Demography 200 / Sociology 220 Prof.

Wilmoth
Spring 2003

Schedule for Research Paper

February 4 Paper proposal due. Explain your intended research topic. Be as specific as
possible. 1 page.
February 12-14 Appointments to discuss proposal and project.
March 4 Theoretical essay due. State your topic as a question, defining unclear or
ambiguous terms. Develop some sort of analytical framework to help organize
the topic. Highlight the key theoretical contrasts (i.e., differing explanations of
the general phenomenon, or competing answers to your central question). 10-12
pages.
March 29 Theoretical essay returned with grade and comments.
April 4 Turn in short literature review and preliminary data analysis. Give an
overview of key books and articles on your topic. Show some preliminary
empirical results and/or describe your plan for data analysis. 4-6 pages. (This
part will not be graded, but we will use it as a guide for the rest of the project.)
April 7-9 Appointments to discuss balance between literature review and data analysis.
April 18 Literature review and data analysis due. One in short form, 3-5 pages, and the
other in long form, 10-12 pages (see explanation on syllabus). Give copies of all
three sections of paper to two student mentors (see explanation below).
April 21-25 Appointments to discuss entire project and paper. (A meeting time on April 17
or 18 is possible for Rachel, who presents on April 22. Also, for meetings times
on April 21, priority is given to Richard and Chuck, who present on April 24).
April 22 – May 13 Presentations in class (see detailed schedule and other info below).
April 29 Literature review and data analysis returned by instructor with comments and
grade (only one of these two sections will be graded). Comments regarding all
three sections given by students to 2 mentoring partners, with copy to the
instructor (see below for more information).
May 15 Final paper due. Combine theory, literature, and data sections in an appropriate
fashion. 30-33 pages.
May 20 Course grades posted.

Presentation schedule April 22: Rachel; April 24: Richard, Chuck; April 29: Steve, Wiraporn;
May 6: Bernardo, Trevon; May 8: Bryan, Michelle; May 13: Stacy, Tom
Presentation format 20-25 minutes of presentation, followed by 10-15 minutes of Q&A.
Mentoring partners You are all in the same groups as before for the most part, but I had to make a
couple of adjustments in order to keep it equal in terms of workload. The
syllabus specifies that you will deliver written comments to the people for whom
you are a mentor (a revised, and abbreviated, format for these comments is
described below). The adjustment I am making here (compared to the groups we
defined earlier in the semester) assures that each student is responsible for giving
Demography 200 / Sociology 220 Prof. Wilmoth
Spring 2003

comments to two other students, and likewise, receives comments from those
same two students. In the list below, the first student on each line is responsible
for giving written comments about the 3 main sections of the papers written by
the 2 people listed after the colon (but note that all individual pairings are
perfectly reciprocal).
Wiraporn: Rachel and Bryan
Rachel: Wiraporn and Chuck
Bryan: Wiraporn and Richard
Michelle: Tom and Trevon
Tom: Michelle and Trevon
Trevon: Michelle and Tom
Steve: Stacy and Bernardo
Stacy: Steve and Bernardo
Bernardo: Steve and Stacy
Richard: Chuck and Bryan
Chuck Richard and Rachel
Mentoring comments The syllabus specified that students should meet with their mentors to discuss
each of the three major sections of the paper, and that mentors should deliver
2-3 pages of written comments about each section … Jumpin’ Junipers! That
sure do soun’ like alotta work to me! So let’s scale it back just a bit, ok?
Instead of the original plan, each student should deliver a copy of all three of the
main sections of her paper to both mentors on April 18. Presumably, by that date
you should have a revised version of your theoretical essay, and of course you
should distribute the most recent version. You are NOT required to show your
fellow students the original copy of your theoretical essay with my comments
and grade (but you may do so, of course, if you desire). During the next few
weeks, I recommend that you meet in small groups to discuss your theoretical
essays, my comments about them, and possible strategies for improvement.
Thus, the idea here is that you should meet with two of your fellow students
soon to discuss your paper, and on April 18, you will give them final versions of
all three sections of your paper.
By April 29 at the latest, your mentoring partners should mark up these three
sections, as necessary, and give them back to you, along with 2-3 pages of
general comments. Thus, as mentors for your fellow students, you should offer
specific “editorial comments” about the text, but that task does not replace the
need for a written discussion about what you perceive to be the general strengths
and weaknesses of the paper that is emerging from the project. You may also
wish to discuss other ideas or concerns that you may have about the topic at
hand, although the focus should be on suggestions for improving the current
paper.
On April 29, each student should also give me a copy of all written comments
about the papers for the two students with whom they are paired for this
exercise. These comments will serve as the basis for one half of the
participation grade for this course – thus, they will count for 10 percent of the
total course grade.