Reading

The assigned readings are the core of the course material, and students are expected to carefully and critically read each assignment before class. To facilitate students’ engagement with the reading and to help prevent students from falling behind, we will use the online tool Perusall for all required readings. Perusall is a reading platform in which students annotate texts collaboratively alongside one another. More information on how Perusall works and how it is integrated into the course is available here.

Readings will be graded as either complete (1 point) or incomplete (0 points). The grading is based on annotations of the text in Perusall, which must demonstrate a thoughtful and thorough reading of the entire assignment to receive credit. There is no fixed threshold for number of annotations to make (the scoring considers the quality of annotations and the length of the reading), but 6 to 8 substantive annotations for a standard-length reading is a good target. At the end of the semester, the four lowest reading grades will be dropped from the assessment.

Reading assessments will contribute 10% to the final grade for the course.

Lectures

Typically, the first 15–30 minutes of the class will consist of a live-streamed lecture during which students (including any attending remotely) are encouraged to engage in class-wide discussion. These lectures work best for everyone when students ask questions and add their own insights, so please do not be shy!

The slides will be made available before class, and a recording of the lecture (with a computer-generated transcript) will be available later the same day.

Group discussions

The large portion of class time will be devoted to small-group discussions and collaborative composition of discussion responses. After the add–drop period, students will form groups of approximately four or five. Groups will work together to provide responses to provided worksheets of discussion questions. There will be a total of 9 worksheets over the course of the semester, each spanning the content from multiple class periods. Exact due dates are available on the [schedule] below.

The worksheets will be evaluated according to the following rubric:

10 points

Responses demonstrate a nuanced engagement with the reading and link ideas from the text to themes, theories, and other topics from class.

8–9.5 points

Responses demonstrate a basic engagement with the reading but may miss important implications or connections.

5–7.5 points

Responses demonstrate a superficial understanding/engagement of the reading or contain numerous fundamental misunderstandings of the concepts.

0–4.5 points

Responses are cursory, or not submitted at all.

Marks for worksheet responses will be given to all members of the group. At the end of the semester, groups will perform peer evaluation (submitting evaluations is worth 2.5% of your total grade) that will adjust each participant’s discussion grade up or down by as much as 10%.

Group discussions will contribute 35% to the final grade for the course.**

Discussion prompts

Each student is responsible for submitting three discussion prompts relating to the readings over the semester. By the end of the second full week of class, random assignments will be sent to each student. If your assigned reading creates a conflict for you, please contact the professor as soon as possible to resolve the scheduling.

Discussion prompts will be evaluated on a ten-point scale based on the engagement and originality of the question. High-scoring submissions will engage with more than just basic concepts and will elicit responses that go beyond what is written in the text itself. For instance, the prompt might ask for a critical engagement with a point made by the author, suggesting a different interpretation of the reading; or the prompt might contrast a point made in the text to another reading or topic discussed in the class. Students should try to craft questions that will help others to think outside and beyond the specific reading.

Throughout the semester, the instructor will choose some submitted questions to be included on the discussion worksheets described above. Students whose questions are used in this way will receive an automatic mark of 10/10 (100%) on their submission, even if they would otherwise have gotten a lower score.

Discussion questions will contribute 20% to the final grade for the course.

Poster presentation

At the end of the semester, students will participate in a peer-evaluated virtual poster session. Each student will produce a digital poster presenting a piece of scientific research or technological output through a sociological lens. Further details on the final project are available at this link.

In total, the final project will be worth 32.5% of each student’s grade, broken down as follows: 5% for topic submission and group peer review (due Wed, Oct 2); 25% for the poster (due Mon, Dec 2at 11:59pm); and 2.5% for peer evaluation of others’ posters (due Fri, Dec 6 at 11:59pm).

Accessibility

Students who need accommodation or who are having trouble accessing any aspect of the course may contact me directly. I will make every effort to accommodate individual situations, including religious, medical, or other personal circumstances.

Students with disabilities or otherwise in need of formal accommodation are encouraged to contact the Office for Student Accessibility & Achievement (formerly Office for Students with Disabilities: https://www.mcgill.ca/access-achieve/, phone 514-398-6009).

Les étudiants qui ont besoin d’un accommodation ou qui ont des difficultés à accéder à un aspect du cours peuvent me contacter directement. Je ferai tout mon possible pour tenir compte des circonstances individuelles, y compris des circonstances religieuses, médicales ou autres.

Les étudiants handicapés ou ayant besoin d’un aménagement formel sont encouragés à contacter le Service étudiant d’accessibilité et d’aide à la réussite (https://www.mcgill.ca/access-achieve/fr, téléphone 514-398-6009).

Late submissions

Assignments that are submitted late (without prior approval for an extension) will be assessed with the following penalties:

1. 15 percentage points deducted from submissions up to 24 hours late
2. 10 percentage points for each additional 24 hours (or portion thereof) late

Academic integrity

McGill University values academic integrity. Therefore, all students must understand the meaning and consequences of cheating, plagiarism and other academic offences under the Code of Student Conduct and Disciplinary Procedures (see http://www.mcgill.ca/students/srr/honest/ for more information).(approved by Senate on 29 January 2003)

L’université McGill attache une haute importance à l’honnêteté académique. Il incombe par conséquent à tous les étudiants de comprendre ce que l’on entend par tricherie, plagiat et autres infractions académiques, ainsi que les conséquences que peuvent avoir de telles actions, selon le Code de conduite de l’étudiant et des procédures disciplinaires (pour de plus amples renseignements, veuillez consulter le site http://www.mcgill.ca/students/srr/honest/).

Generative AI

Certain uses of “generative AI” tools (e.g. Microsoft Copilot) in the completion of assignments are permitted. Students may use such tools for brainstorming, spelling and grammar assistance, and other “back end” work under the following two conditions:

1. Students must disclose the contribution of such tools in their submission, including the name of the tool and how and for what tasks it was used.
2. Submissions must consist solely of students’ own work. AI-generated text is not permitted.

(Tools such as Grammarly that help polish written work are allowed as long as the ideas, claims, and arguments in the text are solely the student’s creation.)

Language of evaluation

In accord with McGill University’s Charter of Students’ Rights, students in this course have the right to submit in English or in French any written work that is to be graded. (approved by Senate on 21 January 2009)

Conformément à la Charte des droits de l’étudiant de l’Université McGill, chaque étudiant a le droit de soumettre en français ou en anglais tout travail écrit devant être noté (sauf dans le cas des cours dont l’un des objets est la maîtrise d’une langue).

Grade appeals

Instructors and teaching assistants take the marking of assignments very seriously, and we work diligently to be fair, consistent, and accurate. Nonetheless, mistakes and oversights occasionally happen. If you believe that to be the case, you must adhere to the following rules:

• If it is a mathematical error simply alert the instructor of the error.
• In the case of more substantive appeals, you must:
  1. Wait at least 24 hours after receiving your mark.
  2. Carefully re-read your assignment, all guidelines and marking schemes, and the grader’s comments.
  3. If you wish to appeal, you must submit to the instructor a written explanation of why you think your mark should be altered. Please note that upon re-grade your mark may go down, stay the same, or go up.