Income Disparity in the U.S. (Low Wages and Minimum Wage, Working Poor, Homelessness, Unemployment)
Disciplines:
-Sociology
-Economics
Your final paper should include the following:
A brief discussion of your social issue, and how it rises to the level of social concern.
A brief discussion of each of the social science disciplines you have selected to gain insight on this social issue. Discuss the main goals of these disciplines as discussed in Part II of your textbook.
Using the sources selected in week 3, analyze how your selected social science disciplines have examined your selected social issue.
In your examination, identify if the authors used qualitative or quantitative methodologies and why they selected these methods.
Discuss one similarity and at least two key differences in the approaches or conclusions of these studies and relate these to the disciplines involved.
Explain, based upon your research, how using research from two social science disciplines can lead to a more complete understanding of social issues than only using research from a single discipline. In other words, how do the approaches and conclusions of your sources contribute to an interdisciplinary understanding of the topic? How is this a more complete understanding than a set of conclusions from sources only in one discipline?
Finally, explain how this interdisciplinary understanding might be applied within a social context in order to attempt to address this social issue.
Your Final Paper should generally be organized according to this structure and include the following content:
Introduction: Introduce the social problem and the two social science fields you will use to explore it.
State the thesis of your paper. Your thesis should relate to how these disciplines could be used to address this social problem.
Define the social issue selected as a social problem using relevant concepts from the course (1 paragraph).
Definition of social problem as a social problem.
Discussion of disciplines and their applicability to this social problem.
Discussion of disciplines and their applicability to this social problem (1 paragraph).
Describe how the concepts and theoretical approaches of your first social science field contribute to the understanding of your social problem.
Describe how the concepts and theoretical approaches of your second social science field contribute to the understanding of your social problem.
Discuss at least two differences between the approaches or findings of your chosen social science fields.
Analyze how the selected sources have examined your social problem (2-4 paragraphs).
Identify the methodologies used in the studies as quantitative or qualitative, and why these methodologies were used.
Discuss one similarity in the approach or findings of these studies.
Discuss at least two differences in the approach or findings of these studies and relate these to the disciplines you have examined.
Usefulness of approaching the issue from two social science fields (1-2 paragraphs).
Discuss how examining social issues from more than one social science field contributes to understanding society.
Explain how the interdisciplinary approach of looking at your problem from more than one social science perspective helps you to gain a more complete
understanding of your social issue compared to using only one perspective.
Explanation of how social science research can help address social problems (1-2 paragraphs.)
Explain how the findings of these sources can be applied within a social setting.
Conclusion
Sum up the primary points of the paper.
Restate your thesis.
The Final Paper:
Must be five to six double-spaced pages in length (not including title and references pages)
Must include a separate title page
Must document any information used from sources in APA Style
Must include a separate references page that is formatted according to APA Style as outlined in the Writing Center.
Must use at least four scholarly or peer-reviewed sources in addition to the course text.
Must be organized effectively
Must include an introduction and conclusion paragraph. Your introduction paragraph needs to end with a clear thesis statement that indicates the purpose of your paper.
Include body paragraphs that are organized effectively, including presenting evidence and the analysis of this evidence.
Must utilize academic voice.
