Sociology Mega-Sites on the Internet (http://www.fsu.edu/~crimdo/soclinks/soclinks.html#spot)
This is an extensive collection of sites on almost everything sociological. It might be a good place to start looking for information once you have selected your topic.
Reseach Navigator (www.researchnavigator.com)
This site offers a detailed guide for researching
and writing a library research paper. On the top right-hand corner
of the first page, there is a box called "understanding the research process."
Click "go" next to the drop-down menu which says "Start Writing."
This will bring you to a page with about 12 links which help guide students
through the research process.
Undergraduate Writing in Sociology (http://www.unc.edu/depts/wcweb/handouts/sociology.html)
The Texas A & M University Writing Center Handouts Page has some great resources that can help you with the cover page and the bibliography, and everything in between (http://uwc.tamu.edu/handouts/index.html)
They have tips on everything from Getting Started to Drafting to Revising
Do you have trouble knowing when to use a comma and
when not to? In Grammar, Mechanics, and Usage , you'll find
help with Proofreading for Commas , Basic Mechanics and Major Errors ,
Subject-Verb Agreement , Article Usage , Transitions , and more.
Resources
for Qualitative Research (http://www.ssc.wisc.edu/%7Etwilliam/research/home.htm)
Also includes Statistical Research Resources
The Research Paper (http://www.trinity.edu/departments/soc_anthro/research.html)
This site uses a more systematic, technical approach for writing up
reseach papers. It offers a very structured format:
"There is a standard format for all research reports, whether they
be of the natural or social sciences. The ultimate goal is to test hypotheses,
to test predictions derived from one's theory and built upon the findings
of others."
Writing Guides:
Northey, Margot and Lorne Tepperman. Making Sense in the Social Sciences:
A Student's Guide to Research, Writing, and Style .
Good general advice and chapters on theory, obtaining and using data;
glossary of terms.
Runkel, Philip J. A Guide to Usage for Writers and Students in the
Social Sciences.
Specialized glossary of problem terms.
Sociology Writing Group, A Guide to Writing Sociology Papers
, 2nd edition.
Advice on finding, understanding, and using various kinds of research
readings and data.
Bart, Pauline and Linda Frankel. Student Sociologist's Handbook.
Mainly a guide to types of sources, some general advice on structure
and style
Here are some helpful tips on how to:
Find a topic
-Think about what is important to you outside of class
If you’re very interested in a general area (for example, politics
or art), then let your interests help guide your topic selection.
-Brainstorm!
-cluster ideas together according to their associations for you
(Example: Environment-logging-employment)
-try drawing diagrams connecting various ideas
-check the meanings of the words in the topics, you might find
another angle or perspective that you hadn’t thought about
-Find some books that interest you, then skim the index and table of contents.
Narrow the topic
-Think of a way to make your research idea manageable, or “do-able”.
For instance, you may be interested in “unemployment in Canada”.
Clearly, this is too large a topic for a research paper. Perhaps
a narrower, more manageable topic might be “unemployment among students
seeking part-time jobs in Fredericton.”
Make it sociological
-Go to the HIL-REF section in the library. Find a sociological encyclopedia that has your topic, then flip through and see how it is described by other scholars.
-Ask critical questions (Sociological Imagination, C. Wright Mills):
How did (your topic) get organized like this? What is it’s history?
Who is benefitting from the way things are organized now?
Who is disadvantaged by the way things are organized now?
Who has the power to change things?
What is coming to prevail... who will have power in this area
in the future?
The following information comes from:
Richlin-Klonsky, Judith and Ellen Strenski.
1994. A Guide to Writing Sociology Papers 3rd Ed. New York: St. Martin’s
Press.
What is sociology?
Sociology is the study of human behavior. Its basic insight
is that human behavior is shaped by interaction among people. In
other words, who a person is, what she or he thinks and does, is affected
by the groups of which that person is a member. Sociologists investigate
how individuals are shaped by their social groups, from families to nations,
and how groups are created and maintained by the individuals who compose
them. . . .
