辅导 SOC100H – Thinking Sociologically and A.I. Literacy Assignment - Fall 2025

SOC100H – Thinking Sociologically andA.I. Literacy Assignment - Fall 2025

As discussed in class, we’re in the midst of an A.I. revolution. The large language models are powerful tools that individuals, groups, and organizations are leveraging to complete all kinds of tasks. This is also true in the field of education. Is what you are learning in your courses right now at the University of Toronto enhanced by these A.I. tools or do the A.I. tools render much of what you are learning obsolete? I believe it is the former and not the latter. The A.I. tools can help, but they do not replace the deeper learning you are gaining from your disciplinary studies, including sociology. It’s early, but so far a trend across most fields is that the more an individual is an expert in a given area, the more they can leverage the A.I. tools to enhance their work, and the less their contributions, insights, and judgment can be replaced by A.I.. To start, we can all gain from a better understanding of what the A.I. tools can enhance, and where they still fall short. What are the limitations of these A.I. tools, for example, when taking up very complex social issues?

This assignment, called Thinking Sociologically and A.I. Literacy, is designed to explore how sociologists think and how A.I. tools like ChatGPT, Claude, DeepSeek, Gemini, Grok, and others attempt to do the same. You’ll have an opportunity to choose a sociological topic from a list of options (or get to choose a topic of your own), ask an A.I. model to explain it, and then write your own analysis that improves on, deepens, or reframes the A.I.’s version. Along the way, you’ll reflect on what this tells us about learning, knowledge, and what it means to think sociologically.

A.I. Literacy Modules

The first step to this assignment is increasing your overall A.I. literacy by reading a set of modules put together by Open UToronto called Coursework and GenAI: A Practical Guide for Students. There are three modules: one called Understand on how GenAI functions and its potential issues to consider; the second is called Evaluate on when to use GenAI and how to discern the quality of the content output; and the third is called Use on practical strategies for using GenAI for various tasks in your academic work. These modules were put together in the last few months by members of the University of Toronto and serve as a great foundation for our assignment. These modules can be found in our Quercus page under the tab Modules. It’s a good idea to take notes while completing the modules as you will find them enormously helpful in completing the assignment.

Once you have completed those modules, you can return to these starter instructions that lay out the components of the assignments that you will need to complete, as well as some guidance on how to complete them. Note that this assignment is worth 15% of your final grade, will involve writing about 1000 words (around 3 pages double-spaced), and is due on November 12th.

Tutorial #3 (Oct 6th to 8th), tutorial #4 (Oct 20th to 22nd), and tutorial #5 (Nov 3rd to 5th) will all focus on this assignment. In those three tutorials facilitated by your TA, you will work collectively as a group through various aspects this assignment with a unique tutorial-specific topic. This will help clarify some of the different steps and act as a sort of exemplar for what is expected for your individual assignment. But the assignment to submit is entirely your own. It involves you choosing your own topic/question and completing all the steps by yourself by the 12th.

Learning Objectives

The learning objectives for this assignment are:

• Practice identifying and analyzing sociological concepts

• Learn to formulate and evaluate prompts for A.I. models

• Compare A.I. models vs sociologist approaches to knowledge

• Reflect on how sociological thinking works and how it feels

Components to Submit

1-Title Page

Your title page should include the following items

Course Title: Introduction to Sociology

Course Code: SOC100H1F

Assignment Title: Thinking Sociologically and A.I. Literacy

Student Name: [Your Full Name]

Student ID: [Your Student Number]

Tutorial Section: [e.g., TUT0101]

TA Name: [Teaching Assistant's Full Name]

Project Title: [Insert the title of your project here — this should reflect your topic]

Submission Date: [Month Day, Year]

Word Count: [Total word count of annotated sociological question, analysis + reflection only — excluding title page, A.I. transcript. and references]

2-Annotated Sociological Questions (Around 100 words)

In this section, clearly state your sociological question (chosen from the set list or one you came up with on your own) and explain why you chose it. In 100 words or fewer, respond to the following: 1) What is your sociological question? (Example: How does social media affect the self-image of teenage girls from different social classes?); 2) Why did you choose this topic? Briefly explain why this question matters — to you personally, to society, or to the discipline of sociology.

