Description
Paper Components (writing and substantive): (+12 points maximum)
- Use In-text Citation Throughout Paper for Quotes and Paraphrases: (+0.5 points)
See:https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/using_research/formatting_in_sociology_asa_style/in_text_citation_references.html
· Cite the article several times when you are summarizing it (usually multiple times a paragraph) with the author’s last name(s) and year in parentheses (Fox and Savage 2009). Can cite at end of sentence or at start of sentence: “According to Fox and Savage (2009),…”
· Add a page number for any specific information such as statistics and for quotes (Kaufman 2009: 287).
· For more than 3 authors put “et al.” after first author’s last name (Kaufman et al. 2008); if three authors or less, list all authors last names in same order as article. - Follow Writing Guidelines on p. 3 of syllabus: (+1.25 point)
· 1 inch margins all sides, 12 point Times New Roman font, spell-check, grammar check, page numbers, double-space, avoid contractions and passive voice, paraphrase in your own words, limit use of quotations. - Short Introductory Paragraph: What are you doing? (+0.75 points)
· Introduce the short paper (briefly describe what you are doing in paper).
· Identify your article and be sure to give the authors names, year of publication and title.
· Identify your final concluding argument (your assessment of what you think the article contributes in your own words). Write this after you have read the article and assessed it. - Body of Paper:
a. What is this article? Paraphrase in your own words (Limit quotes).
· What is this article on? Use the title and the introduction to assess this. Briefly mention the topic of the article and the issue that the author is trying to address. (+0.5 points)
· How is the author approaching the topic? Review key points from the literature review/theory sections (exact titles will vary). (+2 points)
§ What is the author’s assessment of prior literature (key gaps)? What aspects of the literature does the author focus on and why are those important?
§ What theories (if any) and how is author applying those theories?
§ How does this study contribute to the broader literature in the research area?
· What type of research did the author do? Briefly review key points on methods. (+2 points)
§ Did the research involve in-depth interviews, collected surveys, secondary data surveys (someone else collected the data), police data, etc.?
§ What is the size of the sample (20 youth, 20000 youth etc.)?
§ Where was the data collected (national sample, in one school, multiple schools in 1 city)
§ Briefly identify the core measures or topics covered.
§ Briefly, what type of analysis did the author do? (statistical analysis, analyzed themes in the interviews etc.). You do NOT need to get very specific here.
· What did the author find? Skim the results and focus most of your energy on the discussion and conclusion sections. You are looking for the author’s “big” findings (there may be many little ones too). Summarize the major findings. (+2 points)
· What are the limitations of this research? Usually the authors will mention this in the discussion and conclusion. You may also add your own assessment. (+0.5 points)
b. What do you think? (+1.25 point)
· Provide a thoughtful assessment of the article including your reactions to the research, the findings, and the quality of the work.
· What do you think this article contributes to the study of school crime?
- Brief conclusion: What did you do in this paper? (+0.5 points)
· Briefly re-state what you did in the paper including the key points about the reading (very briefly) and your evaluation of it. - Include Full Reference for Article in ASA format: (+0.75 points)
Sample Solution
