1. Popular Self-Help Book Group Project Family Sociology Professor Gager

2. FIRST AND FOREMOST 1. Follow the Directions 2. Follow the Directions 3. Follow the Directions 4. An important part of following the directions is reading the project assignment directions.  See Project Assignment in word 5. All materials are on Blackboard in the: Project Assignment folder under Course Documents folder

3. Groups for Project 1. Your groups are the same as on the wiki 2. Work out your differences…I am not a referee! 3. COMMUNICATE ON YOUR GROUP SITES ON THE WIKI!!! 4. Available books are listed under the Project folder under course document folder on Blackboard

4. PowerPoint Group Project assignment  You will create a PowerPoint Presentation which you will present in class  Presentations should be 10-12 minutes MAX!!!  This is about 12 - 14 slides  Time limits will be strictly enforced!  Think about your audience when creating your presentation  Make it interesting and be creative!

5. Powerpoint Group Presentations  Presentations are DUE: Monday Dec.5 by 4:00 PM  No exceptions  Submit PowerPoint group project through ASSIGNMENT feature on Blackboard  Remember, sometimes Blackboard is down so don’t wait until the last minute

6. In Class Presentations  Tuesday Class:  In class presentations: Tuesday Dec. 6  Thursday class:  In class presentations: Thursday Dec. 8  The order of presentations schedules to be announced but I try to start with books on dating, then marriage, then divorce etc.

7. Class PowerPoint Project  The main idea of the assignment is to choose a popular self-help book on relationships/families/etc. and critique the book using “real” data on families/relationships.  By REAL data, I mean the kind we use in this class from the Census, National Center for Health Statistics, national government or university surveys.  Most self-help books use stories from friends, therapy clients, audience members (OPRAH, Dr. Phil)

8. The Self Help Movement The Rise of Individualism “It’s all about me!”

9. Shulevitz article:  Why are marriage and relationship manuals so bad?  Marriage is an important institution in almost every human society  And yet instead of enlightenment on marital intimacy, we get ''Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus.''

10. Step 1: Choosing a popular self-help book 1. Choose a book from the list or suggest one for approval to me  New self-help books come out ALL THE TIME 2.After you choose the book, you will need to buy or borrow the book from the library (I also have a few you may borrow) 3.Next – surprise - surprise – you will need to READ the book! 4.You can divide up sections of the book and assign to various members of the group 5.But please make sure to read the entire book !

11. Doing Group Work  Make sure to clearly assign tasks to all members of the group  You will be asked to grade your own role in the project and to grade the other members of the group  No free riders!  Hold members of the group accountable!  Remember: you will all fill out an evaluation form for each group member at the end of the project  Evaluation form is under Project Assignment folder on Blackboard

12. Doing Group Work I find it helpful when having a meeting/completing a group project to: End a meeting by deciding on and recording a list of “action items” to be completed by the next meeting. Send everyone in group a copy of tasks and deadlines. Use your group website on wiki to post this list and deadlines and to communicate!

13. Structure of the PowerPoint Presentation  Introduction  Data –Data used to write the book –“Real” data from an official on-line data source –U.S. Census or National Center for Health Statistics  Results –Does on-line data refute or support claims in book? –Is the book helpful?  Discussion/Conclusion  3 Potential Final Exam questions

14. Introduction  Start with a cover slide with the TITLE of the book and the author’s name  Identify the thesis of the book  What is the book about?  Be prepared to summarize the main points, arguments of the book  What is the main thesis of the book?  What is the argument the author makes for why this book is important?

15. Introduction  Contextualize the topic  Provide a background for the book topic  For example: Suppose the book is: Divorce for Dummies, on helping people through divorce  You might provide some background on the divorce rate in the U.S. over the past years

16. Annual Divorce Rate per 1,000 Married Persons

17. Introduction  Contextualize the topic  Provide a background for the book topic  Possibly identify some trends that are associated with the increase in divorce –Legal changes –More women working for pay –Lessened stigma of divorce  You must use 2 or more scholarly source, (one must be from a scholarly journal) as a source for background information  Is any of this background data in the book?

18. Introduction  Contextualize the topic  Background on divorce in the U.S. –How do women versus men do emotionally following divorce? –What does an increase in divorce mean for children?  Again - is any of this background information in the book?

