Writing and Evaluation Standards Below is the standard for our assessment of written assignments and overall evaluation for course grades: Letter Grade Percentage Grade A 90-100 B 80-89 Meets all required elements of an assignment, and the quality of the work is better than what is required and demonstrated by the class average

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Writing and Evaluation Standards Below is the standard for our assessment of written assignments and overall evaluation for course grades: Letter Grade Percentage Grade A 90-100 B 80-89 Meets all required elements of an assignment, and the quality of the work is better than what is required and demonstrated by the class average. C 70-79 Meets all required elements of an assignment, no more, no less. Quality of assignment is satisfactory for college level work. D 60-69 Fails to meet all required elements of an assignment, and/or the quality of the assignment is less than satisfactory. F Zero Description Exceeds all required elements of an assignment, and the quality of the work is considerably greater than what was required. The quality of the work is considerably above the class average and impressive to the evaluator. Only meets some of the required elements of an assignment, and/or the quality of the assignment is considerably lower than satisfactory. 50% of points are not Less than 59 guaranteed. At this level points are only given if some elements of the assignment are met. If not, very low percentages are likely. 0 Fails to meet any of the required elements of an assignment, and/or the quality of the assignment is well below basic standards of writing, comprehension, and/or ability to follow instructions; assignment is late or incomplete; assignment is not turned in at all; assignment shows signs of plagiarism or other forms of academic dishonesty. In the latter case, honor code violations will be formally filed. These standards may be higher than you’ve encountered previously in your educational career. The distribution curve of final grades for this class consistently meets the standards for fair and rigorous evaluations. I am available to offer assistance, feedback, coaching, etc… to assist you in meeting these standards and taking away from this course the ability to perform at this level. You must seek me out and request this assistance, but if you do I promise the benefits of this course increase exponentially. Here are the guidelines to follow when writing for this class: Necessary information to be included on ALL written assignments that are printed No cover page is needed, but the following information must be included on the page: • Name (first and last); • Recitation Number and Recitation Day and Time (if applicable) • Assignment Description/title Clever Titles are always welcome For assignments turned in to Canvas the title is sufficient All papers submitted in this class must be: • Typed • formatted 1 inch margins all the way around (Note that the default setting in Microsoft Word is 1.25 inches so you will have to change this). • 11 or 12-point Palatino, Palatino Linotype, Geneva, or 10 point Verdana or Arial (the last two are recommended for ease of all learners). • Double spaced (2 sided print is fine if printing) • Include page numbers 1 • Within the page limit as stated in the assignment description • Stapled in the upper left hand corner (if printed) • All papers must properly reference lecture material, articles, and other works you use when writing your papers. • Referenced materials should be listed on the last page titled "References." Your references should follow the guidelines in the Citation and References section. Only include works paraphrased or quoted in the paper. • Papers that do not adhere to the aforementioned guidelines will receive a grade reduction of at least 10% of the possible points. • Please adhere to the maximum length of the assignment. There is no minimum length requirement. • Exceeding the maximum page length will result in only being graded on the content that falls within the stated page limit. • Follow the THREE SENTENCE RULE!! If you find yourself writing more than 3-5 sentences without a cited connection to class material you are likely burning space and not getting points for it. Make sure you maximize your use of limited space by making those connections specifically, explicitly, and properly cited. However, do not overquote or use excessively long quotes. This burns space also and doesn’t necessarily demonstrate your analysis. The strength of these connections that demonstrate your understanding of class material and your ability to analyze situations, issues, or experience sociologically is the primary source of points toward your grade on writing assignments. Content Expectations • You must fulfill the assignment's minimum terms, which are listed on the assignment itself. • If the assignment asks for you to develop and argue a thesis or topic statement of your crafting, you should write a persuasive argument using