Sociology at Georgia State University

Seventy-two (72) semester credit hours (40 semester hours of course work and 32 semester hours of non-course work including dissertation proposal, dissertation research, and qualifying examination) beyond the Master of Arts degree, consisting of a Doctoral Core (A), Specialty Course Work (B, C, or D) and Others (E) below:

A. Doctoral Core Required Course Work (19 hours):
Soci 8000: Proseminar in Sociology (3 hours)
Soci 8201: Social Inequality (3 hours)
Soci 8342: Qualitative Methods in Sociology (3 hours)
Soci 9010: Multivariate Sociological Data Analysis (4 hours)
Soci 9020: Advanced Research Methodology (3 hours)
Soci 9030: Sociological Theory II (3 hours)

NOTE: The prerequisite for Soci 8342 is Soci 8020: Research Methods or its equivalent; the prerequisite for Soci 9010 is Soci 8010: Intermediate Sociological Statistics; the prerequisite for Soci 9020 is Soci 8020: Research Methodology and So ci 9010; and the prerequisite for Soci 9030 is Soci 8030: Sociological Theory I. If a student has not completed a prerequisite (or its equivalent) in his or her M.A. program, then the needed prerequisite course must be completed first, and the credit hour s for it may not be applied toward the doctoral degree.

B. Family and Life Course (FLC) Specialty. Required Coursework (6 hours):
Soci 8101: Family Sociology
Soci 8102: Life Course Sociology

C. Gender and Sexuality (GS) Specialty. Required Coursework (6 hours):
Soci 8156: Sexuality and Society
Soci 8216: Sociology of Gender

D. Race and Urban Studies (RUS) Specialty. Required Coursework (6 hours):
Soci 8212: Race and Ethnic Relations
Soci 8226: Urban Sociology

E. All FLC, RUS, and GS Specialties require (47 semester hours):
1. Free/General Electives (15 hours):
Students use their remaining credit hours to enroll in other courses that interest them. Students may choose freely from any course offered in Sociology or selectively in other departments following consultation with a faculty adviser. Stude nts may take no more than two courses (6 hours) from outside the department and no more than 6 hours of directed readings.
2. A written Departmental qualifying examination.
3. Soci 9970: Readings for Qualifying Examinations (3 hours).
4. A dissertation proposal and defense.
5. Soci 9998: Dissertation Proposal (9 hours).
6. Soci 9999: Dissertation Research (20 hours).
7. An oral defense of the dissertation.
8. An approved dissertation.

1. At least 60 of the hours listed above must be completed at Georgia State University. Students with post-MA degree course work from other accredited institutions may petition to transfer up to 12 hours of course work towards the degree foll owing petition to, and approval by, the departmental Director of Graduate Studies and the Office of Graduate Studies of the College of Arts and Sciences. Students must maintain a cumulative grade-point average of 'B' or better and must receive a grade of 'B' or better in the required courses. If a student receives a grade other than 'A' or 'B' in the required courses, he or she must repeat the courses the very next time they are offered to rectify the grade.

2. Students with post-master's credit from other accredited institutions of higher learning may transfer up to 12 hours of course work towards the degree following petition to, and approval by, the departmental Director of Graduate Studies and the Office of Graduate Studies of the College of Arts and Sciences.

3. The total number of hours must include a minimum of 60 hours in sociology, 31 hours of which must have been earned in regularly scheduled courses in the Department of Sociology at GSU.

4. Students may take both Soci 9000 & Teaching Sociology (3) and Soci 9001: Writing for Publication (3) but only three hours can be applied toward the PhD degree.

5. If a student in the Ph.D. Track has not completed Social Statistics, Research Methodology, Sociological Theory, or their equivalents in his/her master's program, these courses must be taken as non-credit prerequisites for Qualitative Method s in Sociology, Multivariate Sociological Data Analysis, Advanced Research Methodology, and Sociological Theory at the doctoral level.

6. Students must register for Soci 9970: Readings for Qualifying Examinations (3-9 hours) in the semester in which they prepare for the qualifying examination.

7. Students must register for Soci 8990: Research or Teaching Practicum (3-9 hours) while they are appointed as GRA, GTA, and/or GLA.

8. Students who are appointed as GTA III must complete Soci 9000: Teaching Sociology and Soci 9001: Teaching Internship prior to their appointment.

The residency requirement for Ph.D. is four semesters of residence, two of which must be consecutive; during all four semesters the student must register for at least six (6) hours of course work. In counting two consecutive semesters of full -time, the summer session is treated differently from the others. If a student does enroll full-time during the summer session, it can be counted towards the residency requirement; if a student does not enroll during the summer, however, it is not counted as a break in the consecutive semesters of full-time enrollment.

