Social Science First Essay

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Question Description

ASSIGNMENT ONE

1. Choose an observation. This should not be any observation we have discussed in the

class or that is found in the text. Feel free to be creative. Generally speaking, the more

serious and complex the observation, the more difficult you will find this task. On the other

hand, it may be more interesting and rewarding for you. You are not graded on the choice

of observation, so feel free to choose whatever you wish. You do have to create interesting

models, however. Generally speaking, if your “models” are just a list of different reason for

different people or for different situations, then they are not models. The problem doesn’t

lie with your models, it lies with your observation. Pick a new and different observation.

2. Write a sentence or two describing the observation. For example, “Lawyers are more

respected than fast-food workers.”

3. Imagine three different speculations about why the observation occurs. These are your

three models. Make sure they are unique and not just subtle variations on each other.

Write a one sentence statement of what your model is. The model should probably not

directly mention the observation. To be a good model, it should be a statement about a

process, it should have interesting implications, and it should be more general rather than

more specific. You will lose points if these conditions are not met. An example of a model

is, “People respect education.”

4. Write a few sentences describing how each model explains the observation. Here is

where you explain that lawyers are generally more educated than fast-food workers and

that they, therefore, will be more respected.

Thus, your assignment will look like this:

Section One: A description of your observation.

Section Two: A sentence stating your first model, and then a couple sentences explaining

how it relates to your observation.

Section Three: A sentence stating your second model, and then a couple sentences

explaining how it relates to your observation.

Section Four: A sentence stating your third model, and then a couple sentences explaining

how it relates to your observation.

.

You should separate the sections. Do not merely write one long paragraph. This isn’t a

literary society. We want to easily see you points. This assignment will probably be less

than a page long.

OUTLINE

Required: Turn in two copies of your paper: an electronic copy in a drop box (TA discretion) and a

printed copy to your TA (unless your TA indicates otherwise).

For model building, remember all the wisdom from March and Lave.

PAGE ONE

Title Page (10 pts)

Include your

Name

Student ID number

Discussion section

TAs Name

PAGE TWO

Abstract (10 pts)

An abstract is a brief statement (usually a paragraph or two) that is placed at the beginning of a

paper. Its purpose is to briefly explain what the paper is about; thus, it lets the reader know what will be

discussed (commonly so the reader can decide whether he wants to continue reading it). It also sets a

frame of reference for the reader if he or she decides to continue.

For this assignment, you are simply setting a frame of reference for the reader.

Approximately 100 words

PAGE THREE and BEYOND [For each section, please begin a new page.]

Observation and Models (20 pts)

In this section simply insert what you are supposed to do for the third homework assignment. If

what you did for that assignment is perfect, all you need do is include it here. If it is not perfect,

you need to fix any problems that exist.

Findings and Results (15 pts)

This section is asking how you would interpret certain results.

What is the data that you would collect and how does it relate to your research question? In the

previous section, you described critical experiments, but the description may have been somewhat

vague. In this section, you are being asked precisely how you would do these experiments.

In the above section, you described critical experiments, and you described the data you would

collect to do these experiments. You now need to describe how you would interpret the data.

This should have been touched on in the above section. If what you did in the previous section

was very complete, all you need to do is repeat it. For others it is another opportunity to get it

complete. To remind you of what you need to do, let’s revisit the example discussed in class: if

you find that people respect lawyers more than professors, that will mean something different

from finding that people respect professors more than lawyers.

For each model:

Describe what results you would need to find in order to support the model.

Describe what results would contradict or fail to support your model.

If the data failed to support your model, what other models might these data support?

References (15 Points)

Note: You are not being asked to write a literature review. This is a list of references. Because

this is not a true, complete research paper, you may not have actually used any references. Thus,

you need to find books, journal articles, electronic sources, etc. that are (at least slightly) related to

what your paper is about. The purpose of this section of the assignment is correctly using APA

format, not doing in-depth research.

Cite at least six sources (books, newspapers, internet, etc.). You will earn more points, if they

come from a wide variety of sources (e.g., one book, one journal, one newspaper, one website,

etc.) If the nature of your question makes it difficult to find a wide variety of sources, talk to you

TA about getting an exemption from this requirement.

The citations need to be in APA format and alphabetized. (See the syllabus for links to webpages

that can help with APA format.)

AT THIS POINT, YOUR PAPER IS FINISHED, BUT THERE ARE 10 ADDITIONAL POINTS

Well Written (10 points)

If the writing is clear and concise (following what we read in the Williams text), you will get 10

additional points.

Reminder: 20 points have already been assigned from the class assignments/homeworks. What is

being turned in now is worth 80 points. Thus, the total score for this assignment has been 100

points

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