Why do children in single-parent family structures have a higher chance of generating delinquency compared to a two-parent family structure?

Required:  Turn in two copies of your paper: an electronic copy in a drop box and a printed copy to your TA.

For model building, remember all the wisdom from March and Lave.

PAGE ONE

Title Page (5 pts)

Include your

Name

Student ID number

Discussion section

TAs Name

PAGE TWO

Abstract (5 pts)

            An abstract is a brief statement (usually a paragraph or two) that is placed at the beginning of a paper.  Its purpose is to briefly explain what the paper is about; thus, it lets the reader know what will be discussed (commonly so the reader can decide whether he wants to continue reading it).  It also sets a frame of reference for the reader if he or she decides to continue.

            For this assignment, you are simply setting a frame of reference for the reader.

Approximately 100 words

PAGE THREE and BEYOND  [For each section, please begin a new page.]

Introduction & Method (10 pts)

State your observation.

Explain in two or three sentences why we should care about this observation.  In other words, why should we try to discover a model that explains your observation?

You need to describe three models that explain your research question. 

For each model, you need at least one implication of your model.   You will receive more points if you have two implications.  Three implications are unnecessary.  These implications (i.e., hypotheses) must be testable (your model needs to be falsifiable).  Ideally, the models can generate critical experiments that differentiate the models.  You must explain how your study will differentiate between these hypotheses.   (This work has been done in your class assignments, and needs to be repeated here.)

Data (10 pts)

What is the data that you would collect and how does it relate to your research question?  In the previous section, you described critical experiments, but the description may have been somewhat vague.  In this section, you are being asked precisely how you would do these experiments.

Identify your independent variables and dependent variable with a short explanation for each variable.

How would you operationalize your independent and dependent variables so that they can be measured and quantified?

How would you theoretically gather your data?  In other words, if you were actually doing the critical experiments described in the introduction and methods section, how would you gather the data described in this (Data) section.  Be specific.

Findings and Results (15 pts)

This section is asking how you would interpret certain results.  In the above sections, you have described critical experiments, and you have described the data you would collect to do these experiments.  You now need to describe how you would interpret the data.  For example, if you find that people respect lawyers more than professors, that will mean something different from finding that people respect professors more than lawyers.

For each model:

Describe what results you would need to find in order to support the model.

Describe what results would contradict or fail to support your model.

If the data failed to support your model, what other models might these data support?

References (15 Points)

Note:  You are not being asked to write a literature review.  This is a list of references.  Because this is not a true, complete research paper, you may not have actually used any references.  Thus, you need to find books, journal articles, electronic sources, etc. that are (at least slightly) related to what your paper is about.  The purpose of this section of the assignment is correctly using APA format, not doing in-depth research.

Cite at least six sources (books, newspapers, internet, etc.).  You will earn more points, if they come from a wide variety of sources (e.g., one book, one journal, one newspaper, one website, etc.)  If the nature of your question makes it difficult to find a wide variety of sources, talk to you TA about getting an exemption from this requirement.

The citations need to be in APA format and alphabetized.  (See the syllabus for links to webpages that can help with APA format.)

AT THIS POINT, YOUR PAPER IS FINISHED, BUT THERE ARE 10 ADDITIONAL POINTS

Well Written  (10 points)

If the writing is clear and concise (following what we read in the Williams text), you will get 10 additional points.

Reminder:  30 points have already been assigned from the class assignments.  Therefore, the total score for this assignment is 100 points.