Undergraduate Course Information

COURSE OUTLINES

Course outlines from the year 2018 to the current academic year can be found in the Catalogue. If you are looking for a course outline from the years 2010 to 2017, visit our Course Archive. If you are unable to locate a course outline, please contact the Undergraduate Advisor at socundergrad@ualberta.ca or 780.492.0468 for assistance.

COURSE REGISTRATION

Students registering in Sociology courses must have the stated prerequisites or consent of the Instructor.

Important Information for Fall 2024 and Winter 2025

Registration in all 400-level Sociology courses is restricted to Sociology Majors and BA (Criminology) students in year 3 or 4 of their program until June 23. All other year 3 or 4 students may begin registering June 24 unless otherwise noted.

Also until June 23, registration in SOC 210/212/241/251/260/269 and all 300-level Sociology courses are restricted to Sociology Major and Minor students, BA Criminology students, and Native Studies students. All other students may begin registering in these courses June 24.

Registration Assistance:

If you are having difficulty registering in an undergraduate Sociology course, please refer to the below frequently asked questions for guidance.  You may also contact the department Undergraduate Advisor at socundergrad@ualberta.ca or 780.492.0468 for registration assistance or for general course inquiries. 

Information about course registration is available from the Office of the Registrar.  

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I register in a course without the listed prerequisite?

If there is a prerequisite for the course, it will be listed in the calendar course description on Bear Tracks.  Most courses that have a prerequisite also state “or consent of instructor”.  This means you can ask the instructor for permission to take the course without the stated prerequisite.  To do this, please email your request to the instructor listed on Bear Tracks. You can locate instructor emails through Find A Person. Include your full name, student ID#, the course, section and term the course is offered in. For example, you may title your email: Sociology 321 LEC A1 Fall 2020 Request to Waive Prerequisite. We also recommend including relevant information to support your request, such as your degree program, major/minor, year (based on credits), other relevant courses or relevant background you have. 

If there are available seats in the course on Bear Tracks and the instructor approves your request, please forward the instructor's email to the Undergraduate Advisor at socundergrad@ualberta.ca, who will register you in the course (space permitting).

If the course is currently full on Bear Tracks, please add it to your Watchlist.  Please attempt to register when a space opens up. You will receive an error message (because you don't have the prerequisite). If the error message states "course is full", then another student got the available space before you.  However, if the error message states "requirements not met", then please email socundergrad@ualberta.ca , by forwarding the email with the instructor's approval and indicating your registration attempt.  We will review the enrolment log summary and see if it is possible to manually add you to the course in this instance, if you were the first person to attempt to register when the space opened up, and all students who require the course for their program have been accommodated.

I have the prerequisite, but I took it from a different university, so Bear Tracks won’t let me register. How do I register in the course?

If the course you are trying to register in has a prerequisite that you completed at a different university, Bear Tracks will not recognize this and will give you an error message when you attempt to register. Please email the Sociology Undergraduate Advisor at socundergrad@ualberta.ca to request registration in the course.  Please include the course, section, term, and your U of A Student ID#.  In addition, please attach a transcript showing the course was completed (an unofficial transcript or screenshot is acceptable).

What should I do if the course I want to register in is full?

If the course that you want to get into is full, you will need to do the following:

Put yourself on the watchlist on Bear Tracks. You will receive a notification if a space in the course opens up.  If this happens, quickly log on to Bear Tracks to attempt to register.  Some of our courses are very popular and have lots of students on the watchlist, which can sometimes make it difficult to get a spot.  Students can continue to add and drop courses up to the registration deadline for each term.  Instead of waiting for a spot, we suggest making sure you register yourself in another course that does have space, in the event that you are not able to get into the course(s) on your watchlist.

If the course is a degree requirement and you need to take the course during the current academic year, please send an email to socundergrad@ualberta.ca, explaining why you require the course during the current academic year (in other words, why taking it later in your degree program will not work). Exceptions to be added to a course that is full are only considered in extenuating circumstances to maintain fairness for all students who are hoping for a space. We recommend registering in required courses as soon as your enrollment date opens in March.

I am in Open Studies and am not able to register myself in the course I want. What should I do?

A list of courses that are available to Open Studies students can be found on the Office of the Registrar website.  You should be able to register yourself in these courses on Bear Tracks, as long as you have any prerequisites required for the course (if applicable).  If the course has a prerequisite, but you haven't taken it (or an equivalent), or you have taken the prerequisite but it was at a different university, please refer to the appropriate frequently asked question for what to do.  

If there is a Sociology course you would like to take that is not on the list, we can still register you in the course (assuming any priority registration in place for Sociology/Criminology students has passed, you present any prerequisites, or have received consent of the instructor if you do not have the prerequisite, if applicable).  Please send a registration request to the department Undergraduate Advisor at socundergrad@ualberta.ca stating the course, section, and term you are requesting registration in.  Please also include your U of A Student ID#.  If you had to get permission from the instructor to waive a course prerequisite, please include the instructor's email as well. 

How do I withdraw from a course?

Undergraduate Students can now withdraw from courses in Bear Tracks.  Instructions on how to withdraw from a course in Bear Tracks are available on the Office of the Registrar's website.

Dropping a course after the Registration Deadline is a withdrawal and is maintained on your academic record. Students who are contemplating withdrawal are encouraged to contact their Instructor or a Department of Faculty Undergraduate Advisor with questions relating to their withdrawal decision.

