Assignment 1: Analysis of a Newspaper Article 

For this project, you will analyze a newspaper article using concepts, theories, or ideas drawn from class. The purpose of this assignment is to think critically about sociological topics, to draw connections between everyday life and sociological analysis, and to aid in the application of the material we learn in class (see attached pdf FILES!!!).  To assist you in this process, you will locate a newspaper article related to work/occupations to read and analyze. Your article must come from one of the following news outlets:

• The New York Times
• The Washington Post
• The Wall Street Journal
• The Guardian (UK)
• China Daily (China)
• The Oregonian
• The Register Guard

The first three publications are considered to be among the U.S.’s “papers of record”, The Guardian and China Daily provide a more global perspective and The Oregonian or Register Guard may provide you with articles on local events and happenings.

If you find an article that you would like to use but that is not from one of these, please let one of us (me or Lola) know so we can be sure that it’s appropriate. You can find articles by browsing websites or by using the Nexis Uni search engine on the library website. To find Nexis Uni, go to the N category of Research Databases on the library homepage.

Please make sure that you choose an actual news article, and not an editorial or blog post.  I expect that you find an article of average newspaper length, at least 1,000 words.  The longer the article, the more you’ll have to say about it, increasing the likelihood of achieving a higher grade.  If you have any questions about the acceptability of your article, please contact me or Lola.  

You do not need a title page for this paper. Your paper should include your name in the top left hand corner. You should give your paper a title. Your paper should not begin halfway down the page, but should begin fairly close to the top of the page.

1. Introduction: Introduce your paper in roughly 1-2 paragraphs. Here, you should briefly (1-2 sentences) summarize what the article is about and then introduce the concept(s) with which you will be performing your analysis. Therefore, you are required to state your thesis in this section.

For example, perhaps you find an article about the importance of social workers for facilitating care for breast cancer patients. You may decide that emotional labor is an appropriate concept to helping us understand the value social workers provide, or perhaps the emotional hardships that they undergo as they work with women diagnosed with a potentially life-threatening disease. You might state: In this paper, I argue that emotional labor is an important concept to helping us understand the process of medical care. I show that…

1. Brief Summary: One or two paragraphs (max) that concisely summarize the article’s main topic or issues. Here you might also introduce course concepts that the reading connects (or fails to connect) to, that are relevant for the remainder of your analysis.

• Summaries should be brief and should not make up a substantial portion of your paper.
• Please be sure to fully define relevant class concepts or terms. Don’t assume the reader knows what you are talking about.

1. Engagement: Two-three paragraphs explicitly addressing your argument/thesis.

If you are arguing that the concept of emotional labor may help us to better understand the working lives of social workers, provide evidence from the article as to why you think so. You can expand your analysis beyond what is discussed in the article. You might also provide a critique of the article or point toward ways that it could have perhaps been strengthened.

There are multiple ways that you can approach the analysis. The key is to be able to link the article with concepts. So long as you do this in a coherent manner, you are on the right track! Please see me or Lola for any guidance. We are glad to help! 

1. Conclusion: One or so paragraphs summarizing your discussion. In some cases, this might be pretty short or repetitive.
2. References: If you have cited essays or books from outside of class, you need to properly cite them in the references. If you use quotes from any course readings, you should properly cite that. I’m not requiring that you use outsides sources. Please see the handout on Canvas that addresses citation.