Proseminar in Sociology Sociology 708
Fall 2001
Thursdays 4-6:30 p.m. CBC C317

Readings

Requirements

Professor Barbara Brents
Office: CBC B239 Phone: 895-0261
E-mail: brents@nevada.edu Office hrs: Wed 2-4, Thurs 1-4, and by appt.

Course Description and Goals

Becoming a sociologist is not easy. You need intellectual tools, which most of your course work will give you. But much of what it takes to be a good sociologist you learn outside of class. This seminar is designed to help facilitate this process, and the transition from undergraduate to graduate student, the transition into UNLV’s Sociology Department, and the transition into the profession of sociology. The goals for the course are to:

Readings

Becker, Howard, Writing for Social Scientists. University of Chicago Press: Chicago. 1986.
Bolker, Joan. Writing Your Dissertation in Fifteen Minutes a Day: A Guide to Starting, Revising, Finishing Your Doctoral Thesis. Owl Books, 1998.
Turabian, Kate L. A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses and Dissertations, 6th Edition. University of Chicago Press: Chicago 1996.
ASA Style Guide.
Additional short readings will be assigned throughout the semester.

Requirements

Class attendance and participation 50%
Mini assignments 50%
The majority of learning in this class will come through class discussions and hands on assignments throughout the semester. These may include constructing a vita, giving a practice paper presentation, interviewing faculty, or any other creative and devious project we may come up with. As there is minimal reading, no exams and no huge papers, attendance, class participation and timely completion of assignments are critical. Topics and assignments will be collectively and democratically constructed early in the semester, and will remain very flexible. This is your class, so participate and have fun!

Schedule

August 30--Introduction
Topics: Introduction to the course, and to each other
Brainstorming on the issues, topics, assignments and questions for the semester
Assignment: 1. Join a professional association
2. Write an introductory paragraph about yourself including your background, your sociological interests and aspirations, and what you want out of graduate school.

Sept 6–Understanding Graduate School
Readings: Flacks, Dick, “Making History and Making Theory: Notes on How Intellectuals Seek Relevance” in Charles C. Lemert, ed, Intellectuals and Politics, Sage: Newbury Park CA 1991.
“Graduate Education in Sociology.” Special issue of The American Sociologist, 1987 18(4). (Choose any two selections)
Young, T.R. “The Yellow Brick Road to Success in Sociology,” Red Feather Institute, www.tryoung.com/lectures/001YelRoad.htm.
Sullivan, Theresa, “Making the Graduate Curriculum Explicit,” Teaching Sociology 19(3): 408-413, July 1991.
Speaker: Veona Hunsinger, Sociology Office Manager--Procedures and policies at UNLV
Assignment: Interview two Sociology professors in the department , collect their vita and one publication, and report to the class. Notes and discussion due Oct. 11

Sept 13–The Committee Process and Choosing a Committee
Readings: Bolker, Chapter 1 "Beginning,” Ch 2, “Choosing a Committee,” Ch 7 “You, Your Readers, and the Dissertation Support Group” and Appendix II “Some Advice for Advisors”
Assignment: In class draft questions to ask faculty during interviews.

Sept 20–Professional conferences, networking and marketing
Readings: Becker, Ch 1 “Freshman English for Graduate Students”& Ch 2 “Persona and Authority” and Ch 8 “Terrorized by the Literature”
Assignment: Bring to class an abstract of a paper you would like to present to a conference. In class we will work through creating an abstract and submitting to a conference.

Sept 27 Understanding Graduate School–the voices of experience
Readings: Bolker, Ch 9 “The Best Dissertation is a Done Dissertation” and Ch 6 “Interruptions from Outside and Inside”
Guest panel: Graduate students in sociology

Oct. 4–Managing and organizing time, information, data, etc.
Readings: Bolker, Ch 3 “Getting Started Writing,” Ch 4 “From Zero to First Draft”
Becker, Ch 3 “One Right Way”
Assignment: Bring to class a time diary--hour by hour honest list of how you spent your time for a week (be specific on work, not personal stuff)
Speakers: Simon Gottschalk and Jennifer Keene on organizing information and data

Oct 11–Getting to know the faculty
Readings: ASA Code of Ethics www.asanet.org/members/ecoderev.html
Assignment: In class discussion of faculty interviews

Oct 18–Learning to Write, creating a writing community
Readings: Becker Ch 4, "Editing By Ear” and Ch 6 “Risk”

Oct 25–Grants and Proposal Writing
Readings: Readings on proposal writing, TBA
Bolker, Ch 5 “Getting to the Midpoint”
Speakers: Ron Smith, Donald Carns

Nov. 1– Sociology, Technology and the Internet
Readings: TBA
Assignment: Bring to class a good and bad example of the use of the internet and Sociology

Nov 8--Writing for Journals
Readings: Becker, Ch 5 “Learning to Write as a Professional” and Ch 7 “Getting it Out the Door.”
Bolker, Ch 10 “Life After dissertation”
Speaker: Andy Fontana

Nov 15 & 29–Meet the faculty