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Essay Available:
Pages:
10 pages/≈2750 words
Sources:
20 Sources
Style:
APA
Subject:
Social Sciences
Type:
Research Paper
Language:
English (U.S.)
Document:
MS Word
Date:
Total cost:
$ 51.84
Topic:

The Role of Family, Community and the Media Play in Creating Body Image

Research Paper Instructions:

Part 1:

 

In this assignment, you will identify and describe a research question/topic of sociological interest (see topic above);

Define all the sociological terms in the research question--dependent variable and independent and control variables as appropriate;

Identify one or more sociological theories or conceptual frameworks that inform this research; discuss the methodology you would use to collect data, including identification of data sources (if possible); develop an outline of a literature review;

Develop an annotated bibliography that includes a minimum of 10 scholarly sources (peer-reviewed journal articles, academic books, Internet resources [.gov, .org, or .edu source only; Wikipedia and similar sites will not be accepted], dissertations/master theses).

Use the outline below as subheadings for your paper:

  1. Research Question/Topic
  2. Terms and Variables
  3. Theory/Conceptual Framework
  4. Methodology
  5. Data Sources
  6. Literature Review Outline
  7. 7.    Annotated Bibliography—THIS IS A MUST!!!

Paper format:

  1. APA Style
  2. Times New Roman 12
  3. 5-6 pages (double spaced)

 

Qualitative Measure:

Each source must be correctly referenced in APA style. Each summary of the major findings (approximately 2-3 sentences up to one paragraph) must be free from grammatical errors and show a clear relationship to the research question and/or the literature review outline.

Quantitative Measure:

The following quantitative measures will apply:

20 sources, including books, journal articles, and Internet sources*

*Re: Internet sources: A distinction will be made between two types of Internet sources. Government sites (designated by the .gov extension), educational sites (designated by the .edu extension), and formal organizations (designated by the .org extension) tend to be more reliable and are more appropriate for sociological research. Sites that contain the .com extension may also provide accurate information, but are subject to less oversight and may reflect an individual’s personal agenda rather and an objective presentation of empirical data (this is referred to as "selective observation" in Chapter 1. Therefore, an annotated bibliography may not include more that five (5) .com references, and should really contain none.

 

Part 2:

Journal Article

Select one of the articles. Some articles will be listed multiple times throughout the weekly assignments; do not select and summarize any article more than once. There are quite a few choices each week and you will not get credit for an article more than once. After you read the article, write a short paper (approximately 2-3 pages, double spaced) that addresses the following questions (please use the same structure, organization, and subheadings in your paper):

Reference (APA style):

Citation (APA style):

 

  1. What is the Research Question? What interesting and/or important sociological issue is this study trying to solve?
  2. What type of Background Information is provided (this will usually appear in the Introduction or Literature Review)? You can simply list the major topics that are discussed as part of the background for this study.
  3. What is the research Methodology? How were the data collected? If appropriate, include a description of the subjects, location/setting, procedures, and a description of any instruments (such as a questionnaire) that were used. Also, discuss any potential limitations to this study (there are generally two types of limitations: some related to the validity of the study (that is, are the researchers able to collect accurate data? Are they measuring what they need to in order to answer the research question? Are there any threats to the accuracy of the study?) and some are related to the ability of the research to be generalized to other settings (that is, if the study was conducted in New York City, are the results likely to be applicable to Los Angeles? Denver? Fresno?).
  4. What are the most important findings/Results?
  5. What are the most important Conclusions? What did the authors learn?

 

Research Paper Sample Content Preview:
The role of family, community and the media play in creating body image
Student:
Professor:
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The role of family, community and the media play in creating body image
Part 1
Research Question/Topic
What role does family, community and the media play in creating body image?
Terms and Variables
The main terms include family, community, media and body image. Family, community and the media are the independent variables whereas body image is the dependent variable. Social and cultural standards of feminine attractiveness are presented in virtually every form of popular media, bombarding women and men with images portraying what is regarded as the perfect body. It is notable that such standards of beauty are mainly impossible to attain for most women considering that most models shown in adverts and on television are below what is regarded as healthy body weight (Haas et al., 2012). The use of unrealistic models in the media basically sends a message that for any woman to be seen as beautiful, she has to be unhealthy. Women are affected in a negative way by the continuous exposure to models who display the unrealistic media ideal of beauty (McCabe & McGreevy, 2011).
Theory/Conceptual Framework: Social Comparison Theory
According to the Social Comparison Theory (SCT), people determine their own personal and social worth basing upon how they stack up against other people. Therefore, they are always making self and other evaluations across various domains such as success, wealth, intelligence and attractiveness. This theory was conceptualized by Leon Festinger (1919-1989) and it explains the process through which individuals come to understand themselves through evaluating their own beliefs, abilities and attitudes in comparison to other people (Festinger, 1954). There are 2 sorts of social comparison: upward comparison and downward comparison. Upward comparison is when a person compares himself or herself to other people he or she perceives as being socially better than themselves. In general, this results in negative mood and could threaten self-evaluation (Melki et al., 2015). It is notable that upward comparisons enhance a person’s self image as they elicit behaviours to improve oneself. When there are discrepancies between the comparison standard and the self, individuals are motivated to alter the self so that they can more resemble the comparison standard (Festinger, 1954).
On the other hand, downward social comparison is when a person compares herself or himself to people whom he/she perceives as being less fortunate than himself/herself in some domain. This enhances mood as well as feelings of self-worth (Muñoz & Ferguson, 2012). Researchers have reported that women have considerably higher decreases in self-esteem and increases in negative affect as well as body image disturbance after they have viewed models who are thin than after they have viewed overweight women, normal-weight women and inanimate objects (Nerini, 2015). There are a variety of sources to which people could look for social comparison, and a very commanding influence is mass media, particularly for women. Magazines, adverts, TV, plus other sorts of popular media offer numerous references for upward ...
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