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Social Theory
Essay Assignment: Emails Between Theorists
To complete this paper you will have to put yourself in the shoes of two theorists that we have covered this
semester and write an 6-15 page essay (excluding the outline and coversheet). You should pretend that you
are exchanging arguments/critiques with one another through email messages. This essay should consist of a
total of six email messages. I’d strongly encourage you to let me see your outline at least a week before
the paper is due so that I can make sure you are on the right track!!!
The Email messages:
1. In the first message, you should put yourself in the place of theorist #1 and write an email containing a
critique of one of theorist #2’s ideas (e.g. you could pretend to be Emile Durkheim critiquing John Locke’s
notion of contractual society as your first critique). Try to develop the critique in as much detail as
possible.
2. In the second email, you should take the role of theorist #2 and respond to the earlier email message from
theorist #1 (to continue with the above example, you would now pretend to be John Locke responding to
Emile Durkheim’s critique of Lock’s notion of contractual society). NOTE: BE SURE TO DEFEND
YOURSELF AS THOROUGHLY AS POSSIBLE IN YOUR ROLE AS THEORIST #2.
3. You will continue the above pattern until you have 6 total email messages. Remember, emails 1, 3, and 5,
should be written by theorist # 1 while emails 2, 4, and 6 should be written by theorist #2.
Handing Everything In
Compile all email messages in one document and be sure to use Bold and underlined titles showing me when
each email begins (one way to do this is to simply have something like “Email #1: Marx to Hobbes”, “Email
#2: Hobbes to Marx”, etc.). You should also turn in a 1 page outline (See below for an example) along with a
cover sheet like the one below. Staple the cover sheet, the outline, and the document containing both letters
together in this order and turn it in to me by the due date listed in your syllabus.
Here are the things that I will be looking at when I grade your papers:
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Have you included a cover sheet?
Have you included an outline?
Have you chosen two theorists?
Have you written six emails (three from each theorist)?
Have you included the requisite amount of critiques (see above for the requisite number)?
Have you developed each of your critiques logically and fully?
Have you developed your rebuttals logically and fully?
Is your paper free from grammatical, spelling, and other writing errors?
Does the paper flow nicely (in other words, do you transition smoothly from one idea to the next)?
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SAMPLE TITLE PAGE:
The Emails of Emile Durkheim and John Locke
By
John Sheridan
Dept. of Sociology & Anthropology
Ohio University
Athens, OH 45701
(740) 593-1350
E-mail (bab5@ohio.edu)
Prepared For Presentation to
Charles M. Brown, Instructor
Soc 241: Development of Social Theory
March 11, 2007
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SAMPLE OUTLINE:
1. Email #1: Emile Durkheim to John Locke
A. Critique #1: Specify your critique here
2. Email #2: John Locke to Emile Durkheim
A. Rebuttal #1: Specify your rebuttal to Durkheim’s Critique #1
3. Email #3: Emile Durkheim to John Locke
A. Critique #2: Specify your critique here
4. Email #4: John Locke to Emile Durkheim
A. Rebuttal #2: Specify your rebuttal to Durkheim’s Critique #2
5. Email #5: Emile Durkheim to John Locke
A. Critique #3: Specify your critique here
6. Email #6: John Locke to Emile Durkheim
A. Rebuttal #3: Specify your rebuttal to Durkheim’s Critique #3