Conducting Sociological Research: Free Sample Essay To Follow

In the past, I have researched a vast array of topics ranging from genetics and psychology to philosophy and the arts. My research experience has been routinely enlightening and inspiring. I find the process of selecting a subject, narrowing my perspective, and finding supporting evidence to support my claims or observations to be stimulating. On one occasion, while researching information for a sociology assignment, I perused scholarly articles, magazine and newspaper articles, reputable published texts, and documentary films. I was seeking out information for a paper that addressed the root causes of women’s eating disorders. I researched women’s health, eating disorder pathologies such as anorexia, bulimia, and compulsive overeating, relevant statistical data, and case studies involving women with eating disorders who openly discussed their motivations and the origins of their respective, destructive pathology. What I discovered about this topic is that there exist common culprits among women which contribute to the development of their eating disorders. These include genetic and biological predispositions, social and cultural conventions about achieved beauty and femininity, thin privilege, mass media promotion of an ideal body image, trauma, and psychological disorders. Another common factor that my research revealed was the degree to which women with eating disorders experience stigma and negative backlash in society. This affected me on a personal level by increasing the measure of empathy and compassion I have for women with eating disorders, which I lacked prior to conducting my research on this topic. After reading through secondary sources that included the women’s case studies, I began to seek out primary sources in which real women who suffered from or survived their eating disorders described the nature of their condition from firsthand experience. Ultimately, the women’s stories guided my research and changed the nature of my paper from being merely informative to becoming a call to action.