Requirements

The doctoral training program in Sociology is designed to give students a strong foundation in the core of sociological theory and research methodology and still allow students ample flexibility to explore and develop expertise in the subfields in which they are most interested.

Coursework

Two core theory and two core methods courses are required of all students. These should be completed during the first two years of study.

• Soc.501: Basic Problems in Sociology I
• Soc.502: Basic Problems in Sociology II
• Soc.505: Research Methods I (Biometry 601 can be substituted in years in which Soc. 505 is not offered)
• Soc.506: Research Methods II

In addition, graduate students are strongly encouraged to take a third methods course in Sociology or an allied social science field. A sample of possible courses is listed here. (Some of these are offered only intermittently.) The Special Committee may suggest other courses, depending on the student's interests.

• Soc.507: Research Methods III
• Soc.508: Qualitative Methods
• Soc.609: Special Topics in Methodology — Causal Inference
• Econ. 619: Econometrics I
• Econ. 620: Econometrics II
• Phys. 682: Computational Methods for Nonlinear Systems
• Psych. 691: Research Methods in Psychology

Students who have completed graduate research methods classes at other institutions are still required to take the Cornell methods sequence. Exceptions can be made for students who chose to enroll in advanced methodological training offered in other fields (e.g., the advanced econometrics series offered in Economics). Other exemptions are unusual, and require the permission of the instructor of the course(s) in consultation with the Director of Graduate Studies and the student's Special Committee.

Qualifying Paper / Master's Thesis

The qualifying paper is designed to be a major research experience for the student, and sometimes also serves as the first phase of the doctoral research. It is usually a relatively short but high-quality exercise in empirical research and theoretical analysis. The paper, which must be read and approved by the Special Committee, follows the style and format of an article in the American Journal of Sociology or American Sociological Review.

Students who want a Master's degree have to write a Master's thesis instead of a qualifying paper, per Graduate School guidelines for theses. Also, students who choose part way through the Ph.D. program to obtain a so-called terminal Master's degree instead of a Ph.D. must write a Master's thesis, not a qualifying paper. Although there is no formal defense of a Master's thesis prospectus, students should discuss the expectations for their theses with their Special Committees well in advance of initiating their projects.

A Exam

The A Exam, also known as the Examination for Admission to Candidacy, is required by the Graduate School. It consists of two parts: (1) a written and an oral examination in one major and two minor concentrations (Part One), and (2) the defense of the dissertation proposal (Part Two).

Concentrations

For the A Exam, students choose one major and two minor areas of concentration from the list below. Minors can also be chosen from related fields outside of sociology.

Major and Minor Areas

• Collective Action and Social Movements
• Economy and Society
• Gender and the Life Course
• Inequality, Stratification, and Mobility
• Organizations
• Political Sociology
• Science, Technology, and Medicine
• Social Networks
• Social Psychology
• Work and Occupations

Minor Areas Only

• Methods
• Policy Analysis
• Culture
• Social Simulation
• Family
• Race and Ethnicity

Part One of the A Exam

Part One of the A Exam tests knowledge of the major and minor concentrations with both a written and an oral component. Graduate students may elect to satisfy the written component of Part One of the A-exam through either (a) Field-approved graduate courses with the permission of the Special Committee, or (b) individualized exams administered by the Special Committee. Many students choose some combination of methods, e.g., coursework for the major and one minor area and an individualized exam for the second minor area.

Individualized exams vary substantially in their form, depending on the students' interests and strengths. Students who would like to take an exam for the written component should consult with their Special Committee early and often.

In order to fulfill the written requirement through coursework, students must fulfill all requirements of the course at a satisfactory level. As with the required courses, the faculty members offering the A-exam courses rotate, and each instructor sets his or her own requirements. However, the requirements usually include a take-home examination. Courses that are currently Field-approved to satisfy the written component of the A exam are as follows:

• Soc. 510: Comparative Societal Analysis
• Soc. 518: Social Inequality: Contemporary Theories, Debates, and Models
• Soc. 546: Economic Sociology
• Soc. 540: Organizational Research
• Soc. 560: New Institutionalism in Economic Sociology
• Soc. 570: Theories of the Family and the Life Course
• Soc. 580: Identity and Interest in Collective Action
• Soc. 605: Political Sociology
• Soc. 612: Seminar in Sociology of Gender

Other courses may also fulfill the written component of the A Exams, subject to Field approval. Generally speaking, in order for the Field to approve a course as fulfilling the A Exam requirement, (a) the topic must be consistent with one of the existing major or minor concentrations, (b) the course syllabus must be appropriately comprehensive and indicate broad coverage of the core theories and research paradigms in the concentration, and (c) the faculty must have a commitment to offering the course regularly.

The oral component of Part One of the A exam is, as one would expect, an oral examination of the student's general sociological knowledge and mastery of the major and minor concentrations. The examination is conducted and evaluated by the Special Committee. For students who elect to use course work for Part One of the A-exam, the oral examination in the concentrations may be pro forma and Special Committee members may instead wish to use the examination to explore possible dissertation projects.

Part Two of the A Exam

Part Two of the A exam is a defense of the dissertation proposal, also known as the prospectus. The proposal must give details on the theoretical problem to be addressed in the dissertation, the methods for collecting and analyzing data, and the relevance of the expected results as a contribution to the literature. The dissertation proposal is evaluated by the Special Committee. Students are encouraged to submit the completed proposal to outside agencies for funding.

