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This course outline is designed for faculty who teach or plan to teach courses on thesis or dissertation research and preparation. The outline below is the result of years of development by several faculty members with many classes and students.

This course outline is designed for faculty who teach or plan to teach courses on thesis or dissertation research and preparation. The outline below is the result of years of development by several faculty members with many classes and students.

Students are expected to be important contributors to the seminar learning process and thus are required to review critically their own work, the work of their peers, and dissertations completed by others. The experience of the authors has been that the overwhelming majority of those who successfully complete the course successfully defend the overview proposal in committee.

RESEARCH SEMINAR DEPARTMENT OF ADMINISTRATIVE AND POLICY STUDIES APS 3090

Term: Fall

Time: 4:30-7:10 Wednesday

Place: 5P51 WWP Hall

Instructor: James Mauch, mauch@pitt.edu

Telephone: 648-7104

Seminar Objective and Content The objective of the instructor is to help students use research as a tool in developing theses and dissertation proposals.The seminar is concerned with the problems of designing and conducting dissertation research. More specifically, the course is designed to assist the student with the following:

1. A critical review of selected studies.

2. Identification of the trends in the body of research to become familiar with current concerns as well as to point out research needs.

3. Identification and formulation of researchable problems.

4. Development of a research design that employs appropriate methodology for dealing with the formulated problem.

5. Experiential learning through a simulated presentation of the overview to a committee comprised of class members and the instructor.

Who Should Take the Course The seminar is appropriate for students who are nearing the end of required graduate study and who are ready to begin serious work on thesis or dissertation proposals. Thus, the instructor assumes that each student

1. Has successfully completed the required courses in research methodology and disciplined inquiry.

2. Has identified a research topic that is acceptable to the research advisor.

3. Has established a schedule that will make it possible to be in frequent contact with the research advisor about the topic as it develops.

4. Has established a schedule that will permit concentrated work over the time of the term, having as a firm goal the completion of the overview proposal in draft form by the end of the seminar.

Evaluation

This seminar is designed for graduate students who are prepared to engage in serious and scholarly preparation of a research proposal.

Students in this course are expected to assume a collegial role, and their substantive and methodological contributions to class discussions and colleagues' work are expected to be substantial, scholarly, and informative.

Given the above, and the fact that grades are required, evaluation will be based partly on the quality and relevance of class contributions, including evidence that members of the class have read, understood, and are able to critique the readings.

Therefore, it should be clear that a commitment is necessary. Student presence and contribution is important and is required for a successful class. Students should not waste the time and money of others by coming to class unprepared or by failing to be present to contribute insight into the work of colleagues. Unexcused absences are evidence of lack of commitment to study. Absences and incomplete work will be part of evaluation and may result in an incomplete or failing grade. If a student cannot make the commitment or is unwilling to undergo the discipline of class requirements, the first meeting of the class is the point at which it is appropriate to drop the class.

Each student will be asked to demonstrate computer proficiency or attend a computer workshop designed to demonstrate the uses of the computer in the development, design, writing , and execution of the proposal. Those who are already computer literate will be expected to learn to use software designed to help write proposals and scholarly papers.

An acceptable research proposal must be submitted before the course is successfully completed. This means that a proposal draft, acceptable to the research advisor, must be submitted to the instructor before a letter grade is awarded.

Text

Mauch, J. E., and Birch, J. W. (1998). Guide to the successful thesis and dissertation (4th ed.). New York : Marcel Dekker.

In addition, each student is asked to have available a style manual acceptable to the university, school, or department. Students will be required to conform to one style manual in completing class assignments. The following style manuals may be used:

American Psychological Association. (2001). Publication manual (5th ed.). Washington , DC : Author.

Turabian, Kate L. (I 996). A manual for writers of term papers , theses and dissertations (6th ed.). Chicago : University of Chicago Press.

Course Assignments

Assignment 1 : Describe your topic to be developed as an overview proposal. It should be one page or less, single spaced. Include name and date, title, problem statement, and proposed methodology. Prepare sufficient copies to be distributed to the class for the discussion. Each seminar participant will provide written comments to the writer of the description. Each person will be given a short period to discuss the project during the seminar and to receive additional feedback from the other participants.

Assignment 2 : Each student will be required to attend a workshop designed to provide experience in using the computer to search the university on-line library catalog, which contains over half a million citations. In addition, during this same class, students will have the opportunity to do computer searching of a bibliographic database programmed for retrieval.

Assignment 3 : Based on comments from class, prepare the introduction and problem chapter of your proposal. This is a draft. Concentrate on writing clearly what you want to tell the reader in three or four pages. Substance and clarity are more important than format. Avoid “big” words; use your own language. Make enough copies for class so all can read and critique.

Assignment 4 : Based on comments from class, continue, as above, with the review of the literature. This could be 20 pages easily, but more important than length is the submission of something for colleagues to review.

Assignment 5 : Review and evaluate three theses or dissertations relevant to the chosen topic. Prepare a written critique of each, one or two pages in length. Be prepared to present this in class. You may find the evaluation Fig. 5-1 on pages 145-147 useful.

Assignment 6 : Based on comments from class, continue as above with the research design.

Assignment 7 : Based on comments from class, continue as above with the preparation of the reference list.

Assignment 8 : Develop a research proposal (overview) to be presented to a simulated overview committee composed of class members. It should be a minimum of 15 pages, maximum of 25. Copies should be available one week prior to the presentation to the committee. Follow the overview outline in the text. Each student will be assigned to serve as a research advisor and as a committee member for other students. Research topics should also be discussed with student advisors as soon as possible.

Assignment 9 : Review of the literature, research design, and bibliography. When the parts have been put together, revised, and shared with the research advisor, they become the draft overview. The dates of assignments may vary with the scheduling of instructional resources.

RESEARCH SEMINAR SCHEDULE

Class	Meeting dates	Content/assignments
1	8/27	Introduction, objectives, assignments. Read Chapters 1 and 2 for next class. Begin library search for Assignment 5.
2	9/3	Description of proposed research. Assignment 1 due. Read Chapters 3 and 4 for next class.
3	9/10	Research sources. Assignment 2.
4	9/17	Introduction and problem statement. Assignment 3. Chapter 5.
5	9/24	Review of the literature. Assignment 4. Chapter 6.
6	10/1	Dissertation critique. Assignment 5. Chapter 7.
7	10/8	Critiques, continued. Assignment 5. Chapter 8.
8	10/15	Research design. Assignment 6. Chapter 9
9.	10/22	Reference list. Assignment 7. Chapter 10
10	10/29	Completion of draft research proposal to share with class. Assignment 8.
11	7/5	Assignment 9, simulated overviews: 1.______________ 2.______________
12	11/12	1.______________ 2.______________
13	11/19	1.______________ 2.______________
14	12/3	1.______________ 2.______________
15	12/10	Class evaluation and review.