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SSCI 101: Introduction to Interdisciplinary Social Sciences (Fogle)

SSCI 101 Final Project

Overview

In the final project, you will apply the interdisciplinary framework we have been using this semester to analyze a social issue of your choice and offer proposed solutions.

The project will include the following steps:

  1. Choose a social issue that is interesting and important to you.
  2. Do some basic background research to illustrate why this is a contemporary problem or issue that needs to be addressed. You will need to find three background sources (newspaper or magazine articles, or articles from government or organization websites) to provide a general overview of your topic.
  3. Identify three social science disciplines that might study your topic or issue and think about some specific ways each field might approach/discuss/research the problem.
  4. Explore some social science research on your topic. For each of the three social science disciplines you have chosen, find one example of a study or article on your topic. These should be peer-reviewed scholarly sources, one from each of your three disciplines.
  5. Synthesize the findings from your three articles. How does approaching this issue from multiple perspectives help you better understand this issue?
  6. Based on what you learned from your research, brainstorm some proposed solutions for addressing your issue.

Content

Your finished project should include the following sections: 

Section Length What to include
Introduction 1 paragraph Briefly introduce your topic and why you selected it.
Background Research 1-2 pages Provide an overview of your topic, incorporating material from your three background sources.
Disciplinary Perspectives 3 pages

Introduce the three social science disciplines you selected and why you selected them.

Include a one-page summary of one research article from each of your three disciplines.
Discussion/Synthesis 1 page Compare and contrast your three articles. How does approaching this issue from multiple perspectives help you better understand this issue?
Conclusion 1 page Based on your research, identify and discuss at least two proposed solutions for addressing your issue.
References 1 page Citations for all sources formatted in APA style.

For full assignment guidelines please refer to Dr. Fogle's prompt in Cougar Courses.