MA Programs

• MA Programs – Residency and Prerequisites
• MA Thesis Programs
• MA Non-Thesis Programs
• MA Programs – General Information

Our MA programs enable students to develop an excellent range of research skills and knowledge – valuable for those intending to eventually pursue jobs in a vast array of fields such as business, education and government.  An MA in sociology from McGill is also well-regarded among the world’s top universities and serves as an excellent launching off point for students intending to pursue doctoral studies. All candidates for a sociology MA degree must complete the degree in three years. 

Note: The Sociology Department’s graduate programs are governed in vital bureaucratic matters (e.g., residency, additional session, leaves of absence, withdrawal, plagiarism and cheating) by Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies (GPS). Students should consult the GPS website and the university eCalendar for elaboration.

Additionally, all official requirements for Sociology Department programs are listed in the relevant section of the university eCalendar; any conflicts between this page and the eCalendar listing should defer to the eCalendar.

MA Programs – Residency and Prerequisites

MA Programs - Residency Requirement

Students entering a sociology MA program are required to spend three terms in residence at McGill.  In order to be considered full-time, students in residence must register for a minimum of 12 credits per term in both the thesis and non-thesis programs.  There is no residency requirement while the student is writing the thesis.

MA Programs - Prerequisites

All students will be required to take a Statistics Refresher Mini-Course at the beginning of the term, unless given an exemption by the instructor.

MA Thesis Programs (45 credits)

To provide students with some research experience, all students in this program must prepare a thesis based on their own research.  While not necessarily requiring an exhaustive review of work in the particular field of study or a great deal of original scholarship, the thesis must show familiarity with previous work in the field and demonstrate the ability to carry out research and to organize results, all of which must be presented in good literary style.

Students may elect to pursue either the standard sociology MA thesis program or they may couple it with one of three ‘options’ in 1) development studies  2) gender and women’s studies 3) medical sociology or 4) population dynamics .  Such options enable students to acquire a cross-disciplinary specialization.  Coursework and thesis foci requirements vary in accordance with the option selected.

MA Thesis Programs – Course and Thesis Topic Requirements

* All students must have taken these courses or take them during the first year of the program. Students granted an exemption from any one or more of these courses by the Graduate Studies Committee must substitute another substantive seminar in its place.

**Students may take a course in a related field, with the approval of the Graduate Program Director.

MA Thesis – Course Requirements

All incoming graduate students must meet with the Graduate Program Director before classes begin to discuss course selection and other aspects of their program. Students will be contacted by the Graduate Director to arrange an appointment.

There are many steps to completing a graduate degree, and important academic and research milestones need to be met along the way. Please consult GPS guidelines: Students and Supervisors | Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies - McGill University

Substantive courses: Thesis Program students must successfully complete seven substantive three-credit graduate courses (21 credits) plus a Thesis. The five substantive courses include four required courses (see below) and one complementary course. These courses are all be at the 500, 600, or 700 level.

Required courses (12 credits):

• SOCI 504: Quantitative Methods 1 (3 credits)
• SOCI 580: Social Research Design and Practice (3 credits)
• SOCI 600: Qualitative Research Methods 1 (3 credits)
• SOCI652: Current Sociological Theory (3 credits)

Complementary courses (9 credits):

• Three 500, 600, or 700 level courses (3 credits each)

Research preparation courses: In addition, students must register for three research preparation courses during the program (24 credits). These research preparation courses are not formal courses. There are no meetings or assignments beyond writing your thesis proposal and thesis.

Research Preparation Courses:

• SOCI 692: MA Thesis 3 (3 credits)
• SOCI 693: MA Thesis 4 (3 credits)
• SOCI 694: MA Thesis 5 (18 credits)

MA Thesis – Supervision and Format

The Thesis is the culmination of the M.A. Thesis Program and prepares students for further research in sociology. All students must complete a Thesis Proposal and Thesis under the guidance of their departmental supervisor in order to graduate.

Incoming students are initially assigned a faculty member who agreed to serve as their potential MA thesis supervisor. In cooperation, the student and supervisor select at least one faculty member, who may be from within or from outside the department, to sit on the thesis committee. Students may consult the Graduate and Postdoctoral Support website for guidance about supervisor-supervisee relationships.

There are various university requirements regarding the content and format of the MA thesis. Please consult GPS guidelines: https://www.mcgill.ca/gps/thesis/thesis-guidelines/preparation.

Beyond these requirements, the Department of Sociology requires MA theses to write an article-length paper that is meant for publication (the manuscript may indeed be submitted for publication before the completion of the MA, though publication does not ensure that the dissertation passes), with a short introduction explaining the more general background of the paper and situating it within the field of study. The student must be the sole or the lead author on this article-length paper.

