YORK UNIVERSITY

FACULTY OF LIBERAL ARTS AND PROFESSIONAL STUDIES

DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SCIENCE

AP/SOSC 1000/9 6.0 Introduction to Social Science

Section M
W 2025
Prof. Lykke de la Cour

C. W. Mills’ conceptualization of the sociological imagination provides a useful

approach for understanding how individual “troubles” often connect to broader
structural issues in society. Recognizing this interconnection is especially important
given the dominant tendency to individualize social problems as personal matters,
instead of produced by structural factors in the societal context in which we live.

For example:

• the poor are often blamed for bringing poverty upon themselves rather than
understanding poverty as linked to low wages, fewer employment opportunities,
or factors relating to gender inequality and the e ects of discrimination linked to
race, gender-identity, disability, etc.

• high youth unemployment and “quiet quitting” (i.e. putting the absolute minimum
of e ort into work or departing prematurely from a job) is blamed on “character
aws” among young people, such as lacking a strong work ethic or having an
in ated sense of entitlement, rather than understanding this phenomenon as a
response to fewer opportunities for meaningful work — or, when employed, a
reaction to unreasonable work expectations, heavy workloads, toxic workplace
cultures, and intense micro-management.

• mounting rates of mental health problems (especially anxiety disorders and

depression) are attributed to weaker individual coping skills and less resilience,
rather than seeing this as a logical response to an increasingly unstable world
(economically, socially, politically, ecologically).

• poor physical health is similarly attributed to an individual’s poor lifestyle choices

(not eating healthy foods or exercising enough, smoking, alcohol and/or drug use,
etc) rather than the social, economic, political and environmental factors
(particularly climate change) that are known to have a determining e ect on health,
often constraining our ability to make “healthy” choices.

Essentially, we live in a society where blame for a wide range of social issues is placed
on individuals and particular social groups instead of the broader structural factors that
underlie and cause social problems.

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 RESEARCH ASSIGNMENT

The written assignment for this course is asking you to engage with the sociological
imagination and explore a social issue that is generally framed as an individual problem
or “trouble” associated with a particular social group, and explain how it connects to
the broader structure and organization of society.

Potential issues that you could examine in your research are really quite endless. This
is an opportunity for you to think creatively and broadly about an issue that concerns
you. However, once you have settled on a topic that you want to examine, your task is
then to brie y explain how your particular issue is typically cast as an individual
problem and how you intend to research the topic in order to demonstrate that it is a
matter more related to broader structural issues in society.

Academic research is the careful and systematic investigation of an area of knowledge.

It involves a structured approach to collecting, analyzing, and interpreting information.
The overall goal of this assignment is to enhance your abilities as a social analyst by
learning how to carefully research and analyze a contemporary social issue.

There are two interrelated components to this assignment:

(1) an Annotated Research Proposal (worth 20%) due Feb. 11th ( 11:59 EST)
(2) a Final Essay (worth 30%) due Mar. 18th (11:59 EST)*

*NOTE: the Final Essay will not be accepted unless the Annotated Research
Proposal has been submitted and returned with feedback from your TA
beforehand.

Annotated Research Proposal

(20% due Feb. 11 by 11:59 EST)

The Annotated Research Proposal is the rst step that you will need to complete.

A good research proposal clari es your thoughts by presenting a coherent statement of

research intent that identi es what you are investigating, why the topic is important,
and what your tentative thesis in the Final Essay will be. It also identi es scholarly
sources that are relevant to your research topic, evaluating how they help to develop
your knowledge of the topic and the argument that you will be advancing in your nal
paper.

Several of the assigned SPARK quizzes that you are completing in this course
(speci cally “Understanding Assignments,” “Choosing a Topic,” “Books, Journals &
More,” and “Research Strategies”) provide useful instructions about how to generate
ideas, particularly about how to begin with some preliminary background research in
order to understand your topic and the broader context, controversies, prominent

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ideas, and sub-topics relating to it.

Background research is important as it provides a basis from which ideas for your
assignment can be generated and questions asked. This stage of research, of course,
also helps to build your understanding of a speci c issue and can help in directing you
to further reading that you can use to more fully investigate your topic.

Your research must be rooted in scholarly, academic sources that can be

accessed through York’s Library system. These sources must re ect a social
science perspective. Your proposal and nal paper should be based on a
minimum of 5 articles or book chapters. Sources not available in York’s Library
will not be deemed acceptable to use. The ve sources are beyond the course
readings. You may, of course, refer to any relevant course readings in your nal
paper, but these are in addition to the 5 resources that you have located and
chosen to base your paper on.

