Category: Sociology

For this final Review Checkpoint, you only need one detailed paragraph.
Sociological studies of inequality often point out what’s wrong in society because an increase in awareness is the first step to resistance and change. However, this semester, we also learned a lot of great achievements for women and feminism. Compose a detailed paragraph on your favorite contribution, individual, law, or other institutional “win” for gender. Discuss their/its importance. 
Submit your assignment in ONE Word or PDF file.
I would like to choose the feminist movement.

link to find (4) peer-reviewed
journal articles that relate to their matter of concern and empirical research question.
https://stmu.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/discovery/fulldisplay?vid=01UCALG_MARY:STMU&docid=alma991000646583304339&context=L&lang=en
here is the article that we used in the Matter Concern Paper.

Brampton trucker tried to import 188 bricks of suspected cocaine into Canada: officials

Final Essay is on, “Envisioning the Future and Creating Social Change.” This essay is worth 80 points and serves as your final exam. Please write three pages discussing what you learned and how you can use this information to better yourself AND others, your community, or the world. Analysis must be from a MACRO rather than micro lens (not goals for only yourself, but goals for the community). Must include in depth analysis of three (3) sociological concepts or theories. Paper must also include references to 3-5 of the papers that you read this semester. Must be turned in on Final Exam Day set by PGCC by 11:59pm via Canvas. 
Final Paper Format: Typed, doubled spaced, Times New Roman, 12-pt font, 1-inch margins. APA, ASA, MLA, etc are fine as long as you are consistent.
Final should include a title page and reference page.
You MUST use in-text ciations. Give credit if not your words or ideas. All in-text citations must be associated with an appropriate reference from the reference section.

Assignment: Module 1 Sociological Thinking and Theories Infographic
Mark as done Start Assignment
Due Sunday by 11:59pm
Points 100
Submitting a file upload
Available until May 24 at 11:59pm
Introduction
We explored the historical context of sociological thinking and the social theories or perspectives prevalent in the 20th and 21st centuries. In this activity, you will create an infographic on the historical context of sociological thinking and social theories showing your understanding of the influence and role of sociological thinking and social theories in the development of sociology.
Remember to view the assignment rubric (see below) before completing the assignment.
Assignment Instructions
Review the module resources on sociological thinking and social theories/perspectives.  
Select the format for your infographic.
Create a well-organized and visually appealing infographic thoroughly addressing the following topics:
The historical context in which sociological thinking developed
The influence of sociological thinking on sociology
The differences between functionalist, conflict, symbolic interactionist, and postmodern perspectives/theories in the 20th and 21st century
If you are using slides you will need a minimum of 3 slides. If you create an infographic you will need a minimum of 3 sections.
Check for grammar, spelling, punctuation, and APA formatting.
Cite and reference all resources utilized in the assignment.  There should be two or more references. 
Submit the assignment by the due date listed in the course schedule to your instructor and the Sociological Thinking and Social Theories Page in Module One. 
Resources for Infographic
Canva
PowerPoint
Google Slides
ThingLink
Prezi
Adobe Spark
Visme
Piktochart
Grading Criteria
Review the rubric for specific grading criteria.
Rubric
Sociological Thinking
Sociological Thinking
Criteria Ratings Pts
This criterion is linked to a Learning OutcomeHistorical Context in Which Sociological Thinking Developed
20 pts
Excellent
The infographic includes a comprehensive description of the historical context in which sociological thinking developed. The infographic demonstrates an in-depth understanding of concepts through the application of course content. Concepts are synthesized into the student’s own perception. The concluding remarks summarize and synthesize ideas.
18 pts
Good
The infographic includes an accurate and detailed description of the historical context in which sociological thinking developed. The infographic demonstrates an understanding of concepts through the application of course content. Most concepts are synthesized into the student’s own perception. The concluding remarks summarize and synthesize most ideas.
16 pts
Satisfactory
The infographic includes an adequate description of the historical context in which sociological thinking developed. The infographic demonstrates a basic understanding of concepts through the application of course content. Some concepts are synthesized into the student’s own perception. The concluding remarks summarize and synthesize some ideas; not all concepts are supported in the infographic.
12 pts
Needs Improvement
The infographic fails to provide an adequate description of the historical context in which sociological thinking developed.
0 pts
No Submission
The student did not submit the assignment.
20 pts
This criterion is linked to a Learning OutcomeInfluence of Sociological Thinking on Sociology
20 pts
Excellent
The infographic includes a comprehensive description of the historical context in which sociological thinking developed. The infographic demonstrates an in-depth understanding of concepts through the application of course content. Concepts are synthesized into the student’s own perception. The concluding remarks summarize and synthesize ideas.
18 pts
Good
The infographic includes an accurate and detailed description of the historical context in which sociological thinking developed. The infographic demonstrates an understanding of concepts through the application of course content. Most concepts are synthesized into the student’s own perception. The concluding remarks summarize and synthesize most ideas.