Sociologists try to understand the consistencies in these processes–the
ways in which their similarities and differences follow a predictable pattern.
(8)
Comparing Sociology to Other Disciplines
Sociology and Psychology:
Similarities: Both are concerned with attitudes, beliefs, behavior,
emotions, and interpersonal relationships.
Differences: Psychology is more likely to focus on the individual
level of human behavior. When sociology considers the individual,
it is within the context of social groups.
Studying Deviance: Psychologists investigate the categories
of mental disorders underlying deviant behavior. A sociologist might
try to discover whether members of one socioeconomic class are more likely
than members of another class to be labeled “mentally ill.”
Sociology and Political Science:
Similarities: Both are concerned with government.
Differences: Political scientists analyze different forms of
government and their underlying philosophies and study the political process.
A sociologist is more likely to examine the interrelationship between the
political structure and behavior and other aspects of society, such as
the economy, religious institutions, and the attitudes of various social
groups.
Studying Deviance: A political scientist might analyze laws regulating
deviance. A sociologist might examine how such laws change as the
members of society adopt different ideological beliefs or how they serve
the interests of some classes more than others.
Sociology and History:
Similarities: Both look at human life over time.
Differences: Historians are more likely to focus on the influence
of individuals and on the causes of specific events. Sociologists
concentrate on the causes and effects of changes in patterns of social
life, among both famous and ordinary people.
Studying Deviance: A historian might interpret the motivations
and actions of influential deviant individuals and attempt to explain their
influence. A sociologist is more likely to trace changes in society’s
ways of defining and controlling deviant behavior.
Sociology and Philosophy:
Similarities: Both are interested in beliefs about the nature
of life.
Differences: Philosophy is a system of abstract reasoning that
follows specific rules of logic. Sociology is empirical: it seeks
to discover information about the real world by gathering data about what
people actually do.
Studying Deviance: Philosophers might ask “What is good?” and
“What is evil?” or analyze the appropriate uses of the term “deviance.”
Sociologists stick to what actually goes on in the social world, asking,
for instance, “What do members of this particular society or subculture
believe is ‘right’ and ‘wrong’?”
Sociology and Anthropology:
Similarities: Both are concerned with social life, including
culture, beliefs, decision making, relationships, and so on.
Differences: Anthropology is more likely to study societies other
than our own, and to compare aspects of society cross-culturally.
Studying Deviance: Anthropologists might travel to an isolated,
non-industrialized society to study how it defines and treats deviant behavior,
or they might compare differences in rates of deviance in industrialized
societies and nonindustrialized societies. Sociologists often study
the same processes but are more likely to focus on a single society.
Sociology and Economics:
Similarities: Both are concerned with how society produces and
distributes goods and services.
Differences: While an economist concentrates on the economy in
its own right, sociologists are more likely to consider how the economy
affects and is affected by other social processes.
Studying Deviance: An economist might study the contributions
and costs of deviance to the gross national product. A sociologist
might study how the control of the economy by upper social classes provokes
deviant behavior, such as burglary and theft, by those without access to
a fair share of goods and services. (9-11)
Create a thesis statement
“The thesis statement that appears in your finished introduction will be the best description of what you are trying to prove and of how you propose to do it.” (Fit to Print: 9)
-begin with a working statement:
it may change as you develop your ideas, but it will help you
focus your research
-you should argue a point. That is, a statement like “learning a foreign language is difficult” is not a great thesis statement, because it doesn’t argue anything. A stronger thesis would be “the best way to learn a foreign language is through constant practice.” Other people could disagree with this statement and argue that studying, or immersion among native speakers is the best way to learn.
-you should be able to state your thesis as a relationship between two
variables
-“decreasing funds for health care leads to fewer doctors working
in Canada”
-“people who are afraid of aging usually suffer more health problems
in old age”
-“students who write papers the night before it is due tend to
get lower grades”
If you have a solid thesis statement, someone should be able to argue an opposing idea. In reference to the examples above, someone should be able to argue that the lower grades, health problems, or fewer doctors are caused by different factors.