Forms and Documents
Applied Sociology Graduate Program Handbook
Degree Requirements
Information Sheet
Internship Provider Letter
Internship Agreement Letter
Internship Evaluation Form
Internship Waiver Request
Internship Request Form
Resources at UMass Boston
Graduate students at UMass Boston have access to a wide range of advanced computer resources for statistical calculation, document preparation, and multimedia applications. A Graduate Research Computer Lab offers state-of-the-art computing, with CD/RW capabilities, digital cameras, and oversize graphics printers. Other campus labs offer Windows-based PCs and MACs with a range of software and high-speed Internet access. The Department of Sociology maintains several PCs for graduate student use in offices assigned to Graduate Assistants, but all graduate students are expected to have a computer for their own use at home.
Students have access to data in the holdings of the Interuniversity Consortium on Political and Social Research (ICPSR), including the General Social Survey, the World Values Survey, election surveys, surveys of prison inmates, observations of plea bargaining, records of Massachusetts court cases, and much else. Students may also be able to collaborate on research projects or, in some cases, obtain part-time employment, at one of the research institutes or centers at UMass Boston. In addition, program faculty maintain ongoing research and service ties with Boston-area agencies and organizations involved in community development, corrections, criminology, dispute resolution, health care, homelessness, and other areas, and graduate students may be able to use these ties to develop research and employment opportunities.
The University’s Healey Library provides on-line reference access to the social science journal literature and many other reference databases. In addition to its own journal and book holdings, the library provides student access to academic libraries throughout the Boston area through the Boston Library Consortium. The John F. Kennedy Library and the Massachusetts Archives, adjacent to the campus, contain other documentary resources.
Graduate students may also submit papers to the departmental journal, Discourse of Sociological Practice. The journal is available on the Sociology department’s web site and can also be obtained through the department office. Several graduate students have published articles in the journal.
Many Sociology faculty are leaders and participants in professional associations in sociology, criminal justice and criminology, substance abuse, and health. Our graduate students often participate in conferences of these associations and present papers at them. Some graduate students who have been working with department faculty on research projects co-author articles that are published in professional journals.
Outside Resources
American Sociological Association. Resources for students. http://www.asanet.org/cs/root/topnav/students/students_3column
Billson, Janet Mancini. 1996. Mastering the Job Market with a Graduate Degree in Sociology. Washington, DC: American Sociological Association.
Office of Graduate Studies, University of Massachusetts Boston. http://www.umb.edu/academics/graduate/
Pine Forge Press, Sage Publications. Methods of research resources. http://www.pineforge.com/isw5/weblinks.htm
Thesis, Master’s Paper, Comprehensive Examination
• Handbook for Thesis Writers
• The Master's Research Paper: Sociol 695 Master's Research Seminar.
This course will guide students in their design and completion of the Masters paper in the Graduate Program in Applied Sociology. The course operates as an intellectual workshop in which students share the process as well as the results of their research with the group throughout the semester. Special attention is paid to research questions, social theory, research methods, literature reviews and presentation of findings. 6 Credits.
• Comprehensive Examination Procedure
Student Code of Conduct
Read the UMass Boston Student Code of Conduct