Sociology Article Summary – Focus On FINDINGS, METHODS, CONCEPTS And IDEAS On SOCIAL MOVEMENT

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REQUIREMENTS:

 

Read two (2); both provided summar of articles that are attached to the homework

 

  • NO QUOTES (Professor will fail me if I use quotes from the articles)

 

  • Big picture is detail; detail of FINDINGS is key

 

  • Write 450 words or more.  300 words or less earns a zero. Including more detail beyond 450 words is encouraged to make it more likely that you will earn a higher score.  The number of words does not secure a grade however — the most important thing is answering the question (summarizing the findings and methods) with detail and clarity.
  • Focus on CONCEPTS and IDEAS, especially the main arguments (please provide how many people in the survey and the years)
  • Discuss METHODS; (what kind of research is done, dates when data was collected, where study was done (geographic location), how many people they talk to – minimum of what you want to cover in your methods). More detail from the methods section is welcome.
  • FINDINGS; this is the most important part of your answer.  Discuss what is the main issue or question, then list out all of the possible answers/reasons/explanations for this question (independent variables), then you have your dependent variable and how its measured (what you are trying to explain), which of the independent variables have the largest impact on your dependent variable, which ones aren’t important at all. Don’t just state that some of the independent variables were not as important — describe the pattern uncovered for each.  So for gender, for example, you would say that women are more supportive of gay marriage than men — don’t just say gender wasn’t as important as other variables. In some cases you would say that the independent variable isn’t important at all (i.e. had no effect on the dependent variable), and the author will make that clear in the article.   After describing the influence of each independent variable on the dependent variable, then make sure to summarize again with detail how the most important independent variable influenced the dependent variable.  This basically mimics the argument presented in most of the articles.
  • Don’t forget to discuss race and how race was important to the findings.  Usually race will be one of the most important independent variables.
  • If your article is a literature review or qualitative piece it won’t have variables, and you will need to summarize the most important arguments in the paper.  An argument is a conclusion and the evidence used to support it.