Sociology 1, Winter 2026 Final Paper Assignment Due on Friday, March 13th at 5 PM. Submit it using the link on the course website. Overview: For this assignment you will write a 56-page paper on Lareaus (2003) Unequal Childhoods and her follow-up study, Class and the Transition to Adulthood (Lareau and Weininger, 2008). You are required to do all your drafting and writing of this paper within a single Google Doc. You will be expected to provide a link to that Google Doc in your submission. In the paper you will describe Lareaus overall argument, her methods, and her findings. Then you will offer your own reflections on, and assessment of, Lareaus research. This paper is worth 20% of your overall grade in the course. Google Doc Requirement: As mentioned above, all your work on this paper should be done within a single Google Doc. You can copy-and-paste small amounts of text from elsewhere (e.g., a direct quote), but you must not copy large blocks of text from other documents. The point of this requirement is so Professor Speer and/or your TA can look at the version history and see that you did not copy blocks of text from ChatGPT or some other source. When you are done writing your paper in Google Docs, click the Share button, and copy the link to share it. Paste the link into your document, under the title and your name. After you submit your paper, you may be asked to grant Professor Speer Editor access to your Google Doc. Failure to provide a Google Doc link with your submission, failure to grant Editor access to the Professor, or evidence that you copied text from other sources will result in a 0 on the final paper. Format: Your paper should be 5-6 pages in length, double-spaced, with 12-point font and normal margins. The text should be divided into paragraphs. You should have transition sentences when you switch from one topic to a different one. You can also use headings to separate out the sections of the paper. Using APA format, you must include in-text citations to the readings and to any other sources you draw on (see below for more details). At the end of your paper, you should include a list of references with Lareau (2003), Lareau and Weininger (2011), and any other sources that you drew on. You can find the bibliographic information for those readings (year of publication, publisher, etc.) in the .pdf files posted on the course website. (See below for more details). Sources: For this paper you must use two assigned readings, the excerpts from Lareaus (2003) Unequal Childhoods, and Lareau and Weiningers (2008) Class and the Transition to Adulthood. Depending on the points you want to make in your reflection on and assessment of the research, you may also need to look for credible, outside sources. These can include reviews of Lareaus research by other social scientists, research by other scholars that can be compared/contrasted with Lareaus research, articles about changes in parenting styles in the past decade or so in the U.S., or articles about variation in parenting styles across cultures. If you do want to use one or more outside sources, then you will need to vet its credibility. Think about who the author is, whether they have expertise or knowledge about this topic, and whether any claims they make are backed up by evidence. In general, avoid using sources that are mainly offering opinions that are not supported by evidence or facts Organization: Your paper should have four sections, which you can separate with headings. 1. Introduction (a paragraph) 2. Description of Lareaus research (about half the paper) 3. Reflection and Assessment (about half the paper) 4. Conclusion (a paragraph) Content (by Section): 1. Introduction A. Give an overview of Lareaus research in Unequal Childhoods and the 2008 follow- up study, previewing what youll say in the second section B. Preview your reflections and assessments of Lareaus research (what you will say in the third section of the paper) C. Tip: write the Introduction after youve drafted the rest of the paper so it reflects the content later in the paper. 2. Description of Lareaus Research (Lareau, 2003; Lareau and Weininger, 2008) A. Describe the overall argument made by Lareau (2003) and Lareau and Weininger (2008). (What are they claiming about inequality in American society?) B. Define key concepts that Lareau (2003) and Lareau and Weininger (2008) used, like their definitions of the various classes C. Describe the research methods of Lareaus (2003) study and Lareau and Weiningers (2008) follow-up study. D. Describe the key findings of Lareaus (2003) study and of the 2008 follow-up study. (Findings means what the researchers found through their study). This can include i. Indicating which classes tended to use which child-rearing strategies. ii. Describing key differences between the classes iii. Describing what Lareau (2003) viewed to be the consequences of these differences in upbringing. iv. Describing how Lareau (2003) explained the differences in child-rearing between the classes. v. Indicating the extent to which the 2008 follow-up study confirms the findings of the 2003 study. 