Write an essay on Sociology of SportFor this assignment, you will complete a short research project that requires you to compare two sides of a controversial issue (ex. Student athletes should/should not be paid). Please read this document very carefully to ensure that you understand this assignment–This is NOT a traditional research paper.
What Are We Doing?
We will be using Britannica’s procon.org (Links to an external site.) website as a template for this project. Do not be misled into thinking that you are simply summarizing what might already be posted on that site. This assignment is a practical application of research that you will conduct. You will research a topic and create a document that could be posted on this website. Your completed research will become part of the course material for the last week of class–depending on class size, we might split into two or more groups.
(Links to an external site.).
There are a few more samples posted at the bottom of the Modules page (they are not necessarily related to the course material, but they will give you an idea of what this assignment will look like). You should look at other examples on the procon.org (Links to an external site.) website. Some will be much longer than yours needs to be, but they will give you an idea of what to include. Please follow the guidelines below regarding length and content.
The Assignment—Read this carefully:
Your assignment must contain the following:
Overview (~1-1.5 page or 250-300 words)
Top 3 Pros and top 3 Cons (~3 pages or 750 words)
Conclusion (~.5 page or 1-2 paragraphs)
For the overview, please provide background information on the controversy. This might include relevant/recent cases or examples, data and statistics, and/or current legal issues. This should be about 1-1.5 page long (about 250-300 words). Be sure to include citations!
Top 3 Pros and top 3 Cons: You should include the three strongest arguments for (pro) and against (con) your topic or issue. Introduce each as a statement (Pro #1: Colleges profit from student-athletes) and support that assertion with evidence (not your opinion). You will do this for all three pros and all three cons. This section should be about 3 pages total (about 750 words). Be sure to include citations!
The conclusion should be a paragraph or two summing up the issue. In this section, you may “take a side” if you wish and state which argument you agree with (you should not do this anywhere else in the document. Up to this point, you should be neutral and present “just the facts”). This section does not need citations because it should be your own analysis.
There is a Project Planning Sheet posted at the bottom of the Modules page to help you organize your work. just a planning sheet for an organization. Do not hand this in!
Other important information:
In the overview and pro/con section of the document, you must include evidence supported by quality sources.
Quality sources include scholarly sources, reputable news sites (including sports media), data sources, government websites, as well as other sources that would be appropriate for an academic research project. More information on choosing and using sources is posted on Canvas.
Since we will be reading each other’s projects, your final document will not be very long (~ 1250 words). This means that you need to carefully select the most relevant and important information to include. More helpful tips are posted on Canvas.
You should use at least four outside sources. You may use your textbook and the lecture slides, but they do not count toward the minimum requirement. You may not use procon.org (Links to an external site.) as a source.
References should be included in the document either as an endnote[i] or a parenthetical citation (Trent, 2021) in APA or MLA formatting.
Be sure to include your list of references at the bottom. Do not just copy and paste a list of weblinks as your references, you will lose points. You must demonstrate that you can use academic citation conventions (i.e., APA or MLA formatting) and format your sources correctly. Help for both styles is available at the bottom of the modules page.
Dr. Trent will be happy to help you with formatting and/or look over your citations before you submit.
It is critical that you reference the work of others and not pass it off as your own! All work must be either (1) your own words, (2) correctly paraphrased and cited, or (3) quoted and cited. Do not cut and paste information that you locate online. You will receive a zero (0) and an incident report will be submitted to the Registrar and Provost. Review the information and examples of plagiarism posted on Canvas.
If you want to quote a source, be sure to include quotation marks–“like this,” and a citation (Trent, 2021). Quotes should be limited to about 10% of the total document. You will be able to review your submission on Turnitin to make sure that you did not miss any quotes or over-quote. Please contact Dr. Trent if you have any concerns.
Your document should not look like a traditional research paper.
You can include images and other visual elements (charts, graphs, figures). Graphics should be directly related to your topic and not just extraneous clipart.
If you want to present the pros/cons using columns like procon.org (Links to an external site.) you can (but you do not have to).
You can include or embed a short video if you’d like (but you do not have to).
Be sure to use a standard font and make sure that your document is readable.
Your project must be submitted on Canvas by the due date as a PDF file. I will post completed projects on Canvas for the class to review. We will discuss the issues as a class or in small groups (depending on class size).
You can create your document in Word or Google Documents, but please save it as a PDF. Canvas tends to mess up your formatting, especially if you are creating columns or inserting images. If you do not know how to save it as a PDF,
