Summary of Requirements for the Master of Science Degree

Total credits required: 30 credits of graduate work in Sociology and/or Community & Environmental Sociology

  • These 30 credits must include the four required courses listed below plus at least 9 credits from courses and seminars (not working groups) restricted to graduate students. These courses and seminars are numbered above 700, typically involve 3 credits, and must be taken for a regular (i.e., A-F) letter grade.
  • The 30 credits may include no more than 9 credits of working groups, independent reading courses, and thesis courses). They may be taken on an S/U basis.

Required courses for all students:

  • Soc 700: Introductory Proseminar for Graduate Students
  • Soc 361: Statistics for Sociologists II
  • Soc 754: Qualitative Research Methods in Sociology
  • Soc 773: Intermediate Classical Theory

Additional courses required for students affiliated with the Center for Demography & Ecology or the Center for Demography of Health & Aging:

  • Soc 674: Demographic Techniques I
  • Soc 756: Demographic Techniques II

Each semester, throughout the graduate program, CDE/CDHA students must also enroll in:

  • Soc 995: Research: Methodology Trainees
  • Soc 997: Research: Demography & Ecology Trainees

During the summer, CDE/CDHA students with 12-month appointments as Fellows, RAs, or Trainees must enroll in Soc 997 for two credits.

Thesis: This document is generally comparable in size and scope to a journal article (i.e., it’s usually between 35 and 75 pages long, and its content and style are similar to those of articles published in sociological journals). A solid Master’s thesis poses a problem or question, locates it within past empirical and theoretical scholarship, provides data or evidence relevant to the problem or question, and discusses the significance of the data for the research question and the larger literature within which it is embedded.

Comprehensive oral examination: The oral exam typically lasts for approximately two hours. Questions may cover general sociology, graduate work to date, and the thesis.

Time limit: Students have six semesters plus a summer to complete requirements for the Master of Science degree.

Helpful websites:

Information for current Sociology graduate students: https://sociology.wisc.edu/current-students-2/

Grad School Academic Policies and Procedures: https://grad.wisc.edu/academic-policies/

Over the Hoops and Through the Hurdles: https://ssc.wisc.edu/~oliver/sociology/hoopsandhurdles.htm

The Professor Is In: https://theprofessorisin.com/

The Hidden Curriculum (i.e., things you wish you’d learned earlier): https://scatter.wordpress.com/2018/07/24/guest-post-grad-schools-hidden-curriculum/

The UW–Madison Writing Center:
https://writing.wisc.edu/
https://writing.wisc.edu/workshops/graduates/
https://writing.wisc.edu/handbook/

Useful books:

Howard S. Becker, Writing for Social Scientists: How to Start and Finish Your Thesis, Book, or Article, 3rd edition, University of Chicago Press, 2020; https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/W/bo47674306.html

Jessica McCrory Calarco, A Field Guide to Grad School: Uncovering the Hidden Curriculum, Princeton University Press, 2020; https://press.princeton.edu/books/ebook/9780691201108/a-field-guide-to-gradschool

Eviatar Zerubavel, The Clockwork Muse: A Practical Guide to Writing Theses, Dissertations, and Books, Harvard University Press, 1999; https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674135864