Scholars Program Senior Thesis Colloquium
Contact Information:
- email (kcjohnson9@gmail.com)
- cell (207-329-8456)
- office hours: T/Th, 3.30-4.30, Whitehead 501
Course Requirements:
- Attendance and participation (15%): Attendance is mandatory for this course. Participation is also essential to this seminar. Your informed response to assigned readings, class discussion, and your colleagues’ ideas is vital to the success of everyone in the room. The autobiographical statement (due 8 September) is part of the participation assignment.
- Research log (5%): The research log should record how you are researching (e.g. which search terms in which database), what you are finding (notes from these resources), and your reflections or inspirations (or problems) as you go along. Your weekly log should be emailed to me each Sunday, by 11.59pm, each week of the semester except for 4 September and 2 October. (Your 9 October log should cover everything you’ve done for the previous 14 days.)
- Annotated bibliography (20%): This assignment will allow you to determine the key issues, debates, and approaches relevant to your chosen topic, and to position your ideas into broader scholarly debates.
- Research proposal (10%): See the Honors Academy Handbook for Research for more detailed instructions; the research proposal should outline the key questions you will pursue, sources you will use, and structure your thesis will take.
- Presentation (20%): At the end of the semester, you will be asked to make a formal (5-7 minute) presentation on your research topic.
- Written assignments, including thesis chapter (30%): The chapter will be the culmination of this semester’s work, and is due at end of term. This assignment includes the draft, the completed introduction, and two position papers.
Due Dates:
- 8 September: autobiographical statement
- 27 September: position paper
- 6 October: draft thesis proposal
- 11 October: thesis proposal
- 25 October: draft annotated bibliography
- 1 November: annotated bibliography
- 8 November: draft position paper
- 10 November: position paper
- 22 November: draft introduction
- 4 December: chapter draft
- 20 December: chapter/introduction
All due dates are final. Except for documented family or medical emergencies, no extensions will be given. All papers should be submitted to me via email, at the address above. All assignments also should be submitted to your advisor.
Required Text:
Course Schedule:
August 30: Introduction
September 1: Envisioning the Thesis
September 6: In-class presentation: Institutional Review Board & Oral History (Prof. Napoli)
Review IRB requirements before class.
September 8: Approaches to Research Problems
- Reading: Craft of Research, Prologue, Chapters 1-3, pp. 273-6.
Autobiographical Statement due: 2-3 pages. Your statement should focus on how your personal background and intellectual interests have led to your research area. Please speculate on ways to connect with your readers (chapter 2) and indicate what your key questions are at this point (chapter 3).
Submit the paper to me (via e-mail), your advisor, and post in comments section on website.
Here’s the link to all the autobiographical statements.
September 13- 15: Individual Meetings with instructor
Sign up for time slot in-class.
September 20: Research Skills & the College Library
- We’ll meet at Library Room 120 for this class.
September 22: Research Day
- Use extra time for your research. I will have extended office hours for drop-bys.
September 27: In class workshop—position papers
- Reading: Craft of Research, chapters 4-6, and appendix (as relevant for your area).
Position Paper due: 2-3 pages. Indicate your research question and then choose 2-3 relevant sources, provide tentative bibliographical data for each, and engage with the sources as shown in Chapter 6 in light of your research questions. Submit the paper to me (via e-mail), and bring a hard copy to class; be prepared to discuss your findings to the class.
September 29: No class—college closed
October 4: No class—transition day
October 6: In-class workshop: thesis proposal
- Reading: Craft of Research, chapters 7-8.
Draft of proposal due: 2-3 pages. Indicate your working claim and outline the main reasons that will support it. Discuss the evidence you will use to support your conclusions, and their significance. Submit the draft to me (via e-mail), and bring a hard copy to class; be prepared to discuss your findings to the class.
October 11: Thesis Proposal due (via e-mail), along with indication of approval from your advisor.
October 11-3: Individual Meetings with instructor
10.45: Pamela B
11.00: Igor
11.15: Jacqueline
11.30: Myrodati
11.45: Juliane
12.00: Sunny
2.30: Mariana
3.15: Joe
4.00 Daniel
Thurs, 12.30: Ricky
12.45: Liz P
1.00: Jessica
1.30: Anup
1.45: Lizzie
3.15: Sabine
3.30: Rianna
3.45: Sherine
4.00: Fatima
6.30: Jennifer
6.45: Isabel
Sign up for time in-class.
October 18: In-class presentation: Scholars Program graduates
October 20: Research Day
Use extra time for your research. I will have extended office hours for drop-bys.
October 25: In-class workshop: annotated bibliography
Draft of Annotated Bibliography due: 10 sources minimum. In addition to designating the source’s thesis, annotations should respond to the source’s key arguments in relation to your topic. Submit the draft to me (via e-mail), and bring a hard copy to class; be prepared to discuss your findings to the class.
October 27-November 3: Research Days
Use extra time for your research. I will have extended office hours for drop-bys. Annotated bibliography due by 1 November.
