Introduction to Graduate Research in MTS
MTS 501
Fall, 2016
Due December 7, 2016 at 12pm CT via Canvas
Your final project for the course will be a ~3000 word written document consisting of two parts: (1) a brief strategic plan for the next year or so of your graduate school career and (2) a research planning document for a project you plan to conduct. I've elaborated some expectations for each below.
Please format the document so that it is readable, visually appealing, and straightforward to understand. Standard fonts (Times New Roman, etc.) are good. Decent size margins are good (at least 1'' on all sides). Page numbers are good. Standard reference formats are absolutely necessary. Beyond that, it's up to you. Note that I require you to submit your finished document as a PDF so that there are no formatting integrity issues.
Please use no more than 1500 words to address the following questions. For each, make sure to connect your answer to the broader goals you have for your graduate career and research objectives:
- Concisely describe your overall approach to the next academic year+ of your Ph.D. program.
- What courses will you take in the subsequent two quarters of your first year and why?
- What research do you plan to pursue this academic year?
- What plans do you have for the Summer 2017?
- Which conference(s) do you plan to submit to in the coming year on what topic(s)/paper(s)?
- What Northwestern or Chicago area events/workshops do you plan to attend in the next year or so?
Please use about 1500 words or so to elaborate a more detailed plan for a research project you plan to conduct. This must be a project for which you are responsible for the research design — and are thus actually in a position to plan (I am not interested in reading about your advisor's research plans or projects here, although I understand that your project may need to advance their grants or goals and that you may have every intention of collaborating on the study and potentially even refining the research design with them).
At a minimum, the plan should elaborate the following:
- A rationale for the study. What broad questions, concerns, puzzles, or problems motivate this project?
- General and specific objectives. What borad goals will the study achieve? What specific goals will the study accomplish?
- Minimal background and context.
- Your expectations.
- Your approach.
- Expected findings and contribution.
- Sources.
Please submit a digital copy of your proposal formatted as a .pdf via Canvas.