Here are some questions to get you started thinking about the paper. However, do not write your paper as a series of answers to these prompts. Think about these ideas and what you can use from this class to analyze what happened. Where did your predecessors come from? Why did they immigrate? Where did they settle in the U.S.? What kinds of work did they do? What was their economic status? Did they face difficulties due to race, ethnicity, religion or language? What were gender norms and relations like in each generation? Who fit in, who didn’t fit in, and why? Look at generational differences, e.g., great-grandparents, to grandparents, to your parents, to you. That’s an example. It’s not required to have multigenerationsl information about your family. It’s okay if you can’t go back that far, or if you can go even farther. If you know only about your generation and that of your parents, that’s enough. If you have children now, you may also include differences between the ways you grew up and those of your children.
The important aspect of the assignment is to make a sociological analysis of family characteristics based on what we are studying. It’s not necessary that you communicate about anything that seems too private or confidential. Whatever the story of your family, again, the purpose is to make a sociological analysis of it. You may include a few pictures if you like. Tell us who is pictured, why you chose that picture and what the picture means to you.
The paper should be 4 – 5 pages in length, counting text only. Please format your paper properly, included your name, a title, use double spaced pages with one-inch margins and 10 or 12 pt font. Number your pages. You must include a Works Cited (MLA) or References (APA) page with each reading cited independently. Do not just cite the Risman book as this is improper citation form. There is a separate discussion thread set up in Week 2 for students to post papers for others to read. These often are papers that students enjoy sharing and reading. It is NOT required that you share your paper. The paper is due on Sunday . Submit the paper to the Week 2 course for grading.
I hope you will enjoy this assignment as well as learn from it.