16 pts
Satisfactory
The infographic includes an adequate description of the historical context in which sociological thinking developed. The infographic demonstrates a basic understanding of concepts through the application of course content. Some concepts are synthesized into the student’s own perception. The concluding remarks summarize and synthesize some ideas; not all concepts are supported in the infographic.
12 pts
Needs Improvement
The infographic fails to provide an adequate description of the historical context in which sociological thinking developed. The infographic fails to demonstrate an understanding of concepts through the application of course content. Not all concepts are synthesized in the student’s own words. Concluding remarks do not adequately summarize ideas.
0 pts
No Submission
The student did not submit the assignment.
20 pts
This criterion is linked to a Learning OutcomeThe Differences between Functionalist, Conflict, Symbolic Interactionist, and Postmodern Perspectives or Theories in the 20th and 21st Centuries
20 pts
Excellent
The infographic includes a comprehensive description of the differences between functionalist, conflict, symbolic interactionist, and postmodern perspectives/theories in the 20th and 21st centuries. The infographic demonstrates an in-depth understanding of concepts through the application of course content. Concepts are synthesized into the student’s own perception. The concluding remarks summarize and synthesize ideas.
18 pts
Good
The infographic includes an accurate and detailed description of the differences between functionalist, conflict, symbolic interactionist, and postmodern perspectives/theories in the 20th and 21st centuries. The infographic demonstrates an understanding of concepts through the application of course content. Most concepts are synthesized into the student’s own perception. The concluding remarks summarize and synthesize most ideas.
16 pts
Satisfactory
The infographic includes an adequate description of the differences between functionalist, conflict, symbolic interactionist, and postmodern perspectives/theories in the 20th and 21st centuries. The infographic demonstrates a basic understanding of concepts through the application of course content. Some concepts are synthesized into the student’s own perception. The concluding remarks summarize and synthesize some ideas; not all concepts are supported in the infographic.
12 pts
Needs Improvement
The infographic fails to provide an adequate description of the differences between functionalist, conflict, symbolic interactionist, and postmodern perspectives/theories in the 20th and 21st centuries. The infographic fails to demonstrate an understanding of concepts through the application of course content. Not all concepts are synthesized in the student’s own words. Concluding remarks do not adequately summarize ideas.
0 pts
No Submission
The student did not submit the assignment.
20 pts
This criterion is linked to a Learning OutcomeInfographic
20 pts
Excellent
The infographic has a cohesive, visually pleasing, and appropriate background. The infographic contains high-quality graphics/icons that help the audience understand the content and does not detract from the infographic.
18 pts
Good
The infographic has a cohesive background throughout. The infographic mostly contains appropriate graphics/icons that help the audience understand the content and do not detract from the infographic.
16 pts
Satisfactory
The infographic does not consistently use a visually pleasing and/or appropriate background. The images contained are not high-quality and/or they are not appropriate and detract from the infographic.
12 pts
Needs Improvement
The infographic does not have a cohesive, visually pleasing, and/or appropriate background. The infographic does not contain graphics and/or the graphics contained distract from the content.
0 pts
No Submission
The student did not submit the assignment.
20 pts
This criterion is linked to a Learning OutcomeClarity and Cohesiveness
5 pts
Excellent
The student effectively connects information from all sources. Infographic smoothly flows from one topic to the next without the need for headings. The student’s writing expertly expresses a relationship between all sources.
4.5 pts
Good
For the most part, the student connects information from all sources. Infographic flows with only some disjointedness. The student’s writing expresses a relationship between all sources.
4 pts
Satisfactory
Sometimes the student connects information from all sources. Infographic lacks a consistent flow. The student’s writing does not consistently express a relationship between all sources.
3 pts
Needs Improvement
The infographic fails to connect information from all sources. Infographic does not flow – disjointedness is apparent. The student’s writing shows a minimal understanding of the relationship between all sources.
0 pts
No Submission
The student did not submit the assignment.
5 pts
This criterion is linked to a Learning OutcomeGrammar and Mechanics
5 pts
Excellent
Infographic is free from spelling, punctuation, and grammatical errors. The tone of the infographic is appropriate for the audience.
4.5 pts
Good
Infographic contains minimal (1-2) spelling, punctuation, and/or grammatical errors. In a few instances, the tone of the infographic becomes too informal.
4 pts
Satisfactory
Infographic contains several (3-5) spelling, punctuation, and/or grammatical errors. Infographic is not always written in an appropriate tone for the audience.
3 pts
Needs Improvement
Infographic contains significant errors (more than 5) in grammar, spelling, and/or punctuation. The tone of the infographic is not appropriate for the audience.
0 pts
No Submission
The student did not submit the assignment.
5 pts
This criterion is linked to a Learning OutcomeAPA Guidelines
5 pts
Excellent
The infographic is written following all APA style guidelines.
