Project Advance

Syracuse University
Sociology 101
Introduction to Sociology
Fall 2015
Amie Carr
Social Studies Department
E-mail:
acarr@[Link]
Website: [Link]/webpages/acarr

Voicemail: 421-2111 ext. 62630

Course Overview: The purpose of this course is to introduce students to the scholarly discipline
of sociology. Sociology is the study of social life, social change, social causes and consequences
of human behavior. Sociologists investigate the structure of groups, organizations, and societies,
and how people interact within these contexts. This is a skills based course that utilizes
professional journal articles written by contemporary sociologists. After examining these
articles, students will critically explore sociological approaches to understanding the everyday
world. This course should help students to 1) understand how sociologists study human behavior
and society, 2) analyze the social forces behind everyday life experiences, 3) understand how
social structures and processes work for and against each other in making up our whole society.
Course Goals: The course is an introductory college level course focusing on critical thinking,
analytic reading, conceptual analysis, and strengthening written communication. Classes will
consist of some lectures, many discussions and interactive learning. Students will be asked to
apply their basic understanding of sociology to the journal articles, discuss and write about them.
College level research skills will be utilized frequently.
Participation and Attendance: Preparation, attendance and participation in each class is
expected. It is impossible to engage in the course materials without being in class. Attendance
alone however, does not determine your participation grade. Participation involves completing
the assigned readings prior to class, listening and taking notes in class, raising questions and
topics for discussion, and participating in group activities and exercises. Come to class ready to
discuss, analyze and critique the readings. Failure to participate in discussion or hand in work on
time will result in a lowered grade.
Assessment: There are several types of assessments utilized in this course. Occasionally daily
quizzes will be given to check on the reading. There are no tests, but several types of written
papers. Students will be asked to write article synopsis papers, critical assessment papers, unit
synthesis papers and a research paper. There may be additional smaller assignments throughout
the course.
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Portfolio: Students will be required to obtain a 1.5 to 2 binder to create a course portfolio.
This will allow students to accumulate and organize readings, notes and their written work in
case their portfolio is needed at a later date.
Text: Readings will be provided and posted on the course website. Many of the readings come
from Susan J. Fergusons Mapping the Social Landscape, 7th edition. If students would like, they
may purchase the book. Once students have purchased the book, they may choose to
write/highlight in the book. You are required to have any readings being discussed with you in
class on the day(s) of the discussion, whether you are using the book, or the handouts. Books
purchased from school will require a check made out to FHS for $100.
Course Credit: All students are encouraged to also take the class for SU credit. Tuition is $110
per credit hour for a total of $330 for this course. You will earn 3 Syracuse University credits
that you may transfer to hundreds of universities and colleges across the country.
Academic Integrity
Syracuse University sets high standards for academic integrity. Those standards are supported and
enforced by your instructor, SU faculty and Project Advance administrators. The presumptive sanction
for a first offense is course failure (SU grade of F), accompanied by the transcript notation Violation of
the Academic Integrity Policy. Students should review the office of Academic Integrity online resource
Twenty Questions and Answers about the Syracuse University Academic Integrity Policy and confer
with your instructor(s) about the course-specific citation methods, permitted collaboration (if any) and
rules for examinations. The Policy also governs the veracity of signatures on attendance sheets and other
verification of participation in class activities. Additional guidance for students can be found in the
Office of Academic Integrity resource: What does academic integrity mean? Your high school may
also impose additional penalties for any violations consistent with you your high schools policies.
Related links:
The Academic Integrity Policy:
[Link]
20 Questions and Answers about the Academic Integrity Policy:
[Link]
What does academic integrity mean?:
[Link]
The Universitys policy on academic dishonesty states: The submission of any work by a student as a
guarantee that the thoughts and expressions in it are the students own except when properly credited to
anotherPlagiarism is the representation of anothers own words, ideas, programs, formulae, opinions or
other products of work as ones own, either overtly or by failing to attribute them to their true source
(Section 1.0, University Rules and Regulations). In your written assignments in this class, I expect that
you will adhere to university and ethical guidelines that require that all quotations be formally demarcated
with quotation marks and complete referencing. In addition, when you are discussing someone elses
ideas or closely paraphrase (i.e. rephrase in your own words) something someone else has written, you

must provide a reference to identify the original source of the ideas. Students caught plagiarizing,
cheating or otherwise engaging in activities that constitute academic dishonesty will be punished in
accordance with University policy.

Turnitin
This class will be using Turnitin, a plagiarism prevention system. The ease of using the Internet has made
it simple for students to cut and paste material into papers that they are writing without proper citation.
I will submit some or maybe all papers that you write in this class to Turnitin, a service that identifies
matched text. I will then interpret the originality report, based on your writing capability and writing
style. In this class, you will also be given the opportunity to submit your own papers to Turnitin to check
that all sources you have used are properly acknowledged and cited. Note that all submitted papers will
be included as source documents in the [Link] reference database, solely for the purpose of
detecting plagiarism of such papers.

Sociology is a useful discipline no matter what future career you are planning. Sociology
stresses that peoples social experiences and the structure of society have a major impact on
individual behavior. Focusing on external factors to explain how people think, feel, believe and
act can help everyone relate to and interact with people!

GOOD LUCK!