Student Research Projects
A key component of faculty involvement in student education is the opportunity for students to work directly with faculty on research. The Department of Sociology has been particularly involved in collaborative research with students.
Professor Kaplan has conducted research with Union students on fishing communities and marine life. They have worked together at Union and at the Wood's Hole Oceanographic Institute on Cape Cod. Her students have also conducted research with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and human service agencies in the Capital District of New York State.
Students may conduct research as part of an Internship in Human Services.
There are opportunities to engage in supervised and collaborative research with faculty over the summer through the Dana Foundation Summer Fellowships.
- Student Dana interns worked on Professor Kaplan's Marine Policy research at the Wood's Hole Oceanographic Institute on Cape Cod.
Funded Research Opportunities
Financial support has come to many departmental majors through Union's Internal Education Foundation (IEF). Some have used this money to conduct research in Arizona, Miami, and Brazil. IEF funding has also supported students' local research projects.
Sociology Senior Thesis
The department's two-term Senior Thesis requires all majors to conduct an independent research project:
- See The Senior Thesis Packet for details.
- All theses must be cited using the American Sociological Association citation style. See The Writing Center's 1-page ASA Style Sheet for the basics of this format. See the full ASA Style Guide, 4th Edition for details. Copies at Schaffer Library, and for sale at College Book Store.
- We also recommend consulting any number of research & writing guides as you begin your project. Two that department members have found especially useful are, The Sociology Student Writer's Manual, 6th Edition, by Johnson et. al and The Craft of Research, 3rd Edition, by Booth et. al.
- The Writing Center does a workshop for our students on writing literature reviews. See the handout from this year: Writing Literature Reviews, by Mary Mar, Director of The Writing Center
- The Department keeps examples of completed theses on file. Honors Theses are also available on DSpace Digital Archive at the Schaffer Library website.