For students who begin study in 2021-2022 and subsequent academic years, the Department will offer a single program of study leading to the Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) degree. Students will not be required to earn a Master of Arts (M.A.) degree before working toward the Ph.D. However, students who wish to obtain an M.A. degree may do so, at their option, once they have completed requirements for the first two years of study and the Qualifying Research Paper, as long as they have met the requirements for the M.A. degree established by the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (GSAS). International students are advised to consult with the International Studies Office concerning the visa implications of completing the M.A. degree.
For students who begin study in the 2021-2022 academic year, the department is admitting students into a single program of study leading to the Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) degree. However, students have an option of earning an M.A. degree enroute to the Ph.D. (see section on M.A. Degree).
The Sociology Ph.D. program entails five main elements: (1) coursework, (2) qualifying first-year exam, (3) special fields paper, (4) qualifying paper, (5) the dissertation proposal, and (6) the dissertation.
Students are expected to complete all coursework in their first three academic years. Students are expected to sit for their first-year exam in the week before the beginning of their second academic year (see description below). They should complete their special fields paper by April 20 of their second academic year. In the spring of their third year, students present (a version of) their third-year paper to the faculty and graduate students in the department in a special session of the department’s colloquium series. (See below for discussion of written requirements for qualifying paper). Students may not defend a dissertation proposal until prior requirements, including the qualifying paper, have been completed.
Coursework
Required number of courses and credit hours:
Students must take 20 courses (including 15 graded substantive or methods courses and 5 semesters of the one-credit seminar on Sociological Issues) to be completed by the fifth semester (the fall semester of the third year). Thus, they will ordinarily complete a total of 50 credit hours of coursework over five semesters. Note, to earn the Ph.D., GSAS requires students to complete a minimum of 72 hours total of graduate credit.
Specific required courses:
• First year:
Fall: Research Methods (SOC 5100) and Classical Theory (SOC 5030)
Spring: Pro-Seminar (SOC 8031) and Intro Stats (5020)
Students must also enroll in the Department’s seminar on Sociological Issues in both fall (SOC 8030) and spring (SOC 8040) semesters.
• Second year:
Fall: Qualitative Methods (SOC 5140).
Spring: Intermediate Statistics (5120); Contemporary Theory (5060), and an Advanced Topics course with their advisor in order to begin the work on their qualifying paper. For further information and expectations regarding this course, please see the Qualifying Paper section.
Students must also enroll in the Department’s seminar on Sociological Issues in both fall (SOC 8030) and spring (SOC 8040) semesters.
• Third year
Fall: no coursework; time dedicated to completing the qualifying paper.
Spring: Graduate Research Workshop (7980)
Students must also enroll in the Department’s seminar on Sociological Issues in the spring semester (SOC 8040).
In addition, students must take three Core Courses in Sociology. In order to enable graduate students to meet this requirement, the Department will endeavor to offer at least two Core Courses every semester and to offer most Core Courses at least once every three years. Any additions requested by the faculty are reviewed by the Graduate Studies Committee before being added to the list below. Students may not petition the Director of Graduate Studies to substitute other courses for their Core Course requirements. The list currently includes the following:
Core Courses:
SOC 5056 - CultureSOC 8051 - Work
SOC 7470 - DevelopmentSOC 7480 - Globalization
SOC 5057 - FamilySOC 8052 - Religion
SOC 5059 - ScienceSOC 8053 - Education
SOC 5080 - Comparative & Historical SociologySOC 8054 - Political Sociology
SOC 5086 - Media SociologySOC 8055 - Law
SOC 5320 - Sociology of GenderSOC 8410 - Race & Ethnicity
SOC 5420 - StratificationSOC 8470 - Knowledge
SOC 5900 - Economic SociolgySOC 8710 - Organizations
Each semester, students must register for at least 12 credit hours. In the first year, these credits consist primarily of coursework. For the rest of the time while students are in coursework, these hours will normally include 9 credit hours of substantive or methods courses, 1 credit hour of Sociological Issues, and 2 credit hours of non-topical research.