First, check the registration deadlines for the term you want to withdraw from a course in.  If the registration add/delete deadline has not passed, go to Bear Tracks and drop the course using the Drop feature. If you do this before the Registration Add/Delete deadline, you will not see this course on your transcript.  If it is after the Registration Add/Delete Deadline, the course will remain on your transcript with a W beside the course, indicating you withdrew. There is a 50% fee refund deadline and then a final Withdrawal deadline (no fee refund) later in the term.

What do I do if I don't agree with my final grade in a Sociology course?

First of all, you should make an appointment with the instructor and discuss your grade with them. If you are not satisfied with the outcome of this meeting, please contact the Director, Undergraduate Programs, Alison Dunwoody, at dunwoody@ualberta.ca.

While a student is entitled to an explanation of why any grade was awarded, the following do not constitute grounds for an appeal:

  • Disliking the instructor’s marking scheme
  • Coming close to the instructor’s cut-off point for a higher grade
  • Disagreeing with the instructor’s judgment about the quality of submitted work

Only the following may constitute grounds for an appeal:

  • Errors in calculation
  • Procedural errors
  • Failure to consider all relevant factors
  • Bias and/or discrimination

Students must initiate Grade Appeals with the instructor by the following deadlines: a) No later than February 1 for courses taught during the immediately preceding Fall term; b) No later than June 25 for Winter-term or full-year courses taught during the immediately preceding Fall/Winter term: c) No later than thirty Calendar Days after the posting of final grades on Bear Tracks for courses taught in Spring/Summer terms (e.g. 30 days after grades are posted on Bear Tracks).

Full Grade Appeal Procedures can be found on the Faculty of Arts website.

TOPICS COURSES

The Department of Sociology offers Topics courses under the course codes SOC 302, 325, 402, and 420. These courses can be taken more than once for credit as long as the topic is different.The topics of these courses can change from year to year and some have additional prerequisites than those listed in the calendar. If there are additional prerequisites, they will usually be indicated in the Class Notes for the course on Bear Tracks.

INDIVIDUAL STUDY (SOC 401/403) 

Note - Sociology Honors students will register in the course code SOC 401.  All other students will be registered in SOC 403.

Interested in a particular topic but don't see a course that matches? Consider working with a professor to design an independent study course.

Finding a Course Instructor

Students wishing to enrol in SOC 401/403 must find a Department of Sociology Faculty member to serve as their course instructor. Note, only Assistant Professors, Associate Professors, and Professors in Sociology are eligible to oversee a SOC 401/403 course. Students should begin by considering an area of sociology that interests them and visit our Faculty Members page to learn more about the research areas our Faculty members are involved with.  Students should then contact the professor they would like to have as their course instructor to discuss the possibility of completing an Individual Study course under their supervision.

SOC 401/403 Registration Form

Once the student has a course instructor, the student and instructor must complete the online SOC 401/403 Registration Google Form at least 5 business days before the add/delete registration deadline for the term the course is to be taken in. Once the course is approved by the Director, Undergraduate Programs, the Undergraduate Advisor will register the student in SOC 401/403.

What are examples of previous topics students have covered in a SOC 401/403 course?

Barriers to Healthcare for Transgender Persons
The Relationship between PTSD and Suicide Among First Responders
Critical Social Theory and the Environment
Housing in Transition
The Sociology of Humour
The Sociology of the Science/Religion Controversy
Youth Gangs
First Nations and the Current Canadian State
Canadian Criminal Justice in the Age of Neuroexistentialism
Social Services and the Criminalized: Intersections
Second Demographic Transition: Families and Kids
Parenting in Marriage and Cohabitation
Sociology of Drugs and Sport
Exploring the Potential Art has to Heal Edmonton
Critical Library, Information and Intermedia Studies

What graded coursework is required for a SOC 401/403 course?

The graded course requirements for SOC 401/403 are decided upon in conjunction with the student and the course instructor.  To help you in this process, we have provided examples of student's graded coursework from previously completed SOC 401/403 courses.

Example 1:
Discussion 10%
Annotated Bibliography 25%
Term Paper Outline 10%
Project 15%
Final Paper 40%

Example 2:
Weekly Reading Reflection (up to 1 pg/week) for ten weeks (5% each) = 50%
Weekly discussions 20%
Final paper 30%

Example 3: 
Regular Discussion/Meetings 33.3%
Paper 1 33.33%
Paper 2 33.33%

Example 4:
Regular Meetings 30%
Building a Collection of Resources 20%
Run a Mock Workshop 15%
Finalized Worship Materials incorporating feedback from mock workshop 35%

Example 5:
Meetings/Discussions 30%
Reading List/Bibliography 10%
First Draft of Final Paper 15%
Second Draft of Final Paper 15%
Final Paper 30%

INDIVIDUAL EMPIRICAL RESEARCH PROJECT (SOC 404) 

For students interested in an individual research project conducted under the supervisor of a Faculty member.  The course must involve empirical or applied research for which the student is responsible.  

Students wishing to enrol in SOC 404 must find a Department of Sociology Faculty member to serve as their course instructor. Note, only Assistant Professors, Associate Professors, and Professors in Sociology are eligible to oversee a SOC 404 course. Students should begin by considering an area of sociology that interests them and visit our Faculty Members page to learn more about the research areas our Faculty members are involved with.  Students should then contact the professor they would like to have as their course instructor to discuss the possibility of completing a research project under their supervision.

Registration Form

Once the student has a course instructor, the student and instructor must complete the online SOC 404 Registration Google Form at least ten business days before the add/delete registration deadline for the term the course is to be taken in. Once the course is approved by the Director, Undergraduate Programs, the Undergraduate Advisor will register the student in SOC 404.

Undergraduate Program Pathways

Follow your interests! We have organized our courses into twelve pathways to assist students in identifying areas of interest within the Sociology program.

Learn more!