SOC 1101 – ELEMENTS OF SOCIOLOGY
Blog Guidelines
One of your assignments is to write a blog that critically explores the impact of Covid-19 on various
social groups such as men or women, various ethnic groups or people in different class positions (i.e.,
working-class, middle-class or upper-class) from a social scientific point of view. Here you will use your
sociological imagination and develop your social science research skills while also practicing your (blog)
writing.
Topic: How Covid-19 Impacted My Understanding of Social Stratification
in the United States
I leave you great freedom in the specific topic you want to write about. Just make sure that you have
access to enough solid resources to give your blog some depth and width. Also choose a catchy title for
your blog – it helps attract readers. (See details below.)
Research Sources
Find at least THREE sources to support the claims in your blog:
✓
Source Type
Details
ONE in-depth New York Times article that
specifically looks at the topic you chose
(To sign up for the NY Times go to
www.nytimes.com/passes )
ONE statistical resource from either the
Census Bureau or the Pew Research Center
(If you can’t find any relevant data on these
websites, you can use another quantitative
data source like surveys.)
Information from the website of ONE
advocacy organization or activist group that
is trying to improve the lives of people that
are affected by your research topic
Search for your topic and identify the best article
available. Read and start to develop the main point
for your blog and start jotting down sub-themes
and supporting evidence.
Go to www.census.gov and www.pewresearch.org
and search their data bases for relevant statistics.
If you don’t know of an activist entity and the NYT
article doesn’t name one, do a search online for a
group. You can also check World Advocacy
(www.worldadvocacy.com) for international
representation.
Deadline
Please check your syllabus for the deadline.
How to Write a Good Blog
Step #1: Select a Specific Topic Regarding Covid-19 and Specific Social Groups
If no topic jumps to mind readily, do some online searches and decide which phenomenon you find
most interesting. For example, how are men vs. women or Latinos vs. African Americans or European
Americans or working class vs. upper class groups impacted differently because of their social status (not
exclusively medical issues) in society?
2
Step #2: Research Your Topic
Start with searching the New York Times website for articles that discuss the topic that you want to
cover. Click on a few that sound promising, then choose the one that gives you the most information
and inspiration for your blog.
Next search the Census and Pew Research in the same manner you searched the NYTimes. Again, pick
the source that is most supportive of your topic.
Finally, identify a nonprofit group that addresses the issues you have uncovered and see how that info
can make your blog stronger.
Step #3: Brainstorm
After you have carefully chosen and read your sources, make a list of at least 10 points you would like to
elaborate on. Once you start writing, some of those points might turn out irrelevant, that’s fine. Just
keep them for another blog you might want to write.
Next, choose a catchy title. The title represents the overall theme/claim/topic you are presenting. While
it has to be factually accurate, you also want your readers to be intrigued, excited or, the reverse,
concerned and worried. Sometimes it’s difficult to come up with a catchy title at the beginning of the
writing process. It’s fine to do it at the end but remember to give your title a lot of consideration.
START WRITING
Step #4: Introduce Your Topic
In a blog, you need to tell people what your post is about in a nutshell. It has to be informative but also
leave the reader wanting more detail. The more the first sentence/paragraph grabs the reader’s
attention, the more likely they will read on.
Step #5: Go into Detail
“Take each of the points you brainstormed [in step 3] and expand on it by giving more information and
supporting your arguments with facts. Although an academic article is an opinion-based [piece of]
writing, it makes sense to support your arguments with scientific facts by hyperlinking your points to
online references. This is particularly important when you’re quoting figures; readers need to know your
source. For balance and objectivity, you should mention any counter arguments as well. Repeat the last
few steps for all your points until you exhaust them.”1
Step #6: Conclusions
This is the moment to restate your main point concisely. In addition, you want people to start actively
responding to your blog. You might end with a question of what to study next, invite readers’ comments
on your findings or encourage them to share their personal experiences.
1
Aminu, Mamuda. (n.d.) How to write an academic blog in 5 simple steps. [Weblog post] LSTM. Retrieved from
https://cmnh.lstmed.ac.uk/how-to-write-an-academic-blog-in-5-simple-steps
©2020 to present by Renate Reimann, PhD
3
Length of Blog:
Blogs are meant to be relatively short and concise elaborations on a narrowly defined topic. Please make
sure that your post has between 500 and 750 words – no more and no less.
References:
Please put your references at the end of the blog even if you included links to the various sources you
are using. Sometimes links get changed or deleted and the reader won’t know where you got your
information from.
Grading Criteria:
Quality of sources: 25%
Quality of blog writing: 25%
Quality of blog content: 50%
Your blog accounts for 15% of your final grade.
How to post your blog
I strongly recommend writing your blog in a word processing app. It is a terrible experience to lose your
work because Blackboard timed out or you lost your Internet connection.
Once you have finished your blog, let it sit overnight for you to get some distance from it. Then edit it at
least once – check for typos, grammar, word choice, conciseness, and logic – before uploading it to
Blackboard.
The following instructions are very detailed in order to make it easy to post for people who are not
familiar with Blackboard yet. If you have posted on Blackboard before, please read through them
anyway because there is some course-specific information included.
To post your blog, please go to our Blackboard page, click on Blogs.
©2020 to present by Renate Reimann, PhD
4
Then click on “My Covid-19 Blog”
The next page gives you the deadline etc. and allows you to upload your blog assignment. Make sure
you include your name under your title in your document:
“Title of your piece
by YOUR NAME
Body of blog …”
Once you are done uploading, click on SUBMIT to send it off.
Congratulations! You are done.
©2020 to present by Renate Reimann, PhD
Order an Essay Now & Get These Features For Free:
Turnitin Report
Formatting
Title Page
Citation
Outline
