Armacost Library: SOAN 221: Rethinking Politics (Fields): Getting Started

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Subjects: First-Year Seminars, Human-Animal Studies, Interdisciplinary, Johnston, Media & Visual Culture Studies, Race & Ethnic Studies, Sociology & Anthropology, Women's & Gender Studies

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This guide will help you begin the research process in SOAN 221: Rethinking Politics by providing guidance in finding, evaluating, and using a variety of information sources available through Armacost Library collections and beyond.

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ELECTION ANALYSIS ASSIGNMENT

For this set of assignments, you will need to first choose a U.S. campaign to analyze. You may choose any election provided that you are able to follow the polling, speeches, rhetoric, and news of the electoral process. Possible elections include the presidential elections, any senate or house race, any gubernatorial race, major ballot measures, state or local elections.

In Part I, you will write a short 2-page paper on the polling of the race at that point. This is due on September 27th – meaning that much will be left to be decided in most races. Your paper will need to address the following:

What current state of polling looks like in the race? Who is winning? What are the margins? What types of polls are you using? Why those polls?
What has changed during the election?
Why (using sociological theory) do you think that has changed? Are there major events within the election? Outside of the election?
What (if any) conclusions can you draw from the current state of polling?

Part I is due on Friday, September 27th by 5pm

In Part II, you will write a 3-4 page paper analyzing one-side of the campaign. In this paper, you should discuss:

Why you chose this campaign? What makes it interesting and important?
Which side are you analyzing? Why?
What are the major issues?
What types of voters are likely to be drawn to this side of the election? Why? How can the campaign draw voters? Increase the likelihood of people voting?
What makes this side compelling?

Part II is due on Friday, November 1 by 5pm

Finally, in Part III, you will analyze the results of the election! This paper should be between 4 and 5 pages and will include:

Who won?
Using sociological theory and methods, why do you think they won?
What does this election tell us about broader social trends?
What does this tell us about social theory? Do these results buck trends or does it make sense given what you’ve learned about political sociology?
How does this compare to other elections in the country? Why is it similar or different?

Part III is due on Thursday, December 5 by 5pm