HC 477H Thesis Seminar--Bishop, Winter 2005

Class hours: Thursday, 4:00 pm to 6:00 pm.

Office hours: Tuesday 3:30 pm to 5:50 pm, and Thursday, 11:30 am to 1:30 pm (except on Thurs, Feb 17)
Telephone: 346-0733 click here for Bishop e-mail

NOTE Knight Library Honors College liaison Eliz Breakstone will hold office hours weekly in the Honors College library!

• Tuesdays, 2:00 to 4:00 pm,
• Wednesdays, 10:00 am to noon.

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

Class cancellation notice: In the event of inclement weather and class cancellation (unlikely; I live within walking distance of the university), please call my office phone number: 346-0733. If class is cancelled the greeting message will so state.

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 | Presentation Schedule

(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, (3) to "test-drive" your research plan and practice your presentation skills in front of a well-informed audience, and (4) to have met with your Honors College advisor to be sure you're on course for graduation--see the initial thesis form HERE which you will complete and turn in to me before the end of the term.

Your plan to meet these goals should already be underway. Once the prospectus is complete (i's dotted, t's crossed, appropriately signed), your thesis advisor must approve your prospectus (form counts! see the online thesis manual) by signing it. DON'T WAIT 'TIL FINALS WEEK to obtain this signature; some faculty leave town during finals week. You will give me one copy of your prospectus, and another copy you'll give to the main office to process for your Honors College file. ALL PAPERWORK (signed prospectus, "initial thesis form") 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. See above.

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, and 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:

• Due Thursday, January 13: a provisional summary of your prospectus (a few paragraphs, typed double-spaced). Be sure to include advisor's name and e-mail address/telephone number. You can include in this draft your thoughts, worries, comments about the thesis process itself.
• Due at your scheduled prospectus defense (or earlier): your thesis information form (find the form HERE) which includes a checklist, signed by your HC advisor, verifying that you're on the road to graduation. Complete this form as early as you can: your faculty's office hours are less busy at the beginning of the term--in other words, don't wait til the end of the term.
• Due by the Thursday of finals week: two copies of your SIGNED prospectus, one for me and one for the main HC office (see Pat) You can, of course, provide these things earlier than finals week.
• As presenter:

  Sign up for presentation date this term (weeks three through ten)

  Arrange for your thesis advisor to attend your presentation. N.B.: communication with your thesis advisor is paramount for success throughout the thesis process. Your seminar presentation requires your advisor's attendance. Please talk with me if your advisor has a scheduling conflict.

  Distribute copies of prospectus ONE WEEK BEFORE PRESENTATION (hard-copy required, please, since we will all be commenting on your text and returning it to you).

• As audience (the following is the responsibility of EACH STUDENT for EACH CLASS):

  Read and critique each week's prospectuses BEFORE CLASS.

  Write detailed critiques (you may write these directly on the prospectus copy itself). Each critiqued prospectus, signed by the critic, will be given to the presenter after I've eyeballed them for satisfying the requirement.

  Serve as a format reviewer. Click here for the list of format reviewer pairs. Provided with an article from the main journal in the presenter's field or with a style manual, you will go over the format of your partner's prospectus with a fine-toothed comb (details count), noting all discrepancies.

  Ask questions of the presenter. Prepare some questions in advance. (Top of page)

• Each presentation will have a lead-off questioner; everyone must serve once as lead-off questioner.

  How to ask good questions (with thanks to Prof Schuman):
  --Be sure you have the speaker's attention
  --Orient the audience to the area in which you'll be questioning the speaker.
  -- Frame your question and choose how specific an answer you're seeking. Open-ended questions are alright, but conversation may move more effectively with more specific, framed questions.

• In anwering a question, you may restate the question for clarity's sake. See if the questioner agrees with your restatement; get further clarification if necessary.
  

The traits of a good speaker:

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 sheet)

Week 1 (January 6): Introduction: assignment outline, speaking exercise, sign-up for prospectus presentation

Week 2 (January 13): Due: Provisional summary of prospectus (a few paragraphs) with advisor's name and phone number. More importantly, a two-hour WORKSHOP

One of the primary reasons students drop out of the Honors College is the perception that the completion of a thesis is enormously difficult and not pertinent to future aspirations. Indeed, despite the hard work that students put into completing their theses, the process--especially its end--may seem anti-climatic. However, the completion of a thesis provides students with more advantages than they might initially recognize, whether they plan to pursue graduate education or not. This two-hour workshop, "Using your thesis to reach your post-graduate goals," led by Clarice Wilsey, career specialist at the University of Oregon Career center, answers these misconceptions. Sponsored by the CHC Internship and Mentorship Program in conjunction with the UO Career Center, the workshop helps students conceptualize and use their thesis projects to meet a variety of future goals.

Weeks 3 through 10 (January 20 through March 10): Presentation of prospectuses

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