4.5 pts
Good
The infographic contains minimal APA style guideline formatting errors.
4 pts
Satisfactory
The infographic contains several APA style guidelines and/or formatting errors.
3 pts
Needs Improvement
The infographic is not properly formatted per APA style guidelines.
0 pts
No Submission
The student did not submit the assignment.
5 pts
This criterion is linked to a Learning OutcomeReferences
5 pts
Excellent
Meets or exceeds the two or more required current sources, peer-review journal articles, and/or scholarly books. Sources include both general background sources and specialized sources. Special-interest sources and popular literature are acknowledged as such if they are cited. All websites utilized are authoritative. Cites all data obtained from other sources. APA citation style is used in both text and bibliography.
4.5 pts
Good
Less than the two or more required references and/or the references submitted were not from current sources, peer-review journal articles, and/or scholarly books. Most sources include both general background sources and specialized sources. Most special-interest sources and popular literature are acknowledged as such if they are cited. Most websites utilized are authoritative. Cites most data obtained from other sources. APA citation style is used in both text and bibliography.
4 pts
Satisfactory
Less than the two or more required references and the references submitted were not from current sources, peer-review journal articles, and/or scholarly books. Not many sources include both general background sources and specialized sources. Some special-interest sources and popular literature are acknowledged as such if they are cited. Some websites utilized are authoritative. Cites some data obtained from other sources. Citation style is either inconsistent or incorrect.
3 pts
Needs Improvement
No references were included and/or does not cite sou

You are to write a 7-page paper in proper APA 7th Edition format. For your paper, you will create a fictional character for a movie. The character should be in a management position. Your paper should utilize appropriate course material (and material from your research).
Ensure you address the following topics in your paper:
Describe the personality of your character (this is to help the reader understand the challenges your leader faces).
How did your character develop their management traits?
Identify three management traits the leader possesses, and explain why they are necessary for a successful manager.
Discuss how you can develop each skill or trait in your own life. Training, education, experience, etc. – but be specific (if you create goals, they should be SMART).
What are the possible disadvantages of having these traits?
How have you seen the selected traits utilized effectively in your own experiences in life?
How can you market the traits (for this, I would like to see resume bullets for each of the traits)? Put yourself in your character’s shoes, as if they were writing a resume.
How do you relate to your character? Could you be managed by him/her/it?
The paper must include the following (all in proper APA 7th edition format):
Cover Page
Body
Reference Page
Attached to these instructions, you will find a sample APA paper to give you some visual clues for proper formatting.
Two additional resources from APUS online library
Two additional resources from the internet
Wikipedia or similar sites are NOT acceptable sources for this paper.
Have fun writing this and developing a character; I like imaginative papers!

Write me a 2500 word essay thats well researched, please do not go over the word count as they are very strict. It needs to have thurough research (use a lot of sources). Please follow this exact outline : Does the richness of the few benefit society as a whole? Discuss with reference to
the sociology of elites
Introduction (300 words)
Opening Statement: Introduce the concept of elite wealth and its perceived benefits and detriments to society.
There exists a significant gap between the wealthiest individuals in society and the remainder of the population, highlighting the concentration of wealth within a select few. There is a substantial disagreement among people regarding the impact of the rich’s fortune on the development of society. This is due to their abundant resources and significant economic prowess. There are some who argue that the prosperity of the privileged class contributes to economic expansion, fosters innovation, and provides financial backing for philanthropic endeavours. Nevertheless, dissenting voices argue that it exacerbates inequality, unjustly impacts political outcomes, and undermines social cohesion. This essay contends that the purported advantages of wealth concentration among the affluent are significantly surpassed by the negative consequences, including inequality, political manipulation, and societal fragmentation. This presentation will demonstrate that the accumulation of money by the elite does not significantly benefit society as a whole. Instead, it perpetuates a cycle of inequality and conflict by examining the profound impact on social structures.
Thesis Statement: Assert that the concentration of wealth among the elite mainly poses harms to society, overshadowing the economic and cultural contributions by fostering inequality, political manipulation, and social fragmentation.
The riches of the elite has a negative impact on society. The possible cultural and economic advantages are overshadowed by the systemic inequalities, political manipulation, and social fragmentation that result from it. This pervasive impact can be observed in a variety of contexts, ranging from escalating economic disparities and weakening equitable labour practices to altering political outcomes and cultural manifestations, all of which erode the fundamental principles of just and sustainable social progress.
Overview of Argument: Present the structure of the essay, focusing on the negative impacts of elite wealth on societal structures, while also acknowledging some benefits.
Section 1: Theoretical Frameworks (600 words)
Marxist Perspective: Discuss Karl Marx’s critique of capitalism, emphasizing how wealth accumulation intensifies class conflict and societal discord.
