course.goals
materials
assignments
grading & attendance
ethics
disability
last.updated
8.5.11
instructor
kevin eric depew
office bal 4042
phone 757.683.4019
e.mail kdepew@odu.edu
web.page http://www.odu.edu/~kdepew
im kerdepew
skype k.e.depew
office
hours w 3-4, & by appointment
quick
links
calendar
google docs
blackboard
(email, collaboration, and readings)
resources
The Dissertation Seminar is designed to help students transition between course work and the final stages of the doctoral program, including the candidacy exam, the prospectus and the dissertation. During the first half of the course, you will examine the fields of studies you plan to work within, understand their epistemologies, and begin to explore how your dissertation project will converse with this. For the second half of the class you will use a post-process approach to understand the genre and rhetorical expectations of your dissertation as you compose the prospectus for this project.
prerequisites
Completion of or near completion of (i.e., no more than one course remaining) your course work
course.materials
Destination
Dissertation: A Traveler's Guide To a Done Dissertation
Sonja K. Foss, William Waters
Southern Illinois University Press (April 1, 1990)
ISBN: 0742554406
Other supplemental readings will be made available from...
Writing Opportunities: Throughout the semester you will have two writing opporunities that will help you examine and write about 1) the current state of the fields you want to work within and 2) how a dissertation is composed in your field of study. Because you will share these with two other students who are in similar fields, you will have an opportunity to see and discuss an expanded understanding of the field and the rhetorical expectations of the dissertation projects.
Preproposal: The preproposal serves two purposes. First, it helps you focus yourself as you move through the prospectus drafting process. Second, it is a document you can share with your commitee members to solicit direction and prospective committee members to invite them to particpate on your committee.
Candidacy Exam: You will have 72 hours to competently compose three eight to ten page essays on your field, the proposed methodology of your dissertation, and the content of your dissertation.
Prospectus: All doctoral students will have to compose and defend a prospectus, or dissertation proposal, before they move to the dissertation phase of the program. After learning the generic expectations of a dissertation in your field, you will compose a 10-20 single space proposal that explains the problem your project will address, the research questions that will guide your inquiry, the precedence for your inquiry and what you will do to answer your questions.
This course is evaluated on a Pass/Fail scale. There are three criteria for passing the class.
- Passing the Candidacy Exam
- Attending 6 of the 8 course meetings
- Submitting all of the required work
- you
are allowed the equivalent of the two absences, excused or unexcused.
More than two absences will result in failing the course. The
following criteria is used to determine equivalency:
- being late to class will be marked as a tardy and noted when your final grade is tallied.
- students who miss between fifteen and eighty minutes will receive a half-absence
- students who miss more than eighty minutes will receive a full absence
Attendance will be taken by sight. Choosing not to participate in a 800 level class is not an option.
As per the University's Honor Code, you must do your own original work in this class–and appropriately identify that portion of your work which is collaborative with others, or which is borrowed from others, which is your own work from other contexts. Whenever you borrow graphics, quote passages, or use ideas from others, you are legally and/or ethically obliged to acknowledge that use, following appropriate conventions for documenting sources. In this class, the most serious form of academic dishonesty is to recycle another individual's major project under your own name.
If you have doubts about whether or not you are using your own or others' writing ethically and legally, ask the instructor. Follow this primary principle: If in doubt, ask. Be up front and honest about what you are doing and about what you have contributed to an assignment.
If you have a documented disability, make sure you register with The Office of Educational Accessibility (757. 683.4655). Once you do so, feel free to talk to me about any special accommodations that you may need to fulfill the requirements of this course.
At the end of the semester, you will have an opportunity to evaluate the instructor and the course. This is very important for helping the instructor and the department assess the course. Please take the time at the end of the semester to do these online evaluations.