Assignment Instructions
SOCI 212 – Social Problems
American Public University System
Assignment 1: the sociological viewpoint toward social problems (Due Week 2)
Overview
One of the most crucial components to this course concerns addressing social problems in society from a sociological viewpoint as opposed to a strictly policy-oriented, psychological, or criminal justice viewpoint. Although many different viewpoints in social science are valid and have a lot of importance, it is equally important for us to understand how sociology looks at the nature of social problems in society today. This paper will enable us to explore why certain social problems seem to be regarded as more significant than others. Our job will be in defining the sociological viewpoint, and choosing one social problem that we think is of high importance. We will build upon the topic we choose in this paper for our second and third writing assignments.
Instructions
Construct a 2-4 page paper that fully explores each of the following areas:
1) Citing our textbook material, explain how the sociological approach toward social problems differs from other approaches. Why are certain problems considered significant and others are not?
2) Next, choose one social problem that exists in society that you think is particularly serious, and explain it in sociological terms. This social problem should be measurable in some statistical way. (Is it increasing, and if so, how? Among which groups of people, and for how long, etc.?)
3) What might be one important way in which the social problem is currently being addressed in society?
4) Please define and identify at least four concepts from our text relevant to your chosen social problem.
5) Analyze the way in which these concepts help us better understand the nature of the social problem you are discussing.
Don’t forget to include proper APA-style citation and reference. (Assignment One is worth 10% of the total grade.)
Due by 11:55 pm ET, Sunday of Week 2 – submit using link in Sakai.
The paper should be typed, double-spaced, 1” margins, arial or times new roman 11 pt font, and saved as .doc, .rtf or .pdf in the format: lastname_SOCI212_HW1.doc
DISCLAIMER: Originality of attachments will be verified by Turnitin. Both you and your instructor will receive the results.
LATE POLICY:
See Syllalbus.
Course Objectives and Learning Outcomes
Assignment 1 will evaluate your ability to do the following:
Course Objectives:
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Course Objective One |
Identify specific social problems and their cause-effect patterns. |
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Course Objective Two |
Identify current research methods that are utilized for the investigation of social problems. |
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Course Objective Three |
Compare and contrast current and suggested policies, programs, and/or treatments in terms of their effectiveness for alleviating the negative consequences of social problems. |
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Course Objective Four |
Apply class concepts to support opinions about social problems. |
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Course Objective Six |
Explain the role of culture in identifying social issues as problems. |
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Course Objective Seven |
Apply sociological theories to explain the occurrence and scope of these problems. |
Learning Outcomes:
Grading Rubric:
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CATEGORY
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Outstanding
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Above Average
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Average
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Below Average
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Unacceptable
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Description of sociological definition of social problems
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Provided detailed description of the sociological definition of social problems, citing textbook material and relevant concepts (5 points)
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Needed some elaboration on the sociological definition of social problems, and more textbooks citation (4 pts)
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Needs significantly more detail about how sociology treats social problems differently than other disciplines (3pts)
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Description of the sociological perspective toward social problems lacks detail overall. (2pts)
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No description of the sociological perspective toward social problems included (0-1.5 pts)
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Sociological Concepts Identified
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Clearly identified 4 relevant sociological concepts from the readings. (5 pts)
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Clearly identified 3 relevant sociological concepts from the readings, one not clearly identified. (4 pts)
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Clearly identified 2 relevant sociological concepts from the readings. (3pts)
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Clearly identified 1 relevant sociological concepts from the readings. (2 pts)
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Did not clearly identify any sociological concepts (0-1.5 pts)
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Sociological Concepts Defined
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Clearly defined 4 relevant sociological concepts using the text and/or other source(s). (5 pts)
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Clearly defined 3 relevant sociological concepts using the text and/or other source(s); 1 not clearly defined. (4 pts)
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Clearly defined 2 relevant sociological concepts using the text and/or other source(s). (3 pts)
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Clearly defined 1 relevant sociological concepts using the text and/or other source(s). (2 pts)
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Did not include text definitions of sociological concepts (0-1.5 pts)
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Analysis
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Clearly applied 4 relevant sociological concepts to analysis of the chosen social problem. (5 pts)
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Clearly applied 3 relevant sociological concepts to the chosen social problem, one not clearly applied to analysis. (4 pts)
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Clearly applied 2 relevant sociological concept to analysis of the chosen social problem. (3 pts)
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Clearly applied 1 relevant sociological concepts to the chosen social problem. (3 pts)
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Did not apply sociological concepts to chosen social problem. (0-1.5 pts)
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APA Formatted Citations
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Included APA formatted in-text citations and full references for ALL paraphrased and quoted work from other sources. (3 pts)
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Minor errors in APA formatting of citations. (2.4 pts)
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Multiple errors in APA formatting of citations. (2.1 pt)
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Missing some citations, and errors in APA formatting. (1.8 pts)
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No citations included. (0-1 pts)
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Grammar & Spelling
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Author makes no errors in grammar or spelling that distract the reader from the content. (2 pts)
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Author makes a couple errors in grammar or spelling that distract the reader from the content. (1.6 pts)
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Author makes a few errors in grammar or spelling that distract the reader from the content. (1.4 pt)
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Author makes multiple errors in grammar or spelling that distract the reader from the content. (1.2 pts)
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Authors makes so many errors in grammar and spelling that the intent of the paper cannot be understood. (0-1 pts)
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