Elite Theory: Detail theories by figures such as C. Wright Mills and Gaetano Mosca, illustrating how the elite control societal resources and institutions, perpetuating a power imbalance.
Dependency Theory: Examine how elites in developed nations maintain global inequality that affects developing countries, referencing theorists like Andre Gunder Frank.
Section 2: Economic Detriments of Elite Richness (700 words)
Wealth Inequality: Analyze how elite wealth exacerbates the economic gap, referencing studies by economists like Thomas Piketty.
Labor Exploitation: Argue how elite-driven economies often compromise on fair labor practices to maximize profits, leading to exploitation and unsustainability.
Section 3: Political and Social Detriments (700 words)
Political Influence: Investigate how elite wealth translates into disproportionate political power, resulting in policies that primarily benefit the wealthy.
Social Alienation and Fragmentation: Discuss the social implications such as the alienation of economically lower classes and erosion of social cohesion due to disparities in lifestyle and opportunity.
Section 4: Cultural and Environmental Consequences (600 words)
Cultural Domination: Explore how the cultural preferences of the elite may overshadow and marginalize diverse cultural expressions.
Environmental Degradation: Discuss the impact of elite consumption patterns on environmental sustainability and climate change.
Section 5: Counterarguments and Minor Benefits (500 words)
Acknowledging Benefits: Recognize the positive impacts of elite wealth like philanthropy and technological investments.
Rebuttal: Critically evaluate and argue that these benefits are insufficient to offset the broader economic, political, and social detriments.
Conclusion (300 words)
Summary of Key Points: Summarize the main arguments regarding the negative impacts of elite wealth on economic equality, political integrity, and social cohesion.
Restatement of Thesis: Reaffirm that the harms caused by the concentration of wealth among the elite significantly outweigh its benefits.
Closing Reflection: Suggest potential policy measures or societal changes aimed at reducing wealth concentration among the elite, promoting a more equitable distribution of resources and power.
Freeland, C. (2012). Plutocrats: The Rise of the New Global Super-Rich and the Fall of Everyone Else. Penguin Books.
I havre written and intro with ai and it needs to be fixed 

Write a 7-10 pages paper(double space) 
analysis or discussion of a social problem, concept or theoretical tradition. You will insert at least 3quotes from relevant authors or theoretical works and i will give you the author that you could refer to and a google drive link that contain the article you can read in the attachment section. You should also include a bibliography in 
This essay as well. Remember this is a theory paper. Google drive:https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1yCelGUw3Vyb0zRCHNFC35MqK22Kuz2mV

argue points around all the following questions:
What challenges do Black content creators face in building and maintaining a platform on TikTok? How do AfricanAuties represent “Supportive Affordances and Black Joy”? Explain what AfricanAunties are and what they achieve.
What are the benefits and challenges of using TikTok in online sociology of sex and gender courses? [You only need to focus on the qualitative results.]
How is sex education on TikTok positive and negative? What are the implications of sex-education-focused videos on TikTok for practice, policy, and research?
Using only 
Performing diasporic digital disbelongings on TikTok
“Honestly, I Think TikTok has a Vendetta Against Black Creators”: Understanding Black Content Creator Experiences on TikTok
Teaching with TikTok in Online Sociology of Sex and Gender Courses
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0092055X231159091
Sex education on TikTok: A content analysis of themes 

Your goal is to edit such
a book and write its introduction by:
(1) finding four
scholarly journal articles that will become the chapters of the book about a Social Mobility
(2) deciding on a catchy
title and cover picture for the book
(3) figuring out a
logical order for the chapters
(4) providing the table
of contents
(5) writing the introduction to the book, emphasizing its importance for
the reader and each chapter’s contribution to sociology as well as function in
your book. This will be the main body of your written work.   
Editors use different
criteria when choosing articles that will eventually become their chapters.
Some might want each chapter to reflect what is happening today in various
countries around a social issue they are exploring, others might want to
reflect how the ideas of one single major theoretical perspective applies to a
range of problems, while others might simply commission colleagues they have
known for several years and who share some common interest to write a chapter.
YOUR GOAL WILL BE DIFFERENT:
As
someone who has been exposed to classical sociological theory this semester,
you want each chapter of the book to reflect how each theoretical perspective
we will have seen (Weber, Marx, Durkheim, and W.E.B Dubois)
applies to the study of a sociological question. As such, each article you find
should be written by someone who identifies with and uses one of these
perspectives and carries out research on your topic. Once you have done this, you can write the introduction to the
book.  

These are the instructions for the research papers you write this semester.  The instructions are the same for all the papers.  The structure and instructions are the same for each paper, but the topic for each paper will be different.  Each paper is 500-700 words.  To maximize your likelihood for success, you will want to use almost all of the 700 words and you will want to write carefully and concisely.
You probably should look at the introduction to the paper in the syllabus and especially the sample paper first before reading these instructions. 
You can find a video instruction of me interpreting these instructionshere (Links to an external site.)
