Samuola Vernet

Professor Amanda Weir

English 100

11/26/12

Academic Literacies Project

Sociology is the study of social behavior and the socio-cultural settings in which it occurs. It involves the study of whole societies and their basic institutions as well as smaller scale groups such as the family, peer group and neighborhood. (Undergraduate Programs University of Massachusetts Dartmouth. n.d) By examining different social groups in economic, political and religious contexts, the effects on human attitudes, actions and opportunities can be discovered.

With the understanding of sociology in mind I expect the academic literacy workload for sociology to require a lot of reading and writing. Examining human behavior demands a lot of analyzing and research. When analyzing a text it is expected that the author reasoning will be looked for. To fully comprehend a text when reading one must take good notes, summarize and/or paraphrase the main idea. A sociology course requires a lot of precise thinking and reflection. By doing so the text is questioned and allows thoughts about personal emotions and affects as well as whether it connects text to text, self or world or another text. In an informal discussion with an upperclassman in philosophy, I was told that there will be two types of assigned papers study and theory. A thesis is needed when writing a theory paper. Theory papers tend to have readers think and evaluate them critically and address the issue of how and why. A study paper will consist of a hypothesis, research process and results. There will be different writing styles for these papers including APA and MLA. Citing information using APA format is used for research reports and empirical studies. MLA is the most commonly used citation method for general essays.

I interviewed Professor Heather Donavan, who teaches a sociology 101 class here at UMASS Dartmouth. She was able to tell me about the academic literacy expectations needed for the class. The general comments she made about what was expected for that class were similar to what I had thought was needed for sociology. In terms of the writing style commonly used, citing your sources, were all similar. As predicted, a lot of note taking and studying will take place, an average of 5 hours a week. One interesting detail I was able to learn from Professor Donavan was the difference between study and theory paper. She mentions “Study papers require collecting support from outside sources inside and outside of classes, theory papers use text application from knowledge and research”. After the interview I was able to compare what I had predicted and had learned and seen that they were not as different from what I expected.

References
Undergraduate Programs University of Massachusetts Dartmouth. n.d

English 100
12/04/12

Interview Transcript

Samuola Vernet: What is the reading required within your classes?

Professor Donavan: “Down to Earth Approach” is the main book read in the course and there are weekly assignments on my courses

SV: What is the writing style used?

PD: The two common writing styles used are study and theory. A study paper which is similar to a research paper means collecting support from outside sources in class and outside. Theory papers use text application from knowledge and research.

SV: Can you explain the best way to cite a source for this course?
PD: MLA, APA and Chicago School style. APA and Chicago style are highly recommended to use.

SV: What do you expect an “A” assignment to look like?

PD: It has to flow nicely, have all the components I’m looking for; they know what they’re talking about and understand how to properly cite a source.

SV: How many hours out of class is suggested to study for the material?

PD: 5 hours a week (average) when not doing group activities

SV: What study methods should we use for examines?

PD: Taking notes to summarize the main idea, end of chapter reviews, online quizzes.