Writing Assignment (Part 1): Identifying the Hypothesis
Consider a social issue in which you are interested. It could be human freedom, sexuality, deviance, crime, social mobility, poverty, education, aging, or another similar issue. Select a specific hypothesis that you will evaluate against the available evidence from your library / Internet research.
The specific course learning outcomes associated with this assignment are:
- Apply the sociological perspective to a variety of socioeconomic and political problems.
- Use technology and information resources to research issues in sociology.
- Write clearly and concisely about sociology using proper writing mechanics.
Teacher suggestion about hypothesis!
A hypothesis is a prediction. It is an educated guess as to how a scientific experiment will turn out. It is an educated guess because it is based on previous research, training, observation, and a review of the relevant research literature. A hypothesis can, and usually includes the terms "if, then" or "more likely or less likely". Finally, a hypothesis can be a statement. (Ex: Children who don't eat breakfast before going to school do not perform well academically). The statement is essentially true so where is the prediction or educated guess? In this example it is not needed. What we usually see, read is (Ex: Children who eat breakfast before going to school are more likely to perform better academically than children who do not eat breakfast before going to school). Again this is true, but you are tasked with then finding research to support your hypothesis.
When you "create a hypothesis" think very carefully about what it is you want to say. Think of core or key terms or phrases, then search for information you can use to write your paper. You may have to restate your core or key terms or phrases. In the example given, you could use "importance of eating breakfast before going to school". A simple question (Ex: Do children who eat breakfast do well in school?). Would have simply been a question to answer