Category: Select subject(s)

Introduction

Thesis/Claim

“When trying to influence others it is imperative to set a good example.”

Body paragraph 1

Main point/Topic

“in a professional setting having good work ethic and integrity is imperative to influence others to do the right thing.”

Evidence/Example

“having good work ethic is imperative to be able to influence others to have to same work ethic.”

Reasoning/Explanation

“having good work ethic like arriving early, staying focused, and work hard will spark a similar work ethic in others. this will create a better work environment for everyone, helping work to get done quicker.”

Evidence/Example

“having integrity is imperative to be able to influence others to do the right thing”

Reasoning/Explanation

“having integrity in things like arguments and mistakes will spark everyone to prioritize integrity in the workplace environment. thus creating a better workplace environment and promote trust.”

Body paragraph 2

Main point/Topic

“in a parenting and mentorship setting having healthy habits and kindness is imperative to influence others like children to do the right thing.”

Evidence/Example

“having healthy habits in a parenting and mentorship setting is imperative for them to learn what the right thing is.”

Reasoning/Explanation

“having healthy habits in parenting and mentorship like consistently eating healthy food and exercising is imperative for the children to learn what they should do and shouldnt do.”

Evidence/Example

“having kindness in a parenting and metoriship setting is imperative for them to learn how to interact the right way.”

Reasoning/Explanation

“having kindness in parenting and mentorship like showing kindness acts to service staff or neighbors will teach the children what is the right way to interact and show respect to others.”

Body paragraph 3

Main point/Topic

“just setting a good example is not the best way to influence others.”

Evidence/Example

“motivational speeches are the best way to influence others.”

Reasoning/Explanation

“motivational speeches pull emotiontions out of the listener’s heat and influences them to go along with whatever the speaker is saying.”

Evidence/Example

“in a lot of motivational speeches there is action being taken to go along with the speech.”

Reasoning/Explanation

“speeches like martin luther king junior’s speech had actions to go along with it to e able to influence others to listen and follow.”

Assessment 2- (15%): Prepare a PowerPoint presentation not exceeding 10 slides in response to the below presentation on Small Island Developing States (SIDS). Where necessary, your presentation should refer to key debates on power, representation, agency and governance and should be analytical vs descriptive. Your presentation should be a visual and audio recording of no more than 10 minute duration. The due date for submitting your critical review on Blackboard is 19th March, 2026. The assignment should also be emailed to ****************** by 11.59 pm on the deadline date. Financing Resilient Prosperity in Small Island Developing States: How FfD4 can deliver for SIDS MARKING SCHEME Knowledge and Understanding: 5 Content and Structure: 5 Analysis: 5

Assessment 2- (15%): Prepare a PowerPoint presentation not exceeding 10 slides in response to the below presentation on Small Island Developing States (SIDS). Where necessary, your presentation should refer to key debates on power, representation, agency and governance and should be analytical vs descriptive. Your presentation should be a visual and audio recording of no more than 10 minute duration. The due date for submitting your critical review on Blackboard is 19th March, 2026. The assignment should also be emailed to ****************** by 11.59 pm on the deadline date. Financing Resilient Prosperity in Small Island Developing States: How FfD4 can deliver for SIDS MARKING SCHEME Knowledge and Understanding: 5 Content and Structure: 5 Analysis: 5

SCENARIO: Imagine that you work for a nonprofit organization that is focused on increasing diversity in community groups in your area. Your supervisor asks you to develop a sociological study concerning topics of diversity and collaboration in a specific community group of your choice. Eventually, you will prepare to share your research with colleagues.

ASSIGNMENT: This Touchstone provides an opportunity for you to practice developing a research plan for a real-world topic that interests you. You will begin by formulating a question about diversity in a community group that you have access to. Then you will use the steps of the scientific method to prepare a research plan, including a bibliography for a literature review. As you learned, sociologists follow the scientific method so that their results are both scientifically valid and useful to the greater sociological community. A literature review allows researchers to learn from completed studies and to build upon their conclusions.

