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I just went through the process of applying to sociology PhD programs last fall.

Not falling behind: the only suggestions that I have would be to regularly read journal articles related to your research. Also, if you have some funds I would suggest going to local sociological conferences and present your research/work if you can. It's also a great opportunity for your to network and get in contact with grad students, faculty, and professionals in your research. It's important to keep in touch with them over the years so that come application time, you may know someone in the selection committee and that definitely helps.

Preparing for grad school applications process: Speaking from experience, start early and keep your applications organized. Start looking at PhD programs that you're interested in and keep a hierarchical list according to top tier programs (e.g. UC Berkeley), middle tier programs (e.g. University of Oregon) and bottom tier programs (e.g. UC Riverside). For this list, I would suggest ranking them not only on the program's national ranking but how much the program would satisfy your wants and needs i.e. department research, faculty, funding opportunities, diversity, location, etc. Keep track of this list and narrow it down to however many programs you plan to apply to. Look for faculty in your research and read their work. Contact faculty, ask them provoking questions about their research, try to set up appointments to meet them in person. If not, try to build a relationship through e-mail. This would be a opportunity for professors to notice that you are taking the initiative to contact them and being active in sociological research. They will also remember you when they are on a selection committee for a PhD program or even on a committee for a position in academia. I'm not sure if you had to take the Graduate Record Exam (GRE) for entry into your master's program, but sociology PhD programs require the GRE. My advice for studying for the GRE: start studying at least 6 months before you take the test and study regularly - it's not a test you can cram for the night before. I would say set up your own study plan and work off the [ETS Revised GRE prep book] (http://www.amazon.com/Official-Guide-revised-General-Test/dp/0071700528) Keep in contact with the people who will write you letters of recommendation - make sure you update them on what you've been working on for the past couple of years. It's helpful to give them your application materials so they can write you a strong letter of recommendation. For personal statements, just start writing and getting through drafts and get feedback from your letter writers. Keep track of transcripts - make sure they are submitted. Most applications are online and required unofficial transcripts but I would say triple check the transcript requirements.

PhD programs: I'm just starting my sociology PhD program, and from my own experience I can say that you definitely need to do your research on PhD programs and talk to graduate students in the programs that you're interested in. The program may seem promising but grad students may be miserable (and it's good to talk to many grad students to get multiple perspectives on the program). In terms of funding, usually PhD programs offer some form of support to students - whether through fellowships, research assistantships, and teaching assistantships. Be careful though - look to see how many years the program supports and how many years it takes for students to finish. If there's a big gap, say a program offers 3 years of support and it usually takes students 7 years to finish (unlikely but may happen), then you would want to prepare yourself for applying for external funding once you are in the program. Definitely look into external fellowships that you are eligible for like the Ford Foundation (that's a big one) and the American Sociological Association minority fellowship. There are many external fellowships outside of sociology that you may be eligible for, you might have to dig deep to find them. I haven't officially started my PhD program, so I can't tell you my experience or how to navigate the program.

I hope this doesn't sound redundant as I'm sure you underwent a similar application process for master's programs. Please feel free to PM me if you have any more questions.

I'm late to the game on this one, but learning these programs cannot be stressed enough. Different institutions have different preferences for programs, so you may hear about MATLAB, SPSS, STATA, R, etc etc. Pick one and go for it. My personal suggestion is to begin with SPSS. It's very user friendly and a great kickoff program for getting your feet wet.

Your school may have stats classes where you'll learn SPSS or a program like it, but if you want to go at it on your own for a headstart, I suggest two things: the first, YouTube, FOREVER. There are a ton of helpful videos which take you step by step through the processes of using almost any program you can think of, and the best part is that YouTube is free.

The second is that it's never a bad idea to pick up a great book, a go to reference guide if you need it. Discovering Statistics Using SPSS is written by a great author who (shockingly) does not make the subject matter seem dry. I own the R equivalent and am looking to pick up the SPSS version soon because I liked it so much.

Costs of textbooks/stats reference books are high, I know. But for my preference, nothing beats having that go to reference item on your shelf. If you decide to start shopping around, you can ask around in /r/booksuggestions or /r/asksocialscience and see what others use to find the best book for you.

