You may find our Sociological Theories and Concepts Toolkit to be helpful (found in Announcements). Do not use unverifiable, secondary sites such as Wikipedia, about.com, ask.com, and similar. Use our course materials, peer-reviewed journal articles from the library, and other scholarly sources. The paper should utilize sound critical thought and it should include appropriate APA in-text citations and full APA references at the end. The structure of the paper must include the following, with subheadings: TITLE PAGE (1 page) BODY OF PAPER WITH SUBHEADINGS (6 pages minimum) REFERENCE PAGE (1 page minimum) Double Space 12 pt font, Arial or Times. This assignment should follow the APA format. In addition to our course readings, you will significantly incorporate research from at least 5 meaningful up-to-date resources, two of which must be from reputable, peer-reviewed academic journals.

There needs to be a thesis statement in the last sentence of the introduction. In the beginning of each paragraph needs to have a topic sentence that leads back to the thesis statement. I need there to also have abstract included. A crucial part of this assignment will be in identifying one of the major theoretical perspectives we have covered this session. The major ones include the functionalist, conflict, and symbolic interaction approaches. However, as our materials note, there are other theoretical viewpoints we may also adopt if we choose. The key will be in thoroughly understanding these theoretical viewpoints, and finding the most effective one for understanding our chosen social problem of study. Instructions: Complete a 6-8 page final paper (NOT including title or reference pages) that analyzes the future impact of a social problem of your choice - note: you must use a DIFFERENT social problem (POVERTY is what I used) from the one you used in your first assignment. DO NOT USE POVERTY FOR THIS ASSIGNMENT. In this assignment, you will cover: 1. The scope of this social problem over the last 30-50 years. (Note: you will need to use historical data to articulate the scope of this problem.) 2. Your own original analysis of how you think addressing the social problem could be improved. In this analysis, please mention what you think should be done to solve this social problem. Use your own viewpoint and voice, as a sociologist, rather than relying heavily on sources for this section. 3. Define four concepts from our readings/materials that relate to your chosen social problem and analyze how these concepts help us better understand the social problem you are discussing. Concepts include ideas such as stratification, ethnicity, sexism, and others as mentioned in our readings and materials (NOTE: these are just examples of concepts - they may NOT apply to your topic - you need to select concepts that apply to your own topic). 4. Define one sociological theory from our readings/materials that relates to your chosen social problem and analyze how this theory helps us better understand the social problem you are discussing. Sociological theories include functionalism, conflict theory, feminist theory, symbolic interactionism, and others as mentioned in our readings and materials. Note - you may find our Sociological Theories and Concepts Toolkit to be helpful (found in Announcements). Do not use unverifiable, secondary sites such as Wikipedia, about.com, ask.com, and similar. Use our course materials, peer-reviewed journal articles from the library, and other scholarly sources. The paper should utilize sound critical thought and it should include appropriate APA in-text citations and full APA references at the end. Course Objective One: Identify specific social problems and their cause-effect patterns. Course Objective Two: Identify current research methods that are utilized for the investigation of social problems. Course Objective Three: Compare and contrast current and suggested policies, programs, and/or treatments in terms of their effectiveness for alleviating the negative consequences of social problems. Course Objective Four: Apply class concepts to support opinions about social problems. Course Objective Five: illustrate how the sociological process enables us to identify various social concerns. Course Objective Six: Explain the role of culture in identifying social issues as problems. Course Objective Seven: Apply sociological theories to explain the occurrence and scope of these problems.