Use the Touchstone 1 template below to fill in your research plan as you develop it. When you have finished, submit this template to move on to the next unit. You may also download an example of a completed touchstone.

A. Directions

Step 1: Pick a Topic

Select a community group to study. Some examples of community groups you might explore include:

• An activity-based group like a book club, a soccer team, or a community choir
• A religious or ideological community such as a church congregation or a local political party
• A community organization like a Parent Teacher Association (PTA), a neighborhood association, or the volunteer committee at a local soup kitchen
• An identity-based organization such as a social club for veterans or a fraternal type organization

It should be a group in which membership is voluntary and recreational.

Avoid the following:

• Families
• Workplaces
• Ethnic or racial categories
• Friend groups

You might wish to choose a group that you are a part of, or you might not. You can use your personal experience with the group to form the basis of your research question. Or you can ask members of the group about their experiences, which will help you develop your research question.

In the template, write a paragraph (approximately 6-8 sentences) describing the community group you have chosen. In particular, be sure to answer the following questions:

• What is the community group?
• What are the attributes or characteristics of this community group? (e.g. What activities does this group do together? What element of the members’ interests or identities brings them together? How is membership in the group defined, if at all?)
• What kind of experience with or access to this community group do you have?

Step 2: Ask a Question

Next, you will formulate a question related to this group, and to topics related to diversity and/or collaboration. You might think about diversity in terms of race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, religion, socioeconomic status, or along multiple intersecting identities. Be sure to use what you learned in Unit 1 about the ways sociologists ask questions.

Examples:

• What are the challenges of a moms community organization in appealing to moms with children of different ages?
• How does a group of car enthusiasts reach out to the surrounding community to get support for their events?
• How has the Boy Scouts accepting girls impacted their mission and programs?
• Do gender segregated sports teams for kids help maintain traditional gender roles?

In the template, write the question you have formulated for your study. Be sure to identify the Independent and Dependent variables and identify them correctly.

Step 3: Prepare a Bibliography

Finally, you will begin developing a bibliography for a review of the existing literature that relates to your question. Before conducting a full literature review, a sociologist will build a bibliography, or a list of potential sources that they will read and study in greater depth in the review.

Collect 4-6 articles, books, or other resources that relate to your question and list them in your template. You dont have to look into these materials in depth right now! Youll review this literature more closely in Touchstone 3, and you will also be exposed to additional relevant research and frameworks in Unit 3. Youll also be able to add to or amend your bibliography before you submit your Touchstone in Unit 3.

Attributes of good readings for your literature review:

• They are academic, scholarly works about research findings or they are reliable journalistic reporting based on scientifically credible and reliable data.
• They should have been published in the last 10 yearsunless they are a landmark work on the topic and provide important background or as a comparison.
• They look at different sides of the argument and a variety of perspectives.
• They do not have to be written by sociologists or published in sociology journals, but they should be academic and not popular works.

Where to find readings:

More than likely you will use a major search engine like Google Scholar. Start your search by identifying key search terms related to your research question, to generate relevant results. specifically searches scholarly literature. However, keep in mind that much of this literature may have limited or paid access. Another good place to search is in a public library or university library catalog or database. You might also want to try regular Google, but you will have to be careful to screen your results and make sure you only select academic sources. Whichever way you choose to search, make sure that you are selecting credible sources.

What makes a source credible?

Credible sources are written by authors who are well known in their field. They are based on scientific datanot opinions or with biased observations. Sources should be from reliable outlets, like major publishers, universities, think tanks, and credentialed current practitioners.

SCENARIO: Imagine that you work for a nonprofit organization that is focused on increasing diversity in community groups in your area. Your supervisor asks you to develop a sociological study concerning topics of diversity and collaboration in a specific community group of your choice. Eventually, you will prepare to share your research with colleagues.

