Sociology of Law, Criminology & Justice

Major Requirements for Students Pursuing Latin Honors

Common Honors Courses in Major

SOC 3101H Honors Sociological Perspectives on the Criminal Justice System
SOC 3412H Honors Social Networking: Theories and Methods
SOC/AAS 3503H Honors Asian American Identities, Families & Communities
SOC 3511H Honors World Population Problems
SOC/GLOS 3613V Honors Stuffed and Starved: The Politics of Eating
SOC/RELS 4309H Honors Religion in American Public Life - Culture, Politics, & Communities
SOC 4411H Honors Terrorist Networks & Counterterror Organizations
SOC 4521H Honors Love, Sex, & Marriage
SOC 4511H Honors Sociology of Sexualities
SOC 4101V Honors Sociology of Law
SOC 4102H Honors Criminology
SOC 4104H Honors Crime and Human Rights
SOC 4135H Honors Sociology of White-Collar Crime
SOC 4141H Honors Youth Crime & Punishment
GCC 3014 The Future of Work and Life in the 21st Century
GCC 3018 What American Dream? Children of the Social Class Divide

Additional courses for the SOC BS and LCJ BS *only*
MATH 1571H Honors Calculus I

Organization, Business, or Non-Profit
FINA 3001H Honors Finance Fundamentals
HRIR 3021H Honors: Human Capital Management
WRIT 3562V Honors: Technical and Professional Writing

Health and Health Careers
WRIT 3562V Honors: Technical and Professional Writing

Policy Analysis
WRIT 3562V Honors: Technical and Professional Writing

Quantitative Emphasis
PSY 5018H Honors Mathematical Models of Human Behavior
MATH 2574H Honors Calculus IV
MATH 2573H Honors Calculus III
 

Required Thesis Course

SOC 4977V (fall semester) and SOC 4978V (spring semester)

Capstone Considerations

Honors students work out their project across a two-semester Honors Capstone Experience course each year (SOC 4977V (fall) and SOC 4978V (spring), whereas students outside UHP take SOC 4966). Honors students are paired in a close and sustained relationship with a faculty member as they plan and conduct original research of a scope well beyond what is expected of other majors. The fall semester of the Honors Capstone seminar is devoted to honing the research question and method, developing a plan for data gathering, and to identifying, reading, and synthesizing existing scholarly work that will inform the student’s research. In the spring semester, students complete their data collection and analysis while the focus of the seminar turns to scholarly writing, and particularly to drafting and refining arguments.
 

Thesis Requirements

The Department of Sociology does not make any initial distinction between Honors students who are seeking cum laude, magna cum laude, or summa cum laude levels of Latin Honors. Instead, our focus is on helping students to develop ambitious and high-quality original research papers of which they can be justifiably proud and which can serve as testaments to their abilities.

In short, the Department of Sociology's approach is to support every Honors student as they plan and conduct summa-level work. The ultimate recommendation for level of Latin honors is made by the committee at the time of the thesis defense. The recommendation for summa- level honors is reserved for the papers that go beyond the core Honors requirements. The recommendation rests upon the following criteria:

  • Tight integration between a clearly defined question or thesis and the research presented
  • Ambitious original research design, with research completed on time and analyzed appropriately
  • Integration of ongoing conversations in the research literature into the design and analysis of the data gathered
  • Powerful and precise prose which weaves together evidence and argument and which is attentive to both the lessons and limits of the data
Plan C Thesis Options

None

Honors Faculty Representative Info

Faculty Rep
Teresa Swartz
Office
933 Soc Sci
Campus Phone
(612) 626-1862