DePaul University High Risk Concentrations of Crime in the City Sociology Paper

405-Final Review Paper Guidelines (8 points)          Winter 2021               R. Garner

Because I selected many of the topics and you selected the articles, they necessarily reflect our interests and focal concerns. We can’t conclude that these are the topics favored by sociologists in general. That said, we can learn from the articles how contemporary sociologists view society and societal issues and how they produce knowledge.

Organize your paper around the following four questions.

1. Methods: How are data and knowledge produced? Discuss articles that illustrate different methods of producing data and drawing conclusions. Methods we have seen in the articles include: historical; life narratives; discourse analysis; ethnography; organizational case studies; quantitative analysis of variation in individual outcomes in contexts such as housing, health care, and education; quantitative analysis of policy outcomes; review and analysis of others’ research). Notice that some of these methods overlap or are often used together. One way you could organize your answer is by making a grid or listing that shows which article used which method(s), and then focusing on several articles to illustrate each method in more detail. (about two pages)
2. Theories: How extensively theorized is current work in sociology? Which articles build on theory or frame research questions that are driven by theory? Which articles are data/information or policy driven, so that theory seems incidental or ignored? Provide a few examples of both “high” and “low” theoretical framing. (about two pages)
3. Changing the world? (“The point is to change the world, not only interpret it”–Marx and Engels): Do any of the articles point to policies, politics, interventions, organizational change, etc.—do they suggest actions and practices that might change the world? (This means more than just criticizing existing policies.) Select 3-4 that clearly have a “change orientation” and discuss how well the conclusions/recommendations are supported by the presented evidence. (about two pages)
4. Contention: sociologists are not all in agreement with each other. Select and briefly discuss two articles that disagree with each other. This disagreement could be explicit in one or both articles or something you noticed in reading the articles. The disagreement might be about empirical knowledge, theory, “whose side are you on?,” etc. (1 page)

Format: double-spaced, 12 font. Citation form: as long as you refer to articles that are posted in the SOC 405-d2l modules, in-text cites with the last name of author, date, and page number for in-text cites are sufficient. You do not need a full Works-cited section unless you want to include something you read elsewhere. Writing mechanics, good sentence structure, correct word usage, and coherent paragraphs will be considered in grading the papers.

The paper is due on Monday, March 15.