Social Change due to Technology such as cellphones

Paper details:

Paper needs to include the idea of Primary and secondary relationships and how cellphones disconnect those bonds

Final Paper Guide
SOC 122
Social Change
Spring 2016
1. Thesis (10 points)
For your paper, you will have to have a clear thesis. A thesis is like the structure of a building. Without a thesis, your paper will be devoid of a structure. Your thesis has to be very clear, and you should be able to state it in one sentence. Some argue that a thesis is like a declaration of faith. Once you decide on your thesis, you will need to make sure that you can defend it. You should refrain from statements that you cannot defend. While working on your thesis, bear in mind that there is a relationship between theory and thesis, in that every theory is a thesis but not every thesis is a theory. You can state your thesis in the form of I argue that, I claim that, etc.
2. Body (5 points, you will get these points based on whether your paper has a structure or not)
The body of your research paper is where you present all of the information on your topic. This is the part between your introduction paragraph and the conclusion. While writing this part of your paper you should always keep in mind that you are trying to build up a body of arguments to make a case about your thesis. In this part of your paper, your main purpose is to defend your thesis. You can take an approach where you start with a strong supporting argument, then move to stronger arguments, and finish the body with the strongest argument. Here, you are also expected to provide relevant examples, statistics, research findings from your literature review, and other materials that will help you with making a compelling case about your thesis.
2a. Selecting a Case Study of Social Change (50 points)
A case study can be perceived as a thorough analysis of a subject of interest. You will present your case study in the main body of your paper. By focusing on your topic of interest you can apply any theory or a concept you have learned in class to demonstrate that you have gained a deeper understanding of social change. You can demonstrate this by focusing on a social, economic, political, environmental, and cultural or any problem that you think you can analyze through a theories and concepts we covered in class. For instance, you might be interested in Civil Rights movement. In order to demonstrate how this movement brought about social change, you would present the problem or social issues that led the emergence of the movement. For example, you should write about social segregation and how this practice contradicted democratic principles of equality and freedom as well as American values such as life, liberty and pursuit of happiness. This should give a historical dimension to your paper because any topic of social change should have a historical component to it. You can also write about how the movement organized, its leadership, the type of recruiting strategies it adopted, its ideology, etc. As a next stage, you should provide a detailed account of the types of social change to which the movement gave rise. For this case study, one thesis could be something like if a group of people are discriminated against in a democratic society they are likely to organize to change this discrimination.
Finally, you are welcome to pick any case study covered in the textbook and expand on it. For instance, you might want to pick a case study to investigate the effect on technology on social culture, food production, demographic transition in the U.S.A., demographic transition, in Southern California or even at UCR, or any social movement you are interested in.
3. Citation (5 points)
You will have to use ASA (American Sociological Association) citing style in your paper. If you are going to use other people’s work you will need to provide sources according to this style to avoid plagiarism. Nowadays, it is very easy to get a hold of papers written on all kinds of subjects. Sometimes it might be tempting to use other people’s work without proper documentation. You should definitely avoid this practice. Here is one of the places showing how to use ASA style: http://www.asanet.org/students/Quick%20Style%20guide.pdf
4. Grammar (5 points)
While writing your research paper, you should follow grammatical rules. The best way to check whether you use correct grammar will be going to the writing center and proof reading your paper. Some of the grammatical rules that you should follow while writing your paper are the following:
1) Avoiding contractions.
2) Constructing full sentences.
3) Using punctuation correctly.
4) Using correct spelling.
5) Using correct phrasal verbs.
6) Avoiding passive form as much as you can.
7) If you start a sentence with one particular tense you should end it with the same tense.
8) Do not make your sentences longer than necessary.
9) Do not end your sentences with prepositions when it is not appropriate.
10) Make sure your sentences have a subject and verb.
The grammatical rules by no means are limited to the above points and this is not a class where we learn English grammar. I expect you to know how to use correct grammar in your paper to a satisfying level.
5. Length (10 points)
Your research paper has to be at least four pages long and double spaced. Do not exceed more than five pages. You have to use Times New Roman 11-point font. Some students like using other fonts, such as Calibri, Aria, Comic, etc. If you are one of those students, you can definitely use any other style. However, you will need to convert it to Times New Roman after you are finished to make sure that you satisfy the minimum page requirement. You should refrain from using writing styles and big fonts to create the illusion that your paper is long enough.
6. Reference (10 points)
For this paper you are required to use at least four different resources related to your case study. I specifically ask you to use journal articles and/or books as references. Despite that, some students do not use such academic sources and rely on other sources like newspaper articles. In your paper, you will need to satisfy this condition. After you satisfy the rule of using four academic sources, you are welcome to use newspaper articles and any other source that you deem relevant to your case study. Also, it is important that your sources are related to your topic. Remember that with a thesis you make a claim and your purpose is to defend your claim. One way to defend your claim will be providing other people’s work to buttress your position. Finally, at the end of your paper you have to provide a reference section so that I can check out your sources.
7. Conclusion (10 points)
You should finish your research paper with a conclusion where you re-state your thesis, summarize your findings, explain why you reached such a conclusion, and make a statement about whether you have proved or disproved your thesis. This part can be a paragraph or longer as long as you address the above issues.