Research Paper: Taking a closer look at Drugs, Alcohol & Society (100 pts)
This is a formal sociological research paper where you will take a closer look at some aspect of drugs, alcohol & society. Your topic must be both relevant & sociological in nature. Don’t plagiarize, as anyone caught doing so will be given an F for the class!
Below are some examples of potential paper topics which past students have composed & which have loads of academic sources, but you are not limited to them:
This paper is your opportunity to show me that you’ve been absorbing the terms and concepts we’ve studied over the course of the semester. As I’ve previously stated, the list of ideas for this paper that I gave you in your syllabus is not exclusive, and you are welcome to choose a topic which is not covered there (as long as it covers a topic we’ve focused on in this class, is relevant, current, and sociological in nature). Unlike your threads and response papers, this is a formal research paper, thus, keep your opinions confined to the conclusion only and spend the length of the paper bringing in established research, relating it to sociological theories, and defining issues in sociological terms.
I do expect that you use at least 10 academic sources other than textbooks & the extra readings for the class to bolster your paper (most of you will have more than 10, but that’s the absolute minimum); these must be peer-reviewed academic journal articles, not something you read online (unless you were perusing online archives of academic periodicals).
You are welcome to use non-academic sources to buffer the information gleaned from your academic ones, but unless they are peer-reviewed journals they shouldn’t take up much space in your discussion & they won’t count towards your minimum limit. If you are unsure whether or not one of your sources qualifies as “academic”, please check with me; some things you may presume are academic sources (i.e. .gov websites) aren’t, so it’s worth inquiring if your not positive.
Your paper should be 8 – 10 pages in length, regular 1 inch margins, no headers or footers, 12 pt. Times New Roman font & double-spaced, saved in either .doc or .docx format; also, no extra spacing between paragraphs, it’s unnecessary. You should give your paper a title and a cover page, as well as a thorough works cited page (neither of which count towards your overall page limit); be sure to cite all sources appropriately in any professional format you choose (MLA, APA, ASA, etc…, but no footnotes). Don’t Plagiarize, as anyone caught doing so will receive an ‘F’ for this class. Also, unlike your response papers and discussion threads, things such as spelling, grammar and syntax will be a part of the grade here. This paper is due into the class shell on or before December 11th.