Sociology 474 - Fall 2004

Newspaper Abstract Guidelines

This exercise is meant to help connect course topics with current social movement dynamics.  Please follow these guidelines in writing your weekly abstract:

• Select an article from the New York Times relevant to the course.  Choose an article of some substance (not a short news brief). 
   
• Limit your abstract to one, double-spaced, typed paragraph (150-200 words). In your own words, summarize the article's main point/ theme and arguments/ substantiating points.  Answer "the 5 W's" of good news reporting:  Who? What? When? Where? and Why?   If related to social movements in another country, you might also briefly compare/ contrast the topic addressed in the article with similar topics in the USA. 
   
• Conclude your paragraph with a few sentences regarding the relevance of the article for this class:  Why is this topic interesting to you?  How does it relate to the study of social movements, and to the more particular topics addressed in the course? 

• Append a full citation. For printed versions, include the author's name, full article title, date, and page no.:

Bonner, R. (2000, October 30). "U.S. Bid to Execute Mexican Draws Fire," New York Times, p. A20

For online articles, include the full URL (web address) and publication and access dates, but not the page number: 

Bonner, R. (2000, October 30). "U.S. Bid to Execute Mexican Draws Fire," New York Times. Retrieved November 1, 2000, from <http://www.nytimes.com/2000/10/30/national/30DEAT.html>.

• To clarify the difference between proper and improper paraphrasing, quotations, and citations, see Earl Babbie's "Plagiarism" website:

http://www.csubak.edu/ssric/Modules/other/plagiarism.htm

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last updated December 17, 2004