65. What is a community, and how would you investigate an aspect of a community that fits that definition?
Task
Write a short (500 word maximum) response to the following question:
What is a community, and how would you investigate an aspect of a community that fits that definition?
In your answer you should:
1. Demonstrate an understanding of one or two of the perspectives presented in the Required Reading for Topic 1;
• Bruhn, J.C. (2015). “Conceptions of Community: Past and Present.” In The sociology of community connections. Springer, Dordrecht. pp.29-46. (Chapter 2)
• Eipper, C. (1997). “Suburbia: the threat and the promise,” In Kelehear, A. Social self global culture: an introduction to sociological ideas (ed). Oxford University Press, Oxford. pp.81-90
2. describe how community has been researched sociologically (using the Required Readings for Topic 2)
1. Kayrooz, C. and C. Trevitt. (2016). “Research and its context”. In Research in Organizations and Communities: Tales from the real world. Allen and Unwin, Crows Nest. pp.3-17. (eReserve)
2. Kayrooz, C. and C. Trevitt. (2016). “Appendix 1: the range of theoretical perspectives in Research”. In Research in Organizations and Communities: Tales from the real world. Allen and Unwin, Crows Nest. pp.323-324. (eReserve)
Recommended Reading
1. Prus, Robert. (2017). ‘Ethnographic comparisons, complexities and conceptualities: generic social processes and the pragmatic accomplishment of group life,’
2. Letherby, G., Brady, G., and G. Brown. (2017). “Working with the Community: Research and Action.” In Clay, C., Madden, M. and L. Potts. Towards understanding community: people and places. Palgrave MacMillan, Houndsmills. pp.123-136. (eReserve)
; and
3. explain how you would conduct research about a community in terms of the perspective you have presented.
You do not need to research any further than just the Required Readings for the first two topics. You will need to reference carefully according to the APA referencing guide, write in full paragraphs and proper sentences. Your work will also need an introduction that summarises what you will say and the argument you will make, and a conclusion that summarises what you have said.
Rationale
This assessment is designed so that you can establish your comprehension of the early reading and get a chance to explain that formally. It is also an opportunity for you and I (your lecturer) to get a sense of where you are at with writing and referencing. Your feedback will give you a sense of what academic skills you need to brush up on, what I expect of your writing, and what is expected in terms of the level of thinking and understanding in the subject.
Marking criteria
Standards
1. This essay is about the knowledge and understanding you have gained in the first 2 topics and discovering your capacity to put the ideas together. Thus, by completing this assessment you should be on your way to demonstrating your understanding of the structures and processes of communities (learning outcome 1), and the way in which sociologist conduct research into community life (learning outcome 2).
2. The structure of your essay (logic of your argument). In all our involvement with communities, we need to be able to communicate clearly and logically. Thus, writing style and communications skills are important parts of being able to solve problems. This assessment is therefore an opportunity to develop those skills and directly relates to identifying community problems and solving or alleviating the affect of them (learning outcome 3).
3. Writing (paragraphing, sentence structure, clarity). Again, communicating with people is important and high level writing skills helps to do that. By developing your writing you are again showing you have met learning outcome 3.
4. Referencing and formatting (APA style, always referenced where and idea is presented that is not your own). As sociologists and community analysts, we need to be able to acknowledge where our ideas came from, therefore good referencing is essential for being a good sociologist, and shows we have met learning outcome 2.
Presentation
APA style. A link to the APA referencing and style guide is on the SOC308 interact site. A copy of both is available on the library website.
Requirements
You are required to:
1. Read the Required reading for topic 1 and 2
2. Follow the instructions carefully (See both “Task” and “Marking Criteria” above).