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Hi Mike,
I do agree with up (up to
a point). I do however feel that sociological journals help socialize sociology
majors into the discipline. Many of our students are improperly socialized
into the major and, when asked, have an exceedingly hard time defining what
sociology is, let alone how to think sociologically about a
social issue.
Journal
articles showcase (a) the difference between a properly narrow sociological
topics for research papers and the typical paper titles we get (e.g. for my
Sociology of Religion class, I get "reports" an Scientology, Women and Islam,
Abortion and Catholicism), (b) it helps them better understand how the
systematic application of sociological concepts, theories, issues, and
concerns helps ensure a properly sociological paper, (c) well written
journal articles (and there are some out there...) give students a sense of
how a sociological paper should to be written and organized, (d) finally, I
think it is also important for students to push themselves a bit, explore
the literature, and -especially - learn to deal with the frustration of
understanding only bits and pieces of what they read. I remember how I once
struggled (sometimes still do), but practice does help (esp. if you go on to
grad. school).
Thanks,Ray From: [email protected] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Michael DeCesare Sent: Thursday, May 11, 2006 11:47 AM To: [email protected] Subject: TEACHSOC: Re: List of Sociology Journals Hi everyone,
I think John raises some valid and interesting issues. Among
other things, he asked about the proportion of articles we can expect students
to understand. I'd like to add another, related question: Is it important
for students to even read the articles that appear in our journals?
It seems to me that there's a
reasonable case to be made that much of the work that's published in our
journals--and not just the top-tier ones--is not only incomprehensible to people
who aren't thoroughly trained in statistics, as John pointed out, but is also
perceived to be trivial and/or irrelevant to lots of sociologists.
So why is it important for our
undergraduates to read the latest ASR, AJS, or Social Forces
articles--especially when not many of us even read them?
I ask because aside from using them to
teach students the differences between scholarly and non-scholarly work, it's
increasingly difficult for me to justify requiring students to read the latest
and greatest articles from our discipline's journals.
Stirring the pot,
Mike!
****************************** Michael DeCesare California State University, Northridge Department of Sociology 336 Santa Susana Hall 18111 Nordhoff Street Northridge, CA 91330-8318 818.677.7198 818.677.2059 (Fax) [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.csun.edu/~mdecesare
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- TEACHSOC: : List of Sociology Journals Ray Muller
- TEACHSOC: Sociology and professionalization Anne Eisenberg