Part Two of the A exam should be completed by the summer after the third year so that students can be ready for final data collection, analysis, and writing of the dissertation during the fourth year. Students are required to submit a written dissertation proposal to all members of the special committee no later than two weeks prior to the dissertation defense, and also to notify the Graduate School of the scheduled defense a month in advance. Once the Special Committee has approved the dissertation proposal, the student is admitted to candidacy in the Ph.D. program.

B Exam

The B Exam is an oral defense of the dissertation. The student is challenged to demonstrate mastery of the relevant literature, justify the thesis, and defend the data analysis and interpretations. Once the Special Committee has approved the dissertation, the student submits it to the Graduate School in accordance with its guidelines for dissertations and is awarded a Ph.D. degree.

Celebrations ensue.

Development of Professional Skills

In addition to the course work, examinations, qualifying paper, and dissertation research, the Field expects students to develop a set of professional skills, embodied in the following requirements and recommendations.

Proseminar

All first-year graduate students are required to attend the Sociology Proseminar (Soc. 608). The proseminar introduces students to aspects of their graduate and professional careers and acquaints them with the members of the graduate faculty and their research and interests.

Research assistantship

Understanding the process of research — from formulating the question and arranging funding through evaluating the data, compensating for its deficiencies, and presenting the final results of the analysis — is an essential component of graduate study. It is not only important for students who expect to be employed as faculty in research universities, but also for those who will work in public or private sector organizations where data collection and evaluation are part of the job description.

The research assistantship is designed as a learning experience. By working on a collaborative project, students become exposed to, and learn, the research process and its potential pitfalls under the guidance of a mentor. The research assistantship may take many forms, ranging from working on data collection or management tasks assigned by the faculty member to managing undergraduate research assistants to more co-equal collaboration on a major research work, depending on the students' prior experience and abilities. Research assistantships often lead to a product such as a coauthored paper.

The Graduate Field of Sociology recommends that students obtain at least a semester's worth of collaborative research experience, usually with a faculty member in the Field of Sociology. Students typically work on collaborative research projects in their second or third years, but first-year students are also encouraged to begin working with at least one faculty member.

The Special Committee can help students find an appropriate mentor, but ultimately students are responsible for arranging their own research assistantships. For an updated list of the available projects, students should peruse Field members' home pages and the web sites of the research centers.

The research assistantship is an opportunity for the student to develop a body of skills that will prove useful in professional life. It is also a service that the student provides to the department. A student may, but will not necessarily, be paid for acting as a research assistant. In particular, students who are funded externally should still spend at least one semester as an RA, but cannot expect to receive both the external fellowship and research assistant "pay" for that semester.

Teaching assistantship

Teaching is a skill that will be useful to many students, whether they intend to become university faculty members or not. The Graduate Field of Sociology requires that all students fulfill a teaching assistantship and, as usual, the Special Committee determines whether the requirement has been satisfied.

The teaching requirement may be met in a variety of ways. Common ways include (1) serving as a teaching assistant in an existing course that has discussion sessions for which a TA is responsible; (2) conducting a First-Year Writing Seminar; or (3) teaching a course in the Summer Session. Per Cornell rules, only students who have been admitted to candidacy, i.e., completed the A exam, can teach their own course.

Teaching well is a difficult task. The Field urges students to improve their teaching skills by taking advantage of the University's resources for teaching assistants offered by the Center for Teaching and Learning and by observing colleagues and faculty members in action.

Professional paper presentation

At some point in his or her graduate career, a student is expected to make a public presentation of research findings. Most of our students present papers at the American Sociological Association meetings, but others may choose to present in the Sociology Department Colloquium. Other presentation opportunities are available around campus, including the theme projects, Graduate Student Association events, and colloquia sponsored by allied academic units and research centers.

Participation in the Sociology colloquia and "brown bag" series

All graduate students are expected to attend Department of Sociology colloquia and job talks. Graduate students are also expected to present a working paper (i.e., a draft of the qualifying paper, a conference paper, a preliminary dissertation proposal, or a dissertation chapter) in the department's brown bag series, currently organized by the Graduate Student Association.

Sequence of Study

In the Sociology graduate program, the first and second years are spent completing course requirements and the written A-exams. The following summer is spent converting one of the course papers written in the first two years of the program into a publishable piece of work. The third year is devoted to planning the dissertation, and the fourth and in some cases fifth years to completing the dissertation.

The recommended milestones in the program are as follows. Descriptions of each of these requirements can be found by clicking the link.

• Semesters 1-4: Complete proseminar, required courses, and A exam coursework
• End of 3^rd semester: Select the Special Committee
• End of 4^th semester: Complete Part One of the A exam, subject to the Special Committee's approval
• Before 5^th semester: Complete qualifying paper, subject to the Special Committee's approval
• End of 6^th semester: Complete Part Two of the A exam, subject to the Special Committee's approval
• End of 8^th semester: Defend dissertation, also known as the B exam

Graduate students submit an annual report that lists their progress in fulfilling the graduate program requirements and specifies the date by which as yet unfulfilled requirements will be completed. Fellowship, RA, and TA funding are contingent on satisfactory performance.

Note that most of these steps require that the student submit a form to the Graduate School before they become official. The Graduate Field Assistant has many of the requisite forms and information about deadlines. Students are responsible for filing the necessary paperwork with the Graduate School.

Next: Funding graduate studies