Drawing on 2 of the lecture topics for examples, answer the following question, “How can we come to a critical understanding of social media through the concepts and methods of sociology and/or social psychology?”

1. Please note, this is the only title and you should not use an alternative, nor add to it.
You should endeavour to answer this specific question in your assignment,
whichever lecture topics you draw from for examples.

2. Please be aware that you should support all factual claims and conceptual arguments with relevant literature and use the appropriate referencing style (Harvard). An example of this style can be found at the bottom of this page.

3. It is important to ‘write with an argument’ and not just describe the topics you choose. This involves developing a position based on evidence (drawn from literature and based on relevant examples) and clearly stating it in the introduction and conclusion. The main body of your assignment should build this argument and each element should link together.

4. Here is the required format for the assignment. You should use the following structure and headings. You may add further subheadings in the main body of the assignment:

Title: “How can we come to a critical understanding of social media through the concepts and methods of sociology and/or social psychology?”

Introduction
– Detail your 2 examples (from the lecture topics). For example, your opening sentence could be “By drawing on examples from x and y, I will answer the question of how we come to a critical understanding of social media.”
– Detail what a ‘critical understanding’ is in sociology and social psychology
– Outline your assignment content (detailing the sections in your essay)
– Summarise your argument and how it is developed (No more than 3 sentences)

(Main body should contain)
– Discussion of your chosen topics
– Use relevant literature (summarised/evaluated/discussed)
– Use relevant examples (ensure these are contemporary and up-to-date)
– Link the analysis, discussion, and argument together.

Conclusion
– Summarise your argument and evidence
– Speak briefly to the wider relevance of your assignment and argument.

References
– In Harvard format

 

5. Referencing Style
The referencing style in sociology is Harvard. Further information can be found in the library, but here is an example of an in-text citation with a page number (only relevant when quoting) and a reference list entry.

“The term “new localism” was used by Amin and Thrift (2002) to describe the realisation in urban studies that the economic relationships between the local and the global were not necessarily destructive” (Reed & Johnson, 2014, p. 59).

Reed, D. J. and Johnson, M. R. (2014) “New technological localisms: a comparative analysis of two case studies,” urbe. Revista Brasileira de Gestão Urbana, 6(1), pp. 57–72. doi:10.7213/urbe.06.001.se04. [accessed on 8th September, 2021].

There are other reference forms (book, report, etc.) with different formats. Please see the library guidance.

 

6. Finally, please note that ‘surname’ and ‘first names’ are sometimes difficult to work
out. Look to see how the source has been referenced elsewhere to ensure that you
have correctly identified the difference.