STEP 1: Find a current article about a crime that has been committed within the past three weeks. Look for language within the article that lends itself to a sociological explanation of the deviant behavior using one or more of the theories of deviance. You should not Google “crime” or “deviance” to find a current events article related to crime and deviance; rather, check reputable online news sources or an actual article about a crime or deviant behavior. There are always major deviant acts each week that make the national and local news.
Articles should be a minimum of 500 words, recent (within three weeks), relevant (related to crime, deviance, and social control), and from a reputable news source (many colleges provide free access to national news sources).
STEP 2: Write a thorough summary of the article.
STEP 3: Using your sociological imagination, write an analysis of the article that connects the main idea/s of the article to specific key terms and theories from this module on “Deviance, Crime and Social Control.”
STEP 4: Include the link to your article, check for any writing errors, and submit your article with your response paper.
Rubric
| High Quality | Proficient | Approaching Proficiency | Not Proficient | Points |
| The article chosen is recent, relevant, and reputable. | The article missing 1 of the requirements (recent, relevant, and reputable) | The article is missing 2 of the requirements. | The article is missing the requirements. | __/2 |
| Summary is succinct, thorough, original, and accurate. | Summary is missing 1 of the requirements (succinct, thorough, original and accurate). | Summary is missing 2 of the requirements. | Summary is missing 3 or 4 of the requirements. | __/5 |
| Analysis clearly relates the criminal or deviant act from the article to key terms from “Deviance, Crime, and Social Control.” | Analysis includes one or more key terms but does not provide a clear link to the article and/or does not use the term with 100% accuracy. | Analysis includes a key term without proper connection to the article and/or misuses the term. | Analysis does not include key terms from Module 6 and/or uses key terms incorrectly. | __/5 |
| Analysis includes a minimum of one theory of deviance and connects the theory to specific text in the article to explain the deviance. | Analysis includes one or more theories of deviance but does not provide a clear link to the article and/or does not use the theory in a way that explains the deviance. | Analysis includes a theory without proper connection to the article and/or misuses the theory. | Analysis does not include a sociological theory of deviance and/or does not include an explanation or application. | __/5 |
| College-level writing grammar (spelling, punctuation, syntax, etc.) with 0-1 error. | College-level writing with 2-3 grammatical errors. | College-level writing with 3-4 grammatical errors. | College-level writing with 5+ grammatical errors. | __/3 |
| Total: | __/20 |
