Writing in UTM Sociology

This study investigates how two recent developments—the mandatory first-year writing course ISP100 and the widespread availability of generative AI (GenAI) tools—are reshaping undergraduate writing practices in UTM's Sociology Department. ISP100 is a first year course that introduces students to the fundamentals of academic writing. By examining these parallel changes, we aim to understand their combined impact on student writing development and academic success.

 

Our inquiry centres on students in Sociology and Criminology, Law, and Society (CLS) majors. However, both ISP100 and GenAI are omnipresent for students outside of our programs as well, and therefore these results offer insights for the broader UTM community.

 

This is a mixed-methods study that combines three complementary data sources over two project phases. The project involves the assistance of two graduate student research assistants and two undergraduate research assistants. 

 

Phase One (2025): The first phase of the project focuses on GenAI use and blends two sources of data. The first is the 2025 wave of Peel Social Lab Survey of students enrolled in SOC100. The 2025 wave included questions about student use of GenAI. The data are paired with focus groups and interviews with students enrolled in a Sociology or Criminology, Law and Society major or specialist program. Questions focused on student use of GenAI in terms of frequency and types of tasks, attitudes towards GenAI use (their own or their peers’). Both sets of data are available in the PSL data repository. 

 

Phase Two (2026-2027): The second phase focuses on the impacts of ISP100 and is a collaborative project with ISUP (the unit at UTM that delivers ISP100). The goal is to learn more about the effect that completion of ISP100 has on students' writing skills in SOC221, a required research methods course in Sociology that includes a great deal of writing. This study aims to determine whether students who take ISP100 learn core writing concepts, overcome common obstacles to transfer, and apply their writing-related knowledge and skills in another course. This project focuses specifically on the literature review, as this is a standard writing task in the social sciences that builds upon a series of interrelated skills taught in SOC221 tutorials. Coders will engage in a textual analysis of literature reviews against a rubric, comparing students with and without the ISP100 course credit. This data will not be available in the PSL data repository because there is risk of re-identification of de-identified work.