ASSIGNMENT: This Touchstone provides an opportunity for you to practice developing a research plan for a real-world topic that interests you. You will begin by formulating a question about diversity in a community group that you have access to. Then you will use the steps of the scientific method to prepare a research plan, including a bibliography for a literature review. As you learned, sociologists follow the scientific method so that their results are both scientifically valid and useful to the greater sociological community. A literature review allows researchers to learn from completed studies and to build upon their conclusions.

Use the Touchstone 1 template below to fill in your research plan as you develop it. When you have finished, submit this template to move on to the next unit. You may also download an example of a completed touchstone.

A. Directions

Step 1: Pick a Topic

Select a community group to study. Some examples of community groups you might explore include:

• An activity-based group like a book club, a soccer team, or a community choir
• A religious or ideological community such as a church congregation or a local political party
• A community organization like a Parent Teacher Association (PTA), a neighborhood association, or the volunteer committee at a local soup kitchen
• An identity-based organization such as a social club for veterans or a fraternal type organization

It should be a group in which membership is voluntary and recreational.

Avoid the following:

• Families
• Workplaces
• Ethnic or racial categories
• Friend groups

You might wish to choose a group that you are a part of, or you might not. You can use your personal experience with the group to form the basis of your research question. Or you can ask members of the group about their experiences, which will help you develop your research question.

In the template, write a paragraph (approximately 6-8 sentences) describing the community group you have chosen. In particular, be sure to answer the following questions:

• What is the community group?
• What are the attributes or characteristics of this community group? (e.g. What activities does this group do together? What element of the members’ interests or identities brings them together? How is membership in the group defined, if at all?)
• What kind of experience with or access to this community group do you have?

Step 2: Ask a Question

Next, you will formulate a question related to this group, and to topics related to diversity and/or collaboration. You might think about diversity in terms of race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, religion, socioeconomic status, or along multiple intersecting identities. Be sure to use what you learned in Unit 1 about the ways sociologists ask questions.

Examples:

• What are the challenges of a moms community organization in appealing to moms with children of different ages?
• How does a group of car enthusiasts reach out to the surrounding community to get support for their events?
• How has the Boy Scouts accepting girls impacted their mission and programs?
• Do gender segregated sports teams for kids help maintain traditional gender roles?

In the template, write the question you have formulated for your study. Be sure to identify the Independent and Dependent variables and identify them correctly.

Step 3: Prepare a Bibliography

Finally, you will begin developing a bibliography for a review of the existing literature that relates to your question. Before conducting a full literature review, a sociologist will build a bibliography, or a list of potential sources that they will read and study in greater depth in the review.

Collect 4-6 articles, books, or other resources that relate to your question and list them in your template. You dont have to look into these materials in depth right now! Youll review this literature more closely in Touchstone 3, and you will also be exposed to additional relevant research and frameworks in Unit 3. Youll also be able to add to or amend your bibliography before you submit your Touchstone in Unit 3.

Attributes of good readings for your literature review:

• They are academic, scholarly works about research findings or they are reliable journalistic reporting based on scientifically credible and reliable data.
• They should have been published in the last 10 yearsunless they are a landmark work on the topic and provide important background or as a comparison.
• They look at different sides of the argument and a variety of perspectives.
• They do not have to be written by sociologists or published in sociology journals, but they should be academic and not popular works.

Where to find readings:

More than likely you will use a major search engine like Google Scholar. Start your search by identifying key search terms related to your research question, to generate relevant results. specifically searches scholarly literature. However, keep in mind that much of this literature may have limited or paid access. Another good place to search is in a public library or university library catalog or database. You might also want to try regular Google, but you will have to be careful to screen your results and make sure you only select academic sources. Whichever way you choose to search, make sure that you are selecting credible sources.

What makes a source credible?

