Office Location and Hours

Office: GEB 151D

Office Hours: MWF 9:55-10:55; TTh 10:45-11:45

You are most welcome, though not required, to meet with me in my office or to chat with me over the phone.

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Phone, EMail, and Fax

Office Phone: (913) 469-8500, x 3376 (voice mail available)

EMail: Use only the Angel email system for this course. I generally check email a few times each week, with the exception of weekends, college holidays, and when I am out of town. Please do not write me any other way (including with MyJCCC). If you have difficulties reaching me by email, phone me in my office (913-469-8500, ext. 3376).

Fax (office): (913) 469-2589 (contact me before faxing)

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Professor and Text Websites (optional)

The MarkFoster.ORGanon™ - Dr. Foster's Johnson County Community College Site:

Hit that mouse button below:

1. http://markfoster.org (primary site)
2. http://markfoster.net/mfo (European mirror site)
3. http://markfoster.nom.za/mfo (African mirror site)
4. http://staff.jccc.edu/mfoster/home.html (JCCC mirror site)

This site has been tested, using a PC (and with a Palm Treo), on virtually all major (and many minor) web browsers. These are the ones I recommend. (Please note that Angel requires a more limited selection of browsers.)

All of the computers in the JCCC computer labs have an up-to-date browser installed. You may use these computers free of charge by showing the staff member your student ID card.

Text Website:

Sociology: Exploring the Architecture of Everyday Life

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Course Information

Professor: Dr. Mark A. Foster, Professor of Sociology

Semester Hours: 3

Course Name: Introduction to Sociology

Course Prefix and Number: SOC 122

Course Type: Transfer

JCCC Student Code of Conduct: See here.

Required Text: Sociology: Exploring the Architecture of Everyday Life, seventh edition, by David M. Newman.

Course Description: This overview of social life will cover group structure and processes, social interaction, social institutions, theories, research methods, and other areas. Formal assessment will take place through essays, discussions, and a term project.

Course Objectives:

• Learning how to think sociologically
• Developing a sociological imagination
• Studying group structure and processes
• Examining sociological theory
• Exploring the meaning of science and specific techniques of sociological research
• Considering a variety of other subjects, including ethnocentrism, stereotyping, prejudice, discrimination, values, norms, socialization, stratification, deviance, and social institutions

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Discussions, Tests, and RealAudio Lectures

Class Discussions: We will usually complete, consecutively, a discussion of one section per week. A section includes a text chapter. As many sections as possible will be covered by the end of the semester. Any changes will be announced on the Angel board.

Group discussions will be conducted on the Angel message board for this class. You should be able to log in with your Campus Pipeline user name and password. Everyone will be expected to contribute. A student's response, or combined responses, for each week should be no less than 400 words.

• Section 1: Chapter 1 in text and RealAudio lecture 1
• Section 2: Chapter 2 in text and RealAudio lecture 2
• Section 3: Chapter 3 in text and RealAudio lecture 3
• Section 4: Chapter 4 in text
• Section 5: Chapter 5 in text
• Section 6: Chapter 6 in text
• Section 7: Chapter 7 in text
• Section 8: Chapter 8 in text
• Section 9: Chapter 9 in text
• Section 10: Chapter 10 in text
• Section 11: Chapter 11 in text
• Section 12: Chapter 12 in text
• Section 13: Chapter 13 in text
• Section 14: Chapter 14 in text

As long as you participate on the discussion board the vast majority of the time, you will receive 100 points. There will be no partial credit.

Essay Tests: There will be three essay tests, each consisting of only one question, over the course of the semester. The schedule is given later in the syllabus. Questions will be assigned via Angel. Your response to each of the tests must be at least 400 words. They may include web-based research. The essay questions will be based on material previously covered in the course.

You will email your essay to me (using the Angel email system) before midnight on the day after the question was emailed through Angel. (PLEASE DO NOT respond to the essay question ON THE Angel BOARD.) Then, usually within a week to a week and a half, your grade will be emailed back to you.