Qualifying Research Paper
Students must complete a Qualifying Research Paper with the aim of producing a publishable journal article. This requirement is met through completion of two courses: a) an Advanced Topics Seminar with the advisor in the Spring of the second year (SOC 95xx), and b) third-year research and writing seminar (SOC 7980), working with the instructor of the course as well as the faculty advisor in the substantive area of interest. The quality and sophistication of the paper should be at the level of a publishable journal article.
Part I: Writing the Qualifying Paper Research Proposal – Advanced Topics Seminar (SOC 95xx)
The first step in completing the qualifying research paper is to develop the project. The project will be developed during the Advanced Topics Seminar that students take with their advisors in the Spring of the second year (SOC 95xx). During this course, students will read extensively in their research area and develop a research project they can carry out over the summer and into the fall. The faculty member teaching the course will determine what is the most appropriate final assignment for this course (whether proposal, or lit review, or just a series of short papers/memos, etc.).
At the end of the Advanced Topic Seminar, student will submit a timeline for the completion of the QP and send that to both the faculty advisor and the DGS. It is absolutely critical that students complete a draft of their paper—including not only reportage but also analysis—before entering the writing seminar (SOC 7980).
Advanced Topics Seminars are typically created anew for each student, depending on specific areas of interest and topics for the qualifying papers. Each new Advanced Topics Seminar needs to be approved by the DGS and entered into SIS before students can enroll. A maximum of 3 students can enroll in an Advanced Topics Seminar at any given time. Advanced topics seminars 8 often have a more specialized weekly reading list than that which is covered in Core Courses on in the Special Fields Paper.
Procedures for taking an Advanced Topics Seminar:
a) In the fall of their second year, students should talk to faculty and identify an advisor for the Qualifying Paper; the Qualifying Paper advisor will serve as the instructor for the Advanced Topics Seminar. NOTE: There are NO formal requirements that necessitate that the Qualifying Paper advisor must be the same person as the first-year advisor or the dissertation advisor.
b) If the faculty member agrees to serve as Qualifying Paper advisor, the student and the instructor need to provide a title (max 30 spaces) and brief description (max 450 spaces) of the class. They will also develop a syllabus for the Advanced Topics Seminar, which needs to include purpose/goals of the seminar, a reading list for each week, and a list of assignments throughout the course. This course is graded, and the readings and assignments need to be equivalent to a 3-credit course. The syllabus also needs to note meeting times – the expectation is that the course will meet for at least 1 hour each week.
c) The syllabus should be submitted to the DGS for approval before the conclusion of the fall semester.
Incompletes in the Advanced Topic Seminars should be granted only in exceptional circumstances. Before an incomplete is granted in this course, the student is required to provide a written plan for completing the research proposal that has to be approved by both the advisor and the DGS. An incomplete in this course has to be converted into a letter grade at the latest by August 1 or the student will not be allowed to register for the Qualifying Paper Writing Seminar (7980) and will no longer be in good standing. Exceptions will be made in unique circumstances, such as medical leave, and need to be approved by DGS.
Part II: Completing the Qualifying Paper - Writing Seminar (7980)
Students are expected to enter the Graduate Research Workshop with a rough draft of the QP already in hand. Faculty advisors are expected to read and approve the draft paper (including introduction, literature review, and preliminary data analysis) before students enroll in the writing seminar.
The emphasis in the seminar is on developing students’ individual research projects, rather than on teaching new substantive or methodological content. The course provides a structure for the research experience which enables students to maximize learning and skill development from that experience. Specifically, the course aims to do three things:
- Impose a realistic and effective timetable on students’ projects, so that they are able to complete a high-quality project by the end of their third academic year. This plan is accomplished by requiring frequent drafts and student presentations of work in progress.
- Provide useful feedback on student work as it evolves. This goal is accomplished by (a) the instructor’s comments on drafts and (b) in-class presentations/workshopping of individual students’ work followed by discussion.