verifiable knowledge claims. Verifiable knowledge claims include citations for source materials. An argument is most persuasive when it: o is specific, rather than broadly generalizing. For example, try "Gender self-segregation occurs in this elementary school cafeteria" instead of "Girls and boys everywhere tend to be separate;" o Supplements its points with standard evidentiary materials (e.g. citations, illustrative quotes, studies from peer reviewed journals or other academic sources, etc); o is clearly laid out as if it were for a reader who is intelligent but unfamiliar with the material discussed. This means you must define sociological terms used and cite the source for how you are using those terms, even if they were introduced in lecture; o identifies, accurately portrays, and carefully responds to possible counterarguments. • You must connect your paper to course themes, concepts, and theories via readings, lectures, and/or discussions. Ideally, your paper will: o critically summarize the key points of the works cited if appropriate; o use the concepts or arguments of course readings to enrich your own independent observations and/or analysis by clearly quoting the studies, terms, or concepts with definitions from the source; o You may also use course readings as "foils" -- arguments you disagree with -- to help clarify your own arguments; o Whenever you reference readings, you need to have thought carefully about what the author(s) are saying and why what they are saying is important to your argument. You 2 need, in short, to demonstrate that you understand the article and its relationship to your analysis. Quality of Writing The quality of your writing is of utmost importance. In evaluating your work, we take many factors into account, from the particular to the general: o originality of writing style, presentation and/or substance of argument; o coherence and clarity at the sentence, paragraph, and overall argument levels; o understandable transitions that lead the reader from one point to the next; o correct grammatical form (e.g. verb tense agreement, consistency of pronouns, tenses and numbers [plural vs. singular] within sentences and paragraphs); o proper word usage (that is, you should be sure you understand the definitions of the words you choose; if you're uncertain, look it up); o spelling, punctuation, and general presentation of paper-it’s clear it has been proofed. A Few Words on Writing Technique • Omit needless words! • Avoid using the passive voice. Please use first-person pronouns instead of passive grammatical constructions or the use of the "royal or editorial 'we' ": o Use "In conclusion, I argue that..." rather than "We can see that..." or "It can be concluded that..." • Please avoid gender-specific pronouns when speaking of non-gender specific subjects (e.g. 'man' for 'humans'). Any one of the following alternatives will do: o s/he; he or she; his/her; him/her-Although this varies in academic settings, I am fine with they as a generic pronoun o "one" or "people": "One might think," or "People might think." o The typically academic rule is to use "they" as a gender-neutral alternative only with a corresponding plural pronoun and only where appropriate, but I accept this as standard for singular or plural use. • Punctuation goes inside quotation marks except if the punctuation: o is a semi-colon, colon, or double-dash {--}. For example: ? Ramon claimed, "The computer ate my paper." Later he said it was a "wolfhound" -- in sheep's clothing no less -- that was responsible for the malfunctioning of the computer. ? The clock "chimed"; the people gathered around it. o or follows a parenthetical citation. For example: Gilligan writes about "women's ways of knowing" (1985:77). • Avoid confusing affect and effect. o "Affect" is generally used as a verb. "Her conclusions were affected by the hurricane." (An exception is "affect" as the appearance of an emotional state: "He displayed a flat affect.") o "Effect" is generally used as a noun. "The hurricane had terrible effects on their research." (An exception is that you can use "effect" as a verb in its infinitive form: "to effect," as in "They passed the bill in order to effect change.") • Avoid confusing its and it's. o Its = possessive form of it o It's = the contraction for "it is." • On this note, avoid contractions as they informalize the writing. • Make sure you use appropriate terms for all groups referenced: i.e. people of color rather than “colored people;” when in doubt look it up or ask. • There should be a bibliography or "works cited" section. This page is in addition to the maximum number of pages. Citations within the text and the bibliography should adhere to American Sociological Society style guidelines as described in the following sections. Citations Material must be followed by an in-text citation when: 3 • • • • • someone other than you, the paper author, is being quoted directly; someone else's ideas or concepts are being used or referred to; someone else's