Nationalism and Citizenship

Summer 2002.

Topic and Due Date

o As part of the written requirement for this class, students are required to submit a research paper of about 10-12 pages in length.

o The research paper may be on any subject of your choosing but should deal with a substantive area we have covered in the course. You should certainly consult with me before you start to make sure that you are going in the right direction. The purpose of this assignment is to give you an opportunity to spend time and energy thinking and writing about a particular issue within the topic of nationalism and citizenship that is important to you.

General Guidelines

o A research paper is one that brings evidence and argument to bare on some focused, researchable question. This means that the paper should have a relatively narrow objective and be analytical not just descriptive. It should not be so broad as to render it impossible to adequately research or discuss the topic in the time and space allowed. In this regard, it is helpful to formulate your topic in the form of a one-sentence question that the paper is trying to address.

o The topic should be researchable. This means that it should be evident at the outset that there is enough material to allow you to say something interesting on the topic you have chosen. It also means that you should investigate the available resources before making the decision to go ahead with the project.

o Research means just that - you should read beyond the course materials to fully investigate and understand your topic. You cannot be completely exhaustive but your paper should have at least ten references in the bibliography.

o The paper should begin and end with your own thinking on the problem - for instance, why do you think that this is an important issue? What are the most interesting findings of your research? What are the long-term implications of what you have found? The main body of the paper should consist of your presentation of the relevant literature and evidence on the problem.

o The paper should be written in clear, concise, and straightforward English. The more convoluted and grotesque literary accomplishments of modern sociology should be avoided. Sometimes there is a tendency to overuse terms or to use them thoughtlessly without a clear and precise meaning. Try to avoid cliches and give clear definitions if they are required.

o A related difficulty is the problem of reification - that is, treating abstract ideas as having a substantial existence of their own. This happens when we use expressions like 'the proletariat', 'the bourgeoisie', 'the middle class', 'the state', 'Marxists', 'feminists' etc. We all have a tendency to do this and we cannot always avoid it, but if you can try and be specific. If you say 'the middle class acted....' then what portion of the middle class acted that way? How was the group so well coordinated? Use sources to back up your claims about such groups.

o Re-read the paper to check grammar and spelling. Then read it through again to see if it makes sense to you - better still, give it to someone else to read.

Citations

When citing a book or article, source references are to be identified at the appropriate point in the text by the last name of the author, year of publication and the page number where needed. Identify subsequent citations of the same source in the same way as in the first case. Do not use "ibid", "op,cit" or "loc.cit." The following examples may help clarify this;

a. If the author's name is in the text, follow it with the year in parentheses as in.... Domhoff (1979)...

b. If the author's name is not in the text, insert it in parentheses with the last name and year separated by a coma as in ...(Domhoff,1979)

c. Page numbers follow the year of publication after a colon as in ....(Domhoff 1979:83)...This is useful after a direct quotation or citing a specific idea from the text.

d. Separate a series of references with semicolons and enclose them within a single pair of parentheses as in ...(Domhoff,1979; Webber,1992; Turpin, 1990; Edwards,1989)...This is useful when citing a number of sources where an idea has been used before.

Bibliography

The bibliography should follow a standard accepted format such as you would find in the American Sociological Review, American Journal of Sociology, or The Chicago Manual of Style. All entries should be in alphabetical order. Here's how I do it, with some examples.

(1) Books, Articles, and Newspapers

For a book: author's name/year published/book title/publisher, e.g.

Padilla, Felix M. 1992. The Gang as an American Enterprise. (New Brunswick,NJ:Rutgers University Press).

For an article: author's name/year published/article title/journal/volume number/edition number/pages, e.g.

Bulhe, Mary Jo. 1980. "Politics and Culture in Women's History", Feminist Studies, 6(1):37-42.

For an article in an edited book: author's name/year published/article title/editor's name/book title/publisher, e.g.

Klatch, Rebecca. 1991. "Complexities of Conservatism: How Conservatives Understand the World". In Alan Wolfe (ed) America at Century's End (Berkeley:University of California Press)

For an article in a newspaper or news-magazine - author's name/year published/article title/newspaper/date the article appeared, e.g.

Stark, Steven. 1987. "Housekeeping Today: Just a Lick and a Promise." New York Times, August 20.

(2) Electronic Sources

Be cautious about using Internet sources - not everything on the net has intellectual credibility

For individual works: author/editor (Year). Title (edition), [Type of medium]. Producer (optional) Available: site/path/file (for CD-ROM, use supplier/database) [Access date], e.g.

Pritzker, T.J. (no date). An early fragment from central Nepal [Online] Available: http://www.ingress.com/astanart/pritzker.html [1995, June 8]

For parts of works: author/editor (Year). Title In source (edition), [Type of medium]. Producer (optional) Available: site/path/file (for CD-ROM, use supplier/database) [Access date], e.g.

Daniel, R.T. (1985). The history of Western Music. In Britannica Online: Macropaedia [Online] Available: http:// www.eb.com:180/cgi-bin/g:DocF=macro/5004/45/0.html [1995, June 14].

For Journal articles: author (Year). Title. Journal Title [Type of medium]. Volume(issue), Length, Available: site/path/file (for CD-ROM, use supplier/database) [Access date], e.g.

Inada, K. (1995). A Buddist response to the nature of human rights. Journal of Buddist Ethics [Online] 2, pp.6-10. Available: http:/www.cac.psu.edu/jbe/twocont.html [1995, June 21].

For a Newspaper or Magazine: author (Year). Title. Newspaper/Magazine Title [Type of medium]. Length, Available: site/path/file (for CD-ROM, use supplier/database) [Access date], e.g.

Johnson, T. (1994, December 5). Indigenous people are now more combative, organized. Miami Herald [Online], p29SA (22 paragraphs). Available: gopher://summit.fiu.edu/Miami Herald--Summit-Related Articles/12/05/95--Indigenous People Now More Combative,Organized [1995, July 16].

Quotations

Quotations are useful to illustrate a point or clarify an argument. But since they do not involve your own thought, avoid extensive direct quotations, lengthy paraphrasing from the sources you use, and detailed descriptions of tables. Summarize the findings simply and economically and proceed to the lessons learned.

Make sure that you tell the reader where the idea or quotation comes from. This will help you to avoid plagiarism.

If you use long quotes (i.e., over twenty words) indent and single space them in the text, e.g.

"Domhoff argues that the upper class as a whole does

not directly rule American society. Instead,

"...class rule is manifested through the activities of a wide variety of organizations and institutions. These organizations and institutions are financed and directed by those members of the upper class who have the interest and ability to involve themselves in protecting and enhancing the privileged social position of their class. Leaders within the upper class join with high-level employees in the organizations they control to make up what will be called the power elite." (Domhoff 1979:2)

Clearly, this implies that the power elite is..."

Evaluation

The papers will be assessed on the basis of;

o Research - evidence that the student has done some work in researching the topic.

o Thinking - evidence that the student has thought critically about what he/she has read and discovered something about the topic. This involves assessing and evaluating the merits of the material at your disposal and drawing some conclusions not just repeating what the books and articles say.

o Writing - The paper should be clearly organized and written. (you may want to use subheadings within the text of the paper for instance).

Remember, critical thinking is called for. Do not accept what you regard as problematic formulations of issues. Ask if the arguments you encounter are plausible or not. If they seem doubtful, say so, then explain why you are skeptical about them. Most importantly, enjoy the assignment -- this is a chance to get your teeth into interesting sociological issues.