Admission to Proposal Seminar
December 1, 2007
The purpose of Proposal Seminar (DPLS 730) is to craft the structure of the student's dissertation. Before a student can enroll in DPLS 730 they must have (a) achieved Candidacy (b) completed or be enrolled in DPLS 722, Quantitative and DPLS 723, Qualitative, and (c) evidence they have submitted their Candidacy paper or a paper based on their candidacy paper to a peer-reviewed journal for publication. Enrollment in DPLS 730, Proposal Seminar, requires the permission of the instructor of the course and is based on the recommendation of the entire Doctoral Program faculty. Students who anticipate taking DPLS 730 should discuss timing with their dissertation committee chair/advisor. Ideally, the student should be able to defend the dissertation proposal soon after taking this course. To achieve this purpose, there are several prerequisites that facilitate an optimal experience in Proposal Seminar:
The student should be able to articulate the problem s/he wishes to investigate and why the problem is important. The student should possess a thorough grasp of the literature and the empirical research underlying his/her topic area The student should be highly knowledgeable in at least one theory base critical to investigation of his/her topic The student should be aware of the methodological bases upon which the study will be based To enroll in Proposal Seminar without satisfactory mastery of all of these prerequisites can make participation frustrating and a waste of time. For that reason, students will be asked to submit a Petition for Entry to Proposal Seminar. The petition should be in written form and include, at a minimum, the following: A statement of the problem to be investigated and the proposed purpose of the study, buttressed with a rationale for its significance. An annotated outline of the literature reviewed to date, providing such information as: What are the major issues in the field? What are the current issues of unanswered questions? What opinions surround the proposed topic? How have similar issues been studied by others, and with what results? A reference list of literature read. A brief description of each theoretical base which will form the foundation for the study. A brief description of the methodology to be used, a rationale for this choice, and why other methodological approaches have been rejected. Note: ideally these five items in the petition would be in the form of a rough draft of chapters 1, 2, and 3 of the dissertation.
The student presents the petition to the Doctoral Program faculty through their dissertation committee chair/advisor at least 60 days before they plan to enroll in the class. Petitions are reviewed and decisions are made during regular Program Faculty meetings. Upon acceptance of the petition, the dissertation chair will notify the student, who can then register for DPLS 730.