The student must formally declare his/her specialty within the program, either Family and Life Course (FLC), Gender and Sexuality (GS), or Race and Urban Studies (RUS) no later than after completing 18 hours of course work. This official decl aration should take place when the student is assigned a Program Advisor in consultation with the Director of Graduate Studies. The selection of a program advisor is important since the advisor is involved in guiding the student not only in his/her gradua te career in the department but also in professional development in the chosen specialty. The student may petition the Graduate Committee if a change in program advisor is desired.

The Qualifying Examination is composed of two parts -- the first covers major sociological theories and their substantive applications, and the second covers research methodologies. The purpose of the Qualifying Exam is to determine whether a student has a sound understanding of sociology and will be able to do the high quality work necessary in a dissertation. This exam uses an essay format, and students have some options about which
questions they choose to answer. Each exam requires answers to questions designed to test the student's knowledge as well as his/her organizing, synthesizing, and writing abilities.

Students are urged to study diligently for these exams. Successful performance will require students to go beyond their course work; they should expand their knowledge by reviewing books and articles on theories, methods, and research findings from spec ially prepared reading lists. These reading lists are available from the departmental Director of Graduate Studies and the Coordinator of Graduate Studies.

The Qualifying Exam will normally be given once a year during the last week of May. Students must register for Soci 9970: Readings for Qualifying Examination (3-9) in the semester during which they prepare for the exam.

Students must take the Qualifying Exam (both parts) at the first opportunity after they complete the required doctoral courses (Soci 8201, 8342, 9010, 9020, and 9030) and in no case should this be later than two years into the program. Each s tudent is responsible for informing the Director of Graduate Studies in writing at least one month prior to the next scheduled examination of her/his intention to take the Qualifying Examination. Failure to take the examination on the agreed date will con stitute failure and only one other opportunity will be allowed to take it.

The Chair of the Department will appoint five faculty committees to construct and grade the two parts of the Qualifying Examination. Each part will be graded independently and a student may pass or fail one or both parts. The decision to "pas s," "fail," or to give a student a "conditional pass" is governed by a simple majority vote. In the event of a conditional pass, the student is asked to rewrite one. The committee may then pass or fail the student based on the rewritten answers. In the ev ent of a failure, the student may retake the exam only once, and must do so at the next time it is given. A student will be dismissed from the program upon a second failure of either part of the Qualifying Examination.

The Director of Graduate Studies is to be responsible for supervising all phases of the Qualifying Examination and informing the Chair of the Department and the Office of Graduate Studies of the College of Arts and Sciences of the results.

A dissertation proposal that outlines the sociological issues, research methodology, analytical steps, and anticipated findings is required of all candidates for the doctoral degree. Students must defend the proposal at a meeting of their dis sertation committee and other interested faculty and students. The committee must unanimously approve it before the student is officially considered to be working on his or her Ph.D. dissertation. Students should register for Soci 9998: Dissertation Propo sal in the semester(s) during which they are writing their proposal.

"Admission to Candidacy" is another step on the path to a Ph.D. Students are admitted to candidacy after they have: (a) satisfied the residency requirement; (b) completed all course requirements; (c) passed the Ph.D. Qualifying Examinations; and (d) successfully defended a dissertation proposal. "Admission to Candidacy" is equivalent to what is generally called the ABD (all-but-dissertation).

An approved dissertation is required of all candidates for the doctoral degree. A dissertation should be an original contribution to knowledge by the student. In it the student gives a complete discussion of the sociological thinking involved in formulating his/her topic, provides a careful description of the research methods and findings, and lays out the meaning and implications of the research. Each student must have a Dissertation Director who will give guidance and direction to the stude nt during the research and writing stages of the project. The Dissertation Director must be a member of the graduate sociology faculty. Dissertation Directors are requested by the student, approved by the Director of Graduate Studies, and appointed by the Chair of the Department of Sociology. Students may find it useful to examine Ph.D. dissertations completed by previous sociology graduate students. Copies are available in either the Department or in Pullen Library. Students should register for Soci 9999 : Dissertation Research in the semester(s) during which they work on their dissertation.

A Dissertation Committee, chaired by the Dissertation Director, will be formed to supervise and evaluate the student's proposal and dissertation. The Dissertation Committee must have three to five members. Committee members are nominated by the student (in consultation with the Dissertation Director and faculty expected to be involved) and appointed by the Chair of the department. Although committee members may be selected from the graduate faculty of other academic departments of Georgia State Universi ty or from the graduate faculty of other accredited institutions of higher learning, a majority of the members of the Dissertation Committee must be members of the Department of Sociology at Georgia State University. The student must write an acceptable d issertation and pass a final oral defense of that dissertation. At least two-thirds of the Dissertation Committee must give written approval of the dissertation for it to be submitted for acceptance to the Office of Graduate Studies of the College of Arts & Sciences.

