How the paper should be organized
I. Introduction.
A. Statement of the research topic.
B. Rationale for the proposed study.
C. Literature review.
D. Formal statement of the specific hypothesis(es) or research question(s) to be
investigated.
Additional instructions on data collection methods.
● Textual Analysis: You can choose to analyze a set of written or visual texts (books,
newspaper articles, news stories, images, films, court documents, government
proceedings, etc.). You must choose at least three texts to analyze and may need to
choose more texts depending on the types of texts you are analyzing.
II. Methods.
A. Overall description of the research design.
B. Conceptual and operational definitions of concepts.
C. Specification of the unit of analysis and description of sampling design.
D. Ethical considerations.
Throughout this section, it is very important to justify every methodological choice.
Part A: provide an overview of the major methodological choices you made. Indicate your
general approach (survey, use of existing data, content analysis, participant observation,
in-depth interviewing, or some combination of approaches) and the specific design and
data-collection method you used. If you used a survey, for example, indicate the mode of data
collection—face-to-face or telephone interview or mailed questionnaire. Also, state why you
chose your particular design and data collection methods. For example, If you conducted focus
groups, provide a rationale. Why is a focus group a better way to collect data for your research
than a few in-depth interviews?
● Textual Analysis: You can choose to analyze a set of written or visual texts (books,
newspaper articles, news stories, images, films, court documents, government
proceedings, etc.). You must choose at least three texts to analyze and may need to
choose more texts depending on the types of texts you are analyzing.
Part B: After you have outlined the basic design, you must address the key issues of
measurement and sampling. If you haven’t done so already, you will need to offer theoretical or
conceptual definitions of key concepts. Then you need to specify how you measured each
variable, if necessary. If you are going to conduct a survey, measurement involves the
construction of specific questions or a series of questions representing each variable. Discuss
evidence of or issues with reliability and validity.
Part C: identify your target population, the sampling design you used (probability,
non-probability), and the number of cases you selected. For example: How many people did you
interview? How did you contact the people included in your study? If you do content analysis,
how did you select the texts to analyze? Consider logistics, such as how you located the sample,
gained access or permissions, etc.
Part D: explain how you incorporated ethical guidelines and address any ethical issues.
III. Results.
A. Findings.
B. Discussion and Conclusion.
Part A: this is the section where you will make the central argument of your paper. You will
explain the answer to your research question. It should include support from your research
(quotes, percentages, or whatever other types of data you will use to support your argument). You
may choose to divide this section into sub-sections, but each sub-section should have a clear
title. Make sure that you are making an argument and that each paragraph in this section
connects back to your central argument.
Part B: summarize the argument that you have made in the paper and reiterate how your
findings confirmed or challenged (or both) the findings from the research that you outlined in the
literature review. Explain how your findings contribute to existing literature. You may also
suggest questions that still need to be answered and suggestions for further research.
IV. References.
All articles, books, chapters, and other sources must be cited in the text of your paper, and all
references in the text must be listed in a separate References section at the end of the paper. All
citations must use the ASA style (American Sociological Association).
V. Appendix.
Include materials used in data collection or analysis, such as the survey instrument, interview
guide, or coding sheet.
*sources are at the end of the literature review
