PURPOSE The purpose of this assignment is to help you to see the relevance of sociological theories of deviance to the stories that fill our daily newspapers. You may use older and contemporary news stories for this assignment.
INSTRUCTIONS Scan any credible newspaper (Canadian, American, British, etc.,) or its online webpage (e.g., The Hamilton Spectator, The Global and Mail, The Toronto Sun, The Toronto Star, etc.) for stories that you think relate to the theories (and concepts associated with those theories) that we are discussing in class. Once you have 2 major news stories, each one illustrating a different theory, you are ready to start. Make sure that your concepts are linked with the appropriate parent-theory (e.g., concept of anomie with Structural Functionalism, labeling theory with Symbolic Interactionism). Your goal in this assignment is, in part, to demonstrate the breadth of your understanding of the sociological theories and concepts we are covering in this course.
Limiting yourself to approx. 3 pages for each story and analysis (max. total of 6 pages, not including the appendix with news story URL links or scanned copy of news article), discuss how the news story illustrates the theories and concepts in question. Though any number of theories and concepts could conceivably apply to any news story, you are to use the most appropriate theory and concept per story. Try to select the theory and concept that you think fits the story best. For example, if the news story is about social class inequalities, a Conflict theory approach would be the most appropriate. Use the theories as the titles for your report. Centre and underline the theory at the top of your page. Then proceed with your discussion.
To begin, you need to provide a summary of the main facts of your article; the who, what, where, why and when of the story (i.e., 5 W’s of journalism), and a clear and detailed definition of the theory (i.e. its tenets and assumptions) and the concept(s) you believe it illustrates. Be careful not to spend all your time focusing on too much description (of the news stories). The focus of your discussion should be on making connections between the story and the theory and concepts. Also, be clear in explaining exactly where you see the connections.
PRESENTATION The assignment should be presented in the form of a report. It should have a proper title page (be sure to include your name and student number), and divisions clearly separating the discussion of each article. Include the news stories themselves in an appendix at the end of your report, citing the source, date, and page number for each article. No introduction is required.
The report must be typed and double-spaced, with 1-inch margins – do not alter the margins. Pay particular attention to your writing style, spelling, and grammar since this will be taken into consideration in the marking.
EVALUATION The assignments will be marked according to the following criteria:
1. Are the links between the theory and concept and the news story clear?
2. Is there an accurate understanding of the theories & concepts displayed?
3. Has the news story been accurately read and summarized?
4. Are the connections well-established and well-argued?
5. Have all of the instructions regarding the presentation been observed?
You may utilize lecture materials, required readings and other scholarly sources for this assignment. Be sure to properly cite those sources in the appendix. Use APA citation format only.
ORGANIZING YOUR REPORT
1 page for discussion of news story
1.5 – 2 pages for linking and explaining theory and concepts to news story
1 separate title page – name, student #, title of course, name of TA, list of theories used
1-page appendix for news sources – URL or attached hard copy of story from newspaper, citations
APA citation style only.
FORMAT STYLE – WORD DOCUMENT ONLY.
Include your last name in the file name of your Word document when you upload it to AVE.
NO ChatGPT GENERATED REPORTS ARE PERMITTED –
