Sociology of Education and Economics Class – Assessing Student Academic Outcomes as Compared to the Fees They Pay
This assignment is the third assignment of the semester-long Public Policy and Inequality Project.
In the first assignment, students selected a public policy and describe it in their proposal.
In the second assignment, students located, read, and annotated two sociology articles and two peer-reviewed article from another social science discipline.
In this final Public Policy and Inequality Analysis Essay assignment, you will discuss your selected public policy and analyze it using the four previously annotated peer-reviewed academic articles, as well as other policy-related documents (such as the law, policy or act being assessed). You will reformulate your research question (from the proposal assignment) using the information you gathered from the academic literature, noting how you refined each research question using your various sources.
Note that there is a separate assignment reflection required of students – information is provided in the Reflection Paper Assignment.
General Education Area D (Social Sciences)
This assignment is a real-world application of knowledge addressing the General Education Learning Outcomes related to the Upper Division Area D (Social Sciences) requirement for all Seawolves. In accordance with the University General Education policy, this assignment and the self-reflection will be submitted to the campus for General Education assessment purposes.
Below are the specific learning outcomes for this General Education requirement and a brief explanation of how this assignment aligns with each.
(1) Information Literacy: Iteratively formulate questions for research by gathering diverse types of information; identifying gaps, correlations, and contradictions; and using sources ethically toward a creative, informed synthesis of ideas.
Students will reformulate at least one research question that they previously posed in the semester-long Public Policy Analysis and Inequality Project, based on their more developed and informed understanding of the academic literature. Students will produce an essay that analyzes a public policy of their choice by synthesizing ideas found in the four peer-reviewed academic articles (two in Sociology, two in another discipline) that they located and annotated previously in the larger Public Policy Analysis and Inequality Project.
(2) Integration: Synthesize and apply theoretical and practical principles from multiple disciplines to develop an understanding of complex issues.
Students will produce an essay that synthesizes ideas, theoretical frameworks, and empirical approaches found in the four peer-reviewed academic articles (two in Sociology, two in another social science discipline) that they previously annotated in the larger Public Policy Analysis and Inequality Project. They will apply these ideas to the selected public policy.
(3) Creative Problem Solving: Apply knowledge, skills, and multiple perspectives in new situations to analyze and formulate solutions to complex problems with confidence and creativity.
Within the Public Policy and Inequality Analysis Essay, students will develop at least one in-depth solution to the problems of the policy in relation to the social inequalities that the policy creates and/or reproduces. The goal of these solutions will be to mitigate or eliminate these social inequalities.
In accordance with the University General Education policy, this assignment will be submitted to the campus for General Education assessment purposes.
Instructions
Craft an essay that details the selected public policy and analyzes it. Synthesize the ideas presented within the four academic articles. Be sure to highlight the specific ways that the authors formulated their research questions from the articles you annotated, used theoretical frameworks to guide their inquiry, and deployed social scientific methods to address their research questions.
The essay must also include at least one page dedicated to suggesting one or more ways to improving the policy to mitigate or minimize social inequalities.
Consider this assignment an opportunity to develop skills in locating, reading, and understanding academic literature from multiple disciplines in the social sciences. This assignment also encourages the application of conceptual knowledge about how social institutions can create, reproduce, and even eliminate social inequalities to a specific public policy. Similar to the course, this essay should focus on race and gender. However, the essay can consider other forms of social inequalities that are salient to the public policy, such as ability, citizenship status, class, and sexuality.
The essay should be approximately 2,000 words in length, excluding the student author’s name, title, date, references, and tables or figures.
Use 12 point font, double space, and 1′ margins on all sides.
Use the following paper outline and headings in your paper.
1) Title page — list your name, date, class number, and title of your paper
2) Research Question(s): State your original research question you submitted and then state the reformulated research question being examined in this paper.
3) Policy/Act/Program: clearly state which Public Policy, Law, Program or Act you are examining. In one paragraph, describe the policy and the inequality being addressed.
4) Importance: Describe why this topic is important and sociologically significant in one to two paragraphs.
5) Critical Analysis/Theoretical Framework: Using the four annotated articles, examine the policy through the theoretical framework and disciplinary lenses presented in those two articles. Why is there an inequality? How has history played a role in the inequality? What groups face inequity? Using data, statistics and facts, describe the inequality that exists and support your claims. Cite your sources using ASA in-text citation format. Remember to cite any data, fact or statistic that is not common knowledge. Ensure any material copied verbatim is “enclosed in quotation marks” with the proper citation following the quote.
6) Solution: Describe the solution you propose using your research to mitigate/eliminate the inequality that exists (this section should be about one page in length).
7) Bibliography: List your four academic peer-reviewed sources from the earlier assignment (without annotations), along with any other sources used for your paper. The bibliographic entries must be listed in alphabetical order by first author’s last name, be complete and consistent, and follow ASA format guidelines.
Writing notes:
You must write your paper in third person narrative (i.e., no I, me, you, your, we, our, etc. statements).
Each paragraph needs a clear topic sentence with rest of the paragraph supporting that topic. When you change topics, begin a new paragraph.
Write in a clear and concise manner. Avoid strings of prepositional phrases.
Keep a formal tone (avoid slang, jargon, contractions and colloquial speech).
Properly cite all sources using ASA format.