Courses
Field Experience in Sociology
Introduction
Welcome to the seminar! Please read this syllabus carefully. Keep it. We will refer to it frequently.
Application of Credits
Please note if you take this course for six credits, only three credits will count toward the sociology major. The remaining three count as (upper-level) electives. This course counts as "Writing Intensive."
Description of the Course
This course is a senior-level seminar in sociology. It is
designed for sociology majors, coordinate majors and those
who have taken several sociology courses. It presumes that
the student in the seminar has a working knowledge of sociological
methods and theory. It requires each student to secure a field
placement—with the help of the instructor—for
the duration of the semester. The student, the instructor
and the sponsor must mutually agree upon the field placement.
The student is expected to work in the field placement as
described below and attend the seminar. The sponsor is expected
to provide a field experience for the student and to cooperate
with the instructor in the supervision of the student.
You may take this course for either three or six credits. If you take it for six credits you spend 180 hours in the field placement. If you take the course for three credits you spend 90 hours in the field. The difference in the hours spent in the field is the only difference between the six and the three credit courses.
The main academic requirement for the course is a research
paper, which is based on two things: the results of your reading
and the corresponding data obtained through your field experience.
In addition to writing the research paper, you will share
your progress with others in the seminar and present your
findings to the class. You will be required to become familiar
with your fellow students’ research projects. In this
way, you not only will experience your activity on a firsthand
basis, but you will learn from others’ experiences as
well.
This course will be what you make it. We decide on the field experience together, but most of the other decisions are in large part yours. You must decide upon the focus of your study/paper; readings; hypothesis(es); methodology; and so on. I will work with you: suggest readings, react to hypotheses, and criticize methodologies. Other sociology faculty are willing to help too. However, you must take many of the initial steps.
The most difficult thing for most students in this course has been deciding on a relevant area of sociological theory and developing a hypothesis. You must pick an area to study and limit your study by constructing hypotheses.
THE FIRST THING YOU MUST DO IS GET A PLACEMENT. THIS MUST BE DONE WITH ME DURING THE FIRST WEEK OF THE SEMESTER or as soon as possible thereafter.
Prerequisite
The prerequisite is "permission of the instructor." If you have not done so, please fill out and return to me a "Student Fact Sheet" for this course.
Click on one of the following links for more information (requires Adobe Acrobat Reader 7):
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