An individual’s educational outcome can be influenced by class, gender or ethnicity. Choose one (1) of these variables and refer to case studies and key theories to support your argument.
Suggested keywords:
| Keyword 1 | Keyword 2 | Keyword 3 |
| Education | Class | "case study" |
| Schooling | "Social status" | theor* |
| Dropout | Gender | |
| Attrition | Male / Female | |
| Retention | Ethnic* | |
| Trade | Language |
It has been argued by scholars that the family unit has altered over time due to a number of social, cultural and structural changes. Identify the major changes with reference to theories about the family and refer to case studies to support your argument.
Suggested keywords:
| Keyword 1 | Keyword 2 | Keyword 3 |
| Family | Society | Theor* |
| Household | Culture | "Case studies" |
| "Nuclear family" | Workplace | |
| "Blended family" | FIFO | |
| "Single-parent family" | Shift work |
Discuss what you consider to be the best theory for explaining the current high rates of crime among young people and support your argument with key research studies.
Suggested keywords:
| Keyword 1 | Keyword 2 | Keyword 3 |
| Youth | Crime | "research study" |
| Juvenile | Offence | Theor* |
| Teen | Delinquency | |
| Adolescent | Misdemeanor | |
| Young adult | Vandalism |
The essay questions are as follows (select one only):
Sociologically analyse the manner in which a present-day social issue is reported in the media.
Select a current political issue that is ongoing in our contemporary culture. How can we best understand this issue sociologically?
Intimacy has changed quite dramatically in our current culture from the past. Explore how these have changed using one or two specific examples.
Is our life becoming dominated by the medical industry?
Analyse an environmental problem of today sociologically? What are some of the key issues for our society with this problem?
What are some of the sociological implications for the underemployed in our society today?
How can we understand why some groups receive more social control than others?
Max Weber predicted that the rationalisation of everyday life will be a significant part of our lives today. Was he correct?.
Sociologically analyse any fictional piece of work from film, television or literature OR sociologically analyse any piece of art OR sociologically analyse any consumer object. (Please note more information will be given on how to do this in class.)
Task words are usually verbs and they tell you what to do to complete your assignment. Some assignment topics below have implied task words, e.g. Is our life becoming dominated by the medical industry? The implied task word here is Argue. Check out this glossary of task words.
Content words are the content words are the "meat" of the question - these are things you can research.
Limiting words keep you focused on a particular area, and stop you from trying to write about everything. Common limits include time, place, extent (focus area) and number of foci.
Context words are phrases or sentences that aren't part of the task at all. They exist to give you some context.Use JCU Library's high-quality reference materials to find definitions and background information when you start your assignment.
Reference materials are factual works and include:
Use these materials to:
A good search strategy will help your search interface (e.g. Google, One Search, databases) retrieve relevant information sources.
Example: Australia AND (refugee OR migrant) AND ("social inclusion" OR assimilat*)
Find out how to build a search strategy:
One Search is a good place to start searching for books, ebooks, journal articles, and our e-journal content all at once.
One Search is also available on the Library home page.
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