DPLS 730 - Proposal Seminar
Spring 2007               3 Credits

DESCRIPTION: 
Proposal Seminar is designed to provide students with assistance in developing the dissertation proposal.  Students should plan to leave the class with a completed draft of the entire proposal (Chapters 1, 2, and 3 of the dissertation), with the goal of defending the proposal by the end of the Summer term.  This course is a seminar which means student meet to share ideas and learn from each other.  In order to gain the most benefit from the class, students need to be prepared for each session.

The dissertation provides leaders the opportunity to gain new knowledge which, in the context of scientific research, can deepen understandings of self, community, and world. Self-reflection and a form of humble and critical depth in relation to self and the topic of study is often the result of openness and perseverance with regard to the research and writing process. The primary component of this course is the development of rigorous, systematic writing skills and a rich understanding of the research process.

Blackboard will be used for this class. You should be able to reach the course site from http://blackboard.gonzaga.edu

REQUIRED TEXTS

American Psychological Association APA Publication Manual, 5th edition (2001)

Fitzpatrick, J., Secrist, J., Wright, D. J.  (1998).  Secrets for a Successful Dissertation.  Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

Gonzaga Doctoral Studies But I've Never Written a Dissertation Before...   aka “The Blue Book.”  Online version (no cost) available at course blackboard site.  May be purchased for $10 from Marnie.

Pellegrino, V. C. (2004).  A writer’s guide to transitional words and expressions.  Hawaii: Maui ar Thoughts Company.

Pellegrino, V. C. (2004).  A writer’s guide to using eight methods of transition.  Hawaii: Maui ar Thoughts Company

Roberts, C. M. (2004).  The dissertation journey.  Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

Truss, L. (2006).  Eats, shoots and leaves.  NY: Gotham.

At least one book on the writing process.  The following are recommendations:

Becker, H. (1986).  Writing for the Social Scientist.  Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Brande, D. (1934).  Becoming a writer.  NY: Putnam.

Lamott, A. (1994).  Bird by bird.  NY: Anchor Books.

Morris, M., Doll, M.A., Pinar, W. F. (1999).  How we work.  NY: Peter Lang Publishing.

Nash, R. J. (2004).  Liberating scholarly writing.  NY: Teachers College Press.

Rasberry, G. W. (2001).  Writing research/researching writing.  NY: Peter Lang Publishing. 

Strunk, W. Jr. & White, E. B. (2000).  The elements of style, 4th Edition.  Longman Publishing.

Ueland, B. (1987).  If you want to write.  St Paul, MN: Graywolf Press.

Zinsser, W. (2001).  On writing well, 25th anniversary: the classic guide to writing nonfiction.  HarperResource Publishers.

ADDITIONAL HELPFUL BOOKS:

Anfara, V. A., Jr. & Mertz, N. T. (Eds.) (2006).  Theoretical frameworks in qualitative research.  Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

Becker, H. S. (1998).  Tricks of the trade.  Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Bryant, M. T. (2004).  The portable dissertation advisor. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

Cone, J. d. & Foster, S. L. (1993).  Dissertations and theses from start to finish.  Washington, D. C.: APA

Locke L., Spirduso, W., & Silverman, S. J. (2000).  Proposals that work, 4th Ed.  Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

Perrin, R. (2007).  Pocket guide to APA style, 2nd Ed.  Houghton Mifflin Co.

Rudestam, E. E. & Newton, R. R. (2001).  Surviving your dissertation, 2nd Ed.  Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications.

Students may want to subscribe to Doc Talk:

Students are encouraged to subscribe to the listserver doc-talk@asgs.org. Doc-talk is a moderated discussion list that provides graduate students with information about how to do their dissertations and theses. Doc-Talk publishes messages and queries from list subscribers around the world, as well as extracts and reprints of articles of interest, and reviews of resources. Doc-Talk presents a forum in which dissertation problems can be shared and resolved. Doc Talk is published and sponsored by ASGS, the Association for Support of Graduate Students, P.O. Box 4698, Incline Village, NV 89450.
Phone: (702) 831-1399, email: assgs@asgs.org.

To subscribe to doc-talk, send an email message to: doc-talk-request@asgs.org The body of the message should be: subscribe your email address. When you are successful in subscribing to a listserver, you will receive a welcome message that includes important information (like how to unsubscribe) that you need to keep.

