Sociology Department, University of Georgia

The Pre-Doctoral/Master of Arts Program

The Graduate School requires prospective Masters degree students to complete a Program of Study for Master of Arts Candidates. The Program of Study includes all relevant graduate course work for the Masters and must contain a minimum of 36 hours of course work. Graduate course offerings will vary from year to year, and students are encouraged to communicate with the Degree Program Assistant and appropriate Specialty Area Committees about scheduling substantive courses in a timely fashion. By developing a preliminary Program of Study, the student will help faculty in the specialty areas identify courses that need to be offered, and give the Department sufficient time to respond to these needs. The courses listed below are required of all sociology graduate students and should be completed within the first two years of residence.

For students admitted to the M. A. program Fall 2002 and later, the M. A. Program of Study must include:

  1. SOCI 6600: Research Methods and Models
  2. SOCI 6620: Analysis and Interpretation of Sociological Data I
  3. SOCI 6630: Analysis and Interpretation of Sociological Data II
  4. SOCI 6220: Development of Sociological Theory or SOCI 6410: Current Trends in Sociological Theory.
  5. SOCI 6190: Proseminar in Sociology
  6. No more than 3 credit hours in each of the following courses:
    a. SOCI 7000M: Master's Research, Directed Study
    b. SOCI 7300M: Master's Thesis
    c. SOCI 8000: Special Topics in Sociology

Students seeking a Masters Degree in Sociology may include on their Program of Study no more than six hours of course work outside the Department. Courses taken outside the Department and included on the Program of Study must be part of a coherent program toward a Master of Arts degree.

Research Practicum

The Research Practicum is important to a student's training in two respects. First, it offers many students their first opportunity to experience the kinds of individual research and writing projects that are central to a successful academic career in Sociology. Second, it provides Graduate Faculty members in Sociology with an important criterion for assessing students' promise for admission to the Doctoral program. For students seeking Departmental assistantship support, timely completion of the Research Practicum is also a consideration in funding for the third year.

The Research Practicum is an independent research project carried out under the supervision of faculty members in the Department. It is intended to provide practical research experience in an area of substantive interest to the student. During Spring Semester of the first year, the student selects a Practicum Advisor to assist in identifying a suitable research topic. By early Fall Semester of the second year, the student selects two additional members of the Practicum Reading Committee, who are involved in shaping the research topic. The Practicum Advisor and one other member of the Reading Committee must be members of the Graduate Faculty. (Appendix B (pp. 23-24) lists current members of the graduate faculty. ) One of the other members may, with the agreement of the Advisor and Graduate Coordinator, be a University of Georgia faculty member from outside the department. The student's petition should include a brief explanation of the reasons for including an external committee member. In style and format, the Research Practicum resembles a manuscript submitted to a professional journal. It is single-authored, prepared by the student in consultation with members of the Practicum Reading Committee. The Practicum must be submitted to this Committee by April 15. The practicum requirement is satisfied after the student's Reading Committee has approved the Practicum.

After the Research Practicum has been approved, students are strongly encouraged to revise and publish their work and/or present research findings at meetings of the state, regional, or national professional associations. Depending on the amount of faculty input to the research, this may be submitted as a single-authored piece or as a co-authored piece with the Practicum Advisor or other faculty. Revisions of Research Practicums completed in the Department have been published in such journals as the American Journal of Sociology, Sociological Quarterly, and Social Science Research.

Master's Thesis

Although not required to do so, most students completing the Research Practicum choose to complete the Master's degree. For those pursuing a Master of Arts, the thesis will typically be a revision of the Research Practicum. The Practicum Advisor and Reading Committee often become the Master's Major Professor and the Master's Advisory Committee, respectively. Students seeking an M. A. degree must file a Designation of Major Professor form with the Department. In addition, the Graduate School requires M. A. Degree candidates to file an Advisory Committee for Master of Arts Candidates and a Master of Arts Program of Study. Both forms require the approval of the Major Professor and the Graduate Coordinator. A student may petition to have a faculty member from outside the department but within the university on the Committee. The petition must be approved by the Major Professor and Graduate Coordinator. Students who continue work toward a Ph.D. degree may select a different Major Professor for Doctoral work and must also prepare a new, non-overlapping Program of Study. Once the M. A. Advisory Committee has been appointed and approved, any requests for changes must be made in writing using the Request for Change in Advisory Committee form. Committee changes require the approval of the Graduate Coordinator, in consultation with the Major Professor of record and, if necessary, with the Academic Program Committee. All current and past committee members shall be notified of such changes. A revised Advisory Committee for Master of Arts Candidates form must be completed and approved by the Graduate Coordinator as well.

The Graduate School requires that Master's candidates pass an oral examination, covering the program of study and the thesis. The Graduate School requires advance notification of the date of the exam. The oral examination is conducted by the student's Advisory Committee and chaired by the student's Major Professor. All members of the Advisory Committee must be physically present for the final examination.

Second-Year Review

The Second-Year Review is held at the end of the Spring Semester of the second year of study and includes all second-year students who wish to enter the Doctoral program. This review involves an evaluation by the Department's Graduate Faculty of the student's progress and accomplishments during his/her first two years of work in the Department of Sociology.

The dossier for this review includes the following:

  1. A letter from student requesting admission to the Ph.D. program
  2. A curriculum vitae
  3. Transcripts of formal course work
  4. Research Practicum and reviews of Reading Committee
  5. Papers completed as part of graduate-level sociology courses

Faculty review of these materials result in one of the following decisions:

  1. Accepted into the Ph.D. program
  2. Accepted into the Ph.D. program on a conditional basis, with conditions to be specified
  3. Not accepted into the Doctoral program; recommend completion of the Master's degree.

Students with Previous Graduate Study

Students entering with a recent Master of Arts degree and a Master's thesis from a U.S. Sociology Department may elect not to complete a Research Practicum. However, applicants whose Master's degree is more than five years old or in a field other than sociology, or whose Master's or similar degree was awarded by an institution outside of North America, must submit the thesis to the department's Academic Program Committee as part of the application packet. The Academic Program Committee will review the submitted thesis to determine whether it meets Departmental standards to serve in lieu of the Research Practicum. If the committee does not accept the thesis, the applicant may still be admitted into the graduate program, but will be expected to complete the Research Practicum.

Students entering with prior graduate course work may include up to 6 hours of such course work towards the Master's degree at the University of Georgia, only if the courses involved have not been used to fulfill any other degree requirements. Students entering with graduate courses taken elsewhere may also petition to waive required courses. Students who wish to petition for a course waiver should assemble the necessary documentation, including a course syllabus that demonstrates comparable course content, and submit this material, along with a cover letter, to the Graduate Coordinator at least one week prior to the semester in which the course-to-be-waived is offered.

Students entering with a prior Master of Arts degree or prior graduate course work in sociology must take SOCI 6190.

Degree in Sociology

Students may petition the Academic Program Committee for approval to include on their M. A. Program of Study additional hours outside the Department. Please note, that regardless of course prefix, courses taught by faculty members in Sociology are not considered courses outside the Department.

 

 

University of Georgia Department of Sociology

Location:

113 Baldwin Hall Athens, GA 30602-1611

Phone:

706 542 2421

Fax:

706 542 4320