Degree Requirements for the Master of Arts
- Taking ten courses.
- Fulfilling a Master's Comprehensive requirement.
Among the courses needed for completion of the M.A. degree, five are required. The required courses are:
- A two semester sequence in Social Theory, SC715, "Classical Social Theory" and SC716, "Contemporary Social Theory";
- A one-semester course, "Advanced Research Methods" (SC710);
- A two-semester sequence in Statistics (SC702 and SC703).
Two options exist for fulfilling the Master's Comprehensive requirement, a Master's thesis or a Master's paper. The M.A. thesis should be considered as a work on a well defined empirical problem and will involve the analysis of collected data. The Master's paper is written with the supervision of a faculty advisor, and can focus on one of the following:
- A critical review of the literature in a specific area of interest to the student (e.g., social stratification, deviance, women's studies).
- A critical review of the literature in general sociology.
- An issue or problem paper.
For more details on the requirements for the M.A. in sociology, see the Guide to Graduate Study (the "Bluebook").