms. By this point, you should have convinced your reader of your sociological framing and you may want to conclude your paper by posing further sociological questions about this topic, offering a sociological prediction of how the situation will play out and explaining why, or giving recommendations to address this topic.
References
This is the last page of your review. It serves as a listing of all references that you mentioned in your paper (including the citations from your text as well as the report of your current event). Please use ASA style when completing this list. If you need help creating this page, please check out this ASA citation generator.
Step 5: Go through the checklist
Before you submit this assignment on Canvas, please go through the following checklist to make sure you are meeting essential requirements:
Your chosen current event occurred within the past year in the US
Included a link to your current event report at the top of the first page
You renamed that link to the title of the report
The majority of your paper is about explaining your current event sociologically
You refer to 3 concepts/ theories from your text and/or videos
You refer to 3 scholarly articles
All writing is in your own words, no quotations
All ideas that are not 100% yours are cited
All In-text citations/ references are in ASA style
You included a references page (does not count towards the 3 page requirement)
You followed my formatting guidelines:
Typed
Double-spaced
12 point Times New Roman font
1 margins
Do not list your name, my name, the class, the date, etc.
Numbered pages
No excessive spaces between paragraphs
Three *full* pages of your writing
You reached out to me if you have any questions
December 2nd, 2020 
