SOC b2500
Sociological Writing
(“Making Sociology Speak”)
B. Nadya Jaworsky
Office 3.66
Consultation Hours:
Wednesdays: 13.00-14.00 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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•What is your favorite kind of music?
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•What is the last thing you wrote that was longer than one page and what was it about?
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•What is your favorite kind of food?

Class Participation
•Attendance: All students are required to attend every seminar meeting.
•
•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
•

Peer Review
•March 18
•April 8
•May 13

Writing Assignments
•Formal writing assignments:
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• Response to academic article (300-400 words)
• Social issue opinion essay (1000 words)
• Final research essay (3000-4000 words; 10-13 pp. double-spaced, Times New Roman)
•

Evaluation/Grading Scheme
•Language: The quality of your use of English is not part of the grade!
•
•10 points - Response/discussion paper
•15 points - Social Issue Essay
•30 points - Class participation (each class = 2 points; peer review = 8 pts. total)
•10 points - Final essay draft and presentation
•35 points - Final essay
•

•Evaluation is assessed as follows:
•
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

•Week 1 – Introduction to the course
•Week 2 – What is bad writing and how can we recognize it?
•Week 3 – How can we engage sources effectively?
•Week 4 – How do we write analytical response/discussion papers?
•Week 5 – Peer Review #1: How do we help one another constructively?
•Week 6 – How do we write an expository or opinion essay?
•Week 7 – Reading Week (NO CLASS)
•Week 8 – Peer Review #2: Social Issue Essay
•Week 9 – How do we get started on a research essay?
•Week 10 – How do I structure a literature review? (NO CLASS)
•Week 11 – How do we finish sociological research and begin writing?
•Week 12 – How do we finish writing a research essay or thesis?
•Week 13 – Peer Review #3 and Presentation of Essay First Drafts

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


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.”