Undergraduate Program

Sociology @ UCLA
Requirements for the Major
Sociology Honors
Sociology Immersion Program
Student Research
Announcements
Need Help?

The 2008 Sociology Immersion Program

During Spring Quarter 2008, the Sociology Immersion Program (SIP) will offer an exciting and often transformative experience integrating two upper-division classes with challenging service-learning internships. The primary focus of the Program will be on youth who have made or experienced trouble and the institutions that deal with their troubles, although other research and placement options will also be available. SIP will provide hands-on research training with professors in small intimate class settings. You will leave this program with courses helpful for grad school admission, a writing sample you will be proud of, and training in ethnographic, interviewing and data analysis methods.

SIP involves integrated two courses, Soc. 106A, Field Research Methods, and English 100W, Writing Ethnography. Using field placements in a variety of settings, including continuation schools, juvenile courts, youth advocacy programs, and mental health facilities, the courses will introduce students to the use of ethnographic research methods, emphasizing the methods of participant observation, writing fieldnotes and interviewing. Students will collect and analyze ethnographic data using these methods to produce one final paper for both courses.

Overview of the Program

SIP combines intensive field experiences with two academic courses to introduce students to ethnographic field research and to the sociological theory and research. Field placements will be closely integrated with courses on qualitative research methods and developing writing skills.

Field Sites: An intensive community-based internship stands at the core of SIP. Students will spend approximately 8 hours a week in a field placement. Internship placements may be available at the following sites:

** juvenile justice: Placements can be arranged in a Los Angeles juvenile court, or in an advocacy program of detained or incarcerated youth.

** continuation schools: Troubled and troubling youth are frequently transferred to continuation schools, most of which are attached to LA high schools.

** dispute resolution programs: The LA County Bar Association Dispute Resolution Services Program conducts peer mediation programs in middle and high schools, and community mediation programs in a number of LA communities.

** criminal justice: Placements may be arranged in the offices of the City Attorney and the LA County District Attorney.

** mental health: The Anne Sippi Clinic and Alcott Mental Health Center are community-based residential programs for chronic mental patients.

Courses: Participation in an internship will be linked to two academic courses, providing a total of 11 units of upper-division credit, distributed as follows:

Soc. 106A, Field Research Methods I (6 units) (Professor Robert Emerson)

MW, 1-3

EngComp. 100W, Writing Ethnography: Fieldnotes and Analysis (5 units) (Professor Rachel Fretz) MW 3:30-5:30

Soc. 106A will provide an introduction to ethnographic field research, including training and practice in observational techniques and the skills of writing fieldnotes. EngComp. 100W, Ethnographic Writing, will use students’ field experiences to practice and develop the writing skills necessary to produce richly detailed descriptive fieldnotes and to write analytic papers. Both courses will conclude by having students code and analyze their data in order to produce a final paper developing a sociological analysis of some aspect of your field placement and experience.

Please be advised: The Sociology Immersion Program is extremely challenging. It is demanding of your time, energy, and labor, and requires a significant commitment on your part! In the past most students have felt it was worth the effort.

Applying to SIP 2008

Applications for the 2008 Sociology Immersion Program will be accepted beginning February 15, 2008, and reviewed on a rolling basis. Early applications are encouraged to assure a place in the program.

Please include the following in your application:

(1) a cover sheet with your name, student ID#, major, graduation date, telephone number and email address

(2) a copy of your DPR; you should have a 3.0 Global GPA.

(3) a copy of your resume

(4) a list of upper-division sociology courses you have completed or are currently taking

(5) a personal statement in which you discuss your interests in sociology (you may discuss both personal and professional motivations), what kind of placement and fieldwork you are interested in doing, and how participation in the Sociology Immersion Program would fit into your academic and professional plans for the future.

Please submit these materials to Prof. Robert M. Emerson at the Department of Sociology, 264 Haines Hall (Soc. Department office).

If you have any questions, please email them to Prof. Emerson at remerson@soc.ucla.edu