Research paper: You will write a research paper of 6-8 pages, including a theoretical analysis.
The purpose of this paper is to examine a particular form of deviant behavior. For example, you might choose to research a very serious form of deviant behavior, such as terrorism, or you might choose to research a milder form of deviant behavior, such as tattooing. You will provide basic information on the topic. As well, you will provide a theoretical analysis. In this analysis, you can focus on either the rule-breakers, or the rule-makers.
For example, if you focus on the rule-breakers (for more serious forms of deviance), you will provide an etiological analysis on why individuals become rule breakers. So, in the case of terrorists, you will first address basic information about the topic and then provide the theoretical analysis of what social scientists know about the causes of this form of deviant behavior. If you choose a milder form of deviance, you might want to focus on the rule-makers (or you can still focus on the rule-breakers). If you focus on the rule-makers, you will address the question of why the behavior came
to be defined as deviant in the first place.
So, for example, if you address the issue of hyperactivity, you could focus on basic sociological information about hyperactivity and then examine the societal forces that led to the redefining of previously defined “bad children” to “sick children” or how the rule-makers defined/redefined the deviance (and not why deviants break the rules).
In either case, you will utilize academic references: books from the university library or journal articles.
If you are a sociology major, you will need to use ASA citation formatting.