I encourage you to use external sources other than those provided in the course material.

Instructions for rough draft
Use the guidelines for the final paper to write your rough draft. Your rough draft should be four pages. Your final draft will be between five and six. You must use at least four academic sources for the rough draft. You must submit it online.
Guidelines for final paper
This paper will illustrate what you have learned in this course. I expect you to use the course readings to make your arguments, but I encourage you to use external sources other than those provided in the course material. You are required to use a minimum of six academic sources for the final paper. If you are unclear if a source constitutes an academic one please email me the title and author (also if there is a link or website through with I can access it that would be helpful to include as well) and I will let you know.
This is only meant to provide a guide and not exact rules; I may change or approach this differently at my discretion.
How to write/organize your paper
You must provide a thesis statement. It is best if this occurs in the first paragraph of the paper. This will be your guide for the remainder of the paper, and it will orient me to the goal(s) of your paper. The thesis statement illustrates a relationship between different factors. This means you should clearly state that X, Y, and Z are related to A, B, and C. For example: Because of Structural/Systemic racism in our judicial system, Blacks & Latinos are disproportionately imprisoned and have higher recidivism rates when compared to Whites of equal class status. In the remaining portion of this paragraph you should lay a groundwork for how you plan to illustrate this relationship.
The paragraphs that follow should illustrate this groundwork. In each, you should explain readings and key themes illustrated by these authors. I recommend a discussion containing at least 1-2 citations per page. Also, you should organize your entire paper into several sub-sections (3-5 depending on your topic, argument, and citations) that all aim to underscore your main thesis statement. Each section should contain a sentence, preferably at the beginning, that makes this clear. These sections and paragraphs will be the meat of your paper and will be where the majority of your grade is determined.
End your paper with a concluding paragraph. This paragraph should summarize your paper, illustrate some of its weaknesses, and suggest ways in which these weaknesses can be improved. You may also suggest how your project can be broadened to address other questions related to your topic.
You will provide a reference page with complete references for each citation you use. I require the American Sociological Association citation style. As I stated on the first day of class, if you are unsure, always provide a citation otherwise it is plagiarism. Paraphrasing; borrowing ideas, words, and phrases; using maps, charts or pictures; copying and pasting from a website, blog, or other internet space all must be cited. Failing to do so is a serious matter and constitutes academic dishonesty. I will check every paper for plagiarized material.
Your paper will be 5-6 pages in length—no more, no less. You must adhere to the paper guidelines in your class syllabus for the formatting of this final paper. I encourage you to start writing this paper as soon as possible. I also encourage you to come and talk with me about your paper before it is due (preferably more than a day or two before you need to turn it in).
What you should cover in your paper
I expect you to cover at least one major sociological argument on the topic you have chosen. I recommend that you cover two and provide an adequate comparison between the two, though it is possible for a strong paper to cover only one argument. To accomplish this you should use books or articles found in the Sociological Abstracts & JSTOR search engines available through the TAMUSA library system. If you are not able to find these databases, please email me or contact someone at the library directly. Our course reading may cover these arguments, in which case I recommend trying to supplement this argument with articles available in these databases.
Providing the contours of this argument will constitute the majority of your paper. This means that you will use each subsection of your paper to illustrate a new theme or contour of this particular topic. I recommend trying to find other resources to supplement this portion of your paper.
A goal of sociology is to uncover the unseen mechanisms of social life and your paper should strive to accomplish this main tenant. In approaching this paper you should critically engage common sense understandings of the topic. You are required to do analysis supported by the sociological knowledge you gain from this course. In this analysis you will synthesize ideas, concepts, theories, and examples given in class and in your readings to address your topic. Pay close attention to my comments on your proposal and outline because they will help you do this analysis.
all of the references are listed on the document Sociology topic. the information for the themes are also on that document. That document was used for brainstorming.