Your question should focus on a social issue, not a personal opinion or purely descriptive topic. Good sociological questions ask how or why, and often relate to structures, systems, power, norms, or inequality.

3-A.I. Transcript

In this section you need to identify the A.I. model (UofT’s Copilot recommended) you used and include your full conversation with the A.I. You must include your initial prompt and at least two follow-up questions.

4-Your Sociological Analysis (Around 700 words)

In this section, you are writing your own explanation of the same topic you ask the A.I. about.

Think of this as better version, or second draft, improving on what the A.I. gave you. This section must include at least two scholarly sources beyond the course readings (sociological journals or books) and reference to relevant sociological theory, concepts, or thinkers.

5-Reflection (Around 200 words)

This section is a short reflection on what you learned through this process. Focus on your own development and understanding, not what the A.I. got wrong. You could choose to address some of these prompts: 1) How did your approach differ from theA.I. and why?; 2) What did you learn about thinking sociologically through this process?; 3) Did anything surprise you about the A.I.’s answer or your own?

6-Reference List

Includes a short reference list (APA) citing your two scholarly sources, and any additional sources you used (course readings, additional sources). You need to cite every single idea or contribution that is not your own, whether you found it yourself from an academic source or found it with the assistance of an A.I.. In other words, an A.I. model is not a substitute for a proper academic source. If you use a search engine (say Google) or an encyclopedia (say Wikipedia) or an A.I. model (say ChatGPT) to get information, you still need to cite the academic source of this information.

More detailed information

Choose Your Sociological Question

You may choose your topic/sociological question in one of two ways. We recommend that you pick from the list of 27 pre-approved topics/sociological questions. These questions are vetted and we know are suitable for this project. But, if you’d really like to work on a different topic, you also have the option to choose a topic/sociological question of your choice. All new topics must be clearly sociological in nature, connected to themes or theories from the course, and complex enough to allow for critique and improvement. If you are not sure about the suitability of your topic/sociological question, you should absolutely consult before proceeding. You could consult with your TA during office hours or tutorials. You could bounce your idea to a group of your colleagues. And we will create a forum on Quercus specifically for the assignment where you could post your question there to get some feedback from colleagues and TAs.

List of pre-approved topics/sociological questions:

Sociology of Culture

1-Language, Power, and Social Identity

How does language shape cultural belonging, status, and exclusion?

2-The Commodification of Countercultures and/or Subcultures

What happens when countercultural or subcultural styles or values are absorbed by mainstream markets?

3-Cultural Hegemony in Everyday Life

How do media, language, and norms reproduce dominant ideologies?

Socialization and Social Interaction

4-Childhood Socialization and Gender Norms

How do children learn what it means to be “boy” or “girl” in a given society?

5-Presentation of Selfin Digital Spaces

How does Goffman’s theory of impression management apply to social media?

6-The Role of Peer Groups in Identity Formation

How does social interaction shape who we think we are?

Media and Communications Technology

7-New Media and Health

How have smartphones and social media led to increased societal anxieties?

8-Echo Chambers and Polarization

How do algorithms and social networks contribute to polarization?

9-Parasocial Relationships in Online Culture

What do intense fan-celebrity dynamics say about modern social interaction?

Social Class and Stratification

10-The Myth of Meritocracy

How do structural inequalities challenge the idea that success is earned?

11-Class Reproduction Through Everyday Life

How do habits, language, and taste signal and maintain class position?

12-Povery and Stigma in Public Discourse

How are poor people portrayed in media, politics, and everyday language?

Sociology of Work

13-The Rise of Gig Work

How is platform-based work reshaping labour relations and worker identity?