This instructional video uses the example of inequality.  You may still use inequality, as long as you don’t copy anything from the video. Also the video was made several years ago when people wrote 5 papers instead of the two that you have to write. Obviously you can ignore the instruction at the end of the video that talks about when to submit the 5 papers.  You are only submitting 2 papers this semester. 
There are four parts to the paper instructions below – 1. choosing a topic, 2. conducting the survey, 3. describing table findings, and 4. analyzing the news article. 
Step 1. Choosing a topic. 
Before starting the live survey interview, open the survey and read through the questions. Choose one of the 7 listed topics for open ended questions, which include the topics of death penalty, police misconduct, family problems, economic inequality, homelessness, music, or social movements.  The open ended questions are written for you.  You will choose which of the topics, and that will determine the open ended question and the overall topic of your paper. 
Each time it must be a unique topic, so each of your papers is written on a different topic. If you submit a second paper on the same topic as a previous paper it will not be accepted.  “Environment” is not a valid topic for a graded paper, since that topic was used for instruction and practice.. The topic will determine all parts of the paper — the title, the topic for the table, the topic for the open ended question, the topic for th news source, etc.  See the sample paper for an example. 
Step 2.  Conducting the Survey. 
Conduct an interview using the entire survey. 
The proper link to access the survey is here
https://fresnostate.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_2atvFVjwMLpt9To
(this link may change so make sure to come back here and click the link each time you start a new interview).
The first question should have several sentences of introduction before asking about the zip code.  If you don’t see these sentences in the first question, copy the URL above and paste it into a new browser. Or clear the cache on your existing browser.
To conduct the survey, you orally read each question to the respondent and document their answers by making the appropriate choices on the screen.  Ask your respondent all the closed-ended, forced choice questions for all the topics in the survey.  If they are unclear about any question, re-read the question.  Do not interpret or change the wording of a question.  If their answer doesn’t fit one of the choices, try to get them to choose one of the existing answer choices.  Please give them the answer choices again, but if they repeatedly say something different, choose “no answer”.    Hit next at the bottom of each screen until you get to the last page, then hit submit button to complete the survey.  If you don’t hit submit at the end, you may not get credit for your survey interview, and your paper will not be graded until this is resolved.
You must fill out all the answers in the survey for your respondent during the interview.  You ask all the forced choice questions in the survey — all the questions covering all the topics on each page of the survey must be answered.  The only questions you may skip are all but one of the open-ended questions. 
You will choose only one of the 7 listed open-ended questions to ask your respondent, and the other 6 open-ended questions will be ignored.  In each of your interviews (one for each paper), you will ask a different open ended question, so by the end of the semester you will have conducted unique interviews with different people for each paper, and each one of these people is asked all of the closed-ended questions on the survey, and one unique open ended question.
After the open-ended question that you choose, there is a textbox where it asks you to enter your name, as the interviewer.  
You will not get credit for the interview unless you enter your name in the textbox related to the open-ended question your chose.       
All of the forced-choice, closed-ended questions must be answered.  If your respondent wants to skip one, you still must choose “no answer”.  If your respondent wants to skip more than a few of these closed-ended questions in the survey, they should be considered an unwilling participant, and you should complete a different survey interview with a willing participant.  
If you submit a paper with skipped closed-ended questions, or with many “no answer” choices for these questions, the paper will earn a zero.
You should interview your friends and family.  Do not interview people with whom you do not already have a relationship. Your respondents must all be willing participants.  
Your respondent must be over 18, not in this class, and must have never taken the survey before.  
Your interview is anonymous.  That means you hide the name of the person you interview.  Do not submit their name on the paper, the survey or the audio recording.
In your open ended interview question, you should ask the questions listed.  Make sure all questions are not personal or stressful in any way. If the questions appear to be stressful to your respondent, then you should redirect to a different topic or stop the interview.  
The number one ethical responsibility is to do no harm to people we talk to.  
That means no more harm than everyday life. That’s why we make sure all discussion remains about public issues, not private problems. 
Don’t get personal!  We are talking about public issues, not personal problems.
If people  begin talking about private problems, your job is to quickly change the subject to the level of public discussion.  Ask the respondent to discuss these personal things with you after the interview is over.   If the issue of getting personal persists, then you must stop the interview and contact the professor.
If you are at all concerned about people finishing the open ended question, you can tell the person before starting the interview which open-ended topic you will ask them about and tell them that you and them need to talk about this topic for at least 3 minutes.  You shouldn’t give them the exact questions and they don’t need to prepare or anything like that, but sometimes respondents respond better if they know ahead of time about the open-ended question.  It is your job to know your respondents and whether you need to tell them ahead of time what topic they will be discussing.  Personally I tend to think that the default should be that you do not tell the respondents which topic they will be asked to discuss, but because you know your respondents, I will leave the decision to you. 
