Comprehensive guides for humanities and social science courses
Weekly Planning: Most courses have 2-3 hours of content per module. Budget 6-9 hours per week including reading, activities, and assignments.
For every hour of online content, budget 2 hours of study time (reading, note-taking, assignments). A 4-hour module needs approximately 8 hours per week.
| Element | Meets Expectations | Exceeds Expectations |
|---|---|---|
| Length | Meets minimum word count | Thoughtful and complete, regardless of word count |
| Evidence | References readings | Cites specific passages, integrates multiple sources |
| Analysis | Summarizes course concepts | Analyzes, applies, evaluates - goes beyond summary |
| Examples | Provides examples | Uses specific, relevant, well-explained examples |
| Writing | Clear sentences, few errors | Polished, professional, organized with transitions |
Opening (claim): "Hammond's concept of family diversity challenges the deficit model by showing that different family structures aren't problems to solve, but adaptations to structural conditions."
Evidence (from readings): "In Chapter 2, Hammond explains that single-parent families often reflect economic constraints rather than values (p. 45)."
Analysis (your thinking): "This reframes how we should understand family structures. Rather than asking 'What's wrong with this family?', sociologists ask 'What structural forces shaped this family's formation?'"
Application (example): "In the Life Planning Challenge, my character's decision to delay marriage wasn't about values - it was about student loan debt making marriage economically unfeasible."
Conclusion (synthesis): "Recognizing family diversity as structural adaptation rather than deviance changes how we approach policy and support systems."
A strong thesis is:
Go to Account → Notifications and set up email/text alerts for:
Before submitting ANY assignment:
Ask for help when you first notice a problem, not the night before a deadline. Instructors can help if you reach out early, but options are limited at the last minute.
"I don't understand the assignment. Help?"
"I'm working on the Module 3 discussion about social capital. I understand that social capital means networks and connections, but I'm confused about how to apply it to my Life Planning Challenge game experience. The prompt asks me to identify three examples - should I focus on specific game decisions or overall patterns? I've re-read the textbook section on pages 45-52 but I'm still unclear."
What you do: Evaluate arguments, identify bias, analyze complex problems
Career value: Every professional job requires analyzing information and making decisions
What you do: Write discussion posts, essays, reflections with clear structure and evidence
Career value: Reports, emails, proposals - professional writing is essential
What you do: Find credible sources, evaluate evidence, synthesize information
Career value: Market research, policy analysis, evidence-based decision making
What you do: Understand diverse perspectives, analyze cultural differences
Career value: Essential for working in diverse teams and global markets
With these skills + additional training:
Primary sources are materials created during the time period you're studying, by people who experienced the events firsthand.
Speaker: Union soldier, middle class, from Massachusetts
Occasion: Written in 1863, after Battle of Gettysburg
Audience: His wife back home
Purpose: Reassure her he's alive, describe experiences, maintain emotional connection
Subject: Battle conditions, soldier morale, views on war - reveals how ordinary soldiers experienced war
Always move from description to analysis to interpretation. Don't just describe what you see - explain what it means and why it matters.
A decision-making simulation where you make life choices (education, career, relationships, family) and experience how structural factors shape outcomes. The point isn't to "win" - it's to demonstrate how social structures constrain and enable choices.
"My character was born into a working-class family with parents who didn't attend college. When faced with the education decision, I chose community college because it was financially feasible, but the game showed this limited later job opportunities compared to classmates from wealthier backgrounds who attended four-year universities. This demonstrates how economic capital shapes educational pathways, which Hammond discusses in Chapter 3. She explains that 'family economic resources determine not just whether students attend college, but which colleges and with what support' (p. 78). The game made this abstract concept concrete - my character had the ability and desire for education, but financial constraints structured which paths were realistic."
One-paragraph summary of entire study. Read this to decide if article is relevant before investing time.
Background on the topic, review of previous research, hypothesis. Explains why this study matters.
How the study was conducted. Who participated? What procedures? What measures?
Statistical findings. Don't worry if you don't understand all the numbers - focus on what researchers say they found.
What results mean, how they fit with previous research, limitations, implications. Often most useful section.
Shows whether two variables are related, from -1.00 (perfect negative) to +1.00 (perfect positive).
Just because two things are correlated doesn't mean one causes the other. Ice cream sales and drowning deaths are correlated - both increase in summer - but ice cream doesn't cause drowning.