INSTRUCTIONAL INTENTIONS:
As opposed to instructional objectives, instructional intentions are
general statements about the overall direction of the course.  They indicate what you, as a student, can expect to take from the class.  By the end of this class, students should:

1. Be familiar with critical elements in the dissertation process and the Doctoral Program’s expectations.
2. Be able to produce written material in APA format that is easy to read and that meets the requirements of a doctoral dissertation, including the use of references.
3. Have developed a knowledge base pertaining to their topic and have communicated this knowledge base in a meaningful, interesting, and clear manner.
4. Have identified a research question or issue that is supported by this knowledge base.
5. Have developed a clearly stated purpose of the study.
6. Have identified appropriate methods for researching the problem to be studied.
7. Have a deeper appreciation of the iterative dissertation process, particularly the writing, re-writing; forming and re-forming that takes place.

Evaluation and Grade Assignment
All students who complete a full draft of the dissertation proposal will receive an "S" (Satisfactory) for the course. Students who do not complete the work for the course will receive an "IP" (In Progress). At the time the proposal is completed, the student’s dissertation advisor will need to change the grade for DPLS 730 to a "P" (pass).

Course Assignments:
The major product for this class is a draft of the first three chapters of the dissertation.  This comprises the Dissertation Proposal.  Students are advised to also be working with their Dissertation Chair throughout the course to ensure they are on track and to avoid having to re-do work.

Complete by January 12, 2007.  Online tutorial found at
http://cme.cancer.gov/clinicaltrials/learning/humanparticipant-protections.asp
Most of you will be using humans as part of your research.  This tutorial provides information about the rights and welfare of human participants in research.  This information will be helpful and can be incorporated into the methodology section of the dissertation.  In addition, it satisfies the NIH human subjects training requirement for obtaining Federal Funds should you ever have the opportunity to apply for such funding for research.  Bring your certificate to the first night of class.   

Purpose Statement and Research Questions: DUE January 12.  Wolcott advises that you be able to clearly state the purpose of your study in 25 words or less.  Bring a purpose statement of 25 words or less to class the first night.  Also bring the essential research questions your study seeks to address.

Draft of Chapter 1: DUE January 19.  What is the issue or question you are proposing to research?  How will this contribute to the knowledge base in this area?  What does it have to do with leadership?  Why is it important?  How will it contribute to and further the conversation?

Draft of Chapter 2: DUE February 16.  What is the current conversation on this topic?  What have people already said about it?  How is that related to what you are going to study?  Will your study fill in some gaps in the literature?  How will it add to the existing conversation?

Draft of Chapter 3: DUE March 2.  How are you going to participate in the current conversation?  How are you proposing to carry out your study?  Who will participate and why?  How will you get your information?  What will you do with it once you have it (i.e., data analysis)?  Why is the methodology you are proposing to use appropriate?  How grounded are you in the methodology?

Revised Chapters 1-3 DUE April 13.  Based on the feedback received, revise all three chapters and hand in a decent draft of your Dissertation Proposal.

Criteria for Written Assignments

Written work is evaluated in three areas: quality of the content (what you say), quality of expression (how you say it) and technicalities (spelling, grammar, punctuation, APA style, etc.). The Doctoral Program Dissertation Proposal Rubric will be used for this purpose.  For the dissertation proposal, 40% of the weight is on the content and 40% is on thought and expression.  This means we are looking for good content, excellent writing, and high levels of critical thinking.  Technicalities are important too—you don’t want to distract your Chair or committee with sloppy APA.  Drafts will be read and commented upon as if I was a committee member.  Therefore, it is highly recommended that you revise, revise, revise! While you may have to write a shitty first draft to get something written, this is not the draft you hand in. In Bird by Bird, Lamott suggests at least three drafts: a terrible first one, a second draft that is fixed up, and the third one, which is where you edit in detail. This is the one you may begin to think about handing in for me to read. 