Also, make sure they understand (and you carefully follow through) that we will not ask their names or relationship to you, and that all the data we collect will not include names or identifying information.  
You need to audio record the interview, and submit the recording to our shared box folder.  If you submit an accurate typed transcript as well (to this same Box folder), then this will be given a small amount of “extra credit” added to your paper grade.
If you want to only record the open-ended portion of the survey interview, that’s OK.  Otter has a 20 minute limit on its free plan.  The survey should take about 20 minutes, even with the open-ended question, but it could be longer depending on the situation.   So I’m OK with recording either the full interview or just the portion with them answering your open-ended questions.
All of the interviews must be audio recorded, and all may be audio only interviews, although I encourage face-to face interviews where safe and appropriate.   For the quality of the research, it is better if interviews are conducted in a face to face fashion where you can see the respondent and they can see you.   I still encourage you to literally meet with the respondents when safe and appropriate, but many find audio or video interviews (zoom, skype, facetime, etc) their best choice, which is totally acceptable.  In your paper, you must clearly state how you met your respondent — online or in person.  The audio recording still must be completed even if you did a video.  The interviews are supposed to be anonymous, so please DO NOT SUBMIT VIDEO FILES.  If you can only record a video file, then you will need to transform it to audio first before submitting to Box.  Zamzar (Links to an external site.) is the standard I have always used.
There are many tools available for recording telephone and other audio discussions.  Ottervoice is my favorite.  Google can help with this, as can a simple search on the play store.  I suggest you look into ottervoice recorder, as it produces transcripts, which is an amazing feature.  There are a lot of other software companies out there that provide free transcription — the best companies have a limited free plan; the Ottervoice free plan is very generous and their app for your cellphone is really great.   If you use zoom for the interview, you can use their free transcription service that is built into your Fresno State zoom account.  
Each audio recording must be at least 3 minutes for the open ended part  There is no maximum for the recording. You must submit this recording to our shared Box folder (you were already sent an invitation to Box via email).   The filename for the audio recording must be your full name and topic of the interview.  If the recording is not uploaded, the paper will not be graded.
In your paper, you must summarize your respondent’s answer to your follow up open-ended questions in 1 paragraph (about 100 words). 
Step 3. Describing table findings (about 300 words). 
In this step you are describing the findings from tables on your topic.  You access the data HERE.  Or the same data are available in the Modules page of Canvas.  You may download those documents and copy the tables you will use in your paper into your own paper before submitting. The output files are listed by topic.  You will use these files to choose tables that you will analyze in your paper.  You can simply copy the relevant table and paste it into your paper. 
Providing a full analysis of one table and a summary analysis of the significance of at least 3 other related tables will allow you to meet the requirement. 
You choose a chi squared chart that places in the row a variable on the same topic as you chose for your open ended questions.   
For your main table, you must choose a significant table (i.e,. one that has a chi squared value of .05 or below).  A picture of this table must be in the paper.  Report the questions this table is covering. You must interpret the table by reporting and interpreting the chi squared value.  To do this, you need to report the value, and interpret it.  If it is below .05, you want to say something like “because it is below .05, that means there is a statistically significant relationship between the row variable, environmental concern, and the column variable, employment, so that people’s answer about environmental concern differed based on their employment.”  Next is the most important part – reporting and interpreting the percentages (report all the percentages in those 2 most important rows). 
It is a very good idea to present the percentages in order of highest to lowest in the row, to show the reader that you actually understand the findings, instead of just copying them (but its also acceptable to present them in the same order as the table — i.e, read across the row).  Do not present the percentages by reading down the column – read across the row, not down the column.  Before you start thinking about presenting the percentages, you have to slow down and figure out which rows you will discuss. 
You can only discuss two rows and these must be the 2 most important rows. 
It takes skill to choose the most important rows.  The most important rows are chosen because they have the highest and/or lowest residuals (ideally these will be opposite rows — e.g., strongly agree and strongly disagree).  Do not choose “other/refused/don’t know” as one of the 2 most important rows.  The residuals that are positive (2 or above) represent much more than expected and the residuals that are negative (-2 or below) represent much less than expected.   In your writing, you don’t report or interpret the residuals but you have to use them to choose the 2 most important rows.   
Lets talk about the residuals a little bit more, because it is important and new and sometimes it is a stumbling point for students.  
How do you choose the 2 most important rows?
So ideally they should be opposites — e.g., “agree” and “disagree” or “strongly agree” and “strongly disagree” would be ideal choices for the 2 most important rows.  Also agree and strongly disagree and strongly agree and disagree would be different enough.  So that gives you a lot of choices.  So how do you decide?  The real way to choose — meaning the accurate, statistical way to do it — is to look at the standardized residuals.
The two rows you choose should have the highest positive and the lowest negative residuals, compared to all rows in the table.   .2 is higher than .1, while  -.2 is lower than -.1.  
