COML 680 Thesis and Project Requirements

COML 680 Thesis and Project Requirements Stages of Thesis or Project : 1. Establishing the preliminary focus of the study. 2. Finding a mentor and discussing preliminary ideas. 3. Agreeing on topic and signing and submitting Mentor Agreement. 4. Selecting research methods. 5. Developing research and collecting data. 6. Ordering the data. 7. Analyzing the data. 8. Writing it up. 9. Preparing and making oral presentation. Thesis The thesis option for COML 680 is designed for students who want to focus on a particular area of research in which they want to explore and develop a depth of understanding and scholarship. It is highly recommended for those students who are considering doctoral work, careers in higher-education or the communication industries. Your thesis is the culminating experience of your academic work and preparation for the responsibilities of the professional world or further graduate education. Therefore, your thesis should represent the very best of your work. For your thesis, you are expected to supervise yourself under the guidance of a professor/mentor in the production of high quality, creative work. Your thesis should demonstrate serious effort in terms of the amount of new information gathered and an advanced, in-depth understanding beyond the level of expertise previously gained from course work. In the thesis, you will bring together much of what you have been learning in your classes (both theory and practice). Thesis Guidelines Select a topic in communication and write a thesis (not less than 30, nor more than 75 pages, including your bibliography). The thesis must meet all the requirements regarding content as listed in the structure and format sections of this guide. In addition, your literature review must have a minimum of twenty-five sources. The sources must include at least ten from scholarly professional journals from the discipline of communication. Web sources should be carefully limited and must be based primarily on scholarly professional journals. Thesis Guidelines The thesis will be written under the guidance of a faculty “mentor/chair.” Your mentor can be any member of the regular faculty at Gonzaga. It is crucial that your mentor be familiar with the area you would like to research, the method you would like to use, and the specific requirements of your assignment. It is your obligation to share all of this with your mentor. Mentoring: A deliberate pairing of a more skilled or experienced person with a lesser skilled or experienced one, with the agreed- upon goal of having the lesser skilled person grow and develop specific competencies. Thesis Requirements Step 1 Select a possible thesis topic and a faculty mentor*/chair who will provide some guidance in your work. An approach to topic selection might grow out of your particular emphasis within your major. Remember Your Mentor is not responsible for supervising you, but rather to assist you with some expertise about your topic. Your Mentor will help you sort through your ideas and suggest research strategies once you settle on a topic. Your Mentor will also be asked to review a draft of your work before you submit the final draft and sign the thesis as a reader. Thesis Requirements Step 2 You must write a five page proposal of your thesis, including what your proposed topic is, why this topic is important to you, how this topic will be explored, the method you intend to use to collect your research, and a minimum of ten source bibliography to support your ideas written in correct APA form. Of course you will confer with your Mentor before you write the proposal. Step 3 3. You must secure your Mentor’s signature on your proposal before you submit it to the 680 Professor for advancement to thesis. Without the signature of your Mentor you will not be able to proceed with your work. Thesis Requirements FAQ You may do a thesis based on a paper you have written for a previous course. In fact, scholars often extend their ideas by stretching previous works. Just be sure your topic is substantial enough. Should you wish to build your thesis on a paper you completed in another course, you must submit a copy of that paper to your Mentor at the time of the proposal submission, including how you intend to build on that paper. The complete proposal, Mentor’s signature, and former paper will then be submitted to your 680 professor. Important For students who are considering doctoral study the thesis is highly recommended. Read the next slide on plagiarism Plagiarism You would not want to be accused of stealing a car or a wallet, nor do your friends want theirs stolen. Similarly, you do not want to be accused of stealing someone's words or ideas, nor do writers want theirs stolen. To use someone's words or ideas in your writing without letting your readers know where they came from is a form of theft called plagiarism. You can avoid plagiarizing if you are careful to do the following: Put the words of an author in quotation marks, record them accurately, and follow the quotation with a citation that indicates you source. Also use quotation marks even when you borrow a phrase or a single, special word from another person. Follow the style of citation required by either MLA or APA, but do not combine these styles. Write a summary or paraphrase in your own words and sentence patterns, and follow it with a citation. Just changing some words does not make a paraphrase; the ideas must be digested, understood, and written in your own words. Plagiarism In addition, it is wise to lead into your quotation or paraphrase by using the author's name. For example, you can write, "According to Deborah Tannen," followed by a quotation from Tannen or your paraphrase or summary of Tannen's ideas. Be careful not to plagiarize your professor or colleagues, as well. If you borrow words or ideas from anyone - professors, students, best friends - be sure to give them credit by quoting and citing them, or paraphrasing and citing. They will thank you for it. And a final note concerning plagiarism and the Internet: To avoid plagiarism, cite the source of anything that you borrow from the Internet, including material from Web pages, e-mail, and newsgroups. These