Items 1-5 are due 9/23/1999.  Please write legibly.

l. Write one paragraph that explains the topic you want to study.

2.  Briefly explain why this topic interests you and  what  background experience (course work, employment, personal  experience, career choice, etc.) you have in this area.

 
3.  At what specific level (from macro to micro: SPECIFY  roles, groups, complex organizations, community, institutions,  society, global) will your topic be treated ?

Level:

Explanation:

4. As you topic is presently conceived, does it focus  primarily on rule making_____, rule enforcement_____ or rule breaking____?

 
5.  List 3 possible questions that you wish to pose  about  this topic. Try to be as SPECIFIC as possible. Avoid vague or  overly ambitious  questions,  such as: "Why do  people  commit  crimes?"  "What is the nature of drug use in the U.S." "How can delinquency be reduced?" Try to focus in on questions that are  realistic for  your  level of expertise and the length  of  the  semester's timeframe.
 

a/_______________________________________________________________

b/_______________________________________________________________

 
c/_______________________________________________________________

Due 10/19/1999
6.  Type on a sheet of paper  (titled:  literature  search) your literature search on your topic.  Use  the computerized abstracts in our library, such as Sociofile,  Social Science  Index  etc.  which provide information on  articles in journals on your topic that have appeared in the past 10  years. Seven articles should be included. Also, list three  books  or sections  of  books  that contain information  about  your  topic (obtain 4 books if you are going to use our textbook).

 
Examples of General Topics: the issues listed below are to get you  thinking and need to be specified before final selection:

1. Choose a type of deviance (delinquency, suicide, homosexuality)  and  compare its patterns in another society or  at  another time period in the U.S.

2.  Choose a type of deviance and look at legislation  that  attempts  to criminalize or decriminalize it (e.g. drugs,  homosexuality, white collar crime, child abuse).

3.  Choose a "deviance-processing organization"  (police  dept.,courts,  mental  asylum,  prison) and study  how  social  control efforts work or don't work to deal with the deviance.

4. Study how the media (or ONE medium) portray a particular kind of deviance.

5.  Study how those who are labeled as deviant respond to  these labels.

6. Study the nature of a particular deviant subculture.

7. Study a moral crusade to stigmatize a particular behavior.

8. Study the beliefs, preconceptions and attitudes of  "conformists" about a particular kind of deviance.

9. Study a social movement that attempts to refocus issues on  a particular type of stigmatized behavior (e.g. Right to Die).

10. Study the changing "scientific" literature/evidence on a type of stigmatized behavior.