What do these residuals mean? The residuals tell you why the table is statistically significant, because some responses varied more than would have happened randomly.  The residuals tell you where the action is, so you really know what are the most important findings of the table.
You use the residuals to choose the 2 most important rows.  You present all the percentages in those rows (do not present and interpret the findings by reading down the column — read across the rows).  And then you have to interpret the pattern uncovered by these percentages.  The findings will always be about the groups in the column of the table and the differences between them.
Which groups were most likely to give which answers?  So in the paper you must not just report the all the percentages in the 2 most important rows, you must also interpret the meaning of those percentages you just reported in the 2 most important rows.  Next, summarize the meaning of the findings you just reported in your own words, without using numbers.  In other words, in ever simpler terms what the table is saying about the differences between (two of) the groups in the columns of your table.  
When presenting the percentages in the 2 most important rows, don’t present percentages for the group “other”, “dont know” “refused” or similar meaningless groups.  The most important reason that we ignore these is that the numbers of people in these groups is too small for their percentages to be meaningful.  For example, perhaps a table might show that 50% of those that refused to answer a question chose “strongly agree” compared to all other groups who chose that answer choice at only 20%.  That seems meaningful, but it is not because that 50% only represents a very small number of people.  The second and also important reason that we ignore these groups is that they are meaningless or fake groups — a “don’t know” or “refused” group doesn’t represent anything socially important, at least not in the way that we talk about “real” groups that do matter — gender groups (male, female), race groups (black, white, native, asian), marriage groups (married, not married), etc.   
OK, now, you have already reported everything from your main table.  Its time to do a summary analysis of at least 3 other chi squared values. Your task is to glance through the chi squared values on at least three other demographics for that same row variable as your main table, and just describe which demographic variables have significant chi squared values, and which do not (i.e., report and interpret the chi squared values for these 3 other tables).   Again, you will want to interpret the chi squared values (see above).  This part of presenting and interpreting the chi squared value on 3 additional tables should take no more than 2 sentences.
In sum, you will choose a single, significant table and fully report the results from that table, and then choose at least 3 other tables — with different demographic variables for the columns and the same variable for the row as the table for which you reported full results – and report and interpret only the chi squared values in those 3 tables.  
Here’s how it might be understood in steps, 
1. download the file with the chi squared tables about your topic
2. choose a valid statistically significant table and describe the row and column variables
3. report and interpret the chi squared value
4. choose the 2 most important rows, using standardized residuals
5. report percentages for all groups in first row
6. Interpret findings from first row
7. report percentages for all groups in second row
8. interpret findings from second row
9. based on row findings, summarize overall table findings (without referencing percentages).
10. report and interpret chi squared findings for 3 other tables that use the same row variable as your main table. 
You  should be able to accomplish all 10 steps needed to successfully describe table findings, in less than 1 page(300 words). 
Step 4.  Analyzing a news article (about 300 words).
Find a relevant news article about the topic in your chart, preferably a local story.  I suggest you use Google News or Fresno Bee.  Logging in through the library (And even using their library databases) will improve your access, and help ensure you are not being asked to pay for an article.  Do not pay for an article for this assignment.  There are thousands published every day for free on any of our topics.   The article you choose must be from a legitimate, recognized news outlet, not a person’s site or blog, and not a non-news organization’s site or blog.   Write a critique of the article, as described below. 
It is your job to find an article that relates to the topic of the chart. 
The following are a list of topics to discuss in your discussion of the news article.  Please, in your paper, use the keywords below (e..g, “The issue the author is discussing is . . . ” and “The author concludes . . .” and “The reasons the author gives for his conclusion is” . . . ).  I’ve bolded the important keywords.   Please bold the keywords in your paper (see the sample paper for an example).
1. What issue is the author discussing?
2. What conclusion is the author suggesting?
3. What reasons does the author present for supporting that conclusion?
4. What ambiguous language does the author use?
5. What assumptions does the author make?
6. What logical fallacies (or “Bad Arguments) does the author use? (Use at least one fallacy from the “Book of Bad Arguments”).
7. Is the author using strong evidence?
8. Is the author making reasonable statistical and causal claims?
9. What information is omitted?
10. Given the factors answered above, does this article present a strong argument and reasonable conclusion?
See below for more detail about each of these 10 factors.
Make sure you exactly use the bold words in your submission.  Do not give the answer that it does not apply or was not found in the article.   You should present your statements in the same order as listed here.
1. What issue is the author discussing? — What controversy is addressed?
2. What conclusion is the author suggesting? — What does the author want you to believe or do about this controversy?
3. What reasons does the author present for supporting that conclusion?  — What beliefs or evidence is used to support the conclusion?  This part needs to be fully explained.  There is almost always some type of evidence, even if its an interview of a random person.   Usually you will find some expert testimony or statistics.   Sometimes it is just opinion or intuition or metaphors. The reasons are the logic about how to interpret the evidence and what that evidence means in the context of the author’s argument.   You will need to describe the reasons used by the author.   