materials are the words and ideas of people who deserve to be given credit. For more information on plagiarism, go to the following web site where much of this material comes from: http://cal.bemidji.msus.edu/wrc/Handouts/avoidPlag.html Thesis Requirements Your thesis and literature review must include a minimum of twenty-five sources, ten of which must come from Communication or Leadership scholarly professional journals. Do not be dependent upon web sites. It may be necessary for you to use inter-library loans, so leave your self plenty of time. GET STARTED EARLY WITH INTER-LIBRARY LOANS. Demonstrate As 680 is the culmination of your years of study, your thesis should demonstrate your best of the following: Research efforts Analytical efforts Synthesis of ideas and perspectives Writing ability Oral presentation ability Additional Responsibility The Program Assistant in the Department of Communication and Leadership Studies will assist you in fees, signatures and copying of your final thesis for submission, binding and publication. A copy of your thesis will remain on file in the Department of Communication and Leadership Studies. Developing A Thesis Thesis comes from an ancient Greek word that means stand or position. Your thesis is the stand or position you take on an issue. In a thesis you generally state your thesis at the beginning of the paper and then spend the remaining pages showing why the position is correct or reasonable. A thesis is broken into a series of chapters. Each chapter of a thesis leads directly to the following chapter. A thesis must be written with good transitions from chapter to chapter. Chapter Structure Begin with TITLE PAGE (See sample) Chapter One INTRODUCTION: THE PROBLEM AND DEFINITIONS OF TERMS USED THE PROBLEM Importance of the study Statement of the problem DEFINITIONS OF TERMS USED ORGANIZATION OF REMAINING CHAPTERS ABSTRACT (An abbreviated version or a condensed version of the entire project including the nature of the research, the methods used, the results of the study, the relationship of the results to previous research findings and directions for further research.) TABLE OF CONTENTS (with page numbers) Chapter Structure Chapter Two REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE (This may be broken into several sections) Chapter Three SCOPE AND METHODOLOGY PHILOSOPHICAL ASSUMPTIONS AND/OR THEORETICAL BASIS THE LITERATURE (Framework for the Study) RESEARCH QUESTION AND/OR HYPOTHESIS (that have emerged from the Lit. Review) THE SCOPE OF THE STUDY METHODOLOGY OF THE STUDY Subjects, Procedures, Data Treatment, Justification Chapter Structure Chapter Four THE STUDY (This is where you canalize your data) DATA ANALYSIS Chapter Five SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS Conclusion: requires a connection back to both the theoretical and philosophical foundations and the literature review. LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY RESULTS OF THE STUDY (What was discovered?) DISCUSSION (What does it mean?) FURTHER STUDY OR RECOMMENDATIONS Chapter Structure Last Sections References Note on Drafts Don’t let your first draft be your last. Nobody is that good a writer. Authors of college papers (and many others) may delay the writing stage -- which we said you should start right away -- because they fear they are not that good a writer. This can often lead to writer’s block. Give yourself permission to write poorly. Just “crank things out.” It is in revision that the work will get cleaned-up, and inconsistencies or gaps can be clarified! Appendix Mentor Agreement Forms Available in the Forms Tab on our website: www.gonzaga.edu/coml Proposal Your five page maximum proposal must answer the following questions. 1. YOUR NAME c. A bibliography of no less than ten substantive sources (journal articles, books,) that would help the researcher(s) to situate the research question in the context of previous work in the field. APA style is required. 2. THESIS This section must contain the following: a. A clearly stated research question or testable hypothesis that grows out of communication and leadership theory. b. A clearly delineated research method that allows the researcher(s) to address the research question effectively by gathering primary source data. d. A description of how data will be analyzed appropriate to the research method, the research question and the data gathered. Note: All Theses and Projects will include a public presentation that elaborates on the work and provides an oral defense of the thesis. See slide. Literature Review A literature review asks you to find specific information in the communication and leadership literature, to review the research and to write a review about it. A literature review has two main purposes: to summarize research and to evaluate it. Unlike a term paper, literature reviews require as much as possible the review of primary sources -- a document or manuscript of an original published report or research. Secondary sources often write about primary sources but may leave out important details in the process of condensing. Literature Review A literature review is a crucial part of the research process. First, it enables us to understand the current status of knowledge on the topic and second, before you can conduct original research, you must know what scholarship already exists on the topic and evaluate the findings so that you can formulate new research questions to guide your study. There are two basic types of literature reviews: exemplary and exhaustive. An exemplary, or representative literature review presents only key references to the reader to acquaint him or her with the representative works that relate to the research study. Key references are those directly influencing the study or project being proposed or conducted. Literature Review An exhaustive literature review is comprehensive. The writer attempts to find all the information pertinent to a topic. For your thesis you will be writing an exemplary review with a minimum of twenty-five sources. The sources must include at least ten from professional scholarly journals. You may use a balance of primary and secondary sources. Lit. Review Format Introduction - Orient the reader