The Research Paper should be similar in length and form to the one in the chapter on APA documentation in the Penguin Manual. However, that one is a psychology paper and ours will be sociology based on trend and survey data.  For a sample from a previous semester, see the paper NewspaperReadersLindaAnderson.doc in the SAKAI folder for week nine.  That is a good paper, but the requirements this semester will be a little different, so don't follow it too closely.  (The annotations on it also are for a previous semester).

We will be writing these papers in stages over the rest of the semester.  For March 31, you should submit a Proposal outlining the paper you will write and the soruces you will use.

1. Your first task is to pick a topic. 
   
1. The topic should be one for which you can find relevant data in the Statistical Abstract of the United States and in the General Social Survey (or another of the survey data sets in the Microcase package).  It may be the same topic you used for the Excel Graph or Future of Technology assignments, but it need not be.  
2. The topic may be anything of sociological interest, it need not focus on communication.  Something having to do with cyberspace or with the elections , netroots and generational change would be especially relevant this semester, but I am not making this a requirement.  The main requirement is that there be directly relevant Statistical Abstract and GSS data. 
   
3. If you find picking a topic difficult, try reading the chapter called "planning and drafting" in the Penguin Manual.
   
2. The next task is to find five scholarly articles or research reports that report original research on the your topic.  Scholarly articles are those published in refereed academic journals.or presented at scholarly conferences or other scholarly venues.  These can be found in Google Scholar, but not so readily in the regular Google search engine which includes some but also a great many other things. You may also find them Academic Search Premier and other library resources.  Articles or stories not published in refereed academic journals or presented at scholarly conferences do not count for this assignment.   Provide a full APA reference for each of the scholarly articles.  These articles will give you an idea of how others have approached the topic.
3. Identify one variable from the Statistical Abstract of the United States that you will use in your paper.  This may be the same one as in the previous assignment, but it need not be.  Give the variable name as listed in the Abstract and also the hyperlink to the data set (in Excel or pdf).
   
4. Identify one variable from the General Social Survey that you will use in your paper.  The General Social Survey data set can be found online, or you may use the Professional Microcase available on the computers in the Rutgers Labs.  Please access this from the folder called "new stuff" on the desktop because this has the latest data file.  Find the GSS 7206 data file that includes data up to 2006.  You will have to go into data/archive/surveys/gss or something like that to find it.  Give a full description of the variable including
   
1. the variable name in the data archive used, SDA or Microcase,
   
2. The exact wording of the question asked.
3. The exact wording or definition of the answers to the question.
   
5. Your proposal should include:
1. Your title, using the names of the variables to be examined.
   
2. A one paragraph description of your proposed paper.
3. A full description of one variable from the Statistical Abstract (see item 3 above)
   
4. A full descriptioin of one variable from the GSS (see item 4 above)
   
5. Full APA references to five scholarly papers on the topic. (see item 2 above)