SOC 410: Senior Seminar in Sociology:
Social Problems in Global-Historical Perspective
WED 12:30-3:20 pm, Asbury 204
 DePauw University
 SPRING 2009
Professor Thomas Hall
 Office: 106 Asbury, x4519, email: thall@depauw.edu
 OFFICE HOURS:  TuTr 11-12, 2:30-4, & by appt.
Discussing the Readings & Reading Reports
Last Updated 1-10-09

For EVERY seminar meeting where we have readings, each student will need to hand in a Reading Report on at least each of two of the readings. You will need to do a total of 15 Reading Reports for the course.

HOW to READ:
It is important that you read the ENTIRE book or article. If you read only a part, you will often miss critical points.  See the comments from former students in the Syllabus. Rather, read the entire assignment. Think about the following questions as your read:

• (a) What is the author's main argument?
• (b) What is his/her major evidence for her/his argument?
• (c) Do you see any weak points?
• (d) What does this reading tell us about social problems? [It is ok to report that you canNOT figure out how it relates].
• (e) What does the reading say about global perspectives? ["It does not" is an ok response]
• (f) What does it say about historical perspectives? ["It does not" is an ok response]
• (f) Does it have special importance for the problem you are studying?
• (g) Does it have special importance for one of the problems someone else in the seminar is studying?

Some of these questions may be more difficult for some readings than others.  What some readings do, is give a broad perspective, not a solution to a specific social problem.  

Why do this?  First, to force each of you to do the readings. Remember comments from past seminar students on this!  Second, depending on what you were doing just before seminar began, you may have forgetten points you wanted to raise, this way you have them with you.  Third, you will have a record of your comments. These will be a useful resource when you are writing your thesis. Four, it helps me see what you are getting out of the readings. Some of these things I have read many times, and in different contexts, so this helps me figure out what to spend time on in our discussions.

As the term progresses the readings will become less general and more tailored to various topics, so this will become easier, and much more useful.

The Reading Report:
Put your name, seminar week, at the top of the sheet.
Enter the reading(s) in correct bibliographic format [see Formats and Bibliographies for Papers & Theses]. These should be single spaced. You can refer to the topics by number.
Answer each of the following briefly:

1. What, if anything, is unclear?
2. What is/are the main arguments of this reading? 
3. How is [or not] this reading relevant to your thesis topic?
4. How is [or not] this reading relevant to any other thesis topics in this seminar?
5. What, if anything, do you disagree with?

Your Report should be about one single-spaced page. Keep in mind that #2 is primarily for yourself. #1 & #4 are to help me lead discussions. #3 & #4 are what I use to evaluate the report. I am looking for evidence that you thought about the reading.

Bring reports to seminar to have in front of you for discussion. I will collect them at the end of class. For some readings some of the questions will not apply. For some readings nearly everyone will have the same answer. And for some other readings, nearly everyone will have a different answer! The latter can happen when a reading is complex, or because as each of you get further and further into your thesis, you will read with a somewhat different perspective.

Send comments or questions to thall@depauw.edu
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