Once you have nalized the list of readings that you intend to use for your paper, the
next step is write up your proposal.

The Annotated Research Proposal has two main components: 1) your topic proposal
written in an essay-style format; and 2) a list of the articles or book chapters that you
intend to use for a research paper, with descriptive and evaluative comments for each
of the sources on your list. This is what is called an Annotated Bibliography.

For examples of and information on how to write the Annotated Bibliography

component see:

https://spark.library.yorku.ca/wp-content/themes/glendonits-
spark-20151125/resources/Annotated%20Bibliography%20Overview.pdf

Two other useful resources:

https://pressbooks.pub/writingtextbook/chapter/annotated-bibliography-and-
research-proposal/

https://www.lib.sfu.ca/help/cite-write/citation-style-guides/annotated-
bibliography

The Annotated Research Proposal should be structured as follows:

Cover Page: Indicate a title for your research project, as well as: your name, your
student number, the course number (i.e. SOSC 1000 6.0 Section M), your tutorial
number, the name of yourTutorial Leader, and the date that you submitted the
assignment.

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 Research Proposal (2 pages/500 words): The proposal is to be written in complete
sentences and proper paragraphs, with in-text citations formatted according to APA
style. Your proposal should indicate the topic, the speci c research question that you
intend to focus on in the Final Essay, and why this topic and research question are
important. You might also consider here if there are any sub-questions that you may
need to think about in order to fully address your research question.

Re ection (1 page/max 200 words): Why are you interested in this issue? What do
you believe to be the most common view on this topic? What are your current views
are on the issue and what are the particular factors that have possibly shaped your
views? What are possible other factors that you need to consider when examining your
topic?

Annotated Bibliography (approx. 5 pages): Your annotation for each source should
be between 200-300 words in length (one paragraph) and should include the following
information:
• the full citation for the source, formatted in the APA bibliographic style. Information
on how to cite using APA can be found on SPARK under “Creating bibliographies.”
• a brief overview and summary of the source, including its main argument and
conclusions
• what the strengths and weaknesses are of the source.
• information about the author’s background
• why the source is relevant in your research topic and its unique
• contributions compared to the other sources you are using.
• your conclusions and overall assessment of the source
References: A list of the secondary sources referred to in your proposal. Include here
as well any of the course readings that are relevant to your topic. The reference list
should be organized and formatted according to APA style of referencing.

Academic Integrity Checklist: The Academic Integrity Checklist is to be lled out,

signed and appended at the end of the proposal. Assignments will not be accepted if
they do not include the signed checklist. The checklist can be found under the
“Assignment” tab on e-Class.

Please Note:
• page margins for the assignment should be set to 1 inch on all sides
• the assignment should be typed double-space
• the proposal and annotations should be written in complete sentences and
proper paragraphs
• use an accessible font (Times New Roman 12pt., Arial 11pt., Georgia 11pt.).
• the assignment pages should be numbered

The Turnitin portal for submitting the assignment will be opened on e-Class on the the
day before the assignment is due.

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 Please refer to the course policies (in the course syllabus) on Academic Integrity
and the use of AI in this course. Note as well the course policies on handing in
assignments, late penalties, and re-writes (which are generally not permitted).

Final Essay
(30% due Mar. 18th by 11:59 EST)*

*NOTE: the Final Essay will not be accepted unless the Annotated Research
Proposal has been submitted and returned with feedback from your TA
beforehand.

This assignment builds out from the Annotated Research Proposal to now develop a
proper essay around the topic that you proposed. It will be expected that you take into
account the feedback received from your Teaching Assistant on your rst assignment
and re ect this in your nal paper.

The essay is to be 8 pages in length (2000 words), formatted in properly developed

paragraphs, with an introduction and conclusion, a clearly stated thesis, proper in-text
citations, and an attached bibliography. The bibliography is not included in the 8
pages, but should be at the end of your paper. Formatting for both in-text citations and
the bibliography is to be in accordance with APA style referencing.

Note:
• page margins for the assignment should be set to 1 inch on all sides
• the assignment should be typed double-space
• the proposal is written in complete sentences and paragraphs
• use an accessible font (Times New Roman 12pt., Arial 11pt., Georgia 11pt.).
• the assignment pages are numbered
• a signed Academic Integrity Checklist is to appended at the end of your paper.

A Turnitin portal for submitting the assignment will be opened on e-Class the day
before the assignment is due.

Please refer to the course policies (in the course syllabus) on Academic Integrity
and the use of AI in this course. Note as well the course policies on handing in
assignments, late penalties, and re-writes (which are generally not permitted).

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