Purpose: The purpose of this assignment is to encourage you to think sociologically about your own life. This is an opportunity for you to demonstrate cumulative knowledge of sociology and to apply this way of thinking to your own experiences.
Assignment Description: We are who we are because of our experiences in the social world. For this assignment I would like you to think back on your own life experiences. I would like for you to write about one or more aspects of your life and interpret from a sociological perspective. You don’t have to tell your whole life story – most effective papers focus only on one or more specific aspects of your life. Try to distance yourself and approach your life as a detached observer might. Your job is to examine the role of external social forces in shaping your life. You may also discuss your own individual agency, but this should be in reference to social forces and how agency and social forces work together. Be specific, using concrete examples and social events/occurrences. You should discuss personal events, but focus on how these events illustrate sociological concepts and tie into bigger social issues. You should use concepts you’ve learned in your sociology classes to explain how your life is shaped by society. In other words, narrate your life story using sociological language. Your goal is to make connections between private experiences and public issues.
Your paper should contain the following elements:
1) Title Page
2) Introduction (1-2 paragraphs)
3) Body – application of course materials (2-3 pages)
a. You should apply a minimum of 4 sociological concepts in your analysis. For each concept you use, you should bold or highlight each term. Be sure to both a) define the term, and b) discuss specifically how it applies to your life
4) Conclusion (1-2 paragraphs)
**Tip for your introduction & conclusion: Explains why it is important that our individual lives are shaped by social forces. Why does this matter? What are the implications?
General Paper Formatting Guidelines:
• It is expected that your paper will be a minimum of 900 words and a maximum of 1500 words (3-5 pages).
o Note that this word count does NOT include the title page or references, though these elements need to be included in the paper.
• You should have properly labeled subheadings in your paper. You need a minimum of four subheadings.
o Introduction, Paper Body, Conclusion, & References.
• All papers are to have one-inch margins (top, bottom, sides).
• 12 Point Times Roman Font is the required font for the entire paper.
• Student will utilize either APA or ASA citation style.
• The text or body of the paper must be double spaced (not triple or single). This includes when separating topical headings from text.
o Long quotes must be single spaced.
o The reference section must be single spaced.
Note on Title Page: To be submitted in 12 Points Times New Roman font. Please follow this format:
[Student’s Name], BA Candidate
[Title of Paper]
Submitted to the Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice
The University of North Carolina at Pembroke
In partial fulfillment for the Degree of
Bachelors of Arts
[DATE]
*On the last line of cover page include and type the following statement*
“I have neither given nor received unauthorized aid in the preparation or completion of this manuscript. _(Student’s Name)__ “
Project References: You are fully expected to cite the information you obtain to write this paper. You must include a full reference for any sources listed in your proposal. I am expecting that many of your references for this paper will be from the websites. That is fine for the purpose of this assignment, but you still need to cite to the website you get your information from. The following elements are generally found in a citation: author(s), title of article, journal title, volume, pages, date & retrieval information. References should be single spaced.