Credible sources are written by authors who are well known in their field. They are based on scientific datanot opinions or with biased observations. Sources should be from reliable outlets, like major publishers, universities, think tanks, and credentialed current practitioners.

This writing assignment has two parts with a combined word count of 1,000-1,500 words.

Part One – Use the attached outline to complete a comparative analysis of stratification systems.

1. Provide a definitional framework for stratification and the stratification systems.
2. Choose at least three stratification systems. One must be the class system.
3. Define and describe the social mobility of each stratification system.
4. Define what a sorting process is, then explain how individuals are sorted within the systems.

Part Two – Answer the research question: Which racial group in America has the most SES power?

This assignment uses a rubric based off of the attached outline. Please review the outline prior to beginning the assignment to become familiar with the expectations for successful completion.

You must use a minimum of three scholarly sources including the textbook.

Prepare this assignment according to the guidelines found in the APA Style Guide, located in the Student Success Center.

This assignment uses a rubric. Please review the rubric prior to beginning the assignment to become familiar with the expectations for successful completion.

This writing assignment has two parts with a combined word count of 1,000-1,500 words.

Part One – Use the attached outline to complete a comparative analysis of stratification systems.

1. Provide a definitional framework for stratification and the stratification systems.
2. Choose at least three stratification systems. One must be the class system.
3. Define and describe the social mobility of each stratification system.
4. Define what a sorting process is, then explain how individuals are sorted within the systems.

Part Two – Answer the research question: Which racial group in America has the most SES power?

This assignment uses a rubric based off of the attached outline. Please review the outline prior to beginning the assignment to become familiar with the expectations for successful completion.

You must use a minimum of three scholarly sources including the textbook.

Prepare this assignment according to the guidelines found in the APA Style Guide, located in the Student Success Center.

This assignment uses a rubric. Please review the rubric prior to beginning the assignment to become familiar with the expectations for successful completion.

Your work on the new student committee was a huge success! The director of new student recruitment has requested that you continue your work on the committee. Specifically, the director would like you to distribute a small survey to the students who attended the weekend event, gauging their level of interest in studying at UMGC. The director is interested in obtaining demographic information from the prospective students, the academic program into which they would enroll, and their overall level of interest in attending UMGC. The survey questions and results are below:

Survey questions given to prospective students

• What is your age?
• Would you live in on-campus housing or off-campus housing?
• Into which academic program would you enroll?
• How likely are you to attend UMGC in the next year? (Rate: 14, 1 is not likely and 4 is very likely)

Your first task is to define the data resulting from each survey question as qualitative or quantitative. If the variable is qualitative, indicate if it is nominal or ordinal. If it is quantitative, indicate whether it is discrete or continuous and whether it is interval or ratio (see graphic below).

Next, create a table (a frequency distribution, stem and leaf plot, or a grouped frequency distribution) to organize the data from one of the variables. Include the table in your post. Does including the relative frequency or cumulative frequency make the table more meaningful? Why do you feel this table best organizes the data?

Then, consider how you might visually display the results as a graph (bar graph, Pareto chart, dot plot, line graph, histogram, pie chart, or box plot). Include the graph in your post. Why did you choose this graph? Explain why you believe this graph is the best choice to display the data.

Finally, find the mean, median, and mode for one of the variables. Which of these measures of central tendency do you think is the best choice for “average” and why? Find the range and standard deviation (measures of dispersion) for the variable. What would a narrower or wider deviation signify in the context of this data?

Please respond to two peers below as well

Fabian –

The survey collected from prospective students includes a mix of qualitative and quantitative data. The variable age is quantitative because it is measured numerically. It is a continuous variable and is measured on a ratio scale, since age has a true zero and meaningful differences between values. Housing choice is qualitative and nominal, as the categories have no order. Academic program is also qualitative and nominal, since each program represents a category without ranking. The variable likelihood to attend UMGC is quantitative but discrete, as it consists of whole numbers from 1 to 4. It is measured on an ordinal scale because the values represent increasing levels of likelihood, but the intervals between them are not guaranteed to be equal.

