The Likelihood of Foreign Terrorists Killing Americans (Social Sciences Essay)

The media is a powerful social institution that shapes how Americans think about

the social world. For this assignment, I would like you to find an article in a magazine or

newspaper about any social issue or social problem of your choosing. The possibilities

here are endless. We have talked about many things already, from suicide to racism to

divorce to mental illness to disability to terrorism to Covid-19. You can choose an article

on any of these topics, or countless others, it does not need to be something covered in

this class. Possible sources for choosing an article include The New York Times,

Washington Post, Forbes, The Atlantic, NPR, FoxNews, The New Yorker, The Wall

Street Journal, Teen Vogue, The Guardian, but these are just suggestions, if you have a

source for articles you like better, go for it. There is not a minimum length requirement

for this assignment, but choosing an article that is too short will make the assignment

harder, not easier. You want something long enough to get a sense of the author’s

perspective and the claims they are making.

Read your article, and then analyze it through the lens we are developing in this

class. Summarize your article enough so that we understand what it is about and what

social phenomenon or problem you chose, but the bulk of your paper should not

reproduce its arguments but analyze them. Here are some questions to consider in your

analysis, but you don’t have to address all of them: What kinds of claims are made? What

evidence does the author use to support them? How convincing are the claims, and why?

What emotions does the author try to drum up in their readers, and do you think they are

successful? Why or why not? Is the issue being considered more through a sociological

lens or an individualistic lens, or a medical or therapeutic lens, or a religious lens, or

something else or a mixture? Finally, I would like you to assess to what extent this article

uses a sociological imagination to understand the issue at hand. Write a few sentences

saying what you think, and give the article a “Sociological Imagination Grade” where A+

means this is the most sociological article you think could ever be written about this issue

and F- means it is the most anti-sociological thing ever written. Whatever grade you

choose, explain it by saying exactly how the article focuses on social things or doesn’t.

Assignment Guidelines

One page, single spaced (500 words)

10-12 point Arial/Times New Roman/Other not wacky font

Standard Margins (1 inch top and bottom, 1.25 sides)

Provide in-text citations for readings when you use them. Like this (Mills 1959, 4)

Use at least THREE concepts from the course (bold and underline)

Reference at least one course reading

Provide a Citation for the article you choose

Lectures can be cited like this (Lecture, Date)

No works cited page needed for class readings, but provide citations for any sources you

use for outside of the course (not necessary, but ok if you want to)