DO NOT ATTACH YOUR ESSAY TO AN EMAIL MESSAGE (i.e., in Microsoft Word or in Corel WordPerfect format). Your essay should itself be the text of a regular email message.

I do not give makeup tests for people who did not know the date or time of the exam.

RealAudio Lectures (by Dr. Foster): There will be three RealAudio lectures (one for each of the first three sections of the course). You must have the RealPlayer installed on your computer in order to hear these lectures. They are listed on a separate page. The lectures are optional.

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Term Project

You will write a term paper (1500-word minimum) on some aspect of sociology. If you are looking for ideas, check through the table of contents to the textbook. Essentially, your page will be an online research paper.

As with the essay tests, your term paper will be the text of a regular Angel email message. ATTACHMENTS ARE NOT ACCEPTED.

The HTML creator is included in every email message you send.

You must, in addition, use the style sheet on this page for both parenthetical citations (in the paper) and the REFERENCES section (at the end of the paper):

American Sociological Association Referencing Style

Include at least five sources in your research (the more, within reason, the better), and, following the instructions on the Referencing Style page, create hot links to all of them. Creating a hot link means that clicking on it will take you directly to that page.

You can use whatever search engines you like in locating sources for your Angel paper. However, here are a couple of suggestions:

• Google Scholar
• FindArticles.com

When creating your paper in Angel, you can temporarily save it in your drafts folder on Angel. That way you can go back to it until you are ready to send it to me.

Do not create your paper in Word, Word Perfect, or some other word processing program. If so, when you paste it into Angel, your formatting will probably be off, and your web links may not work.

If you wish to create your paper off-line, my suggestion would be to use Notepad or a similar plain text editor. After you paste it into Angel, you will need to adjust the formatting and create the links to your web sources. (Should you plan to be working on your paper for some time, without saving it to your drafts folder, this is actually a good idea. Angel times out after a while, and you will lose your work.)

Finally, make sure that you check your paper (including the links) before sending it me. If you are not sure, first mail it to yourself within Angel.

Please feel free to phone me or to come by my office (during my office hours or by appointment). I will be as helpful as I can.

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Grading

General: First, I put you on your honor that you will do your own work. Second, don't be like the chap on the right. If you have any questions, ask me <smile>.

Tests: Essay tests must be emailed to me by the date assigned.

I will be looking at the comprehensiveness, clarity, accuracy, and thoroughness of your research and thinking (in addition to the factors I mentioned earlier).

Grades on essay tests will be calculated using a 100-point scale:

A = 90 - 100

B = 80 - 89

C = 70 - 79

D = 60 - 69

F = Below 60

Term Project: I will use the same criteria for evaluating term projects as for tests (again, in addition to those I mentioned earlier).

Term projects will be calculated using a 200-point scale:

A = 180 - 200

B = 160 - 179

C = 140 - 159

D = 120 - 139

F = Below 120

Final Grade: At the end of the semester, I will compute your grade using the following formula:

test 1 grade + test 2 grade + test 3 grade + term project grade + 100 discussion points (where applicable) = final grade

Here is the final grading scale:

A = 540 - 600

B = 480 - 539

C = 420 - 479

D = 360 - 419

F = Below 360

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Important Dates and Times

Test Questions sent out using Angel email: March 5 (Thursday), April 30 (Thursday), and May 5 (Tuesday). (Any changes will be announced through Angel email.) Responses must be emailed back to me using the Angel email system before midnight on the following day. ATTACHMENTS ARE NOT PERMITTED.

Term Project Due Date: You need to email me your completed term project by April 30. ATTACHMENTS ARE NOT PERMITTED.

Last Day to Drop with a W: April 15.

Final Grade: It will be emailed to you along with your grade on the last test.

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Go to my MarkFoster.ORGanon Site.