For Professor Myers SOC 480 course, students will produce a written report demonstrating their mastery of key learning objectives in the major. Your capstone project should argue an original advocacy angle to a social justice issue of your own choosing. Students will critically analyze how historical systems of power based on race, class, gender, sexuality, ability, etc. have shaped contemporary policies, practices, behaviors, and attitudes regarding the published research scholarship on that issue. Extensive library searches are expected for depth of analysis. On-going writing skill development is supported using digital literary and visual tools.
By developing a comprehensive view of any gaps in scholarly understanding on that issue, you will prepare an original literature review (a major part of the capstone project) and an oral/visual presentation highlighting argumentation on how to productively address those gaps as the future graduates of the field of sociology! In short, your advocacy angle should provide a “bridge” between existing scholarship and understudied perspectives.
The Senior Capstone Final Project should NOT merely describe or summarize the scholarly record as it currently stands; instead, your project should highlight the research that (still) needs to be conducted in order to strengthen your argument for social change. “What’s next” for the future of the field of Sociology should be evidenced in your project.