- Teach a limited amount of content relating to the “art” of carrying out a research project, writing it up for publication, and navigating through the review process.
Students will retain their second year QP advisor with expertise in their substantive area of interest during the semester of the writing seminar and are expected to continue to work with this advisor concerning the qualifying paper project. Evaluation of the final paper is carried out jointly by the instructor of record for the writing seminar and the Qualifying Paper advisor jointly and contributes to the final grade in the writing seminar.
Students are expected to present their Qualifying Paper project to faculty and graduate students at a colloquium held in the Spring of their third year. Note that this is not a requirement for gaining the MA, rather, it is an expectation meant to help students refine the paper in its final stages before it is sent out for review for publication.
Information on Graduate School of Arts & Sciences degree requirements, if a student chooses to apply for the MA degree:
Applying for a Degree
Thesis Submission and Graduation
Comprehensive Examinations
Students are required to take two comprehensive examinations in subfields of sociology. To remain in good standing, students are expected to complete both comprehensive examinations by the end of the spring semester of the third year. If there are extenuating circumstances that may prevent students from meeting this deadline, they should talk to the DGS as soon as possible. Students may not defend their dissertation proposal until both comprehensive examinations have been passed.
Topics and Committees
The Department maintains standing comprehensive examination committees in most major subfields. Comprehensive examination committees are updated annually (typically in April/May) and posted on the Department Web site: 2020-2021 Comp Committees
Graduate students with a serious interest in an area of research not covered by our current list of standing examination committees may petition the Director of Graduate Studies for permission to take a comprehensive exam in that area. Reasonable requests will be accommodated if at least two faculty members are willing and able to serve as an ad hoc examination committee.
Each committee will prepare, or update as necessary, (1) a sample reading list; and (2) a set of sample examination questions. These materials will be posted on the Collab web site at https://collab.itc.virginia.edu/portal under the “Sociology Comp Exams” tab. All students are “members” of this Collab site.
Preparation for the Examination
A student who intends to take a particular comprehensive examination should complete the intent form (available from the Department office or from the Department’s Web site at https://sociology.as.virginia.edu/sites/sociology.as.virginia.edu/files/CompIntentForm_1.pdf at least one month prior to their comprehensive examination dates. After completing the form, please submit to Academic Administrative Assistant who will send the form out to request signatures via DocuSign. The student should also contact the committee chair for that examination. The committee chair will work with one additional faculty member on the comp committee to write questions and evaluate the student’s examination.
Where appropriate, students can provide a supplemental list of readings to their graders that covers their specific interests for their specialty. The committee chair shall make sure that this list is sufficiently general to cover an important dimension of the specialty, and is not too parochial.
The exam will typically have six questions, and students will choose to answer three of those questions.
- Four or five of those questions will be based on the core issues related to the subfield (with students answering 2 of them).
- One or two additional questions will be based on the supplemental list covering students’ particular specialty (and students will answer 1 of them).
Students are strongly encouraged to allocate sufficient time in their schedules for examination preparation. If students have not taken a substantive course in the comp area, they may wish to take a tutorial course in that area. For exams taken in the spring semester, students may consider registering for non-topical research hours supervised by the chair of the examination committee. If additional time is needed, students should utilize the summer break between the third and fourth years to prepare for an examination early in the fourth year.
Finally, students shall have 32 hours to complete their comprehensive exam. Each exam shall not exceed 21 pages, double-spaced, standard format (not including bibliography).
Evaluation of the Examination
There are three possible evaluations of comprehensive exams: Pass with Distinction, Pass, and Fail. Both examination readers must agree on the evaluation. In the case of disagreement between the two examination readers, a third committee member will be called in to evaluate the examination.
A student who fails a comprehensive exam may retake an exam in the same field only once. Repeated failures may result in the student being dropped from the program.
At the completion of the exam, the examination committee members will note the results on the comprehensive examination form, sign the form, and file it with the Graduate Administrative Assistant.
