PRINCIPLES OF SOCIOLOGY
WRITING ASSIGNMENT #2
PRINCIPLES OF SOCIOLOGY [25%]
SUBMISSION:
Assignments must be uploaded to Blackboard by the due date listed in the Critical Path. Please do not email assignments. Only assignments uploaded to Blackboard will be accepted.
INSTRUCTIONS:
For this paper, you are asked to reflect on one of the following topics and make use of theories/perspectives addressed in this course in answering your question. This assignment will give you the opportunity to apply what you have learned to one of the topics below.
For the writing assignment you will write a 3-4-page essay on ONE of the following topics and questions:
1) SOCIAL STRATIFICATION
• Social classes and inequalities in income, wealth, and property have been of long- standing interests to sociologists. Are social classes disappearing, and has class become a useless concept? Assess your own class position or that of your family as you reflect on the value of social class as a concept.
2) RACE AND ETHNIC RELATIONS
• What role do race and racism play in contemporary Canadian society when it comes to politics, economics, and/or power? Reflect on your own racial or ethnic identity
as you consider some of the tensions linked to race and ethnicity in Canada.
3) DEVIANCE AND CRIME
• If crime rates are actually decreasing (or at least not increasing), why is the public fear of crime on the rise? What role does media play in generating moral panics through its representation of crime and deviance in the news and popular media? Reflect on your own reactions to crime reporting and moral panics as you consider as you consider crime in Canada.
In answering the questions, you will draw on material from the textbook and lecture materials. In addition, you will use a news article on your topic to help illustrate your points. The news article should be selected from a reputable news outlet that is published (in print or online) in Canada. It must be an article that was published after March 1 2021. To locate a news article:
a. Visit https://library.humber.ca/news
b. Below “News eResources” select “Canadian Newsstream”
c. You will be able to do a keyword search on your topic. I suggest taking some time to go through your search results and narrowing your search as needed. Select an article that you will be able to fully analyze, rather than the first couple of results that appear.
d. Some news sources you might consider include The Toronto Star, The Globe and
Mail, National Post, The Toronto Sun, The Canadian Press, and others.
e. Download and save the article. You will need to submit it with your assignment
FORMAT
• 3-4 typed, double-spaced pages (not including reference page & cover page), with 12-
point font and 1” margins on all sides
• Separate cover page that contains your full name, student number, submission date, and paper title.
• All material, including course material, must be cited properly in-text and in a reference page using APA citation format https://library.humber.ca/APA-MLA. For additional help with citations, including video tutorials: https://library.humber.ca/help/apa
• Papers do not need an abstract
• A copy of the news article (or link) must be submitted with your assignment. Essays not accompanied by a news article are considered incomplete and will receive a grade of 0.
GRADING
This assignment is not merely a summary of the textbook material. Papers that simply summarize the material without providing any engagement with and application of the material will likely not receive a passing grade.
Papers will be graded on:
• The degree of original thinking, clarity, complexity, and insight
• The quality and relevance of claims/arguments/positions
• The depth/quality of your engagement and connections to course concepts, theories, and ideas
• The use and relevance of news articles to support your arguments
• The organization and composition of your writing (including proper citation of material)
WRITING SUPPORT
There are many supports available to students when it comes to writing. https://liberalarts.humber.ca/current-students/resources/learning-resources/writing- centre.html
ACADEMIC INTEGRITY
Students are expected to adhere to the highest standards of behaviour and abide by the University’s policy on academic misconduct. You are responsible for knowing what constitutes academic misconduct (https://academic-regulations.humber.ca/2018-2019/17.0-ACADEMIC- MISCONDUCT).
A violation of academic integrity includes, but is not limited to:
• Plagiarism; Misappropriation of others’ work
• Copying others quizzes, tests, or examination answers
• Collaborating on assignments without permission and using ideas without appropriate acknowledgement
• Fabricating or falsifying data and documents (i.e., medical notes, reports, records)
• Engaging in other forms of deceit and abetting others