3. Reflection and Assessment A. Reflect on how Lareaus (2003) findings are similar to, or different from, your own childhood experiences. This can include: i. Considering where your own family would fit in terms of Lareaus class categories ii. Reflecting on the extent whether your parents/guardians used concerted cultivation, accomplishment of natural growth, a mixture of the two, or something else entirely. iii. Reflecting on why your personal experience differed from the patterns observed by Lareau (if applicable). This can include one or more of the following. a. You can consider if/how child-rearing practices have changed since Lareau did her research (in the 1990s and 2000s), and how those changes may have influenced your own upbringing. (For this you will want to back up claims you make about changes by citing outside sources b. If you were raised outside of the U.S., you could reflect on the extent to which your own childhood experiences differed from the children in Lareaus (2003) study and how that might have been influenced by the broader societal context c. Lastly, if you were raised in the U.S. but had a parent/guardian who immigrated to the U.S., you could reflect on the extent to which this shaped your upbringing. B. Assess Lareaus study. This can include i. Considering its strengths and weaknesses. (For this part you may draw on reviews of Lareaus work by other authors but must cite them in-text if you do so). This can pertain to a. the methods Lareau and her research team used (such as their sampling) b. the conclusions Lareau made on the basis of her evidence (like whether they are supported enough by her evidence) c. limitations of the study (like not including certain segments of the American population) ii. Considering whether its still relevant to understanding American society today (in 2026), or if there have been changes to American society that make it less relevant. (For this you may want to back up claims you make about changes by drawing on outside sources and citing them in-text) iii. Considering how future research could address the weaknesses or limitations of Lareaus study. (You can also point to newer existing research that has already done this, and cite that study in the text of your paper.) 4. Conclusion A. Summarize what Lareau did in her research and what her main findings were (from Section 2) B. Summarize your reflections on it and your assessment of it (from Section 3) In-Text Citations and List of References: Please follow the American Psychology Association (APA) style for in-text citations and your list of references. You can ignore all the other APA rules (like needing an abstract). You must include an in-text citation anytime you are drawing on information from a source in a paragraph. The in-text citation can either go after the first sentence or at the end of the paragraph. In addition, whenever you make a factual claim, you need to back it up with an in- text citation to a credible source. Do not make claims that arent confirmed by any credible source. If you are unfamiliar with how to cite sources in APA style, or need a refresher, I highly encourage you to read the handout In-text Citations in APA Style posted on the course website. You can also find a useful guide to APA style at Purdue Universitys Online Writing Lab, at APA Formatting and Style Guide. At the end of your paper, the list of references should start on a separate page from the rest of the text and be formatted in APA Style. Be sure to check that all of the sources you draw on are included in it. For more instructions on how to format it, see the handout List of References in APA Style on the course website. Another helpful guide is Purdue Universitys APA Formatting and Style Guide Academic Honesty: All students are expected to comply with the universitys policies on academic integrity. For this paper, you must not: Plagiarize another work by failing to cite the source of the ideas you use Plagiarize by using a direct quote from a work without putting it in quotation marks Re-use any work you submitted for a previous class, unless you get explicit permission from the Professor. Write part, or all, of a paper for another student Use an AI tool to generate any part of your paper Academic dishonesty will be reported to the Dean of Students office. For more details on what counts as Academic Dishonesty, see the UCLA Student Code of Conduct. How to Submit: First, make sure to include a link to your Google Doc within the text of your paper, below the title and your name. Then sure your file is saved as a .pdf file to preserve formatting. Upload your paper using the link on the course website, under the Assignments tab. Professor Speer will examine your Google Doc (linked to in your submission) to check for evidence of copying from chatbots or other sources. In addition, a service called Turnitin will check your paper for signs of plagiarism. Papers that are emailed to the Professor or TA (rather than submitted through the course website) will not be accepted. Papers that are turned in late will have points deducted for each day past the deadline.