Select 5 topics related to social change from the course. You will be writing a blog-post style essay for each of those 5 topics.
Guidelines:
- Browse the “There’s Research On That!” blog to get a sense of how TROT posts are written. They usually start with a summary of a current event, then provide sociological ideas relevant to the matter at the hand. The author highlights one to four key ideas from the research and includes citations for each source with hyperlinks to the authors’ website and the publication information.
- Choose 5 recent news events or pop culture trends related to social change to analyze. Ask yourself, “What would sociologists have to say about this that the rest of the media may be missing?” Make a list of a few possible themes to investigate about each topic, such as the impact of social construction, institutions, or networks.
- Search for literature on your themes using the online library. Select three to five pieces for each that speak to the themes or provide broader information about the topic.
- Evaluate the research. Read the methodology sections of any journal articles, or find reviews of the books published in academic journals. Do you find the conclusion(s) convincing, based on the evidence provided? Is the methodology high quality? Which pieces provide the best takeaways for a general reader? Once you’ve considered the possible sources separately, consider how they will fit together in each essay. From your list, pick the best two or three pieces for each theme to include in your article.
- Write a TROT essay for each of the five topics in the style of the website. Remember the main components: a short summary of the news, including links to media coverage so the reader can see what’s already been written; key takeaways you identified in the sociological literature; and citations of the research. Each essay should be 2 pages in length, for a total of 10+ pages for the assignment.