The Dissertation Committee is the sole judge of the professional adequacy of the dissertation. The normal procedure is for the student to submit drafts of chapters to the Dissertation Director, who makes critical suggestions for revision, and reviews rewritten chapters. When the Dissertation Director feels one or several chapters are ready for other committee members to review, he/she tells the student to make copies and distribute them to the committee members, who read them and suggest revi sions. When the Dissertation Director determines the dissertation is at the appropriate stage of development, the dissertation defense is scheduled. At that time the Dissertation Committee decides whether it will accept the dissertation, based on the adeq uacy of the research, the soundness of the student's interpretation of the data, and, ultimately, the work's contribution to knowledge in the discipline of sociology. When a dissertation reaches the point of being defended, it usually is ready for approva l, but the Dissertation Committee has the right to require further revisions.

NOTE: If a student wishes to alter the composition of the Dissertation Committee, a petition must be submitted to the Director of Graduate Studies who will present the petition to the Graduate Committee for action.

It is the student's responsibility to make certain the final version of the Ph.D. dissertation complies with all the style, format, and other requirements of the College of Arts and Sciences.

There shall be a final oral examination, at which time the student will describe and discuss the work he or she has done, defend its merit, and answer any questions about it that arise. This defense of the dissertation is open to interested f aculty and students. The Dissertation Director should notify faculty and students in the Department of Sociology about the topic, time, and place of the defense, and circulate a research abstract of it, two weeks in advance. The entire dissertation must a lso be made available to interested faculty members at least one week prior to the defense.

Students in the Joint MA/Ph.D. Program complete the Master of Arts requirements first and then the Doctor of Philosophy requirements.

1. Twelve (12) hours of required course work:
Soci 8000: Proseminar in Sociology
Soci 8010: Intermediate Sociological Statistics
Soci 8020: Research Methodology
Soci 8030: Sociological Theory I

2. Twelve (12) hours of elective course work:
With the approval of the director of graduate studies in the Department of Sociology, no more than six (6) of these hours may be in fields other than sociology, provided that they are relevant to the student's academic program. No more than six (6) hour s of Soci 8970: Directed Reading are permitted.

3. Three (3) hours of Soci 8998: Thesis Proposal (non-coursework).

4. Nine (9) hours of Soci 8999: Thesis Research (non-course work).

5. A thesis.

6. A thesis defense.

NOTE: Up to six hours may be transferred by petition from other accredited institutions. Students must maintain a cumulative grade-point average of 'B' or better and must receive a grade of 'B' or better in the required course. If a student receives a grade of other than 'A' or 'B' in the required courses, he or she must repeat the courses the very next time they are offered to rectify the grade.

An approved thesis is required of all candidates for the master's degree. This thesis will be supervised and directed by a faculty committee, composed of a chair (who must be a member of the Graduate Faculty of the Department of Sociology) and two addi tional faculty members (who are not required to be on the Graduate Faculty). One member of the thesis committee may come from outside the Department of Sociology. This committee is chosen by the student in consultation with the faculty involved though the Chair of the Department officially approves and appoints the thesis committee.

Normally, a student discusses a thesis topic and research ideas with his or her committee, then writes a thesis research proposal (see Page 44 and Appendix B for guidelines) and submits it to the thesis committee for approval. After it is approved, the student conducts the research and prepares a written report of the results. After several drafts, the student is normally in a position to defend the thesis at a meeting of the thesis committee and other interested faculty. An oral defense is scheduled, a nd the chair of the thesis committee must circulate an abstract of the thesis to the faculty one week prior to the defense. The entire thesis must also be made available to all interested faculty 3 days prior to the defense. The thesis committee is the so le judge of the adequacy of the thesis, and two-thirds of the committee must approve the thesis before it can be submitted for acceptance to the Office of Graduate Studies of the College of Arts & Sciences. It is the student's responsibility to make c ertain that the final version of the thesis conforms to the format, style, and other requirements of the College of Arts and Sciences. Students may find it useful to examine completed M.A. theses by sociology students, which can be found either in the Dep artment or in Pullen Library.

Students should register for Soci 8998: Thesis Proposal in the semester(s) during which they are writing their proposal. Students should register for Soci 8999: Thesis Research in the semester(s) during which they work on their thesis.

Applicants may obtain additional information about the Department of Sociology by contacting:

Director of Graduate Studies
Department of Sociology
Georgia State University
University Plaza
Atlanta, Georgia 30303-3083
Tel: (404) 651-2285
Fax: (404) 651-1712
E-mail: socinfor@gsu.edu
Home Page: http://www.gsu.edu/sociology

Note : Students who wish to pursue the Gerontology Certificate must apply to the program through the Gerontology Center. Contact:

The Gerontology Center
Georgia State University
University Plaza
Atlanta, GA 30303-3083
Phone: (404) 651-2692