HC 477H Thesis prospectus--Bishop, Fall 2007

Class hours: Wednesday, 8:00 am to 9:00 am; Office hours: Monday and Wednesday 2:00 pm to 4:00 pm (sign-up sheets on office door for the entire term; make an appointment if these hours don't work); Telephone: 346-0733; click here for Bishop e-mail. 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: We'll be using Blackboard to post prospectuses and write comments.

Requirements | Sign-up sheet/presentation schedule | Format reviewers

Requirements:

• As presenter:

  Arrange for your thesis advisor to attend your presentation. Be respectful in your request. Your seminar presentation requires your advisor's attendance, but faculty may have commitments during our class hours. Politely ask your director whether early Wednesday morning works with his/her schedule, and find out whether there are particular weeks to avoid. Please talk with me if your advisor has a scheduling conflict. N.B.(an abbreviation that means "nota bene," take good note): communication with your thesis advisor is paramount for success throughout the thesis process.
  
  Sign up for presentation date this term (weeks three through ten). Unfortunately, Blackboard does not support such scheduling, so I'll bring a sign-up sheet to the first class and we'll complete the sign-up through e-mail.

  Arrange for any AV equipment for your scheduled prospectus defense: check with CHC techs one week before your presentation to be sure you have all equipment. The CHC tech phone is 346-0126; their e-mail is chctech@uoregon.edu. Powerpoint presentations are not required. Get a sense, through conversation with your thesis director, whether your discipline routinely uses Powerpoint.

  Distribute copies of prospectus via Blackboard, using the "Discussion Board" function no later than 5:00 PM on FRIDAY-- yes, Friday -- before your thesis presentation. That's two days of grace over the prior, paper-distribution deadline.

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

  Read and critique each week's prospectuses before noon on TUESDAY.Write detailed critiques of each propectus on the Blackboard Discussion Board and prepare questions for the presenter. Each presentation will have a lead-off questioner; everyone must serve once as lead-off questioner. (Top of page) Each student will also 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) in advance of his/her producing the final copy to be handed in.
  

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 the graduation audit form. Additionally, a student who acquires 10 demerits will not pass the course.

Each unexcused absence = 4 demerits	Each late critique = 1 demerit
Each late arrival to class = 1 demerit Don't be late	Late posting of prospectus on Blackboard = 4 demerits

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 "test-drive" your research plan and practice your presentation skills in front of a well-informed audience, (3) to have your thesis advisor approve the final draft of your prospectus by signing it, and (4) to have met with your Honors College advisor or me before the end of the term and completed this form, to be sure you're on track to graduate.

Your plan to meet these goals should already be underway. Once your format reviewer has reviewed the prospectus and its bibliography and you have produced the final copy of it, your thesis advisor must approve your prospectus by signing that final copy. N.B.: Some faculty leave town before exam week, so DON'T WAIT 'TIL EXAM WEEK to obtain a signature. Give me one copy of your SIGNED prospectus and the completed graduation audit no later than the Friday of exam week. You can, of course, provide these things earlier than exam week if your review and edits are complete and your advisor has signed the final copy. Note that form counts! See the online thesis manual and the example theses, filed by discipline, in the Honors College lounge file cabinet.

ALL PAPERWORK (signed prospectus and graduation audit form) DUE NO LATER than the FRIDAY OF EXAM WEEK--NO EXCEPTIONS. Earlier is always better.

Things to help:

The traits of a good speaker:

Consult the thesis manual online: go to http://honors.uoregon.edu/curriculum/thesis/. For the purposes of the thesis seminar, pay special attention to "Writing the Prospectus." We can avoid scheduling presentations during finals week IF we fill up each slot in our regular eight weeks. (Top of page)

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.

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

Knight Library Honors College liaison is Elizabeth Peterson, <emp@uoregon.edu> and telephone 346-3047. She is ready to help you with library resources for your thesis work. (Top of page)

Weekly schedule (link to sign-up sheet)

Week 1 (September 26): Introduction: assignment outline, Kris Kirkeby info, speaking exercise, sign-up for prospectus presentation

Week 2 (October 3): Class at 8:45 am with short presentation by Kris Kirkeby and prospectus presentation by Hasina Cohen

Weeks 3 through 10 (October 10 through November 28): Distribution and presentation of prospectuses, as per schedule.

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