November 8: In-class workshop: Position Paper
- Reading: Craft of Research, Chapter 11
Draft of position paper due: 5-7 pages. Outline three of your major claims. Submit the draft to me (via e-mail), and bring a hard copy to class; be prepared to discuss your findings to the class.
November 10: Position paper due (via e-mail)
Research Day : Use extra time for your research. I will have extended office hours for drop-bys.
2.00: Juliane
2.15: Jessica
2.30: Sunny
2.45: Marina
3.30: Jackie
4.00: Igor
November 15-7: Individual Meetings with instructor
Sign up for times in-class.
11-15
2.45: Ricky
3.00: Myrodati
3.15: Rianna
3.30: Daniel
4.00: Joe
11-17:
1.00: Pamela
1.15: isabel
1.30: Anup
1.45: Lizzie
2.00: Sabine
4.00: Fatima
6.30: Jen
November 22: In-class workshop: Working Introduction
- Reading: Craft of Research, Chapters 12-13
Draft Introduction due. Bring in 4-part working introduction (see chapter 12) for peer review in class.
November 24: No class—Thanksgiving
November 29: Individual presentations:
Isabel
Sabine
Pamela
December 1: Individual presentations
Igor
Jackie
Rianna
Daniel
December 6: Individual presentations
Juliane
Jessica
Anup
Sherine
December 6: Individual presentations
Fatima
Myrodati
Lizzie
Jen
December 13: Individual presentations
Joe
Ricky
Sunny
Liz
E-mail chapter draft to me and to assigned partner no later than 11.59pm, on 4 December; be prepared to discuss your findings to the class.
December 20 @ 11.59pm: Chapter and draft introduction (20-25pp.) due, via e-mail
Accessibility
In order to receive disability-related academic accommodations you must first be registered with the Center for Student Disability Services. Students who have a documented disability or suspect they may have a disability are invited to set up an appointment with the Director of the Center for Student Disability Services at 718-951-5538. The Center is located at 138 Roosevelt Hall.
Plagiarism and Academic Misconduct
“Academic Dishonesty is prohibited in the City University of New York and is punishable by penalties, including failing grades, suspension, and expulsion, as provided herein.”
– CUNY Policy on Academic Integrity. Adopted by the Board of Trustees 6/28/2004
Please go to <http://www.brooklyn.cuny.edu/bc/policies/> for further information about the CUNY Policy on Academic Integrity.
Course Objectives
Upon successful completion of this year-long course, you will have:
- facility in reading, summarizing, and evaluating a variety of texts that provide material for your research project
- the capacity to pose a research question and to imagine and implement methods address this question, including finding credible library and electronic sources
- competence in crafting arguments using supportive evidence and logic
- proficiency in the use of quotations, paraphrases, and appropriate documentation for scholarly publication
- capacity to present your ideas effectively orally
- a talent for engaging in intellectual conversation about wide variety of topics and academic disciplines
- skills to give useful and respectful feedback to colleagues on their thinking, writing, and oral presentations
Pamela Branch
SPCM 3185 Autobiographical Statement
Learning how people conform or go against the dominant ideas of society has always interest me. For other research classes, I’ve focused on minorities and how they are negatively portrayed in the media through stereotypes. However, I learned that it’s not only ethnic minorities who have negative stereotypes. Homosexuals are seen as foreign objects that don’t quite fit into society and the norms of everyday life. I wanted to focus more on how they form their identity as a homosexual and how it may contradict society standards of what men and women should be.
I became aware and made contact of a gay male when I was in high school. He was one of my closest friends and was always depressed, because he felt no one would accept him because of his sexuality. My friend was afraid that his family wouldn’t understand and would shun him, so he kept his sexuality a secret. It wasn’t until he came out as a gay male, that everything was easier for him. He felt comfortable with his sexuality and learned that his real friends would support his decision to be gay, regardless of their religion and other beliefs. From this experience, I wanted to learn how and why homosexuals learn from a young age to be fearful and ashamed of their sexuality. How do children know if they are gay and at what age? Why do they have to keep everything a secret to make others feel comfortable around them? Do they feel like they have to emulate homosexuals that are on sitcoms like Will and Grace or soap operas like All My Children? These questions lead to my other set of ideas that I would like to research for my paper, such as what is the true definition of homosexuality, who determines whose gay or not? Are heterosexuals defining who’s gay and how they should act through representations in media whether it’s print, television, or film? Are homosexual characters in sitcoms or films being written by heterosexuals, and in turn is that a right representation of one’s sexuality? From my experience with helping my friend to feel comfortable with his sexuality, I want to write about how others cope with the same dilemma and how this can be changed into an easier transition without people feeling like their life is over or to think in terms of suicide.
Being that I am not an expert in this field of study, I have to research and compare and contrast different scholars to really find conclusive evidence for my paper. However, I know that I shouldn’t just repeat the same ideas but I need to contribute something new in my field of Television and Radio. Learning how people are perceived in the media is extremely important because that’s how others form ideas of different groups whether they are minorities or homosexuals. The information is being sent to millions of people in the United States and all over the world. How people perceive others can affect how they treat them. In any way I can, I want to bring a topic that people view is bad due to religion or other views and say that even if they are not the same as everyone else, they are still human beings.
