Essential information about the Master in Sociology program

Typically, the MA with Thesis is completed in 24 months. In order to complete the program within this period, a student’s academic progress should follow the following sequence:

Term 1

• Enroll in program courses

Term 2

• Complete the remaining program courses requirements
• Find and confirm a Thesis Supervisor via a service request in uoZone
• Enroll in SOC 7990 (Thesis Proposal)
• In collaboration with your thesis supervisor, select thesis committee members

Term 3

• Write, revise and complete the Thesis Proposal (SOC 7990)
• Submit the Thesis proposal to supervisor and committee members (allowing two weeks for the committee to read the proposal and prepare for the defence)
• Oral defence of the Thesis Proposal
• The Thesis or Research Paper Proposal must be defended orally and approved by the student’s thesis or research paper committee before the research process can begin.

Term 4

• Enroll in THM 7999 (Thesis)
• If applicable, prepare and submit an ethics application to the Research Ethics Boards (4-6-week delay for the REB evaluation)
• Begin any data collection which does not require ethics approval/ begin textual or documentary analysis
• Following REB evaluation, revise and resubmit request for ethics approval and evaluation if required
• If required, collect, transcribe, code, and/or run statistical models of data

Term 5

• Analyze data
• Write your research report, i.e., Thesis
• Submit a draft of the Thesis to your supervisor
• If applicable, ensure completion of any missing program requirements

Term 6

• Nominate Thesis committee by submitting the Service Request, “List of Examiners for the evaluation of the thesis.”

The list of examiners is proposed by the student in consultation with his or her supervisor. The student must ensure that the nomination form of the examiners has been completed and forwarded using a Service request in his or her Candidate Center (uoZone) one month prior to submitting Thesis.

• Review and revise Thesis
• Finalize Thesis
• Submission and evaluation of the thesis: submit an electronic copy of the Thesis for evaluation via a Service Request through uoZone.
• Committee members have 4 weeks to evaluate the Thesis, submit a report and indicate whether the Thesis is ready for defence or not.
• Students have a period of 5 days to choose whether to defend their Thesis.
• After receiving the decision from the student to move to the oral defence, the supervisor, in consultation with the candidate and examiners, i.e., committee members, proposes dates for the defence.
• Supervisor and student confirm the Oral Defence date
• Oral Defence.

Following the Thesis Defence:

• Following the verdict, the student must, if required, revise the Thesis and ensure that all corrections and revisions are made as requested by the jury within the deadline indicated by the verdict.
• Once approved by supervisor, the student submit the final version of the Thesis via a service request: Approval of the final version of the thesis
• Submit final version in uO Research

The Thesis is prepared under the guidance and supervision of a professor of the School of Sociological and Anthropological Studies (SSAS). The thesis committee is comprised of the thesis supervisor and a minimum of two professors. Of the two professors who evaluate the Thesis, at least one of whom must be a member of the SSAS; one can be from another department.

Thesis option

*One elective course at the graduate level (3 units) from another program may count as part of the coursework for a master’s with thesis, subject to the approval of the supervisor of graduate studies in sociology, and after consultation with the department responsible for the course.

**The Thesis proposal must be orally defended and approved by the student’s thesis committee before the research process begins.

The following guidelines are the suggested format for preparing and submitting a proposal for a thesis for the master's program in sociology. The proposal should not exceed approximately 15 to 20 double-spaced pages, excluding references. The writing style should be direct and concise to ensure the proposal is intelligible to your readers.

1. Context: Introduce the topic or subject of study in its social, economic, cultural and organizational context. (Approximately 1 page)

2. Research Problem: A proposal should state the research problem as explicitly as possible. This will involve four components: 1) a research problem that emerges in view of a complete survey of the relevant scholarly literature, 2) identification of the broad area to which the research will contribute, as well as the original and focused question or problem, 3) question(s) that will guide the conceptual and methodological choices of the project, 4) the social and scientific rationale for the work which justify the importance and benefits of the study. (About 4 pages)
3. Theoretical Framework: Your theoretical framework takes shape using the concepts, models, theories, hypotheses and explanations already employed by other researchers. This conceptual representation of your research problem models and articulates the relationship between different variables under consideration. The research question(s) specific to your project should emerge from this framework. The inclusion of research terms/question(s) indicates that the problem is observable, measurable or interpretable according to the logic of quantitative or qualitative investigation. Avoid jargon and explain and define all terms. (About 3 pages)
4. Methodological Approach: Outline and justify how you will answer your research question. Describe: 1) appropriate procedures for data collection given your object of analysis, the population under investigation, the data collection instruments (questionnaires, interviews, observation), and the time and place of collection; 2) procedures for analysis and processing of data (statistical procedures, content analysis, participant observation, case study and other software and tools). Discuss ethical considerations if your research involves the participation of human subjects. (About 3 pages)
5. Timeline: Provide a timeline for how you will carry out the various phases of your project: ethics review, establishing the theoretical framework, fieldwork, travel, analysis, writing, editing and revising. (Approximately ½ page)
6. Bibliography: Include references to all sources cited in the proposal. Use a single format for all references.

Thesis proposal committee members

Director + co-director (if there is one) + 2 other members, may include one professor from another department.

Thesis committee members

Director + co-director (if there is one) + 2 other members, may include one professor from another department.

*All committee members must be members of the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies.