1. Students should focus on displaying accurate and in-depth knowledge and understanding of sociological concepts, theories, and studies in their exam answers rather than simply listing ideas. 2. To demonstrate understanding, students must structure their knowledge, provide evidence to support points, ensure coherence and logical connections between ideas. 3. The document provides strategies for students to develop and demonstrate their sociological knowledge, including using concepts from their "toolbox", creating synoptic links charts, comparative analysis tables, and other visualization techniques.

1. Literacy in Sociology Guidance Notes #1
KNOWLEDGE & UNDERSTANDING
Issues to consider
What sociological knowledge do you have and how well do you understand it? Too often, examiners are
concerned with the way students just throw everything they know at an answer, and in fact the way they use
it suggests that they do not really know what it means and they don’t understand its relevance. For many this
is presenting ideas in a list-like manner and being so implicit that the point being offered may as well have not
been there. Knowledge is of course the AO1 part of assessment criteria which is all about
Strategies for displaying this skill
1. Look at the assessment criteria for AO1
AS A2
Assessment Knowledge and understanding of the Knowledge and understanding of the
theories, methods, concepts theories, methods, concepts and of
Objectives and of the links between them. the links between them.
Communication of knowledge and Communication of knowledge and
understanding in a clear and effective understanding in a clear and effective
manner. manner.
A/B boundary Accurate knowledge and understanding Students demonstrate full, detailed,
of a range of sociological theories, accurate and wide-ranging knowledge
performance methods and concepts, supported by and understanding of sociological
descriptors evidence theories, methods and concepts and the
connections between them, citing
Appropriate material is presented in a wideranging evidence
logical, accurate and coherent manner,
with few errors of grammar, punctuation Sociological material is presented in a
and spelling. logical and coherent manner, where
spelling, grammar and punctuation are
largely accurate.
D/E boundary A basic knowledge and understanding of Students demonstrate a basic knowledge
sociological theories, methods and and understanding of sociological
performance concepts with limited evidence theories, methods and concepts, with
descriptors some limited evidence of understanding
Some sociological material presented with of the connections between them,
limited coherence and some errors of supported by some evidence
grammar, punctuation and spelling.
Some sociological material is presented
that displays a basic structure with
limited coherence and some errors of
grammar,punctuation and spelling.

2. So underpinning a strong performance with ‘Knowledge and understanding’ we need to be aiming for
the following:
Accuracy with points,
Range of points,
Structure,
Evidence to support points structure,
Coherence (being clear)
Connections (synopticity and serendipity)
2.Think beyond sociology
How would you answer this question?
‘Social Networking is damaging relationships in real life’. Discuss.
An initial ‘ideas shower’ (I hate that phrase) would probably include thngs like:
What is social networking?
What forms of social networking are there?
How do people use social networking?
In what ways can social networking harm relationships? Why?
Can you think of any examples (from real life or the media) to support this claim?
What is good about social networking?
And from here points will be added to each of these with explanations with relevant support.
Sociology answers are no different to this – you could only put an answer together on social networking if
you knew what it was…hence the ability to discuss and explain it. But the problem in sociology is that too
often, students approach an answer without considering the knowledge or how to explain it. They
sometimes just try to use lots of names and studies and hope that this will deliver the goods.
Let’s go back to the social networking question to illustrate this point.
‘Social networking is all about Facebook, Twitter, Myspace. It is about the internet and mobile phones.
There are lots of computers out there such as Dell, Toshiba and HP. Some people have Apple Macs. There
are lots of phones too that people can use for social networking like Nokia, HTC, Blackberry, iphone etc…’
The point being made here is that this may appear relevant, and in some ways it is – but mainly it is a list
of stuff that is related to the issue – and answer can be just like this.
So how can we try and tune ourselves into the essence of what sociology is all about?

3. 3.The toolbox
There are a number of things that we have in our sociology toolbox. These are the things that enable us to
do our job in analysing and understanding society and social phenomena. We can break them down into a
number of categories to help us focus on them (this is not an extensive list).
Concepts
Theories
Empirical studies
Social Processes
Research Methods
We need to draw upon these in our written work when constructing our answers. When approaching a topic
we need to break it down into these to help us know what to draw upon.For simplicity’s sake I am covering
social processes within concepts, theories and studies have been blending also.
Let’s look at an example –Functionalist explanations for working class underachievement:
Key knowledge Specifics from topic
Concepts Cultural deprivation, socialisation, values, fatalism, immediate
gratification, parental interest, future-oriented, language codes
Theories& studies Hyman, Sugarman, Douglas, Feinstein, Bernstein (although technically a Neo-
Marxist)
Research Methods Longitudinal studies, surveys
If we do this we focus ourselves on the essentials for exploring this issue.
Where possible – consolidate your notes regularly in summary diagrams, mindmaps or evaluation charts. It
just helps your head stay on top of the sub-parts of topics (and helps you draw upon the right stuff in
answers).
4.Glossaries of key terms
All the key textbooks carry glossaries. Use them. When you come across a new concept, jot down a
definition of it.

4. 5.Synopticity
Some key concepts you can do a synoptic links chart to consider its place in different contexts
Concepts Families Education Crime/Deviance Religion
Socialisation
Social control
Labelling process
Correspondence
principle
By doing this, you can reinforce understanding of a concept as well as enabling you to think across topics
where synoptic links are demanded.
6.CATS (Comparative Analysis Tables)
This is a useful strategy for looking at different concepts/arguments and comparing different perspectives.
There is more on this in an article I wrote on Active Learning for Sociology Review (Volume 8, Number 1,
September 1998).
The template is a simple one to follow, but it encourages you to consolidate your knowledge and understanding
of material (and subtly develop the A02 skills also). It is good to focus each CAT on a specific topic (rather than
the whole course).
CAT: Explanations of Crime and Deviance
Issue Functionalist Subcultural Marxist Labelling
Explaining social
class and crime
The link between
deviance and power
Usefulness of
official statistics
The role of the
police and agencies
of social control
Exercises like this enable you to ‘locate’ where concepts/studies etc fit into the bigger picture.

5. For revision, you can cut up the different cells in this table and try and match them to their original home –
make you think about their meaning and strengthen understanding.
7.The Field of words
This is a simple technique to help you check your understanding and also act as a checklist of key concepts.
The example below highlights how the central box is used to store all the key concepts, which then have to be
matched to the definitions surrounding the central box.
Once you have matched these, try and find links between the different concepts by drawing arrows between
them (with an explanation along the arrow of the link). You can also extend outwards and illustrations or
evaluation points of each concept..there are so many possibilities.
There is a full size version of this on my ‘Field of Words’ template resource online too.
Final note
Overall, the above are just a number of ideas to help you to develop your conceptual understanding and to plan
the knowledge content of answers to reveal understanding and offer a degree of depth in answers.