SOC * 2760 – Homicide S,F,W (3-0) [0.50]

This course will review legal definitions of homicide, statistical trends in homicide—both in Canada and internationally—and theoretical explanations of homicide. The course will also examine the key criminological/ sociological empirical research studies on the various types of homicide, such as: femicide, familialcide, serial and mass murder. (Offered through Distance Education format only.)


Posted By : Bailey
Posted On : March 7, 2017

Is the textbook recommended by the student? No
Did the student enjoy the professor? No
Professor : Rob Shearer

Comment :
Not a fan of the prof, the course is essentially \"do all of these readings, 30 pages a piece, and do the discussion posts\". He doesn\'t elaborate at all on the readings in the actual course material, and he makes no effort to help prepare students for the RIDICULOUSLY specific midterm (which you also are not given enough time for). The questions for the midterm relied exclusively on the readings, and was based on the smallest detail. When a number of people called him on not having enough time to answer the very specific questions, his response was \"I have put thousands of students through this course and this has never been a problem\", and nothing more was done or said. Also, all of the readings come from outside articles, this is literally the definition of buying the textbook \"for that one paragraph on page 215\". Don\'t bother buying the textbook, get it from a friend. Wouldn\'t really recommend the course, the material is interesting enough but super hard to get through since it is all in long readings.
Recommendation Rating
Overall Difficulty
Posted By : Anonymous
Posted On : March 25, 2011

Comment :
Taking it as a DE course. The "Prof" does nothing to help you succeed in the course. Quite literally it is structured like this: "Read Chapter 11, 12 in textbook, Article 2,3,4 in reader, watch online video" then the midterms were on the stupidest little details that you dont remember from the readings. The prof does nothing to help you prepare for midterms in terms of sample questions, previous midterms etc. Online discussions are easy to do well on just stay on top of them, make good notes and you can do well on the midterms. One of the most frustrating classes in terms of how it's run. Not a fan of reading 100 pages of text every week and making notes on tiny little details. Not hard to get a good mark in it, but it has been my least favourite course I have ever taken to date. Hope you enjoy reading.
Recommendation Rating
Posted By : Anonymous
Posted On : March 11, 2011

Comment :
As a DE course the midterms were rediculously specific and on irrelevant details. If you plan to write it with a friend nearby to help you google you should do fine. The final exam was written and fairly easy. I did well on the course, but it was frustrating at times
Recommendation Rating
Posted By : Anonymous
Posted On : November 30, -0001

Comment :
I had this as a Summer DE with Rob Shearer. He was great with providing support to students and very active with emails and discussion questions. The discussion questions were relevant to the weekly readings. I found the system for submitting posts to be confusing--so make sure you are clear as to what you are supposed to do! Overall I really enjoyed reading the material. The midterm/exam questions asked very detailed questions; As long as you make time to study everything you will do well.
Recommendation Rating
Posted By : Anonymous
Posted On : November 30, -0001

Comment :
This course had a ridiculous amount of reading!! It was unbelievable. Never had so many readings in one class in my life and its only suppose to be an elective for most! I took it DE with Mryna Dawson and her midterms were way too specific. Almost like she thought that this course was the only one that students were enrolled in because the reading amount was intensive. Only good thing about it: interesting topics through all of that reading.
Recommendation Rating