SOC 776
Writing Sociology
B. Nadya Jaworsky
Room 3.59
Consultation Hours:
Tuesdays: 14.00-15.00 or by appointment

Who are you?
•Where are you from (born & living now)?
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•What was the last movie you saw?
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•Why are you taking this class?
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•What is your favorite kind of music?
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•What is the last thing you wrote that was longer than one page?
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•What is your favorite kind of food?

Class Participation
•Attendance: All students are required to attend every seminar meeting.
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•Discussion: Active participation in classroom discussion is an important part of your grade. You
are required to read the assigned literature before the seminar meeting to facilitate discussion.
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•Peer Review
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Writing Assignments
•“Welcome Essay” (500-700 words)
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•Social issue opinion essay (1,000-1,200 words)
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•Book or article review (600-800 words)
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•Final research essay (4,000-5,000 words)
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Evaluation/Grading Scheme
•Language: The quality of your use of English is not part of the grade!
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•30% - Essay assignments (welcome essay = 3%, social issue essay = 12%, book review = 15%)
•35% - Class participation (each class = 2%; PR1 and PR 2 = 3% each; PR3 = 5%)
•10% - Final Essay draft and presentation
•25% - Final Essay
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•Evaluation is assessed as follows:
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90-100 = A
80-89 = B
70-79 = C
66-69 = D
60-65 = E
0-59 =   F
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•What challenges do you face in writing?
•What are your writing strengths?
•What are your writing weaknesses?
•Where do you expect your writing to be at the end of this course?
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Freewriting




SYLLABUS
•Week 1 - Introduction to course
•Week 2 - What is sociology and what can we do with it?
•Week 3 - How do we write a great expository or opinion essay?
•Week 4 - What is bad writing and how can we recognize it?
•Week 5 - How do we help one another constructively?
•Week 6 - NO CLASS (Reading Week)
•Week 7 - How do we review a book or an article?
•Week 8 - How do we begin sociological research?
•Week 9 – How do we conduct research and engage the literature?
•Week 10 - How do we finish sociological research  & begin writing?
•Week 11 – How do we get published?
•Week 12 – How do we finish writing a research essay or thesis?
•Week 13 – How do we speak about our work to others? Presentation/Peer Review of First Drafts

Are you old enough to remember who this is?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=otCpCn0l4Wo


Topic of your welcome essay:
 What should sociology speak about?
This assignment will NOT be graded and it doesn’t have to be very long (500-700 words).
Due February 28 by 12:00 pm in the Homework Vault

Do you have writer’s block?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcKtcXbjwD4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q49vxUL4tuM
See the handout under Week One in the Interactive Syllabus:
“Overcoming Writer’s Block.”