Schedule - BC/CU Senior Seminar - Fall 2020 - draft

Students can take the senior seminar in the spring/fall or fall/spring sequence. We sometimes meet with the entire class, sometimes in separate sections with the two groups. We do not meet every week, please do not miss any sessions! Class meetings are highlighted in bold face.

Items below in purple are for all students,
items in red are for students taking the senior seminar in the spring/fall sequence,
items in blue are for students taking the senior seminar in the fall/spring sequence.

Week

Date

fall/spring seq. (1st sem)

spring/fall seq. (2nd sem)

Sep. 10, 4:10-6:00
530 Altschul

530: Introduction, signup (MS)

530: Goals of Senior Seminar (MS), career speaker suggestions (MS), scientific writing (MS) what makes a good thesis project (MS), Advisor/mentor/student relationship (SM)

805: Review of summer progress, statistics/data analyses questions?, career speaker suggestions (MP,JK)

Sep. 17, no class

Individual meetings with advisors and mentors to discuss thesis topic

Individual meetings with advisors and mentors discussion of thesis proposal

Sep. 24, 4:10-6:00
530 Altschul

530: Peer process (MS), Methods of library research (SM), ISI Web of Knowledge (SM), 530 & 805: Elements of a thesis proposal, Outline (MS,SM), How to write an introduction? (RC),
Individual meetings with advisors and mentors to discuss thesis topic

Individual meetings with advisors and mentors

Oct. 1, 4:10-6:00

530 & 805 Altschul

530: Experimental Design and research procedures (EC), IRB (MS), 530 & 403: Concept maps (SM,MS); Individual meetings with advisors and mentors

805: Data Analysis and Statistics (MP)
How to separate results and discussion? (JK)
Individual meetings with advisors and mentors discussion of thesis proposal

Oct 8, no class

Individual meetings with advisors and mentors to discuss another thesis proposal

Individual meetings with advisors and mentors to discuss another thesis

Oct 15, 4:10-6:00
Sulzberger Parlor
(3rd floor, Barnard Hall)

Careers, Funding opportunities for senior thesis work (e.g. travel) (EC, MS)

Due: Outline of thesis proposal (1 copy)

Due: 1st draft of thesis (1 copy)

Oct 22, 4:10-6:00

530 Altschul

Ethics/Plagiarism (SM), 530 & 805: Results, figures & captions (MP, RC), Python/R/Excel salon (RC,MP)
Individual meetings with advisors and mentors discussion of thesis proposal outline

Individual meetings with advisors and mentors discussion of thesis draft

Oct 29, 4:10-6:00
530 & 805 Altschul

530: PPT & other tech. issues, MAC/PC (MS), How to give a scientific talk (JK,RC) Logistics and remote (MS), Gantt charts (MS), What goes into an abstract? (LB)
Individual meetings with advisors and mentors

805: 30 second slides (MP), How to make a poster (SM)

Nov , 5:10-6:00
530, 805 & 403 Altschul

Mini-conference 1, 10min presentations plus 2min discussion (see student list for time and room assignment) Individual meetings with advisors and mentors deposit files on courseworks, remote control

Nov 12, 4:10-6:00
530, 805 & 403 Altschul

Mini-conference 2, 10min presentations plus 2min discussion (see student list for time and room assignment) Individual meetings with seminar faculty and mentors, discuss poster, final thesis/proposal

Due: 2nd draft of thesis, 3 copies, begin of peer review process

Due: 2nd draft of thesis, 3 copies (and Canvas upload), begin of peer review process

Nov 19, 4:10-6:00
530, 805 & 403 Altschul

Mini-conference 3, 10min presentations plus 2min discussion (see student list for time and room assignment) Individual meetings with seminar faculty and mentors, discuss poster, final thesis/proposal

Due: thesis proposal draft, 2 copies (and Canvas upload), begin of peer review process

Nov 26, no class

Thanksgiving

Dec 3, 4:10-6:00
530 Altschul

Individual meetings with seminar faculty and mentors, discuss final thesis/proposal
You are welcome to attend the 2nd semester session today about posters
Due: copy of review sheet for your peer

530: Present 30s summary slides in class/discussion of poster drafts (MP)
Due: poster drafts, 30s slide, copy of review sheet for your peer

by Tu Dec 3, 12 noon

Due: deposit one-page summary ppt slide on courseworks and pdf of your poster

Dec 10, 4:10pm-6pm
10th floor, Schermerhorn Ext.