examples are being used or referred to; lecture or class discussion material is referenced; and when factual claims are made or statistics are used. You should be citing references properly in every assignment, paper, and online submission you write for this class. If you don't think you used class material in a way that you need to cite, it is very likely you didn't write a paper that is eligible for a passing grade. Failure to reference such material is considered plagiarism. According to university standards you may be given a failing grade for the class not just for the specific assignment. Although you will almost exclusively be using readings from the class you still need to cite so that we are clear you know which author or to which concept you are referring. The following guidelines illustrate the formatting method used by the American Sociological Association. This method of citation and referencing is different from more commonly used methods such as APA or MLA. If in doubt, it is preferable that you reference too much and too frequently rather than too little. Direct Quotations Direct use of wording or quotes should be in quotation marks, followed by parentheses in which you include the author's last name, the year of publication and the page number of the quotation. In order to properly cite a quotation from a written source - a book, an article, a pamphlet, a handout, etc - you must provide three pieces of information: 1. Author's last name 2. Year of publication 3. Page number This information should be arranged as follows: "this is the end of my quote here" (Jones 1993:21). o Notice that the period is after the citation and both are outside of the quotes. For example: "We take as the domain of our study the legal order" (Chambliss 1982:2). The following variations of this are incorrect: (Rubin, 1993:99) - No comma is needed after the author’s name. ( Rubin 1993:99) - the space between the beginning parenthesis and Rubin is unnecessary. (Rubin 1993: 99) - the space after the colon and before the page number is unnecessary. (Rubin 1993,99) - a comma is used instead of a colon. (Rubin 1993;99) - a semi-colon is used instead of a colon. If you include the author's name and/or year of publication in the text of your sentence you do not need to provide it in the parenthetical citation. You do still need to include the page number. For example: As proof of this rise in scholarship, note that in 1982 Chambliss studied "the legal order" (2), OR: As Christina stated, "It ain't much but it is culturally accepted and recognized as the standard definition of sex” (1997:13). In order to properly cite a class discussion, film, presentation, lecture or speech given in class you must provide two pieces of information 1. Speaker's or instructor’s last name 4 2. Year of speech, lecture, presentation Note: you do not need to reference an exact date of presentation or lecture. Similarly to quoting a written source, if you use the lecturer's or guest speaker’s name in the body of the sentence it does not need to be repeated in the parenthetical citation at the end. For example: According to lectures given by Dr. Walden on the topic of sexual health, college students are “swimming in a pool of contagion” (2021). If you do not give the source in the sentence itself, this information should be included at the end of the sentence and/or quote. Nothing other than year is needed for date, and no commas needed. For example: This is the end of my sentence using a lecture concept (Walden 2021). Paraphrasing When paraphrasing ideas, theories, or using other’s concepts, be sure to give credit to the originator of the idea. It is often helpful to begin paraphrased information with “According to...” or “Some research has found...” to make it clear to the reader that the ideas are not your own. At the end of the paraphrased information, be sure to correctly cite the author and year of the relevant publication. Paraphrasing citations are only different than direct quotations in that a specific page number is no longer necessary to include. For example: According to recent research, women receive harsher sentences in the criminal justice system when their offense involves a transgression of proper gender behavior (Schur 1984). OR Although accounts of the reporting rate for sexual assault vary, most investigators (for example, Koss, Gidycz and Wisniewske 1987; Miller 1988) agree that reports by adolescent date rape victims are rare. OR Kanin and Parcell (1977) found that eighty-three percent of college women respondents reported having been victims of sexual aggression, sixty-one percent since beginning college. Multiple Authors For a source with more than one author you should give all names the first time you use the source, and thereafter you may cite by first author’s last name et al. For example: First citation: The Oxford English Dictionary was written “specifically for learners of English as a foreign or second language” (Hornby and Ruse 1976:82). ... On subsequent