Soc 551 -Demography
GUIDELINES FOR RESEARCH PROJECT PAPERS
The research project and resulting paper may take one of four forms:
1. The paper can be a literature review of a research area in demography. This type of paper
should follow the structure of review essays that appear in academic journals (see reviews on the
class reading list and also the Annual Review of Sociology for models). This type of paper should
summarize, in an organized fashion, what has already been published in the particular research
area. If you are interested in an area of research that is quite large and developed, you should
consider limiting your review to recent research. In your review be sure to include discussion of
theoretical and empirical weaknesses in the literature, what gaps in our knowledge remain, and
suggest directions for future research, and provide a summary or conclusion.
2. The paper can address some aspect of demography incorporating descriptive data and
presenting the information (e.g., numbers, rates, percentages, etc.) in tables and figures. This type
of paper should discuss the relevant literature, identify the research question/topic of focus, and
thoroughly discuss and interpret the data collected and presented in the paper. All tables and
figures should identify sources and be original. The conclusion section of the paper should
summarize, draw conclusions, and include a discussion of directions for future research. Paper
format:
— Introduction
— Presentation of Argument/Data (use subheadings to organize paper)
— Conclusion
3. The paper can constitute a proposal for research that addresses a question relevant to
demography. This paper should review the relevant literature, identify hypotheses/research
questions and discuss what existing data and sample (e.g., census data, survey data) will be used,
clearly describe how each variable will be measured and what methods (e.g., regression analysis,
logistic regression analysis, event history analysis, etc.) will be used to test hypotheses. The format
of the paper should follow the structure of a journal article (up to a point) since there will be no
results:
— Introduction
— Theoretical Argument (include literature review and state hypotheses/research questions in this
section)
— Data and Methods (describe data source, sample, dependent variable(s), independent variables,
analytic strategy)
— Conclusion (since there will be no results, this section should discuss possible weaknesses of the
proposed study and directions for future research.)
4. The project can result in an empirical paper that examines a research question relevant to
demography. This paper should review the relevant literature, identify hypotheses/research
questions and tell what existing data and sample (e.g., census data, survey data) are used, clearly
describe how each variable is measured, and what methods (e.g., regression analysis, logistic
regression analysis, event history analysis, etc.) are used in the analysis. Results should be
thoroughly discussed. The structure of the paper should follow the structure of a journal article:
— Introduction
— Theoretical Argument (include literature review and state hypotheses/research questions in this
section)
— Data and Methods (describe data source, sample, dependent variable(s), independent variables,
analytic strategy)
— Results
— Conclusion (summarize study/findings, discuss limitations, and suggest directions for future
research
Note:
All papers should be at least 10 pages of text. Papers should be typed in Times Roman 12-pt font,
double-spaced, with 1-inch margins, appropriate pages numbered. (Do not number the cover page
and abstract – have page 1 begin with the first page of text following the abstract page.)
The order of the paper is as follows:
Cover page
Abstract
Text, Footnotes (if needed), References (pages all numbered)
Tables (in order as discussed in paper) if tables are included
Figures (in order as discussed in paper) if figures are included
[All tables and figures if used should have titles and be numbered in order of appearance, with
separate numbering for tables and figures.]