Poster session (second semester students will present their work to the class, but everybody attends) (MP)

Mo Dec. 14, 12 noon

Due: Final thesis (proposal) (paper and electronic copy on Canvas) - course evaluations

Footnotes:

Draft/outline due means you should hand in:

a paper copy of the entire document as complete as possible following the structure outlines in thesis organization

see example outline and tips here
document needs to be double-spaced

note what is missing

note how you intend to fill gaps
make sure that you give a copy of your document to your research mentor at the same time
on the cover sheet, include name and email address of yourself, your mentor(s), and your advisor as well as the date of the draft

Peer review

we'll frequently will pair you up with your peer in class sessions throughout the semester.
you will receive a copy of the thesis/proposal draft of your peer in class
please read the document carefully, feel free to write on the document
fill out the review rubric (you received a hard copy also in class) and scan that sheet after filling it out

if you prefer, you can type into the on-line form and print two copies

meet with your peer (who usually reviews your thesis/proposal) in person

if not given on thesis/proposal cover sheet, you can find the email address of your peer on the CU website
give your peer's thesis/proposal and the original filled out rubric to your peer

submit the scan (picture by phone is ok) to the appropriate assignment on courseworks.
It is the reviewer's responsibility to hand in the review sheet they filled out.

Final thesis/proposal due means you should hand in:

final version of your thesis/proposal for file and grade, please hand in two copies in the BC Env. Science department's office (before 12 noon)

put them on big table in the department and check off your name on the list
text needs to be double-spaced
please print double-sided if you can
you are welcome to use the Env. Sci. office printer in the 404 Altschul common area to print individual pages in color (not the whole thesis!)
if you are handing in your final thesis, these two copies must be bound

please also give another copy to your research mentor(s) directly (we will ask for feedback from your mentor for the final grade; don't ask us to deliver it to your mentor)
deposit an electronic copy of your thesis on courseworks, use LastnameF.docx (or .pdf) as filename

please make sure the latest versions of your poster and mini conference talk are also on-line

fill out the evaluation form in courseworks

Presentations about your thesis/proposal

in the middle of the semester, you will give a presentation about your thesis/proposal
the talk should be <10 min long plus 2-3 minutes for discussion
please practice the talk so that you will stay within the time limit, we will have to cut you off after 12 min
you'll be using a remote control to flip the slides
upload your presentation before class (by 12 noon on the day of your presentation) on our courseworks web site, use 'LastnameF.ppt' as file name (e.g. StuteM.pptx)
we will ask your audience to make suggestions on how to improve your presentation on paper and send them to you by e-mail
comments on oral presentations

thesis/proposal

Individual meetings with advisors (seminar faculty), mentors, peers

the purpose of these meetings is to give you one on one feedback on your thesis project
during the semester, please discuss one senior thesis/proposal with your seminar advisor
pick a scientific paper at the heart of your work and go over it with your advisor
you should meet with your advisor at least 3 times during the semester - however, feel free to schedule an appointment whenever you feel it is necessary
please act responsibly in scheduling and keeping appointments made with mentors, advisors, peers and writing fellows (i.a.)

Present 30 second summary slides in class/discussion of poster drafts

please deposit a 30 second slide and a draft of your poster on Courseworks (EESC X3800) before 2pm on the day they are due
we are going to print the posters on 11.5x14 paper and bring them to class

Instructions for the poster making are posted below

in class, you'll be asked to present a 30 second slide in front of the class and we'll discuss your poster drafts in small groups

Poster session

the poster session will begin with a one-slide, less than 30 second summary of your thesis at the beginning (no posters for thesis proposals)
we then like you to stand next to your poster and discuss your work with attendees and other students
Relevant links:

Where to find help with data analysis

CU Digital Social Science Center

helps with finding digital data and analysis with GIS
215 International Affairs, typically open 11am to 5pm

Math help rooms

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