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SOC 101 - Introduction to Sociology
Mesa Community College
Assignment 2: Sociological Inquiry
Due by 11:59p on Sun, Week 4 - submit in Canvas
Purpose:
The primary goal of this exercise is to apply your developing sociological knowledge and skills
to your own experiences, observations and interpretations.
Directions and Suggestions:
Choose 2 Events and/or Observations you think are relevant to class material. Examine your
daily experiences and observations for examples you can connect to class information. Think
about past experiences (i.e. high school, your family). Think about decisions you have made,
articles you have read, movies and television programs you have watched, etc.
Describe the 2 Events and/or Observations. You will need to provide a brief summary of each
event/observation. This should include details such as location, timing (i.e. is this an ongoing
event/observation, does it appear to be a one-time event, is this an example of an event that
happens frequently), people involved (including demographic variables such as race, age,
gender, SES, etc).
Analyzing each Event and/or Observation. The final step in the process is conducting an analysis
of your chosen event and/or observation using knowledge of sociological concepts and theories
you have gained from the course to-date. The most important thing here is that the analysis
should not just be your opinion about the current event, but grounded in sociological concepts,
theory and prior research. You need to make a connection between the example you have
selected and sociology.
You will need to use at least 3 sociological concepts covered in this course to analyze EACH
current event (i.e. social construction, stratification, social control, crime, deviance), a total of 6
concepts. The sociological concepts used to analyze event 1 should be different from those used
to analyze event 2. The more specific reference you make to course material (i.e. studies
discussed in the book, supplemental materials, videos, articles you find on your own), the better
your assignment will be. If you cannot apply specific sociological concepts, theories or studies,
your assignment is probably incomplete; in this instance, you may want to choose a different
event/observation. (hint: you should define AND apply sociological concepts)
References. Remember whenever you directly or partly reference someone else's ideas (i.e.
material from the book) you must use in-text citations and a full reference in APA format. See
APA examples under FILES in “Resources” folder for proper formatting.