To organize the data, I created a frequency distribution table for the variable likelihood to attend UMGC, since this variable directly relates to student interest and recruitment goals.

Including relative frequency makes the table more meaningful because it shows the proportion of students at each interest level rather than just raw counts. This helps the director quickly see that the largest groups of students are either very likely or moderately unlikely to attend UMGC. A frequency table is the best way to organize this data because it is simple, clear, and directly compares levels of interest.

To visually display the results, a bar graph would be the best choice for the likelihood variable. A bar graph clearly shows how many students fall into each category and makes comparisons easy at a glance. Since likelihood ratings are discrete and ordinal, a bar graph is more appropriate than a histogram or line graph. A pie chart could also work, but a bar graph better emphasizes differences between categories, which is important for recruitment analysis.

Using the likelihood ratings, the mean is calculated by dividing the total sum of ratings (40) by the number of students (14), resulting in a mean of approximately 2.86. The median is 3, since it is the middle value when the data is ordered. The mode is 2 and 4, making the distribution bimodal. In this case, the median is the best measure of central tendency because the data is ordinal, and the median accurately represents the central position without being affected by how the numbers are spaced.

The range is 3, showing the spread between the lowest and highest likelihood ratings. The standard deviation is approximately 1.07, which indicates a moderate spread in student interest. A narrower deviation would suggest that students feel similarly about attending UMGC, while a wider deviation would indicate more disagreement or uncertainty among prospective students. In this context, the moderate spread suggests mixed but promising interest levels, which could help guide future recruitment strategies.

Erica-

Age: Quantitative, Continuous, Ratio

Housing: Qualitative, Nominal

Program: Qualitative, Nominal

Likely to attend: Quantitative, Discrete, Interval

Frequency Distribution Table: Living Arrangements

Housing Type

Frequency

Relative Frequency

On Campus

6

0.43

Off Campus

8

0.57

Total

14

1

I believe this table shows the data the best because you are able to see a percentage of the total number of students that are living on vs off of campus. It is an easy break down of the information that gives a clear picture of the results.

I chose a bar chart to represent this data because I believe it gives the best visual representation of the information shown. You can see the difference by just a quick glance to get an overall idea of the situation.

Variable

Ages: 18, 19, 17, 30, 18, 21, 45, 20, 18, 36, 25, 29, 31, 19

Mean: 24.7

Median: 20.5

Mode: 18

I believe that Median is the best measurement for central tendency because it best measures the average age group of college attendants. It gives an idea of the middle man between all data for those attending.

Measure of Dispersion:

Range: 28 years

Standard Deviation: 8.4 years

A narrower deviation would indicate that all of the ages were closer to the median age range of the data. A wider deviation would indicate that the age range extends further out, either younger or older, than the median age range.

Your work on the new student committee was a huge success! The director of new student recruitment has requested that you continue your work on the committee. Specifically, the director would like you to distribute a small survey to the students who attended the weekend event, gauging their level of interest in studying at UMGC. The director is interested in obtaining demographic information from the prospective students, the academic program into which they would enroll, and their overall level of interest in attending UMGC. The survey questions and results are below:

Survey questions given to prospective students

• What is your age?
• Would you live in on-campus housing or off-campus housing?
• Into which academic program would you enroll?
• How likely are you to attend UMGC in the next year? (Rate: 14, 1 is not likely and 4 is very likely)

Your first task is to define the data resulting from each survey question as qualitative or quantitative. If the variable is qualitative, indicate if it is nominal or ordinal. If it is quantitative, indicate whether it is discrete or continuous and whether it is interval or ratio (see graphic below).

Next, create a table (a frequency distribution, stem and leaf plot, or a grouped frequency distribution) to organize the data from one of the variables. Include the table in your post. Does including the relative frequency or cumulative frequency make the table more meaningful? Why do you feel this table best organizes the data?