to the subject. Summary of Literature - Summarize the literature you have discovered. Make sure this flows well and is not choppy. Perhaps the best way is to select one of the following organizational patterns: A. Topical order. B. Chronological order. C. Problem-cause-solution order. D. General to specific or specific to general order. E. Comparison-and-contrast order. Lit. Review Format Critical Evaluation -- Here you critique the validity or propose unanswered research questions from your review. From this critique your review becomes a piece of scholarship. Thesis - Your literature review should lead directly to your thesis statement. It is not a personal opinion or belief but a proposition you must demonstrate with evidence from the research literature. Master’s Project From time to time, mid-career professionals choose to do a Communication Project. As a COML student, you have that option if the circumstances warrant. This decision will be made through discussion with your advisor. If this is the choice, you will be asked to complete a Project Proposal 5-6 pages with minimum of ten item bibliography, an integrative Communication & Leadership Philosophy statement and a completed Project (i.e., that applies the Communication & Leadership Philosophy to a specific context.) The Project is expected to reflect on your entire Master's Program and contain documents and analysis of your experience . Master’s Project The student's advisor is considered the Projects Director/Mentor, and at least one other faculty member is invited to be a second (or third) reader. From time to time, students may choose another Mentor from among the faculty that they have studied with in their MA Program. It is expected that all COML students will select a topic that reflects their preparation in communication or communication and leadership. Topics that are exclusively leadership, will not be acceptable in the COML Program. Please read the full description below. Master’s Project For your Thesis or Project you are expected to supervise yourself under the guidance of a professor/mentor in the production of high quality and creative work. Your Thesis or Project should demonstrate serious effort in terms of the amount of new information gathered and an advanced, in-depth understanding beyond the level of expertise previously gained from course work The difference between a thesis or project will be in how the research is expressed, not in the rigor of the project. Master’s Project The Thesis or Project requires that you will bring together much of what you have gleaned from your communication and leadership classes (both theory and practice. This should be no problem. Think about it, during your MA Program here you have read perhaps 625,000 words or more about communication and nearly as much about leadership. Your Thesis or Project therefore should reflect knowledge, insight and subtlety beyond the layman, beyond the “common sense.” Master’s Project While a thesis requires scholarly research (or creative scholarship), a project involves the application of communication theory or other communication knowledge. The faculty view the thesis or project as essentially a thesis with an additional production element and it is essential for students to understand this. The production element might include a video, new technology, an extensive web site or a CD-ROM. The student may design and create materials for a persuasive campaign, a semester long course in communication, a broadcast documentary, a connected series of multimedia or web materials, or other practical communication products. The project must include an essay explaining how communication theory or other knowledge was applied in the product’s design and production. Project Possibilities Interest in Teaching? Project: Demonstrate a thorough understanding of issues in communication pedagogy followed by an individually tailored portfolio of syllabi, readings, learning activities, ethical questions, for teaching communication courses at the college level. This project would be accomplished by completing an internship in teaching or Directed Study on Communication Education. Interested in Media Literacy? Project: Upon completion of COML 516, one might create and execute a media literacy promotional campaign to raise awareness of media and culture. Students would also take a directed readings course on media literacy or perhaps an internship with a media literacy organization like the Northwest Alliance for Responsible Media or one in your community. Project Possibilities Social Change? Project: After reading the foundational literature, students could develop and implement a campaign to mobilize a community action program. Again, it would be advised that this be combined with an internship with an appropriate organization. Training and Consulting? Project: A developed portfolio of training materials and consulting strategies for working in organizational and adult learner settings. COML 511 would be required and an Internship recommended. Resource Guidelines for the writing and preparing thesis and projects are explained in Chapter Eleven of Rubin, et. al. (2005). Communication research: Strategies and sources (6th ed.). Thesis and Project Orals The orals are a chance to discuss your findings with an audience of faculty and peers. While they are limited in scope, there may be a suggestion for some revision after the oral presentation and before final submission of your thesis or project. Powerpoint presentations are not required. You may invite guests. Other students and faculty in the program will be invited to attend. If you are a distance student we will coordinate a teleconference forum to accommodate you. If you are regional student plan to present on campus. Follow Thesis Chapter guidelines (slide 15-18) to write the project. The MAJOR difference is in how you write Chapter 4 Chapter 4 guideline is the next slide Chapter 4 for Project THE PROJECT/PRODUCT (In this chapter you build upon your research and theory to create a product/project that demonstrates the practical aspect of your work) PROJECT/ PRODUCT DESCRIPTION EXAMPLES OF THE WORK, (This may be displayed and discussed here and/or in the Appendix) DISCUSSION