Category: Sociology FAQs

If your instructor does not indicate a preference, we often recommend using the ASA (American Sociological Association) style, since that is most familiar to your professors. Here is a link to an abbreviated version of the ASA Style Guide.  While the specific style you use may not matter to professors, it is very important that  you…

One way to think about writing an analytical paper is to imagine you are a lawyer making a case. A lawyer begins by making an opening argument in which she makes a clear claim (e.g., “the defendant did not commit the crime”) with reference to specific evidence (e.g., “I will show the jury that my…

Most sociology papers ask you to evaluate (critique) arguments.  Rarely is it sufficient to simply summarize an argument or describe a phenomenon.  Instead, we want you to critically consider the explanatory value and real-world relevance of different theoretical arguments or perspectives.  Sociology as a discipline seeks to explain social phenomena, such as social trends or…

In order to fulfill Graduation requirements, students undertake either a Graduation Project or two additional 4000-level seminars. The Graduation Project (GP) is a major project typically undertaken in the fourth year of study. Students may pursue the GP as a solo project or in teams. With the support of a faculty advisor, students craft research…

Students will take compulsory core courses and choose from a range of elective courses. In the final year, many also complete a Graduation Project (see below). The core courses provide foundational training in how sociologists frame questions about the social world. Students learn about the methodologies sociologists use in empirical research and receive training in both qualitative and quantitative methods. These courses…

Our graduates go onto a wide range of sectors and many different types of jobs:

Consider a Sociology major if you are especially interested in exploring different ways to look at and talk about social, political, and economic issues, and in reconsidering things that are taken for granted. The ethos of this discipline is that rigorous research and empirical knowledge of the world can contribute to solving its problems. No…

Sociology is the study of social relations, how they are formed and what their consequences are. Sociologists observe how people relate to one another, why they behave in similar or different ways, and how individual actions are linked to collective actions. We look at how cultures develop, how organizations function or don’t, how states and…