Teaching and Resources

Sociology of Education in Comparative Perspectives

Culture and Mobility: Debunk Myths of Ethnic/Racial Culture

Introduction to Asian American Studies: A Sociological Perspective

Global and Transnational Sociology: A Tale of Two Superpowers

Courses Taught Independently

Global and Transnational Sociology: A Tale of Two Superpowers (Spring 2026)

Please feel free to shoot me an email if you’re interested in getting my syllabus for these courses!

Learning Resources for Students

• How to critically and effectively engage with academic readings?

During my academic training, I benefited from guidance for many good teachers. I collected two major approaches to grasp academic readings.

• Questions to guide your reading

1. What is/are the key questions?
2. Who is the announced or implied audience? 
3. What theory serves as the writer’s guide to action?
4. What methods does the writer use? 
5. What evidence does the writer use? 
6. What are the arguments? In other words, how does the writer use the theory, method, and evidence to propose answers or make claims? 
7. What works for you?

*Adapted from Professor Ruth Wilson Gilmore, USC

• The process of active reading: step by step  

1. Preview the piece: read the heading, skim the intro and conclusion, ask yourself what materials are familiar to you, and try to associate them with what you already know. During this stage of reading, you might want to ask yourself, why did the author write this piece? What is the question? What is the conclusion? 
2. Make notes of key quotes. Specifically, we pay attention to two types of key quotes. The first type summarizes the key points in a single sentence. The second type is intriguing and confusing. You can bring those quotes to the class discussion. Make a note about it, what page, and what you see in those quotes. 
3. Write notes on the margin. Three kinds of notes that you can take. First, you can summarize the important points in a brief note. Second, you can make notes on your reactions to certain texts. Third, a question note. When you don’t understand something, you can force yourself to articulate a question. 
4. Make an outline. It helps you to organize and present your thoughts.  

*Developed by Professor Smitha Radhakrishnan, Wellesley College

 

• A quick guide of reference management softwares: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tnbwKj6-pD8 I personally use Zotero, so I picked the one on Zotero but you can also explore other choices, such as Mendeley. These softwares can help you to manage references by creating different folders, labels, and links. They can also generate reference lists using different citation styles easily!