HC 407H Thesis Seminar--Bishop, Fall 2004

Class hours: Fridays, 10 am to noon.

Office hours: Tuesday 2:00 to 3:30 pm, and Thursday, 2:00 to 4:30 pm
Telephone: 346-0733 click here for Bishop e-mail

NEWS! Beginning in November, new Knight Library Honors College liaison Eliz Breakstone will hold office hours weekly in the Honors College library!

She's ready to help you with library resources for your thesis work. Her e-mail is ebreak@darkwing.uoregon.edu, and her phone is 346-2689

PLEASE NOTE: The last week for defending your Honors College thesis is the week of MAY 23, 2005, as per Thesis Manual, online. See Pat in the main Honors College office as soon as you can to schedule your oral defense.

Requirements | Link to sign-up sheet | Format reviewers

(Top of page)

Purpose: The purposes of the thesis seminar are

  1. to crack open the thesis process by immersing ourselves in our research, being mindful of the challenges and opportunities facing the writer/researcher
  2. to meet the challenge of working on a long-term project (making schedules, meeting deadlines, building in revision time, handling uncertainty)
  3. to certify a good working relationship between student and advisor,
  4. to articulate the thesis topic for non-specialists,
  5. to sharpen the focus of the thesis (perhaps narrowing the topic, adjusting methodology, even changing your mind),
  6. to locate and fill in gaps, and
  7. to use the dynamism of the Honors College community to accomplish the above.

Goal: the goals of the senior seminar are (1) to produce, at the end of the term, a stellar prospectus and annotated bibliography, (2) to have your thesis advisor approve the final draft of your prospectus by signing it, and (3) to "test-drive" your research plan and practice your presentation skills in front of a well-informed audience.

Your plan to meet these goals should already be underway. Either at your prospectus defense, or before the end of the term, your thesis advisor must approve your prospectus (form counts! see the online thesis manual) by signing it. Once the prospectus is complete (i's dotted, t's crossed, appropriately signed) you will give me one copy of it, and another copy you'll give to the main office to process for your Honors College file. ALL PAPERWORK DUE NO LATER than the THURSDAY OF EXAM WEEK--NO EXCEPTIONS. Earlier is always better.

Things to help:

Consult the thesis manual online: go to http://honors.uoregon.edu/students/thesis/

We have a library specialist for Honors College students. Her name is Elizabeth Breakstone, and her e-mail is ebreak@darkwing.uoregon.edu. She just arrived in Eugene from the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, which has a heck of a library as well as a great library school. She would be delighted to work with you on your research.

Think about what constitutes constructive criticism. As you've already learned in your Honors College classes, critique is a good thing. We learn more if we push our thinking, and often our thinking gets pushed when we locate--and sometimes answer--new questions. The ways we ask and answer questions reveal a lot about our attitudes towards research, our abilities to think through an issue, our suppositions about challenge. The goal of public speaking in the Honors College is "argument in the public space." We all (me too!) ought to think about trying to find the right balance of sympathy and precision in order to make our public communications especially effective. Remember that defenseness never plays well, and listening skills pay off in the long run.

As already indicated, our thesis manual is now available online. For the purposes of the thesis seminar, pay special attention to "Writing the Prospectus.". (Top of page)

Requirements:

 

The traits of a good speaker:

Good posture

Interest in subject

Strong eye contact Caring attitude
Self-confidence Sense of humor
Enthusiasm Appropriate gestures
Vocal variety Interest in audience

 

Grading: The senior seminar is a P/NP course, and a passing grade is based on attendance, on-time performance, and completed assignments. No student can pass this course without successful completion of satisfactory prospectus and submission of appropriate forms to the Honors College office. Additionally, a student who acquires 10 demerits will not pass the course.

Each unexcused absence = 4 demerits

Each unprepared critique = 1 demerit

Each late arrival to class = 1 demerit
Don't be late

Unprepared or inadequate format review = 1 demerit


Weekly schedule (link to sign-up sheets)

Week 1 (October 1): Introduction: assignment outline, "What I did on my summer vacation" exercise, sign-up for prospectus presentation

Week 2 (October 8): Due: Provisional summary of prospectus (a few paragraphs) with advisor's name and phone number; presentation schedule finalized, complete "What I did on my summer vacation" exercise

Weeks 3 through 8 (October 15 through November 18) and Week 10: Presentation of prospectuses

| Presentation Schedule

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