Senior Sequence

Syllabus 187

Winter 2010 / TuTh 3:30-4:50pm, Location CENTR 222

Professor Keith Pezzoli, Ph.D., .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

Office hours: Tu/Thur, 2:00pm-3:00pm, and by appointment, SSB 361

TA Lydia Lundgren, Ph.D. Candidate (Political Science) email: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

Office hours: Wednesdays, 1:00pm-3:00pm, SSB 323

TA Saul Cunow, Ph. D. Candidate (Political Science) email: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

Office hours: Tuesdays, 1:00pm-3:00pm in SSB 320.

Course description

USP 187 is an intensive research, writing and internship experience that culminates in an original Senior Research Project (SRP). Students learn about the theoretical, ethical and technical challenges of scholarly research and publication. USP 187 is the second course in the senior sequence. It has an internship and seminar component. The apprentice-style internships give students hands-on experience in a field related to their academic and/or career interests. The seminar component provides students with intellectual and moral support as they complete their internship and Senior Research Project (SRP). Specifically, the seminar provides a framework for students to critically examine theoretical as well as nuts-and-bolts aspects of their research and internship experience. The kinds of topics discussed include ethical issues in social science research, theory building and writing strategies. The seminar also provides students with opportunities to learn professional networking and presentation skills.

Course Requirements

The course requirements include a combination of written assignments, on-line posting to the class Web site, class participation (including evaluations of work by your fellow students), a poster presentation and all obligations associated with the internship and the end-of-sequence Urban Expo. During the fall quarter, students were expected to do roughly 50 hours of service as an intern (10 hours per week from week five to week ten). During the winter quarter, students are required to complete an additional 50 hours (10 hours per week from week one to week five). A total of 100 hours of internship time must be completed prior to the end of USP 187. Please be sure to turn in all assignments on time. We will deduct points from late assignments.



Skills we aim to develop in the Senior Sequence

Conceptual	Creating examined conceptualizations of select objects of study (i.e., theory-building)
Philosophical	Becoming critically self-aware of your normativeperspectives (calling into view ethics and philosophy of social science)
Methodological	Applying investigative strategies to address scholarly questions
Analytical	Unpacking a hole into its component parts; examining a complex object, its elements and inter-dependencies
Communicative	Building, supporting and presenting an evidence-based position or argument; working effectively as a member of a research team; using multimedia for science communication
Writing	Producing a clearly written research proposal and well-documented thesis

Winter 2010 Assignments & Grading
Date	Week	Assignments	% value
1/05/10	Week 1	A1: Upload updates to your research portfolio	--
1/12/10	Week 2	A2: Turn in and Upload the first draft of your SRP's Research Design, plus a discussion of your evidence & preliminary findings.	10
1/14/10	Week 2	A3: Upload evaluation of fellow students SRP draft research design and discussion of evidence + preliminary findings.	1
2/2/10	Week 5	A4: Turn in and Upload first complete draft of SRP	20
2/4/10	Week 5	A5: Upload evaluation of fellow students SRP	1
2/11/10	Week 6	Internship STUDENT’S Final Evaluation due in USP Office, SSB 315. This form should be turned in after you complete 100 hours (no later than 3/11/10)	2
2/25/10	Week 8	A7: Turn in and Upload final copy of your SRP	35
3/2/10	Week 9	A8: Upload evaluation of fellow students final SRP	1
3/4/10	Week 9	A9: Upload contribution to the reader (work with team leader and mentor to create sustainable city-region chapter)	5
3/9/10	Week 10	A10: Upload Urban Expo Poster pdf (printed copies of posters to be showcased at Urban Expo) and SciVeePostercast.	20
3/11/10	Week 10	A11: Put finishing touches on your research portfolio; Present your poster at the Urban Expo.	5
			100

Turn in all internship forms (except the application which will be collected in class on Sept. 24) to Valorie Bruce or Adrienne Keiper in SSB 315. To ensure that the process flows smoothly, it is imperative that you all comply with these requirements on a timely basis. *The TAs can allocate up to 5% in extra credit making the total possible points in this class = 105%.



Each assignment has a detailed set of instructions and guidelines, including format requirements. Unless otherwise specified, all assignments must be turned in at the beginning of class on the scheduled due date. Late assignments will lose 10% per day late, including weekends (i.e., a grade of 90% will become 80% if it is one day late, 70% if it is two days late, 60% if it is three days, etc). All assignments should be bound with a staple (no paper clips). We will not accept assignments sent by e-mail. You need a C- or higher in order for this class to count towards your major. Please note, if you are not passing a class because you have fallen behind in your work, you are not necessarily eligible for an Incomplete. Per Academic Senate Policy, the grade I may be assigned to a student only when the work is of non-failing quality, but is incomplete for good cause (illness, for example). The deadline for filing a request for an Incomplete shall be no later than the first working day after final examination week. If you decide to withdraw from a class, you can do so until the end of the ninth week (via Triton Link).



