Assignment 1: LASA 2: The Application Paper

An admissions or application essay, sometimes also called a personal statement or a statement of purpose, is an essay or other written statement written by an applicant, often a prospective student applying to some college, university, or graduate school. The application essay is a common part of the university and college admissions process.

Some applications may require one or more essays to be completed, while others make essays optional or supplementary. Essay topics range from very specific to open-ended.

The University of Chicago is known for its unusual essay prompts in its undergraduate admissions application, including “What would you do with a foot-and-a-half-tall jar of mustard“?^[1][2]

The Common Application, used for undergraduate admissions by many American colleges and universities, requires a general admissions essay, in addition to any supplemental admissions essays required by member institutions. The Common Application offers students six admissions essay prompts from which to choose.^[3] All of the essays – and even the way you put things in order throughout the application – should be directed towards getting one “big idea”, a personal thesis that will be remembered after the entire package is read.^[4] According to Uni in the USA, the Common Application essay is intended as a chance to describe “things that are unique, interesting and informative about yourself”.^[5]

The application process for All Souls College, Oxford, has the reputation of being the hardest examination in the world. It consists of several specialist papers and, until 2010, also required candidates to write an essay upon a topic suggested by a single word^[6] such as Possessions, which was the topic of successful Fellow, A. L. Rowse.

By Monday, February 8, 2016, using the textbook and Argosy Online Library, write a 5-7 page paper using APA standards for citation of sources that focuses on the following:

ORDER NOW FOR AN ORIGINAL PAPER!!!Assignment 1: LASA 2: The Application Paper

Interview two different individuals regarding their positions in society.  Analyze their responses regarding:

 

1. Identify each person’s class, race, and gender.
2. What role has class, race, and gender played in their lives?  How do you see these stratifiers as playing a role, even if the interviewee is unaware of it?
3. Apply one of the sociological perspectives (structural-functional, social-conflict, or symbolic-interaction) to the individuals’ lives.  Why did you choose this particular perspective?  How does it explain each person’s life and life choices?
4. What are some the benefits and limitations to using interview as a research methodology?
5. Analyze each person’s components of culture (language, symbols, material objects, and behaviors) and relate them to his/her stratified position in society.

 

 

 

Assignment 1 Grading Criteria	Maximum Points
Described each person’s class, race, and gender.	40
Evaluated the role of social stratification.	60
Applied a sociological perspective to each subject.	60
Explained the benefits and limitations of the research methodology.	20
Analyzed the components of culture and related them to social stratification.	56
Presentation Components
Organization: Introduction, Transitions, Conclusion.	16
Style: Tone, Audience, Word Choice.	16
Usage and Mechanics: Grammar, Spelling, Sentence Structure.	16
APA Elements: Attribution, Paraphrasing, Quotations (when appropriate or assigned).	16
Total:	300

ADDITIONAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE CLASS

Discussion Questions (DQ)

• Initial responses to the DQ should address all components of the questions asked, include a minimum of one scholarly source, and be at least 250 words.
• Successful responses are substantive (i.e., add something new to the discussion, engage others in the discussion, well-developed idea) and include at least one scholarly source.
• One or two sentence responses, simple statements of agreement or “good post,” and responses that are off-topic will not count as substantive. Substantive responses should be at least 150 words.
• I encourage you to incorporate the readings from the week (as applicable) into your responses.

Weekly Participation

• Your initial responses to the mandatory DQ do not count toward participation and are graded separately.
• In addition to the DQ responses, you must post at least one reply to peers (or me) on three separate days, for a total of three replies.
• Participation posts do not require a scholarly source/citation (unless you cite someone else’s work).
• Part of your weekly participation includes viewing the weekly announcement and attesting to watching it in the comments. These announcements are made to ensure you understand everything that is due during the week.

APA Format and Writing Quality

• Familiarize yourself with APA format and practice using it correctly. It is used for most writing assignments for your degree. Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for APA paper templates, citation examples, tips, etc. Points will be deducted for poor use of APA format or absence of APA format (if required).
• Cite all sources of information! When in doubt, cite the source. Paraphrasing also requires a citation.
• I highly recommend using the APA Publication Manual, 6th edition.

Use of Direct Quotes

• I discourage overutilization of direct quotes in DQs and assignments at the Masters’ level and deduct points accordingly.
• As Masters’ level students, it is important that you be able to critically analyze and interpret information from journal articles and other resources. Simply restating someone else’s words does not demonstrate an understanding of the content or critical analysis of the content.
• It is best to paraphrase content and cite your source.

 

LopesWrite Policy

• For assignments that need to be submitted to LopesWrite, please be sure you have received your report and Similarity Index (SI) percentage BEFORE you do a “final submit” to me.
• Once you have received your report, please review it. This report will show you grammatical, punctuation, and spelling errors that can easily be fixed. Take the extra few minutes to review instead of getting counted off for these mistakes.
• Review your similarities. Did you forget to cite something? Did you not paraphrase well enough? Is your paper made up of someone else’s thoughts more than your own?
• Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for tips on improving your paper and SI score.

Late Policy

• The university’s policy on late assignments is 10% penalty PER DAY LATE. This also applies to late DQ replies.
• Please communicate with me if you anticipate having to submit an assignment late. I am happy to be flexible, with advance notice. We may be able to work out an extension based on extenuating circumstances.
• If you do not communicate with me before submitting an assignment late, the GCU late policy will be in effect.
• I do not accept assignments that are two or more weeks late unless we have worked out an extension.
• As per policy, no assignments are accepted after the last day of class. Any assignment submitted after midnight on the last day of class will not be accepted for grading.

Communication

• Communication is so very important. There are multiple ways to communicate with me: 
  • Questions to Instructor Forum: This is a great place to ask course content or assignment questions. If you have a question, there is a good chance one of your peers does as well. This is a public forum for the class.
  • Individual Forum: This is a private forum to ask me questions or send me messages. This will be checked at least once every 24 hours.