Knowing the audience who is reading your work is extremely important. I know that I have to connect with my readers who may be experts in the field or just a typical college student who doesn’t know anything about the topic. I know that my paper is going to be read by professors who know about this topic along with parents and others who are not familiar with homosexuality and difficulties they face. I feel that I need to be careful in making sure I’m not talking down to my readers who may be experts and feel like I didn’t need to include certain information. However, I don’t want to leave out information and explanations that may be helpful for someone who never approached the topic before. I want to be fair to my readers and keep them interested in reading my work. That is why it’s essential that I love my topic. By being interested in my topic, it will be reflected in my paper which my readers would see and eventually respect and want to read it.
I feel that by following the steps in conducting research like writing notes on information that I come across, asking questions and debating on evidence that scholars conducted and always keeping my readers in mind, I can be successful. I have to let my readers know what perspective I’m writing from and why it’s important for them to be interested in my work. Through my personal experience and information I’ve came across, I feel that I am on the right path.
Rianna Moustapha
SPCM 3185
Fall 2011
As I was elbow deep in a plastic storage box of old school papers this summer, I stumbled across a worksheet that I had filled out in the third grade. On this ‘In the Spotlight’ worksheet, I answered eight questions about myself and though all of them made me pause and smile, two answers caught my attention for days. Question four: When I grow up I hope to be a teacher. Question eight: If I could have one wish come true, I would wish to be a teacher right now. My main point for bringing up this historical find was not to suggest that I have decided to become an early childhood professional simply because my third grade self said so but rather because recently, I have been asking myself and wondering why I wrote that in the first place. What was the appeal to me to become a teacher at such a young age? I know for a fact I was not thinking about the paid summers ‘off’ and the ‘wonderful’ benefits. There must have been another naive driving force for me to write that, a force similar to the one that helped me to answer that the thing I like best about myself is that I like to share things with people.
Why does this all matter to me? Recently, I have noticed that while I share classrooms with many bright, driven individuals who would serve as fantastic educators of our youth, I am constantly shocked to hear some of the reasons for choosing this profession over others. I have learned from conversations with my fellow students that while some cannot picture themselves doing anything else, others simply cannot think of anything else to do and do not mind the perks of teacher benefits and summers off. With the way our educations system is today, it angers me to think that there is an unimaginable amount of hopeful educators waiting for any opportunity they can get while there are teachers with secured positions and similar mindsets to some of my fellow students.
In my education, have been blessed with such remarkable, impactful teachers, who were not perfect by any means, but who provided me with rich, fulfilling experiences that helped me get to where I am today. Throughout my life I have seen the impact teachers can have on their students and I am yearning to become a teacher that can transform the world we live in today into an amazing place for learning through exploration and discovery. Each day I am glad that I chose to become an early childhood educator. Though my personal reasons for doing so are not right for everyone else, my desire to have a positive impact on the lives of children is the driving force behind my chosen career path. Due to my fascination with some of my fellow student’s reasons to become educators, I am eager to learn about how teacher’s actions, opinions and motives in their own lives impact the education of their students.
Even before entering the third grade and filling out that worksheet, I grew up surrounded by teachers who taught me about the importance of education daily. Throughout my education, I continued to have wonderful experiences with most all of my public school teachers all of which led me to eventually get my first job working at a Pre-School. Of the many rewarding, bizarre, and memorable experiences I have had at my job working at a Pre-School, the one aspect of it that I love the most is the unmatched feeling present in a classroom when a great book is being read; where all of the children leaning forward, with eyes glued to the page waiting for the next sound to be uttered. It is my love for that supremely captivating stillness that has been pushing me to look towards topics relating to children’s literature and the teachers role in it for my thesis.
Though it is true that not all the future readers of my thesis are studying to become early childhood education professionals, everyone has gone to school and has worked with a teacher at some point in their life. By giving people information that they can understand in relation to either their own early childhood educational experience, that of their siblings’ or children’s, I will be able to help them fully grasp the ideas I plan on introducing to them. Of the many useful things I have learned in my education classes, one concept that I will never forget is that in order for someone to truly learn, a connection has to be made to them on a personal level. The readers of my thesis will have to notice a meaningful link between the information in my research and some aspect of their life. I plan on creating several ways in which these readers can see that my research is relevant to our society and them as an individual.
At this point in time, there are a few key questions that I have been looking into, all relating to the role of the teacher and children’s literature. For the most part, I know that my thesis will involve one or both of these very broad topics yet as of now I am still deciding what combination and what direction to take them in. Some of the different directions I have been playing with are how much educators remember and use from their own education, the quality of teacher’s knowledge of and use of children’s literature in the classroom, whether or not teacher’s own personal reading habits at home influence their students’ and also, looking at the habits of teachers in their spare time to see if these actions impact their practices in their classrooms and ultimately the learning of their students.
-Rianna Moustapha