citation for the referencing of the Oxford English Dictionary you should use (Hornby et al 1976:82). Citing an Article Within an Edited Book or Journal In the text of your paper ALWAYS cite the author of the article you are using rather than the book or journal it came from. In the references section of your paper you will credit the book from which the article came as described below in the References section. Class Discussions, Presentations, and Films shown in class For lecture material or concepts used in your paper, you should cite as well, as we are using terms and concepts in very specific ways. Some readings will be discussed in class. In that case you should cite the author of the reading when referring to those concepts. Any other 5 information presented in class, including films and discussions, should be cited as given in example below. For example: In watching the movie American Pie (Weitz 1999) I saw many class themes illustrated. For example, the young men were “always ready and wanting sex” demonstrating that aspect of the male sexual script. This is also an example of hegemonic masculinity (Walden 2017) due to its “dominant” status as a cultural script in U. S. society. As in the film Everyday Racism (Walden 2021) shown in class, I too have witnessed casual and unnoticed microaggressions against people of color. o In the above examples you see that film titles should be italicized. In the text of your paper any references to class discussions, films, class presentations, or lecture concepts should be cited as: (Walden 2021) Internet Sources When using internet sources if appropriate, please include the author and date you accessed the specific page in the text of your paper in parentheses. If the author does not appear, replace the author with the page title. If the date does not appear, replace it with n.d. If you can't figure out the difference between the page title and the source title, they may be the same. Please see the reference section for what material must be included in that section. Visual Media If you use a movie or a television show as a source, you must cite this source as well. The general style for citing a movie, film or television episode in the text is (Director year) after you have referenced the movie title or show title in that sentence. With a television show you should include the date of original airing. EX: I saw many examples of social scripts in the film, Knocked Up (Apatow 2007). References/Works Cited section Complete references for all material used for your paper should appear on a reference page. This means for every citation in the body of your paper you must have a corresponding reference entry. References should be listed in alphabetical order by author—not by type of material or order of use in paper--alphabetically. If you use more than one source by the same author, list those by publication date from oldest to most recent. • • • • Alphabetize sources according to primary author’s last name-list all authors’ full names (see examples below) Italicize the title of books, magazines, journals, or films. Place quotation marks around the title of articles or any other work that appears within a publication. Format each entry with a hanging indent. o A hanging indent means that the first line begins flush with the 1" margin. Any subsequent lines of text are indented an additional .5". The easiest way to make sure your references are formatted properly is to copy them exactly from the first page of the readings or a document provided in the course. References will be slightly different depending upon their source, but the following examples should be helpful: Books should be referenced this way: Authors last name, first name. Year. Title of book. Publishing location: Publisher. 6 Ferrante, Joan. 2009. Sociology: A Global Perspective. Belmont, CA: Thomson Wadsworth. Journal Articles should be referenced this way: Author’s last name, first name. Year. “Title of article”. Title of Journal. Volume number, (issue number if given): Pp. #-#. Daly, Kathleen and Meda Chesney-Lind. 1988. “Feminism and Criminology”. (4): 497-538. Justice Quarterly 5 Articles or Chapters in Edited Books should be referenced this way: Author’s Last name, First name. Year. “Title of article or chapter”. Pages in editor’s name(s) (Ed.), Title of Book. Publishing location: Publisher. Blumberg, Abraham S. 1981. “The Practice of Law as a Con Game” Pp. 144-165 in Robert G. Culbertson and Mark R. Tezak (Eds.), Order Under Law. Prospect Heights, IL: Waveland Press. Lecture Material should be referenced this way: Walden, Glenda. 2021. Unpublished lecture material. Boulder, CO: University of Colorado. Electronic sources should be referenced in this way: "Author. Year. "Title of page" Title of Source. TYPE OF SOURCE and date accessed and complete url. You must provide the date accessed as electronic sources change frequently. The page title is for the specific page you used, while the source title is the broader set of pages/website. The dat...