It's awesome to see someone interested in sociology (especially sociology of religion) in high school.

Before you start doing research, you need to think about what your actual question is. What is it about the sociology of religion that interests you? Are you interested in explaining religious variation? Are you interested in how different people experience religion? Are you interested in studying how religion influences people's behavior or beliefs? Think of something in the social world that you don't know, but want to know. The answer will guide how you approach research.

Also, not all of the sociology of religion is quantitative with large sample sizes. There's been some great qualitative work with small sample sizes done in the past. Nancy Ammerman has done some awesome qualitative work. One of my favorite sociology books is Baptist Battles which offers a window into the fundamentalist/progressive conflict in the Southern Baptist Convention in the 80s.

If you are interested in more population level, quantitative stuff, take a look at Putnam and Cambell's American Grace. It's not really an academic book, but the research is solid and it's a great example of the kind of findings quantitative sociology of religion can produce.

If you find that interesting, then you should take some statistics courses and begin to learn statistical software like STATA, SPSS, R. A lot of that software is really daunting to learn at first. We had to learn R in my first year statistics course in grad school, and it had PhD students scratching their heads. Still, getting even a very basic understanding of something like that will get you a head start on research. You WILL need to learn a statistical software in order to quantitative research. If you feel comfortable with doing some basic statistics, check out The Association of Religion Data Archives (ARDA) for some cool public use data.

Also, if you want to do research you need to read research. People here have suggested classic works like Berger's Sacred Canopy or stuff from Weber, Marx and Durkheim. That stuff is cool and all, and if you continue to be interested in sociology you will have to read that. However, nobody doing research today is trying to emulate what Berger, Marx, Weber, and Durkheim did. I suggest looking through some of the articles in The Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion to get a sense of the kinds of research sociologists of religion are doing now. Don't get too bogged down in ancient stuff said by old dead white guys.

One last thing -- absolutely nobody expects you do any kind of research in high school. All the stuff I mentioned are things I learned in grad school and I would consider way above what would be expected from a typical high school student. If you find it overwhelming and confusing that's totally normal. Research is overwhelming and confusing all the time.

Heya!

First things first, it's going to be ok! Lots of people enter sociology PhD programs with no background in sociology (or even a related social science!) at all. So, having majored in Sociology means you should have a much better lay of the land than some of your peers. That said, your classes will likely assume very little specific knowledge of sociology. For better or for worse, Sociology in undergrad is not treated as a "cumulative" subject where students are expected to master material in one class and then apply it in another. Grad school will expect that of you, to some extent, but it will not assume you start with much.

Second, if you are specifically worried about stats, I'd highly recommend reading some very light introductions that familiarize you with the concepts and ideas. Don't spend a lot of time with specific formulas, derivations, or software - your graduate stats sequence will cover all of that, again assuming you know basically nothing to start with. Instead, try to get a feel for statistical arguments, and for the basic ideas of probability, distributions, sampling, and so on. Start with something like The Cartoon Guide to Statistics. Then, read some quantitative sociology. Check out ASR or AJS or other big journals in the field. Find some articles on the topics that interest you and try to read through them to get a sense of how they employ quantitative methods. Don't expect to understand everything, but see what you can piece together.

Beyond that, I'd highly recommend checking out Fabio Rojas's guide Grad School Rulz (most of the content is available as a set of free blog posts on OrgTheory). I don't agree with absolutely everything Fabio says, but his advice is generally solid, and he covers all the important topics. Even if you don't take all his advice, reading the book will help you figure out what sorts of questions you should be asking and thinking about.

If you have any other specific concerns, let me know and I'm happy to give more targeted advice! Beyond that, good luck, and welcome to Sociology!

>I am soon starting to work on my bachelor thesis

> Essentially, I think I know what I want to do, but not quite how.

> I don't know what type of methodology I should use either. Any ideas on how I could proceed?

So firstly, you've not yet started your bachelor's thesis, so these questions and uncertainties are normal and expected. Things start to make sense and come together over time and with work, don't get caught up on wanting to nail everything down right now - you need to work hard to get there.

