Mstu4020/Requirements

From Studyplace

The class requirements call for preparation and occasional synopses based on readings for class; leading certain discussions; regular posts to your personal blog; and a paper or project. The paper/project should be focused on your particular area of interest, although it must deal with aspects of communication and/or social interaction. Each paper/project topic must be discussed and approved by the course instructor.

Grades will be determined based on the following:

• Class participation (20 points)

You are expected to arrive on time, take part in class discussions and group work, and generally contribute to meeting the goals of the course.

• Research blog (20 points)

At the beginning of class, you will be asked to create a blog. Throughout the semester, your blog will serve as an inquiry journal, a place to reflect on and share your process of developing and carrying out the final paper/project. At times, you will be asked to respond to specific questions; at other times, you will be free to choose the topic of your post. You will be required to write at least one post per week.

• Class presentations (25 points)
  • Oct. 25th assignment (10 points): You will each have 3 minutes to present an overview of an article in your area of interest.
  • Dec. 13th assignment (Project Presentation, 15 points): You will each have 8 minutes to present an overview of the paper/project that you will complete for this class. This will be timed.
• Final paper/project (35 points)

The paper/project should be focused on your particular area of interest. Each paper/project topic must be discussed with and approved by the instructor. A brief (one or two paragraphs; certainly no more that one page) concept paper should be prepared as the basis for this discussion.

[edit] GRADING

Grades will be assigned as follows, with "plus" and "minus" grades occurring on the borders of the scale:

• A above 90%
• B 80 -- 90%
• C 70 -- 79%
• D/F below 70%

Current APA guidelines are to be followed for all formal written work with regard to spacing, abstracts, margins, pagination, and references. Papers will not be graded until they conform to APA guidelines, and will be judged as late if corrections are required before the paper is accepted for grading. Late assignments have 8% deducted from their given grade.

In general, grading will be based on a combination of (a) content (both the depth and breadth of what you write and talk about); (b) logic/argumentation in your presentation of the content, (c) general clarity (in both written and orally-presented assignments, and (d) adherence to academic style (in this course, APA style for written work, unless otherwise noted).

An "A" means that a paper or presentation is outstanding in all aspects, from the content to its presentation and discussion. It would be of graduate-level caliber in terms of its writing and would link and synthesize the work being presented. A "B" indicates that the paper or presentation is VERY good, certainly well above average, but it would have problems in at least one of the areas noted above. A "C" indicates a good paper with respect to graduate level work. It would indicate a reasonable grasp of the content being presented and discussed but would have problems in most of the areas noted above, would not synthesize what is being presented, and would be difficult to understand. A failing paper would be inadequate in terms of graduate work and would have major deficiencies in content, presentation, writing and synthesis of information.