14-Emotional Labour in Service Jobs

How do workers manage feelings to meet workplace expectations?

15-Precarious Work and the New Economy

How has job insecurity become normalized?

Families and Intimate Relationships

16-Changing Norms Around Marriage and Cohabitation

How are definitions of ‘family’ shifting in different social contexts?

17-Intensive Parenting and Inequality

How do parenting expectations differ by class, race, or culture?

18-Gendered Divisions of Domestic Labour

Who does what at home and why?

Sociology of Education

19-The Hidden Curriculum

What unspoken lessons do students learn in school?

20-Cultural Capital and Educational Success

How do middle-class norms shape student outcomes?

21-The Rising Cost of Higher Education and Class Inequality

How do tuition fees and student debt shape access to post-secondary education

Sociology of Health and Mental Health

22-Medicalization of Everyday Life

How are normal behaviours redefined as medical problems?

23-Health Inequities and Social Determinants

How do race, class, and gender shape health outcomes?

24-Stigma and Mental Illness

How does society label and respond to mental health issues?

Crime, Deviance, and Social Control

25-Moral Entrepeneurship and the Definition of Deviance

Who decides what counts as ‘deviant’ and why?

26-Surveillance in Everyday Life

How do institutions monitor, regulate, and control populations?

27-Social Responses to Crime

How do different societies or social groups respond to crime, and what do these responses tell us about underlying values, power structures, and theories of justice?

Engage with theA.I.

In this assignment, you’ll be asking an A.I. model to explain a real-world social issue from a sociological perspective. The A.I.’s response will be your starting point. You’ll analyze it, improve it, and reflect on the process.

In this section you will need to copy and paste the ENTIRE transcript. of your conversation with your A.I. model. It should include the main prompt and two follow-up questions.

For the main prompt, you could use your sociological question or a variation of it. The first response from the A.I. model is often too simple. Dig deeper by asking follow-up questions that probe for examples, different perspectives, or clarification. You could: ask for example: “can you give an example of this in everyday life”; ask for depth “what are some critiques ofthis explanation”; ask for disagreement “do all sociologists agree with this perspective”; or ask about theorists “which renowned sociologists have written about this issue”. Choose follow-up questions that reflect what you’re curious about or what you think might be missing from the first answer.

Make sure you identify the A.I. model you used, that the main initial prompt and any follow-up questions are clearly identified, and include the date of your initial prompt.

Write Your Own Analysis (Around 700 words)

Write your own explanation of the sociological issue you asked the A.I. about. This is not a separate answer, it is a stronger, clearer, and more sociological version of the A.I.’s attempt. You should draw on course concepts and theories. You should use at least two academic sources beyond the course readings. Focus on what the A.I. missed, oversimplified or failed to contextualize. This is very important, write in your own words and voice.

A.I. tools are powerful, but they’re not trained as sociologists and they’re not critical thinkers.

They often produce writing that sounds smart but lacks the depth, nuance, or theoretical insight that good sociological thinking requires. Here is a list ofcommon A.I. shortcoming in sociology:

1) overgeneralization “all cultures value family equally”, this ignores variation across race, class, history, and geography; 2) individualistic explanations “people become homeless due to poor decisions” which ignores structural causes like housing policy or inequality; 3) neutral or apolitical tone “there are different views on racism” which minimizes oppression or avoids naming power and conflict; 4) lack of theoretical framing “education is important in society” is vague description without Marx, Weber, Bourdieu, etc; 5) overuse of buzzwords “this create social cohesion through cultural norms” which uses terms without showing how or why they apply; 6) false consensus “sociologists agree that…” (when they don’t) suggests uniformity where there’s actually debate; 7) missing key dimensions such as race, class, gender, colonialism or intersectionality that fails to apply foundational tools of critical sociology; 8) western-centric assumptions or focus on U.S./Europe without context which neglects Indigenous or global perspectives; 9) mistaken theorists or terms that confuses Durkheim with Weber or misuses concepts which makes the analysis unreliable or misleading; and 10) flattering complexity which turns sociological issue into a Wikipedia summary that misses contradictions, power struggles, and historical context.

