As our syllabus states, this assignment consists of “an essay of at least 4 single-spaced pages (not counting bibliography) that describes, theoretically frames, and empirically explores a topic of particular interest to you.”

This will not be a standard sociology research paper. At that length, there’s not enough space to cover the state of sociological research on a single topic. Furthermore, this class has hardly scratched the surface of sociology’s research fields, concepts and theories. 

Instead, think of this assignment as an opportunity to articulate and set up a topic or an empirical question that you would research at a later time. Consider this a research agenda paper. As Reedy and Murty (2009) write for advanced sociology students,

What is a research agenda? It’s a plan and a focus on issues and ideas in a subset of your field. You cannot study everything in your field during your time in graduate school, so decide what to focus on now, and what to defer until another day.

Research agendas are not set in concrete; they naturally change over time as your knowledge grows and as new research questions emerge.

So, based on the sociological imagination you have developed in this course, and classical theory and contemporary research you’ve been exposed to (in this course but others as well), what would you want to study through a sociological analysis, and how do you understand it currently? Write about that in four single spaces.

To brainstorm ideas for your paper

What issues, topics, or phenomena covered in this class have especially interested you? What further questions do they raise for you in terms of related issues that we didn't examine, or the relevance our readings and discussions might have to other topics?

What issues, topics, or phenomena did we not cover in this class? Are there contemporary trends, issues, or crazes you would like to study sociologically?

We’ve associated certain topics this semester with key sociological paradigms: conflict, symbolic interactionism, and functionalism. (Review these paradigms in the video "What do we mean by 'theory'?" under February 23.) What other topics are relevant to any paradigms that appeal to you? Do certain questions or hypotheses emerge when you think about related topics through different paradigms?

Take a look at the courses offered by the Sociology Department. What courses look interesting to you, and what specific issues, topics, or phenomena do you hope they will cover?

Further requirements

You will incorporate and cite at least two additional academic sources not assigned in our syllabus. In the second week of November, our Thursday class will be cancelled so that I can meet with you individually to discuss how to find these sources. You're also welcome to cite any additional news/essays you find on the internet as well as any readings from our class.

Your final assignment will be consistently formatted with ASA style in-text citations and references.

How to write this paper

I hope this first-year writing seminar has taught you that there’s no single way to write any paper. That said, there are two genres of academic writing that you may want to adapt to this assignment.

The first is the research proposal. Generally, a research proposal is focused on a specific plan of research; it comes farther along in the process of studying a topic than this research agenda paper. But its tone of writing, the balance of breadth vs. depth in argument, etc. are useful. Its audience is typically other academics knowledgeable about the subject (i.e., fellow sociologists).

The second is the “relevance of the work” essay. This appears frequently in opening chapters and thesis proposals to discuss why and how academics in particular traditions think about your topic. Its audience is educated readers who are interested in your topic though may not know your particular approach (i.e., not fellow sociologists); they will be impressed by the larger intellectual traditions and empirical curiosity you can summon for this assignment.

For further inspiration, here's a sample research agenda essay paper from last semester. It's not perfect — for one reason, it's not formatted with ASA style citations and references, which are required in this essay — but it should give you a good idea of how developed your ideas should be on this assignment and what kind of tone to strike when writing.

References

Reedy, Justin and Madhavi Murty. 2009. “Creating a Research Agenda.” Inside Higher Ed, May 20. https://www.insidehighered.com/advice/2009/05/20/creating-research-agenda.