Latin American Studies 497 (W)
Senior Thesis
Spring 2008    Professor Robert C. Dash
Office Smullin 317
Office Hours TTh 11:30-12:30
Telephone number 503 370-6262
Email rdash@willamette.edu

COURSE SYLLABUS

Students in this course will complete all stages of researching and writing a senior thesis under the close supervision of the course instructor.  You are expected to expend a significant amount of time, energy, and effort (not to mention thought, reflection, and pondering) in successfully completing your projects.  It is anticipated that a minimum of fifteen hours per week will be devoted, in and out of class and individual student-faculty sessions, to the thesis.

Students will meet occasionally as a class and will meet more frequently individually with the instructor to discuss their progress in completing the thesis.  Students will receive supportive suggestions and criticism from other students and the instructor throughout the semester, but the independent nature of researching and writing places the primary responsibly to successfully complete the project on students.  It is expected that students will produce the very best written work that they are capable of doing by the end of the semester.  Students are expected to attend all class sessions and individual meetings with the instructor, and a reduction in the final course grade will result from class and individual session absences.  Bring all work to date to both class and individual sessions and come prepared to take useful notes.

In general, the thesis project involves the following steps.
•    Selecting an important topic that is researchable on or from campus and that will hold your interest and spark your enthusiasm throughout the semester
•    Narrowing and focusing the topic so as to make completing the project feasible by the end of the semester.
•    Developing a conceptual and theoretical framework and a thesis statement(s), which identifies causal relationships among important variables.
•    Locating all of appropriate sources of information that should inform the project.
•    Conducting a literature review that will sharpen your thinking about the topic and will address the major research questions that have been posed by others
•    Writing and revising three drafts of the research paper until it is a finished and polished product and it yields important insights and conclusions about the topic.

Final course grades will be determined on the following bases.
•    Ten percent of the course grade is based on the research prospectus.
•    Fifteen percent of the course grade is based on the first draft of the thesis.
•    Twenty-five percent of the course grade is based on the second draft.
•    Forty percent of the course grade is based on the final draft.
•    Ten percent of the course grade is based on class participation, peer-editing, and class presentation and defense of the thesis..
Each of these graded components of the course must be completed with a passing grade in order to pass the course.

Work that is turned in late is graded down by two-third of a letter grade (for example, from an “A” to an “B+”) for every twenty-four hour period that I receive it beyond the due date. Also, I do not accept work by email unless I indicate otherwise beforehand; it is your responsibility to provide me with hard copies. Finally, it is your responsibility to understand and conform to the university's policy on plagiarism, which the CLA Catalog defines as:

“Cheating is any form of intellectual dishonesty or misrepresentation of one's knowledge. Plagiarism, a form of cheating, consists of representing someone else's work as one's own.  All members of the Willamette University community are expected to be aware of the serious breach of principles involved in plagiarism.  Ignorance of what constitutes plagiarism shall not be considered a valid defense. If students are uncertain as to what constitutes plagiarism for a particular assignment, they should consult the instructor for clarification.”  (See pages 319-321)

You are not required to purchased any books for this course, but you may find very useful the following guide to research (on reserve in the Hatfield Library): Wayne C. Booth, Gregory G. Colomb, and Joseph M Williams, The Craft of Research (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2003).  Also, familiarize yourself with the University of Chicago style guide (at http://www.wisc.edu/writing/Handbook/DocChicago.html); use that style (with footnotes) for all work in this course.
 
CLASS SCHEDULE

Tuesday Jan. 15        Class session.  
Turn in a 500-word description of your thesis topic at the beginning of the class.  It should address the following questions—expand and develop your responses.  
•    What exactly is the topic?
•    Why have you chosen this topic, what motivates you to pursue this topic?
•    Why is the topic theoretically and/or “real-world” significant?  Why should one care about your topic?
•    What do you hope to find out by pursuing this topic as the basis for your thesis?
•    How does the topic relate to the broader study of politics?
•    Provide a long list of questions relating to the topic that you want to answer

Thursday Jan. 17    Class session.  
There will be a discussion of thesis topics; and the relationships between analytical questioning, theoretical framing, and social science research.

Tuesday Jan. 22 and Thursday Jan. 24    Individual conferences.

Tuesday Jan. 29        Class session.
A research prospectus draft is due for peer editing.  This 1,000-word description of your research topic is to address the following items.  
•    The thesis, problem, or topic that you will research
•    The appropriateness of the thesis/problem/topic for a politics senior project
•    An annotated bibliography consisting of dozens of scholarly books and articles.
•    A discussion of the theoretical and methodological approaches to your topic that you have discovered in the literature.
•    A discussion of the method of inquiry that you plan on using in your thesis.
•    A long list of significant theoretical questions relating to the topic that you want to answer

Tuesday Feb. 5 and Thursday Feb. 7    Individual sessions.
A visit with the Social Science reference librarian to discuss the types of research material that is available should have been completed by this date.

Tuesday Feb. 12    The revised research prospectus is due at noon.

Tuesday Feb. 19 and Thursday Feb. 21          No meetings.

Tuesday Feb. 26    Class session.
The first draft of 2,500 words is due, to be peer edited.  Include in the draft:  
•    A title and subtitle
•    A 100-125 word abstract
•    An outline
•    Table of Contents
•    An introduction
•    The body of the paper reflecting the outline.
•    A Reference page (not annotated)

Tuesday March 4 and Thursday March 6        Individual sessions.

Thursday March 13    Revised first drafts are due at 2:30 PM.

Tuesday March 18 and Thursday March 20      No meetings.

Tuesday April 1 and Thursday April 3    Individual sessions.

Tuesday April 8 and Thursday April 10        No meetings

Tuesday April 15
Second drafts of 5,000 words are due at 2:30 PM.  A visit to the Writing Center to discuss this draft before it is turned in is required of all students.  Please note on a separate sheet when the visit was conducted, who the WC consultant was, what recommendations the consultant made regarding the draft, and how you responded to these recommendations.

Tuesday April 22 and Thursday April 24        Class presentation and defense of theses.
.
Friday May 2
The final draft of 6,000 words is due no later than noon.  It is to consist of:
•    A title and subtitle
•    A 100-125 word abstract
•    Table of Contents
•    An introduction
•    The body of the paper
•    A conclusion
•    A Reference page (not annotated)
•    Any appendices