Can you identify some of the above in the A.I.’s response? If so, you could try to locate some academic sources that will allow you to remedy some of them. Or if you are not sure how the A.I.’s response falls short yet, locate two sources that speak to your question, read them, and likely they will provide with content to formulate your own explanation that does fill in some gaps.

How to Find Sociological Articles and Academic Sources

When working on your assignment, it’s important to use credible academic sources that provide expert insights on your topic/question. The best place to start is using Sociological Abstracts, which is a database focused on sociology and related social sciences. You can access Sociological Abstracts through UofT’s library:

https://login.library.utoronto.ca/index.php?url=http://search.proquest.com/socabs/advanced?acco untid=14771

The advantages of using this database with your Utorid is that it will give you access to the full text articles you find as UofT has subscriptions to most ofthe journals indexed in this database.

Make sure you click on ‘peer-reviewed’before searching. I would use filters to make sure you are searching for scholarly journals under source type and articles under document type. You would also likely select ‘English’ and other languages you are familiar with under Language filter. I would also start by searching for articles from the last 5-10 years to find more current work.

When you search, use keywords related to your topic/question along with terms that signal sociology: add words like ‘sociology’, ‘social theory’, ‘social structure’, ‘social inequality’, ‘social interaction’, etc to your search terms. I would start by searching for terms in the abstract rather than everywhere to narrow it to sources that are engaging more significantly with your topic. Make sure you click on ‘peer-reviewed’before searching.

Try to start with broad keywords from your topic/question, then add specific sociological terms you are looking for. Use Boolean operators such as AND to combine concepts, OR for synonyms, and NOT to exclude terms. Note that if you use quotations marks it will search for that exact phrase, for example “identity formation” or “mass incarceration” .

You are not reading dozen of articles here. You peruse the search results based on the titles and abstracts. Once you find something that you are excited about based on the titles and abstract, you can download the article to be able to read it. A reminder that you need to locate and make use of at least two outside (ie not course content) academic sources.

Read your sources for a purpose. That purpose is formulating an analysis of your sociological question that goes beyond what the A.I. provided you. Your job isn’t to just to say the A.I. is wrong, but it is show what’s missing, why it matters, how sociological thinking improves or complicates the A.I.’s response. This isn’t about catching an A.I. making mistakes for the sake of it, it’s about learning to think more sociologically than an algorithm can.

Reflect on the Process (Around 200 words)

In a short reflection, consider what you learned from this process, about A.I., about sociology, or about yourself as a thinker. Questions you might consider include: how did your explanation differ from the A.I.’s?; what did the process teach you about how sociologists think?; or what did you notice about your own assumptions or methods?. You do not need to critique the A.I. as ‘right’ or ‘wrong’. Focus instead on what you noticed and how the process made you learn.

References

We are going to use the APA citation style. for this assignment. While the ASA style is more common among sociological writing, the APA is more widely taught and more students will be familiar with it already.

How to Cite A.I. Output

In-Text Citation

When referencing something generated by A.I., treat it as a personal communication, since the content isn’t easily recoverable by others (it’s not published or archived).

Format:

(Name of A.I. tool, personal communication, [Full date])

Example:

The AI explained gender roles using basic functionalist theory (ChatGPT, personal communication, September 30, 2025)

According to ChatGPT (personal communication, September 30, 2025), gender roles serve a stabilizing function in society.

Reference List

Do not include the A.I. tool in the reference list, APA treats this as personal communication, which is only cited in-text.

How to cite traditional academic sources

When using peer-reviewed journal articles, books, or course readings, follow standard APA citation format. Here are common examples:

1-Journal Article (One Author)

Format:

Author, A. A. (Year). Title of article. Title of Journal, volume number(issue number), page range, https://doi.org/xxxxx