An MA proposal (which is a Milestone) must be submitted to the supervisor by the end of the student’s first year in the program (i.e., August 15). It should not exceed 10 pages in length, double-spaced. The proposal should include a discussion of methods and data to be used, hypotheses, and a justification of the research. The thesis supervisor will then convene a meeting of the thesis committee to discuss and secure approval of the proposal. The main purpose of this meeting is to supply the student with advice as to the feasibility of and possible problems with the proposed project. The student is required to send an email to the Graduate Program Coordinator (CCing the supervisor) to notify them of the results of the thesis proposal meeting. If the thesis committee judges the thesis proposal to be unsatisfactory (i.e., the project outlined therein is unfocused, unfeasible and/or unlikely to lead to a potentially publishable article), the student may be asked to transfer to the MA non-thesis option.

MA Thesis - Submission and Evaluation (Pass/Fail)

MA theses can be submitted at any time but there are set deadlines set by GPS for each graduation date. Please see GPS’s website for deadlines: https://www.mcgill.ca/gps/thesis/thesis-guidelines/initial-submission/ne....

MA theses must be evaluated by one ‘external’ examiner, a scholar of established reputation and competence in the field of the thesis research. Examiners may be from inside or outside of the university. They may also be faculty from within the Sociology Department who are not in conflict of interest (https://www.mcgill.ca/gps/files/gps/conflict_of_interest_checklist_2017.pdf).

Please see GPS’s ‘Thesis Examination’ guidelines for further details on thesis examination.

In instances, where the thesis is not passed by an examiner, a student may revise and resubmit. See the GPS guidelines on ‘Thesis Examination Failures.’

MA Non-Thesis Programs (45 credits)

This program culminates in a paper that normally, but not necessarily, flows out of a paper written for one of the graduate seminars or an independent reading and research course.  The paper should focus on a clearly delineated research problem, demonstrating familiarity with the most important relevant scholarly work.

Students may elect to pursue either the standard sociology MA non-thesis program or they may couple it with one of four ‘options’ in 1) development studies 2) gender and women’s studies 3) medical sociology or 4) population dynamics. Such options enable students to acquire a cross-disciplinary specialization.  Coursework and research paper foci requirements vary in accordance with the option selected.

MA Non-Thesis Programs – Course and Thesis Topic Requirements

*Students granted an exemption from any one or more of these courses by the Graduate Program Director must substitute another substantive seminar in its place.

**Students may take a course in a related field, with the approval of the Graduate Program Director.

MA Non-Thesis Research Paper – Supervision and Format

Incoming students are initially assigned a faculty member who agreed to serve as their potential MA paper supervisor.  Students may consult the Graduate and Postdoctoral Support website for guidance about supervisor-supervisee relationships.

Unlike for the MA Thesis option, the Non-thesis MA research paper does not have to be based on the analysis of original data (though it can be). Students may revise an existing seminar paper, In which case they must submit the original paper to the supervisor for approval along with a one-page outline of the proposed revisions to the paper. A more elaborate proposal, of approximately two pages (single-spaced), is required where a seminar paper does not serve as the basis for the MA research paper.  

The MA research paper should be no longer than 30 pages in length, double-spaced, exclusive of footnotes and references.

The courses - SOCI 696: Research Paper 1 and SOCI 697: Research Paper 2 - are graded on a pass/fail basis.

MA Non-Thesis Research Paper - Submission and Evaluation (Grading)

The deadline for submission of the MA Research Paper is August 15th. It should be submitted to the supervisor and the ‘second reader’ for marking. You must also CC the Graduate Program Coordinator. With the student’s consent, the supervisor will make the request of another departmental faculty member to serve as ‘second reader.’ Once chosen, the supervisor should notify the Graduate Program Coordinator as to who will act as the ‘second reader’. Both the supervisor and the ‘second reader’ read the paper, assess its quality, and allocate a letter grade and report their grade to the GPC, based on the McGill grading scale. The two grades are then averaged, generating the final grade for SOCI 699. Final grades must be entered by August 31st.

MA Programs – General Information

MA Programs - Reading and Research Courses

A student may register for one independent reading and research course as part of his/her complementary courses.  Reading and research courses provide an opportunity for students to study a topic of interest in greater depth in an independent way.  These courses are negotiated between a student and a professor on an individual basis.  Students must complete the ‘Reading and Research’ form detailing the nature of the work involved and the method of evaluation.  The form must be signed by the student, the professor overseeing the course and must be returned to the Graduate Program Coordinator.

MA Programs - Taking Courses Outside the Sociology Department

Subject to the requirements of a student’s elected course of study and with the approval of the Graduate Program Director, students may take a course in another department (e.g., epidemiology, anthropology).  Language courses require the approval of the Graduate Program Director and GPS; in some instances, student may incur additional costs for such courses.

MA Programs - Taking Courses at Other Universities

Students may take a graduate course at another university, when needed, in order to meet their MA program requirements at McGill.  Students interested in pursuing coursework at other Quebec universities are eligible for a Quebec Inter-University Transfer. Students interested in universities located outside Quebec should confer with the Graduate Program Coordinator as to the current procedures for authorizing such exchanges.