Maintaining Academic Integrity: Students agree that by taking this course all required papers will be subject to submission for textual similarity review to Turnitin.com for the detection of plagiarism.



Research Ethics, Integrity in Scholarship & Plagiarism, see: http://www.seniorsequence.net/index.php/guide/ethics/

READING LIST

Required Readings

Hunt, Andy. 2005. Your research project : how to manage it. New York, NY: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-34408-5 (PBK).

Robson, Colin. 2007. How to do a Research Project: A Guide for Undergraduate Students. Oxford, UK ; Madden, Mass.: Blackwell Publishers. ISBN 978-1-4051-1409-5 (PBK)

Robson, C. 2002. Real world research : a resource for social scientists and practitioner-researchers (2nd ed.). Oxford, UK ; Madden, Mass.: Blackwell Publishers. ISBN 0-631-21305-8 (PBK) http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/robson/powerpoint_slides.asp

Yin, Robert K. 2009. Case study research : design and methods (4th ed.). Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Sage Publications. ISBN: 9781412960991(PBK)

RECOMMENDED READINGS (You don’t need to purchase any of these; they are all on reserve in Geisel Librar; those marked with an asterisk are especially good)

Engaged Scholarship

Flyvbjerg, Bent. 2001. Making social science matter : why social inquiry fails and how it can succeed again. Oxford, UK ; New York: Cambridge University Press.
*Hale, Charles R. 2008. Engaging contradictions : theory, politics, and methods of activist scholarship. Berkeley: University of California Press.
*Hartman, Chester W. 2002. Between eminence & notoriety : four decades of radical urban planning. New Brunswick, N.J.: Center for Urban Policy Research.
Mills, C. Wright. 2000. The sociological imagination. Oxford [England] New York: Oxford University Press.
*Schuler, Douglas. 2008. Liberating voices : a pattern language for communication revolution. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press.
Van de Ven, Andrew H. 2007. Engaged scholarship : a guide for organizational and social research. Oxford ; New York: Oxford University Press.

Methods

Alberti, Marina. 2007. Advances in urban ecology : integrating humans and ecological processes in urban ecosystems. New York: Springer.
Danermark, Berth, Mats Ekstrom, Liselotte Jakobsen, and Jan Ch. Karlsson. 2002. Explaining society : critical realism in the social sciences. London ; New York: Routledge.
*Lofland, John and John Lofland. 2006. Analyzing social settings : a guide to qualitative observation and analysis. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth/Thomson Learning.
*Maginn, Paul J., Susan Thompson, and Matthew Tonts. 2008 "Qualitative urban analysis : an international perspective." Oxford Elsevier JAI.
*Marshall, Catherine and Gretchen B. Rossman. 2006. Designing qualitative research. Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Sage Publications.

Writing Tips

Becker, Howard Saul. 1986. Writing for social scientists : how to start and finish your thesis, book, or article. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
—. 1998. Tricks of the trade : how to think about your research while you’re doing it. Chicago, Ill.: University of Chicago Press.
*Dunlap, Louise. 2007. Undoing the silence : six tools for social change writing. Oakland, CA: New Village Press.
Richardson, Laurel. 1990. "Writing Strategies: Reaching diverse audiences." A Sage University Paper 21.
Zinsser, William Knowlton. 1988. Writing to learn. New York: Harper & Row.
—. 2006. On writing well : the classic guide to writing nonfiction. New York: HarperCollins.

Planning

Campbell, Scott and Susan S. Fainstein. 2003. Readings in planning theory. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishers.
Friedmann, John. 1987. Planning in the public domain : from knowledge to action. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press.
*Gottlieb, Robert. 2007. Reinventing Los Angeles : nature and community in the global city. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press.
Ravetz, Joe, Sustainable City-Region Working Group., Town and Country Planning Association (Great Britain)., and Peter Robert. 2000. City-region 2020 : integrated planning for a sustainable environment. London: Earthscan.
*Sandercock, Leonie. 2003. Cosmopolis II : mongrel cities in the 21st century. London ; New York: Continuum.
Wheeler, Stephen. 2004. Planning for sustainability: Creating livable, equitable, and ecological communities. New York: Routledge.
Wheeler, Stephen and Timothy Beatley. 2004. The sustainable urban development reader. London ; New York: Routledge.