Vignette Instructions (grading rubric is below)
Vignettes are papers (at least 1500 words) that apply a sociological concept and a perspective to a particular experience. The first portion should describe one of the following:
- something that you have experienced
- something that someone you know has experienced
- an experience that you make-up, like a fictional story
- Avoid writing about any historical events or events in the news
The paper needs to reflect a sociological concept from one of the readings. Any concept that has a definition can be used. In order to help you focus, please choose only one concept.
*CLICK HERE TO SEE A LIST OF POSSIBLE CONCEPTS TO USE.
The first step of this writing assignment will be to find a specific concept from one of the readings. Do not begin with an experience and then hope to find a concept that matches; it is difficult to do it that way, and you will probably waste a lot of time. Look through the readings first and find a concept’s definition to which you can relate, something that grabs your attention. Suggestion: do not choose the first concept’s definition that looks interesting: look through all of the available sections first before deciding.
There are two parts of the paper:
Part One: Begin the paper by first naming the concept and providing the reading's definition of that concept. Then describe an experience that reflects that concept. Here, the reader should be able to guess your concept just by reading about the experience, as the description of the experience needs to reflect each aspect of the concept’s definition. As you write part one, you will continuously be referring back to that definition to be sure that the experience is reflecting each part of that definition. Note: Vignettes need to show the concept’s definition throughout everything written in part one. This first part should be roughly one to two pages in length.
Part Two: The second part of the paper needs to apply a sociological perspective to the specific experience shown in part one as a way of trying to explain why it happened, etc. Sociologists differ in how they view society and human behavior. For example, there are three main theoretical perspectives in sociology - Functionalist, Conflict, and Symbolic Interactionist perspectives. Thus, students could apply a Functionalist perspective, or a Conflict perspective, or a Symbolic Interactionist perspective to their experience.
For part two, the vignette needs to first summarize the sociological perspective; this summary should be at least 5 sentences in length. And then, after providing a thorough summary, apply those ideas shown in the summary to the example of the concept shown in part one; summarizing the perspective first will help you to apply the specific ideas to your experience, so the better the summary (in terms of including a lot of ideas from the perspective), the easier part two will be to write.
There are also many sub-theories/perspectives that fall under the three main theoretical perspectives that students could use. For example, the Looking-Glass Self is a theory that is used by some Symbolic Interactionists to explain how a person develops their self-concept. This particular theory is part of the Symbolic Interactionist perspective, and students could choose to use this as their sociological perspective in part two (if the concept shown in part one is ‘self-concept’).
Our readings are a necessary resource to use for this part of the paper, so be sure to read our readings’s description of the various sociological perspectives; we will also discuss the various perspectives in class. There is also a handout you could use that briefly explains the perspectives, linked here. Your instructor is also a good resource here, so please feel comfortable in asking for help. This part should be roughly one to two pages in length.
Note:
- If the paper is less than 1500 words, it is likely that something is missing in the paper.
- Use the rubric provided below when writing the paper; it’s what I use to grade the papers. And read the example vignette; it should help you.
Submitting Instructions for Vignettes
- The papers will be electronically submitted to Laulima; emailed Papers will not be accepted. You do not need to attach it as a file; simply paste the readings from Word (or Google Docs) into the submit box that you'll see after clicking on the assignment. Be sure to type and save the paper outside of Laulima before copying and pasting to Laulima, in case your computer or Laulima crashes while you are trying to paste the paper!
- To read the feedback on your paper, go to the same place where you submitted the paper and click on the link to the paper; you'll see the feedback inserted within the readings.
- Papers must be submitted by 11:55 pm on the due date shown on the course calendar. Late papers receive an automatic 50 percent reduction in points. No exceptions.
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Sociology 100: Rubric for Vignette (100 points)
PART ONE:
REFLECTING
THE
CONCEPT |
23 pts and below |
24-27 pts |
28-31 pts |
32-35 pts |
36-40 pts |
definition provided is likely not from the readings; example likely does not reflect the concept’s definition; the example is likely brief; overall, likely gives too much background information without focusing on the reflection |
provides the reading's definition of the concept; likely does not accurately reflect the specific definition; an example is there but it’s likely brief |
provides the reading's definition of the concept; generally reflects the concept’s definition, but certain parts of the definition likely are not reflected in the experience shown. Overall, the example is likely accurate but brief |
provides the reading's definition of the concept; accurately and somewhat thoroughly reflects each part of the concept’s definition |
provides the reading's definition of the concept; accurately and thoroughly reflects each part of the concept’s definition |
PART TWO:
APPLYING
THE PERSPECTIVE |
29 pts and below |
30-34 pts |
35-39 pts |
40-44 pts |
45-50 pts |
the summary of the sociological perspective is likely missing; the perspective is likely only applied to the general concept and not to the actual experience shown in part one; there is likely no discussion
|
the summary of the sociological perspective is likely too brief; applies the perspective to the concept shown in part one; the perspective is likely only applied to the general concept and not to the actual experience shown in part one; discussion is likely missing |
accurately summarizes the sociological perspective; accurately applies the perspective to the concept shown in part one; the perspective is likely only applied to the general concept and not the actual experience; the discussion is likely brief |
accurately summarizes the sociological perspective; accurately applies the perspective to the specific example shown in part one; displays a good understanding of the perspective in its application and discussion |
accurately and thoroughly summarizes the sociological perspective; accurately and thoroughly applies the perspective to the specific example shown in part one; displays a keen understanding of the perspective in its application and discussion |
WRITING
AND
SYNTAX |
1-2 pts and below |
3-4 pts |
5-6 pts |
7-8 pts |
9-10 pts |
writing quality makes the point unclear (incomplete sentences, incorrect use of words, ungrammatical, poor punctuation, poor organization, and/or difficult to understand) |
writing quality significantly interferes with clarity of answer (incomplete sentences, incorrect use of words, ungrammatical, poor punctuation, poor organization, and/or difficult to understand) |
some significant writing errors (incomplete sentences, incorrect use of words, ungrammatical, poor punctuation, poor organization, and/or difficult to understand) |
minor writing errors (incomplete sentences, incorrect use of words, ungrammatical, poor punctuation, poor organization, and/or difficult to understand) |
no writing errors (incomplete sentences, incorrect use of words, ungrammatical, poor punctuation, poor organization, and/or difficult to understand) |
|