Comparative Article Writing Assignment
Soc. 108, Introduction to Sociology
Professor Darren Sherkat
Fall, 2006
In this assignment, you are required to examine two scholarly articles from contemporary
sociological journals.
1. The two articles must have been published after 1989.
2. The articles must have been published in the following journals: American
Sociological Review, American Journal of Sociology, Social Forces,
Sociological Quarterly, Sociological Forum, Sociological Perspectives, or
Social Science Research.
3. The articles must be feature articles, they cannot be comments or replies, or
review articles.
4. The articles must be on a similar theme (crime, inequality, social movements,
politics, gender, whatever).
Once you have selected your two articles, briefly describe and compare:
1. What are the theories the articles examine, and what hypotheses do the present?
How do they differ in this regard?
2. What methods do they use for assessing the hypotheses or elaborating the theory?
What datasets, measures, statistical techniques, or other methodologies do they
employ?
3. What conclusions do they reach, and how are the articles similar or different in
this regard?
The paper should be 5-6 pages, typed and double spaced. You must also turn in a copy of
the abstracts and titles of the two papers you use.
Paper is due Tuesday, November 28.
