How to Write a Theoretical Reflection Sociology Paper
SHARON THERIEN
CLASS
Sociology studies people and their relationships with each other, from the family unit to global perspectives. In a theoretical reflection sociology paper, you apply a theory to a social topic. Theories provide a framework to explain human relationships, whether you choose the structure of a corporation or the relationship between men and women in a family. You can pick your topic and write your paper in a few short steps.
1 Information in the Paper
2 Pick a social topic
Pick a social topic you want to study. Think of your interests or what is relevant in your culture to help you pick a topic.
3 Find a sociological theory
Find a sociological theory that helps to explain the topic you chose. It helps to break your topic down to its basic issue. For example, the separate 2011 protests in Egypt, Libya and unions in the United States could all be explained using social movement theory, since they all break down to the common issue of social movements.
4 Use your theory
Use your theory to explain the topic you chose. The paper should both explain the theory and how it could be applied, using your specific case. Write how your topic is an example of your theory and how your theory explains your topic. If the theory does not completely explain your topic, include that in your paper. Theories are not all-encompassing.
5 Writing the Paper
6 Introduce your topic
Introduce your topic in the first section of the paper. Since it is a reflection paper, you can write the facts of the topic as well as your perception of it.
7 Explain the theory
Explain the theory you chose in depth as if you are teaching it to someone who has never heard of it. This is the second main section of the paper. It should not include the sociological topic, but only focus on the theory.
8 Use the theory
Use the theory to explain and analyze your sociological topic in the third section of the paper. You want to show why that topic occurred, using the theory to explain.
- You might need more than one theory to explain your topic.
- Follow your teacher's instructions on what type of voice to use in the paper and for the formatting instructions of the paper. Your teacher will tell you how many pages the paper needs to be, which will affect the number of pages in each section.
- The paper is made up of three main sections, but that does not mean paragraphs. Each section should focus on the parts you need to explain, which are the topic, the theory and explaining the topic by using the theory. However, within each section, you can break your explanations up into as many paragraphs as you need to make the paper flow.
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