About the Curriculum The curriculum in sociology is designed to
develop a series of skills in students. These skills are
cumulative and begin with those developed in the introductory
courses. The skills are developed and expanded in second- and
third-level courses and culminate in the capstone experience of
a seminar course and the senior oral examination. Introductory
courses in sociology By the end of an introductory course,
students should be able to: • have a working familiarity with
the list of major concepts in Sociology (above). • identify and
find sociology journals in the library and/or in electronic
databases such as JSTOR and Academic Search Premier. • Conduct
an electronic search of the journals on a topic of interest. •
evaluate and critique a published article; decipher what is
important in a research article such as purpose, methods, and
findings; begin to distinguish between anecdotal information and
sociological research as ways of knowing. • identify the major
paradigms in sociology. • be fa