Social Sciences

For your first essay, you will begin to think about how the social sciences can be used to address social problems. Read the instructions and guidelines below carefully and review the grading rubric before submitting your work.

Instructions:

Find a NEWS article that addresses a current social problem facing your community (local, national, or global) that you are concerned about. (A news article is an article from a media source like a newspaper or magazine such as the New York Times, FOX, The Washington Post, VICE, etc. that addresses a current event. It does not include sources like Wikipedia, eHow, dictionaries, academic journals, or other information websites.)

Write a minimum 300-word essay that answers the following questions:
Based on the article you chose, what is the social problem and who does it impact?
How can the social sciences be used to research the issue? Name specific methods and disciplines from Chapter 1.
What are some solutions you can think of to address the issue?
Guidelines:

Your essay should:
be a total of 300 words or more.
The 300-word limit DOES NOT include the questions, names, titles, and references.
It also does not include meaningless filler statements
have factual information from the textbook and/or appropriate articles and websites.
be original work and will be checked for plagiarism.
You will receive a zero if substantial portions of your work are taken from other sources without proper citation
have references and citations for your sources, including the textbook
Cite your sources in-text and provide references for each source according to the APA Style Guide. FYI web addresses or links are not full references!
Essays are automatically submitted to SafeAssign. Watch the video – SafeAssign for Students – Blackboard Learn
Any work that SafeAssign identifies as having more than a 10% rate of plagiarism after quoted material and small matches (10 words or less) are excluded will not be read and will receive a grade of F (No points).
All essays must be written using Microsoft Office applications such as Word. Work that is not submitted through the assigned dropbox or that is submitted using software that is not compatible with Safe Assign (SafeAssign accepts files in .doc, .docx, .docm, .ppt, .pptx, .odt, .txt, .rtf, .pdf, and .html file formats only) will not be read and will receive a grade of zero.
Submitting a paper that was already submitted by the student to another professor and/or course is also considered an act of academic dishonesty. Students who are found doing this will also receive an F (no points) for this assignment. Students must write a different new essay or paper for every class they take.
Essays must be submitted through the proper dropbox. Essays that are not submitted through the assigned dropbox will not be accepted. Do not submit essays through the Comments Window!!
No essays will be accepted after the due date.
View the grading rubric above (Points Possible).
Teaching Tip NOTE: Read your essay, and use spell check before submitting your work. You can only submit this assignment once.

Under the Research Resources Menu option (in the left) you will find instructions on how to avoid plagiarism as well as links to access some important and helpful databases at our Library.

ANSWER

Social Sciences and Social Problems

According to the New York Times, towards the end of the year 2019, there was an outbreak of a virus. The virus started in Wuhan, China, and it has continued to impact the lives of different people globally. The coronavirus outbreak has impacted lives, economies and has killed many people in the world. Much research has been done on the virus and its continued impact on people’s lives globally. Social sciences cannot help in the production of vaccines or anything directly pertaining to the virus, but there are ways to make contributions in these challenging times. The analysis made by social sciences can come in handy in making decisions pertaining to the steps that should be taken to prevent further spreading of the virus.  Social scientists can help the government and health officials develop solutions that people are willing to follow.

It is the role of social sciences to ensure that the voices of the communities affected by the pandemic are heard.  To ensure this, they should ensure that the relevant stakeholders are involved in the decision-making processes (Middlemass, 2020).  Social sciences have knowledge of the local community and the behavior that is likely to be exhibited during such a crisis. Therefore, it is essential that they are involved in crucial decisions such as lockdowns and the development of the vaccine and how it should be distributed to the people. After the pandemic, there will be a need to build back the economies, businesses, and financial systems. Therefore, social sciences will be of good use as they will play a significant role in the building of the economies and ensuring that the democracies remain resilient.  Social sciences will have a role in ensuring there is inclusion in promoting mental health, addressing the inequalities that will be there post the pandemic, and ensuring that the ways of living are sustainable.

References

The New York Times. (2020). The Coronavirus Outbreak. https://www.nytimes.com/news-event/coronavirus

Middlemass, R. (2020). What is the role of social sciences in response to COVID-19? https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsocialsciences/2020/08/25/what-is-the-role-of-the-social-sciences-in-the-response-to-covid-19-4-priorities-for-shaping-the-post-pandemic-world/