19. Introduction  Contextualize the topic  If the book is on helping women to meet and marry a man…  You might identify whether the likelihood of marrying is increasing or decreasing over time  Or you might discuss how have attitudes changed about marriage?  http://www.census.gov/prod/2005pubs/p70-97.pdf

20. Data  Describe the data utilized by the author and/or how they collected (or did not collect) that data used in the book  For example, many self help books rely on nonrepresentative samples of friends, family members, or patients  How did the author of your book choose her/his sample?

21. Evaluate the data used in the book  Identify the major types of data used to make the arguments in the book.  For example, if you were using John Gray’s: Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus, what data does Gray use to compare men and women?  Evaluate whether Gray is picking anecdotal stories about why women and men are different.  Just saying men never ask for directions is not based on fact!

22. Data  Use fact-based statistics to critique the authors’ claims  You can find these types of data on the U.S. Census website www.census.govwww.census.gov  Or the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS)  www.cdc.gov/nchs www.cdc.gov/nchs  See Project Assignment directions for a complete list of data sources

23. Data Find “real” data that the author might have used or data that shows their isn’t REALLY a problem of women finding men to marry Data must be from an academic or government source Discuss the data that you identify on-line and SHOW IT IN GRAPH/TABLE form You can create a table or graph Or cut and paste from a report But provide a full reference to your data source

24. Data Find “real” data that the author might have used or data that shows their isn’t REALLY a problem of women finding men to marry What is the quality of your on-line data? 1) Is the source of the data reputable? Why or why not? 2) Is it based on a national or regional sample? 3) Who collected the data?

25. Using the Census  www.census.gov www.census.gov  Click on “Publications” on left panel  Then click on “Population” link  Then click on “Population Characteristics”  Then scroll down to report “P20-544 Men and Women in the United States  http://www.census.gov/prod/www/abs/p20. html

26. Using the Census  www.census.gov www.census.gov  You can also search on men and women  See results listed below on frequently asked questions on educational attainment and earning differences by gender  Or scroll down and click on the report: We the People: Women and Men in the United States:  http://www.census.gov/prod/2005pubs/censr -20.pdf http://www.census.gov/prod/2005pubs/censr -20.pdf

27. Results: Evaluate the data used in the book  For example, many self help books help women get married  But is it really that hard to find men?  Q: Are there so many more women than men who are unmarried?  A: Marital status by gender  Look closely at ages and sex

28. http://www.census.gov/prod/2003pubs/p20-544.pdf

29. Results: How “helpful” is this self- help book  Evaluate the book  Is the book helpful?  What has the book left out – is there an important related topic they have missed?  Perhaps suggest what self help books are really needed

30. Results: Evaluate the author  Is the author reputable?  Are they really an expert?  Evaluate the author’s credentials – do they have the background to write such a book?  Is he or she trained in a field related to the book topic, like psychology, family studies, counseling, sociology, or fashion design?  Are they a therapist or researcher, or just a lay person who had a book idea that they thought would sell?  According to John Alexander, the author of The Alpha Male, “Relationship books for men can be hard to read. Some of them are written by guys who should never be allowed to get within ten feet of a pen.”

31. Results: Evaluate the author  Evaluate the author’s credibility  Do a little background check on the author, don’t just go by the description in the book.  Remember they are trying to market the book – but you want the facts!  Often you can find info on the authors on publishers’ websites http://www.4seasonsofmarriage.com http://www.4seasonsofmarriage.com

32. Discussion/Conclusion 1) Summarize your project findings 2) Give an example, how a person might go about writing a better book on this topic? 3) Describe how using the real data you found supported the book thesis or how it have might have made the project undoable – because for example, the problem does not actually exist.

33. Discussion/Conclusion  For example, for a book on how to get married: Does the author note that many more alternatives to marriage now exist compared with the past? Remaining single longer Higher rates of cohabitation Divorce  You could use all these factors to critique the authors correct framing of the “problem”

34. Discussion/Conclusion  Many people are simply choosing to postpone marriage or not to marry at all  In other words, does the “problem” the author writes about really exist?  Many couples are postponing marriage with the bad economy in mind  http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/29/us/29 marriage.html http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/29/us/29 marriage.html

35. Discussion/Conclusion  You might also suggest future research or book ideas  Maybe better topics are out there to write self-help books on?  Or are there better ways to collect data for these books?  In sum:  what are the overall contributions of the book?  what are the biggest problems with the book?