Professor’s Assumptions About This Class

1. Intellectual and social interaction is an essential part of this course.  Because this will not be a course where you come and take notes for four hours, your absence in a class meeting will be noticed.  I understand there are conflicts that may prevent you from attending all class meetings for the full length of time.  If you do need to miss part or all of a class, it is your responsibility to notify me and contact another class member to find out what you missed.
2. In order to end on time, we need to start on time.  I realize some of you may be late to class.  If and when this happens, you will have to take it upon yourself to get caught up with what is going on in class when you walk in.  We will not necessarily stop and recap what you missed.  Every effort will be made to end class on time, however, please recognize that a rousing class discussion may take us over “time;” an essential point may still need to be covered; or announcements related to the next class meeting may need to be made.  You can expect to be here the full scheduled class time and rarely get out of class early.  This is not due to a need on my part to fill time, but rather, my experience of racing against the clock to provide you with what I hope is a provocative, challenging, true doctoral level experience that is worthy of the time and money you are investing furthering your education.  (Note: I have yet to see a student turn into a pumpkin when the clock hits the ending time.)
3. Learning is a journey.  Courses are developed “tentatively.”  Things can happen during the semester that would cause changes to the syllabus, including changes to class meeting times and assignments.  Allowing for this flexibility means that we can adjust the course based on our responses to course assignments, readings, current events, etc.
4. Assignments are due on the date specified.  Exceptions will be considered on a case-by-case basis.  While there are legitimate reasons for not being able to make a deadline, missing two or more assignment deadlines will adversely effect your grade.  Assignments may be submitted before the due date and may be submitted as an e-mail attachment.  If you do submit your assignments via e-mail, please use Word or save the document in “rtf” format.
5. For this class, you are required to use the margins, font, spacing, headings, etc. specified in Chapter 5 of the Blue Book.  A Dissertation Template is available at the doctoral website and is linked from the “Current Students” page.  You are expected to follow APA style, 5th Edition, except where superseded by the Blue Book.
6. While you are handing in drafts of your chapters, these should not be “shitty” first drafts.  It is expected what you hand in to me will have gone through a minimum of three drafts, as described by Lamott: one just to get it down, a second where you’ve tightened and revised it, and a third that you’ve gone through in detail.  The one you’ve gone through in detail is the one you can think about handing in.
7. I will read and make comments on your drafts as if I was a committee member.  However, what I suggest may not be what your Dissertation Chair would suggest.  Thus, it is advised that you also work in conjunction with your Dissertation Chair for maximum productivity.  What your Chair says trumps what the Pro Sem instructor or Dissertation Committee Members say.
8. When handing in papers, I prefer them to be simply stapled or paper-clipped.  The first page should be a title page with, at the very least, the course number and your name on it.  One of my professors would not accept a paper that was presented in a pretty plastic cover—now I know why.
9. Academic honesty:  It is expected that the work of each student will be their original work.  Academic dishonestly includes, but is not limited to: cheating, fabrication, plagiarism, and facilitating academic dishonesty.  Plagiarism is defined as but not limited to, the use, by paraphrase or direct quotation, of the published or unpublished work of another person without full and clear acknowledgment.  Do not present the work of another (this includes ideas as well as words) as your own: give credit where credit is due.  Plagiarism will not be tolerated.  According to Gonzaga’s policy, any student found guilty of academic dishonesty is subject to disciplinary action.
10. It is my goal to create and facilitate a learning environment such that the intellectual, personal, social, and ethical development of all of us is stimulated.  Each person in the room will be integral to the creation of that environment by encouraging intellectual honesty and respectfully listening to the viewpoints of others.  It is expected that what each person brings in terms of experiential and academic knowledge will be shared.  The goal of such interaction is not to always reach consensus but to understand where each other is coming from.
11. The creation of such a learning environment is not solely my responsibility.  The classroom is “our” classroom.  While I am responsible for facilitating the learning experience when we meet, because my tolerance level for different things is different than yours, it is acceptable and may even be necessary for you to take responsibility for steering the class back on track or clarifying what the purpose of a discussion or activity is.
12. Communication about the class will happen via e-mail.  Announcements that didn’t get made during class, “after-thoughts,” clarifications, etc. may all come to you via e-mail.  I also prefer to be contacted by e-mail; it is the best way to reach me.
13. You may have to remind me of things—like you’ll have to miss a class or I didn’t respond to an e-mail you sent.  It’s OK to ask me again if you haven’t gotten a response in a reasonable amount of time.
14. Blackboard will be used for this class.  You are required to check in periodically, particularly during the times we are not meeting physically.
15. It is OK to have FUN and LEARN at the same time!

TENTATIVE Course Schedule

TIME & PLACE: 6-10 PM  Fridays RC 240
DATES: January 12, 19; February 2, 16; March 2, 9, 30; April 13  
PROFESSOR: Dr. Karen Norum, Assistant Professor of Leadership Studies
OFFICE HOURS: by Appointment; Office # 248  
PHONE: 323-3630 (O1)   434-8989 (O2)  
EMAIL: norum@gonzaga.edu (This is the best way to contact me)

Tentative Calendar

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