4. What ambiguous language does the author use?  What language — that is core to the argument — has multiple meanings?  What are the multiple meanings that make the word or phrase ambiguous?
5. What assumptions does the author make?  What are the unstated things that the author assumes the reader agrees with?  Explain how the assumption works in your article.
6. What logical fallacies (or “Bad Arguments) does the author use? (Use at least one fallacy from the “Book of Bad Arguments”).   Which bad arguments might the author be guilty of using?  Explain how the author used a fallacy.
7. Is the author using strong evidence? Strong evidence is not based on intuition, common sense, individual personal experience, or individual personal beliefs/opinion, but on carefully collected and analyzed statistics, scientific analysis of interview data, and relevant expert testimony.  Summarize the quality of the evidence based on these criteria.  If there is space, you can also add additional detail about the nature of the evidence, if it is not covered elsewhere in your analysis.
8. Is the author making reasonable statistical and causal claims?
You need to address both statistical and causal claims.  Reasonable statistical claims should at least give the source (which should be academic, scientific, or governmental, not from business or activism), and ideally will explain the year/date the data was collected as well as the exact population to which the statistical data refers.  Even better would be to know how the data was collected, such as the questions that were asked, how people were chosen to be a part of the study, the margin of error, and other details about the process of data collection.   Good critical thinkers know that each one of these issues can influence the outcome of the statistic, so ideally we shouldn’t fully believe a number, unless we know these basics.  
A causal claim is one that says A causes B.   Authors make all sorts of often-implicit statements about causation.  These are causal claims.  Your job is to identify and describe the causal claim the author is making, not necessarily to judge whether the claim is true, just whether it is reasonable or not.   As we know, there are always multiple causes for everything, so if an author states or implies there is a single cause, then that is not reasonable.   Also unreasonable are causal claims that are absolute — causation never works the same way in all times and places.  Causation is never absolute, so we can never prove with 100% certainty that one thing is a cause of another thing.  Reasonable statistical claims are never absolute, acknowledge their limitations and are based on valid evidence and statistics from a reputable academic or government source. 
9. What information is omitted?   To me one of my pet peeves is the omission of acknowledging the other side of the argument.   Caricaturing the other side is a bad argument of using a straw man, but ignoring the other side is probably more common.   If you want to be persuasive, you will acknowledge that your argument is not air tight and that some people might disagree.  That’s why its a controversy (or issue), after all.    But most writers don’t do that.  They should be criticized for this.  If they actually do acknowledge the other side, they likely are narrow in that acknowledgement, because the controversy always includes many sides (not just 2).  It is rare to see a writer or speaker accurately acknowledge the complexity of controversy surrounding their topic.  Most people just don’t have the time to study these issues, but I would venture to say that every issue has many sides and is far more complex than almost all journalists acknowledge.
10. Given the factors answered above, does this article present a strong argument and reasonable conclusion?  This allows you to refer to your answers above — if your analysis shows some serious issues — and in most cases it should — then you should answer that either the conclusion or whole argument is questionable, but, as with each of the 10 points listed here, you have to succinctly explain your answer.  Why did you give that answer? 
Each of the above 10 topics represents a chapter in our course textbook.   You are encouraged to look at the chapters for more guidance about these 10 topics.
It is your job to find an article that can be sufficiently analyzed with all of the 10 topics.  Most news articles would work fine.
While most full news articles on your topic would be fine, it is possible to find articles where that could be the case where a required component is not applicable or not found, and if so, then you need to keep looking to find a more appropriate article.  This is most likely the case with articles that are too short, or that are simply summaries of a book or of a single study.  Some people think the opinion pages to be a good place to find articles.  I personally disagree, as I think it is easier to analyze regular news articles, but you are welcome to use opinion articles because they might be easier for a newbie to analyze — again, it just has to be from a reputable news source and on your general topic.  
Conclusion –Misc. Considerations************
The paper needs to have a bibliography.  This should include the title of the news article and a URL link to the article.  Papers without a bibliography may be given a zero.   This actually can be defined as cheating (by the university).   I don’t care about the format of your bibliography, just make sure it has the citation to your news source, including the URL.
Papers under 450 words will earn a zero. Papers over 750 words earn a zero.  The words in the table, the bibliography, the title/header do not count toward word count.  
I suggest you avoid using quotes, as they will not help your paper (they can only hurt your grade); if you make a mistake in citation by not providing quotation marks or full citation you will get a zero on the paper.
Papers should be submitted as a .doc or .docx format, with the word count at the top.  I will not accept .pages or google docs or any online link URL to a file; if you submit a file with these file formats it will not earn a grade.  I may be able to open other file types but if you want to be sure there’s no problem, use .doc or .docx. 
Stop by office hours or email me if you have questions.