Then, consider how you might visually display the results as a graph (bar graph, Pareto chart, dot plot, line graph, histogram, pie chart, or box plot). Include the graph in your post. Why did you choose this graph? Explain why you believe this graph is the best choice to display the data.

Finally, find the mean, median, and mode for one of the variables. Which of these measures of central tendency do you think is the best choice for “average” and why? Find the range and standard deviation (measures of dispersion) for the variable. What would a narrower or wider deviation signify in the context of this data?

Please respond to two peers below as well

Fabian –

The survey collected from prospective students includes a mix of qualitative and quantitative data. The variable age is quantitative because it is measured numerically. It is a continuous variable and is measured on a ratio scale, since age has a true zero and meaningful differences between values. Housing choice is qualitative and nominal, as the categories have no order. Academic program is also qualitative and nominal, since each program represents a category without ranking. The variable likelihood to attend UMGC is quantitative but discrete, as it consists of whole numbers from 1 to 4. It is measured on an ordinal scale because the values represent increasing levels of likelihood, but the intervals between them are not guaranteed to be equal.

To organize the data, I created a frequency distribution table for the variable likelihood to attend UMGC, since this variable directly relates to student interest and recruitment goals.

Including relative frequency makes the table more meaningful because it shows the proportion of students at each interest level rather than just raw counts. This helps the director quickly see that the largest groups of students are either very likely or moderately unlikely to attend UMGC. A frequency table is the best way to organize this data because it is simple, clear, and directly compares levels of interest.

To visually display the results, a bar graph would be the best choice for the likelihood variable. A bar graph clearly shows how many students fall into each category and makes comparisons easy at a glance. Since likelihood ratings are discrete and ordinal, a bar graph is more appropriate than a histogram or line graph. A pie chart could also work, but a bar graph better emphasizes differences between categories, which is important for recruitment analysis.

Using the likelihood ratings, the mean is calculated by dividing the total sum of ratings (40) by the number of students (14), resulting in a mean of approximately 2.86. The median is 3, since it is the middle value when the data is ordered. The mode is 2 and 4, making the distribution bimodal. In this case, the median is the best measure of central tendency because the data is ordinal, and the median accurately represents the central position without being affected by how the numbers are spaced.

The range is 3, showing the spread between the lowest and highest likelihood ratings. The standard deviation is approximately 1.07, which indicates a moderate spread in student interest. A narrower deviation would suggest that students feel similarly about attending UMGC, while a wider deviation would indicate more disagreement or uncertainty among prospective students. In this context, the moderate spread suggests mixed but promising interest levels, which could help guide future recruitment strategies.

Erica-

Age: Quantitative, Continuous, Ratio

Housing: Qualitative, Nominal

Program: Qualitative, Nominal

Likely to attend: Quantitative, Discrete, Interval

Frequency Distribution Table: Living Arrangements

Housing Type

Frequency

Relative Frequency

On Campus

6

0.43

Off Campus

8

0.57

Total

14

1

I believe this table shows the data the best because you are able to see a percentage of the total number of students that are living on vs off of campus. It is an easy break down of the information that gives a clear picture of the results.

I chose a bar chart to represent this data because I believe it gives the best visual representation of the information shown. You can see the difference by just a quick glance to get an overall idea of the situation.

Variable

Ages: 18, 19, 17, 30, 18, 21, 45, 20, 18, 36, 25, 29, 31, 19

Mean: 24.7

Median: 20.5

Mode: 18

I believe that Median is the best measurement for central tendency because it best measures the average age group of college attendants. It gives an idea of the middle man between all data for those attending.

Measure of Dispersion:

Range: 28 years

Standard Deviation: 8.4 years

A narrower deviation would indicate that all of the ages were closer to the median age range of the data. A wider deviation would indicate that the age range extends further out, either younger or older, than the median age range.