More Info on Comprehensive Exams
Dissertation Proposal
Under the supervision of a dissertation advisor and committee, students must prepare a written dissertation proposal and conduct a successful oral defense of that proposal. This requirement is expected to be met by the fall of the fourth year.
Dissertation Committee
At the outset of the dissertation phase of a student’s program, the student should identify a committee chair/advisor and two additional committee members from among the Department’s Graduate faculty. Although it is not required, the student may wish to identify an external reader at the proposal stage (see “The Dissertation” below), as some external readers appreciate the opportunity for early involvement.
The student should fill out the committee approval form available from the Department office or on the Department Website. After completing the form, please submit to Academic Administrative Assistant who will send the form out to request signatures via DocuSign.
This form will list (and be signed by) the dissertation advisor and committee members of the student. The form should be reviewed and signed by the Director of Graduate Studies in the fall of the 4th year, and at least 30 days before the dissertation proposal defense. The committee must be approved before the dissertation proposal defense can be scheduled.
Dissertation Proposal
Although the length and form of the dissertation proposal will vary based on the project, the proposal should present a concise and compelling articulation of the project’s goals, methods, and potential implications. As such, the proposal should include the following elements: an outline of, or concise review of, research literature on the relevant topic; (b) a clear statement of one or more research questions and an explanation of why and how the dissertation will make a contribution to the literature by answering those questions; and (c) a clear and detailed plan for carrying out empirical research to address the research questions, including a description of data sources and analytical methods. The proposal should be a maximum of 20 double-spaced pages (plus references), although some proposals occasionally run longer.
The proposal should be developed and detailed sufficiently to convince readers of the project’s value, while still allowing flexibility for the shifts in direction and emphasis that are likely to emerge as the research proceeds.
When the committee determines that the proposal is ready, a date will be scheduled for the oral defense of the dissertation proposal. At least one week in advance, the student should provide a paper copy of the proposal to the Administrative Assistant for public announcement and circulation. On the day of the proposal defense, the student and committee members should complete the dissertation proposal defense form, available from the on the Department Web site.
Once the form is filled out, students should submit it to the Graduate Administrative Assistant who will send the form out to request signatures via DocuSign.
The Dissertation
Students are required to write a doctoral dissertation, which should be a substantial contribution to the existing body of knowledge in the discipline. The work should be of publishable quality, either as a book or as several journal articles. In addition, students must conduct a successful oral defense of that dissertation. Ordinarily, students are expected to complete the dissertation within one to two years after defense of the proposal (that is, between the end of the 5th year and the end of the 6th year), depending upon the nature of the data, analysis or writing involved.
Ordinarily, a student will retain the same dissertation advisor and committee as he or she moves from the proposal stage to the research and writing of the dissertation itself. However, the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences requires that a tenured or tenure-track faculty member from another Arts and Sciences department (or, but only with the approval of the Dean of the Graduate School, a faculty member from another school of the University of Virginia) participate in examining the student at the dissertation defense. Therefore, if the student has not already done so at the proposal stage, it is advisable for the student to select this external reader shortly after the proposal defense and to seek his or her input as appropriate during the development of the dissertation project. Preferably as soon as the composition of the dissertation committee is finalized, but certainly prior to scheduling their dissertation defense, students should fill out and submit to the Graduate Administrative Assistant a Final Title & Committee Form. Once the form is filled out, please submit to Academic Administrative Assistant who will send the form out to request signatures via DocuSign.
Signatures of all committee members are required (an email confirmation will suffice in lieu of signature). Students will not be allowed to defend a dissertation until this form is completed with all signatures. The title submitted on this form can no longer be changed prior to graduation.
Although the length and form of the dissertation will vary according to the substantive requirements of findings, writing, and the subfields of knowledge engaged, the work should be of publishable quality in the sense of defensible to blind review by scholars in the field of study who are current on the progress of research in the field. Depending upon the nature of their projects, students should plan to publish their dissertation research either as a book or as two or more high-quality journal articles.
