Last Class

Hi everyone,

Its the end of the semester and I've enjoyed being your instructor. A student asked me to review her draft for the final paper (The social construction of inequality). Here are my notes to her. You should find them helpful. Good luck and have fun with it!

I read your draft. Right now, and I know its incomplete as you said, I would have to give it around a C. This is what I would like for you to do:

1. Where's your argument statement? This should written in the first paragraph, but written LAST.

2. Be concsie. You give me a lot of information on what stratification is based on the textbook. I want you to condense that portion into three paragraphs. Since this portion is based on the textbook, bring up Kornblum's best points and examples- be brief but precise and throrough.

3. There isn't enough written in your paper based on what you read in the readings regarding social stratification and gender. Bring out the main arguments of each of the readings and discuss them by also bringing out the additional points in each of these readings.

4. Remember that you are ARGUING that social inequality is a social construction. Talk about this throughout the paper and say it in your opening paragraph. Talk about how you are going to use these readings as the majority of your paper to support your argument. It should be about 2-3 pages on just the readings. I know that I said three pages, but the more discussion the better.

6. Talk about your life experience as it relates to this topic. Use it as seasoning to spice the paragraphs, or you can summarize what you wrote in the body of your paper and use the summary as an opportunity to discuss your autobiography. Something else to talk about in a sentence or two during this part is any feelings about your past and how it relates to your future.

7. Grammar and spelling.

8. When you cite authors, make sure that you include their last names along with the page numbers. It shouldn't be just (p. 129), it should be (Marx, p. 129).

9. This drives me crazy. Use quotation marks if you're copying word for word out of the reading. I've read everything you have read, so I know when quotation marks should be there but you haven't placed them there.

10. Don't copy work. Its illegal, and I can tell very easily. I know you wouldn't dream of it, but it can be so tempting to use what someone else has said when they say it so much better. What you should do in that case is put it into your own words and then cite the author, (Donaldson 1998), and then put their book in your references section at the end of the paper.

11. Print your work out and read it out loud. Edit, it'll really make the difference between an A and a B- or even C.

Its not bad at all, but take the suggestions of condensing the textbook information breifly but thoroughly, writing about the main ideas from the assigned readings and making a verbal connection among them all, and citing and quoting. And organize your paragraphs so that they flow logically. Don't lose sight of your main point that ties all of these readings together. Cap off the paper with a concluding paragraph which should not be original. It should just restate what you already wrote. Actually, the opening paragraph and the conluding paragraph should be nearly identical.