It sounds like you already have some good ideas about what you want to look at and potentially how you are going to do that, good, hopefully your supervisor will be able to help and guide you in the right direction, though remember it's you that will drive your thesis forward, they are simply there to make sure you don't come off the tracks and explode in a fiery mess.

As for Discourse Analysis - you don't need linguistic expertise, unless you wish to do a very particular form of it. Discourse analysis itself is a very broad church, go pick up some of the overview texts, something like this (though there is a more recent edition) http://www.rasaneh.org/Images/News/AtachFile/27-3-1391/FILE634754469767402343.pdf

Just be aware that the use of discourse analysis within sociology will touch upon slightly different things and be developed in slightly different ways than it would in straight Linguistics, or in English, so initially work with texts that have been written by academics within Sociology or similar disciplines.

In terms of research design and questions, pick up some good research design books, something like this looks as good a place as any to start: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Qualitative-Inquiry-Research-Design-Approaches/dp/1412995302

Or this: https://www.pearsonhighered.com/program/Neuman-Basics-of-Social-Research-Qualitative-and-Quantitative-Approaches-3rd-Edition/PGM1100031.html

I like what you pointed out there: the difference in disagreement that occurs in sociology and philosophy. Part of the charm about philosophy, for me, is that very lack of agreement you mentioned because in good philosophical discussions you get to see both sides of the story (if not more). For instance, I took an ethics class and we saw different ethical issues from different perspectives. To give just one example, one topic we focused on was abortion and we read from Judith Jarvis Thomson and Mary Anne Warren (both in favor), as well as Robert P. George and Don Marquis (not in favor). This gave a balanced evaluation of some different attitudes to a single topic.

I feel like there could be more of this attitude-fairness in sociology - a fairness of being open to both sides of the debate because sociologists usually do have an agenda. Weigh out the evidence, ya know, cuz echo chambers are boring and smug. The good thing that is there is some of this in sociology, for instance, this "Think Twice" text: https://www.amazon.com/Think-Sociology-Current-Social-Issues/dp/0130995282/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1501827747&sr=8-1&keywords=think+twice+sociology.

Again though, compared to philosophy, from my limited perspective, I think more balance would be a good thing in sociology.

EDIT: Whoops, just read the comments below after posting. I agree, there are more important things then the balance of ideology ... but I'd be skeptical that our political values can purely be informed by scientific methods. I'm also skeptical to vouch for either the left or the right's understanding/responses to social issues ... I think the fairest thing to say is that they both get some things right and wrong in different ways. That's why I'm so zealous about sociology being more than a neo-Marxist echo chamber: let's not be so quick to think we have society so neatly figured out, let's look at both sides of the story and weigh the evidence in a civil manner. I'm not even looking for a consensus, but I'm a strong believer that looking at contrary opinions is a good thing, even if it leads to different conclusions. That includes myself, so I should probably brush up on my Marx eventually and read something from him and not just about him. I'll even admit, I've been reading Janet Wolff's "The Social Production of Art" - which is grounded in materialism - and have quite enjoyed it. I say this to say that some good insights can be made through Marxist theory.

As a first year student of sociology, I recommend the textbook by Anthony Giddens http://www.polity.co.uk/giddens5/

It's basically, the textbook of choice in most sociology departments around the world.

It's very nicely written, gives good overviews of the basic terms and theories.

Another widely used book for introduction to sociology is Themes and Perspectives by Michael Haralambos http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sociology-Themes-Perspectives-Michael-Haralambos/dp/000715447X


This is all I can really recommend as I'm taking intro courses currently. I'm sure someone else can recommend books for specific topics that might be of interest to you.

I may be in the minority but I don't think that Mills's Sociological Imagination is a good starting point for an introduction to sociology. While the first chapter (The Promise) may be worth a read, the rest of the book is very much an insider's critique of the subject and requires the reader to have a general understanding of sociology as it is being practiced post-WWII. I think that you will get the most out of Mills after familiarizing yourself with sociology more broadly.


