Assignment 5

Write a short (3-4 page) memo discussing the (potential) theoretical contribution(s) of your second year paper (or other project if you are not in the Sociology PhD program).  Your memo should start with an overview of the project.  You may draw on work from the Research Design class.  Include the research question, a brief rationale for its sociological importance, your basic arguments/hypotheses, and a brief summary of the research design and data (~2 pages).  (If some details are not worked out -- for instance you have not chosen your data -- indicate some hypothetical data that you might use.)  Use the remaining space to elaborate on the theoretical dimensions of the project.  What theoretical traditions or debates does your project address?  Do you engage in theoretical or conceptual development?  If your project does not have a strong theoretical contribution in its current form, that's OK... but use this space to think about how it might be developed in the future to have a larger theoretical contribution.  It is OK to be imaginative... for instance, you can discuss directions that may not be practical or feasible for your 2nd year paper but nevertheless have a theoretical payoff).