When the committee determines that the dissertation is ready, a date will be scheduled for the oral defense of the dissertation. The student should contact the Administrative Assistant well in advance if he or she wishes to reserve a special room for the defense (e.g., in the Rotunda). At least one week in advance, the student should provide a paper copy of the dissertation to the Administrative Assistant for public announcement and circulation.
On the day of the defense, the student and committee members should complete the dissertation defense (“Final Examination”) form, available from the Graduate School of Arts & Sciences Web site at http://graduate.as.virginia.edu/thesis-submission-and-graduation). This form should then be sent to the Administrative Assistant, who will obtain the signature of the Department Chair and then submit these forms to the GSAS Registrar by the appropriate deadline. In addition to the Final Exam form, the student is responsible for completing all other dissertation applications and materials by the appropriate deadlines (eg., applying for graduation in SIS & survey of earned doctorates & upload to digital repository). See GSAS website for more info. https://graduate.as.virginia.edu/thesis-submission-and-graduation
Graduate School of Arts & Sciences degree requirements, forms and information:
Applying for a Degree
Thesis Submission and Graduation
Suggested Program of Study for Ph.D. Program (New Degree Requirements)
Fall
Spring
Summer
1st Year
Course work:
1. Intro to Stats (5020)
2. Classical Theory (5030)
3. Core course or elective
4. Pro-Seminar (8031)
5. Sociological Issues (8030)
Course work:
1. Intermediate Statistics (5120)
2. Research Methods (5100)
3. Contemporary Theory (5060)
4. Core or Elective course
5. Sociological Issues (8040)
Prepare for qualifying paper.
2nd Year
Course work:
1. Qualitative methods (5140)
2. Core course or elective
3. Core course or elective
4. Sociological Issues (8030)
5. Non topical (8998) – as needed to reach minimum of 12 credits
Course work:
1. Qualifying paper Advanced Topic Seminar (95xx)*
2. Core course or elective
3. Core course or elective
4. Sociological Issues (8040)
5. Non topical (8998) – as needed to reach minimum of 12 credit
Prepare for first comprehensive exam.
* Submit qualifying paper research proposal to advisor and DGS by April 20th
First draft of the qualifying paper recommended by the end of the summer.
3rd Year
Course work:
1. Qualifying paper writing seminar (7980)
2. Sociological Issues (8030)
3. Non topical (8999) – as needed to reach minimum of 12 credits
1. Take first comprehensive exam at the beginning of the term.
2. Prepare for 2nd comprehensive exam.
3. Revise qualifying paper in light of writing seminar feedback.
Registration:
Non topical (8999) – as needed to reach minimum of 12 credits (Course requirements are completed by the start of this term)
1. Take second comprehensive exam at the beginning of the term.
2. Present qualifying paper at a colloquium
3. Make final revisions to qualifying paper and submit for publication.
4. Identify dissertation chair
5. Explore funding opportunities for dissertation research.
Both comprehensive exams must be completed by the end of this term.
If applicable, revise qualifying paper in light of journal reviews. Otherwise, submit the paper to a different journal.
Work on dissertation proposal (conduct pilot studies, preliminary archival research, preliminary data analysis, etc.)
4th Year
Registration:
Non topical (9998) – as needed to reach minimum of 12 credits
Dissertation Proposal Defense.
The Dissertation Proposal should be defended by the end of the term.
Registration:
Non topical (9998) – as needed to reach minimum of 12 credits
Dissertation Research/Writing.
Dissertation Research/Writing.
5th year:
Registration:
Non topical (9999) – as needed to reach minimum of 12 credits
Dissertation Writing.
Registration:
Non topical (9999) – as needed to reach minimum of 12 credits
Dissertation Writing.
Dissertation defense.
Dissertation projects requiring additional time will be evaluated term by term through dissertation progress reports and annually during the graduate student review.