Sociology 5310

Deviant Behavior

Dr. Raymond A. Eve

Spring, 2002

Midterm

Please answer the following questions (you will find this means that you will end up with three separate "sections" overall for your paper). Your sections should be no more than (5) typewritten, double-spaced pages each in length. They should also not be very much shorter that that in each instance. In other words, the main body of your paper should could out to be about 12 double-spaced typed pages or a little more.

In creating your paper, please typically use materials from various sources rather than from a single article, chapter, etc. However, be sure to reference such sources in lines with appropriate "intellectual property" guidelines. References from the texts should be cited in the paper and should also appear in a bibliography -- just as if you were writing a paper to be considered for publication in a professional journal. You may use any professional style that you prefer, so long as it's used with consistency. For example, sociology students may want to use the ASA format for references and bibliography entries, other students may prefer a form that is more common in other disciplines. You may use outside sources (they are not required, nor will they necessarily increase your grade, but they are not discouraged either). Do not count bibliography pages as part of your overall page limits.

Imagine yourself to be the instructor for a graduate course in “Deviant Behavior” (no matter how terrifying that thought might be!). Also imagine that you have to prepare a mid-term exam for your graduate students. Develop three questions that cover the materials that we have seen so far throughout the course. Be sure to include questions that will cover reading material, lectures, and in-class student presentations. You want to know how well your students have learned to integrate the materials they have seen from these various sources. Then, in each case, explain why you think your question is a good one. Then, in each case, tell what you think a good answer to each of your questions should include, and explain why it's important that your students cover each element of your proposed ideal answer.

In carrying out this assignment, try to select your questions so that they will ask your own students to draw together several of the readings and/or class comments at the same time. Try to make sure that the questions reflect themes of central importance to any good course regarding the academic discipline of the study of deviant behavior.

In developing your rationale for why your proposed questions are good ones, please include detailed information from course readings and/or lectures. In other words, support your arguments as best you can with specific references (names, dates, page numbers, data, etc.). Look at your answers as if you, as a professor, think certain fundamental points should be included by a good student. Ask yourself if you'd be prepared to take off points from a student's paper if there are elements of a good answer that were not adequately covered on an exam paper.

Of course, since you're now a professor, you want your students to strive for the highest standards of grammar, clarity, organizational skills, and parsimony.

I hope you enjoy the assignment, and I'll be sympathetic if you find you need to form a self-help group for beleaguered professors!