As others have mentioned, Ritzer & Stepnisky's Sociological Theory is a very comprehensive overview of sociological thinking but it may be a bit overwhelming. While it isn't as encyclopedic as Ritzer & Stepnisky, I like Seidman's Contested Knowledge because it provides the reader with both a historical overview of sociological thinking and provides easy to read summaries of important thinkers.


I am not sure if you will find these too difficult but here are some other books that may expand your understanding of sociology:

• Outsiders: Studies In The Sociology Of Deviance by Howard Becker
  
• Obedience to Authority: An Experimental View by Stanley Milgram

4th edition? Wow.
I have the original on my shelf. May need to pick it up.

My thesis and dissertation involved SNA.

The Development of Social Network Analysis: A Study in the Sociology of Science https://www.amazon.com/dp/1594577145/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_s7zzCbGZ0J0B2 was useful for a history and methodology. Linked: How Everything Is Connected to Everything Else and What It Means for Business, Science, and Everyday Life https://www.amazon.com/dp/0465085733/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_c9zzCb73X5640 was good for understanding approaches to structure. Same author has several peer reviewed articles that are good. Then give some thought to what you want to measure existing on those networks. Coming up with good measures of the qualities that you find present and social networks is the hard part.

Also, I recommend this recent book by Duncan Watts, Everything is Obvious: *Once You Know the Anwer. The book does a great job explaining that the often invoked "common sense" does not explain nearly as much of human behavior as people like to claim. Social science, when pursued rigorously, is a very powerful tool for making sense of social action.

Moreover, Duncan Watts is a terrific ambassador for the discipline of sociology , as he does come from a science background (he received his PhD in applied mathematics from Cornell), yet takes sociology very seriously. He changed the course of his career, because he realized that the problems that he found most interesting and worthwhile were social in nature

Not sure what approach you're taking, but Charmaz has a great chapter about coding for constructivist grounded theory in her [book.] (http://www.amazon.com/Constructing-Grounded-Theory-Qualitative-Introducing/dp/0761973532) Check the preview (chapter 3) to see if it's what you're looking for. And good luck! I am finishing the coding and data analysis for my diss, too...

R for Data Science is great, especially because it teaches tidyverse.

Another good book is Learning Statistics with R: A tutorial for psychology students and other beginners, which also teaches the implementation of basic statistical techniques, like ANOVA or linear regression.

If you have some time spare, you can follow it by Data Analysis Using Regression and Multilevel/Hierarchical Models, which is also (mostly) based on R.

The Visual Display of Quantitative Information is a good book on the principles of data visualization. It’s theoretical, so no R examples.

Complex Surveys: A Guide to Analysis Using R is great if you work with survey data, especially if you work with complex designs (which nowdays is pretty much all the time).

Personaly, I would also invest some time learning methodology. Sadly, I can’t help you here, because I didn’t used textbook for this, but people seem to like books from Earl Babbie.

So I am a political scientist (though my research crosses into sociology).

What I would recommend is starting by learning Generalized Linear Models (GLMs). Logistic regression is one type, but GLMs are just a way of approaching a bunch of other type of dependent variables.

Gelman and Hill's book is probably the best single text book that can cover it all. I think it provides examples in R so you could also work on picking up R. It covers GLMs and multi-level models which are also relatively common in sociology.

The best general sociology textbook I've ever had is George Ritzer's Sociological Thoery. Sociological Theory https://www.amazon.com/dp/1506337716/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_icTLDbVMBQ94N

Here is his Intro text: Introduction to Sociology https://www.amazon.com/dp/1544355181/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_pgTLDbBAS0KDA

Also, this book seems good to me. The Sociology Book: Big Ideas Simply Explained https://www.amazon.com/dp/146547854X/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_9hTLDbJ8NP3RX

I'm thinking of design my own 101 course using the last 2.

http://www.amazon.com/Sociology-CourseMate-eBook-Printed-Access/dp/1111301417

This one is a wonderful Sociology book. I highly recommend it! Although keep in mind that the intended audience is American.

Another contemporary source that could be useful is "American Grace: How Religion Unites Us and Divides Us." I read it for a Politics of Religion class (not Soc specifically) but it was a good book.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1416566732/ref=redir_mdp_mobile

Ritzer has some very good introductory texts to sociology like Sociological Theory