36. Sources: Background materials  FIRST: You will also need to do some background reading related to the topic of your self-help book.  You must find 2 background sources on the topic –  AT LEAST ONE OF THESE SOURCES MUST BE AN ARTICLE FROM A SCHOLARLY JOURNAL!  This could be an article in a psychology/sociology/family studies journal or in an edited volume on the topic.  The other can be another journal article, book chapter, or description from

37. APA Formatting  Provide a full reference for each source and the data that you use at the end of the presentation in APA format. Smith, R. L., & Duenas, P. E. (2006). The sky is blue. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 22, 1269-85.  Be sure to paraphrase your sources and cite them in the presentation i.e. (Smith, 2006) APA format source: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/07/

38. Sources: On-line data  You must have data, from a government or academic data source (on-line)  You MUST include a table or chart to show your on-line data  Make sure to fully cite your data source, so that I can easily find the link  Provide source on slide with chart And a FULL reference on References page  For example, on slide:  Source: http://www.census.gov/prod/2003pubs/p20- 544.pdf

39. Using the library’s resources  http://www.montclair.edu http://www.montclair.edu  From QUICK LINKS, choose library or quick on link on left panel.  Choose ARTICLES & MORE  Click DATABASES BY TITLE  Choose Letter “E”  Choose Ebsco Academic Search Premier  Type in subject words or author  Be flexible with word choices!

40. Using the library’s resources  using PSYCHINFO  Type in keywords:  “divorce” “effects” & “gender”  Maybe add “United States” to keyword search  Article: “Divorce and Adult Psychological Well-Being: Clarifying the Role of Gender and Child Age. by Williams, Kristi, Dunne-Bryant, Alexandra, Journal of Marriage and Family, 68, 1178-1196.Divorce and Adult Psychological Well-Being: Clarifying the Role of Gender and Child Age.  Note the references in that abstract, that could help you find other articles

41. Using the library’s resources  From Montclair Home page choose QUICK LINKS  Choose Library  Click ARTICLES & MORE  Choose Psychology/Sociology  One search engine is “Proquest”  Always try many different key words  For example “divorce and United States”  Maybe add “women” to search

42. Sources  In summary your presentation must include: 1) Background information from 2 sources that relate to the topic of your self-help book (At least ONE source MUST be an article from a scholarly article) 2) A graph or table with data from an academic of government source such as the U.S. Census or the National Center for Health Statistics or a survey conducted by other government, academic group like those we examine in class Beware of googling – you must go to a firsthand source like those above

43. Searching for data on-line  Be careful using Google  A random website does not count as finding a good data source  Make sure you check the source used on websites  Often interest groups, who may have very biased opinions, “pick and choose” among available statistics to support their beliefs  You should always go to the original source if possible  For example: A recent N. Y. Times blog http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/02/22/gender- trade-offs/?hp Has inks to main studies

44. Searching for data on-line  National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS)  Collects Vital Statistics data on the number of: 1) Marriages 2) Divorces 3) Births 4) Deaths

45. Searching for data on-line  National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS)  Collects Vital Statistics data  http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/ http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/  Click on Vital Statistics link on left side of page and choose “Marriages and Divorces”  Choose link to “National Vital Statistics Reports”  Scroll down and click on link to different volumes/years  ON the Census, when looking for data on cohabitation, marriage or divorce, search on LIVING ARRANGEMENTS

46. Note tips on project assignment  Proof read  Practice the presentation!!!!!!!!!!!!  Presentations should be 12 - 14 minutes MAX  This is about 12 -15 slides  Time limits will be strictly enforced!  Think about your audience when creating your presentation  Make it interesting and be creative!  Hints on PowerPoint are available all over the web

47. Exam Questions  All groups will be responsible for writing 3 final exam questions based on their presentation  You will need to write them in multiple choice format with 4 possible answers.  Include these at the end of the presentation you submit to blackboard, but remove them from the in-class presentation  EXAMPLE:  1: What major social movement made the book Get a life then get a man possible  A. Civil rights movement  B. Feminist movement  C. Gay rights movement  D. None of the above

48. Example Exam Questions  In her book, Get a Life, Then Get a Man, author Jennifer Bawden, says she will show you how to A) follow “The Rules.” B) become the woman you want to be then attract your perfect man. C) identify your love language. D) None of the above.  Answer: B