Schedule - BC/CU Senior Seminar - Fall 2012

Seminar Requirements

Students can take the senior seminar in the spring/fall or fall/spring sequence. We somtimes 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.

Attendance of seminar session and participation in group discussions
One oral presentations about your research (10 minutes, plus discussion)
One poster (2nd semester students only), attendance of poster session
Discussion of a thesis & scientific paper of student's choice with seminar advisor
Delivery of documents due, often in paper and electronic form on time, as detailed below. See grading policy for details.

	Nov 8, 4:10-6:00 530 & 514 Altschul
Week	Date	fall/spring seq. (1^st sem)	spring/fall seq. (2^nd sem)
1	Sep. 6, 4:10-6:00 530 & 514 Altschul	Introduction, signup (MS)
1	Sep. 6, 4:10-6:00 530 & 514 Altschul	Goals of Senior Seminar, scientific writing (MS), What makes a good thesis project (MS), Advisor/mentor/student relationship (MS)	Review of summer progress, statistics/data analyses questions (MP,EB)
2	Sep. 13, no class	Individual meetings with advisors and mentors to discuss thesis topic	Individual meetings with advisors and mentors discussion of thesis proposal
3	Sep. 20, 4:10-6:00 530 & 514 Altschul	Methods of library research, ISI Web of Knowledge (SB), Elements of a thesis proposal, Outline (MS); Individual meetings with advisors and mentors to discuss thesis topic	Data Analysis and Statistics(MP/SW) How to separate results and discussion? (EB) What goes into an abstract? (EB) Individual meetings with advisors and mentors discussion of thesis proposal
4	Sep. 27 4:10-6:00 530 Altschul	Concept maps (more examples) (BM) How to write an introduction?(MS) Individual meetings with advisors and mentors	Individual meetings with advisors and mentors
5	Oct 4, no class	Individual meetings with advisors and mentors to discuss outline	Individual meetings with advisors and mentors to discuss another thesis
6	Oct 11, 4:10-6:00 530 & 514 Altschul	Careers, Funding opportunities for senior thesis work (e.g. travel)
6	Oct 11, 4:10-6:00 530 & 514 Altschul	Due: Outline of thesis proposal (1 copy)	Due: 1st draft of thesis (1 copy)
7	Oct 18, 4:10-6:00 530 & 514 Altschul	Peer review process (MS)
7	Oct 18, 4:10-6:00 530 & 514 Altschul	Figures & captions (EB,MP) Experimental Design and research procedures (MP) Individual meetings with advisors and mentors discussion of thesis proposal outline	How to make a poster (SW,SB) One minute slides, (SW,NB)
8	Oct 25, 4:10-6:00	PPT & other tech. issues, MAC/PC (MP/MS), How to give a scientific talk (BM) Logistics and remote(MS) Individual meetings with advisors and mentors	Individual meetings with advisors and mentors discussion of thesis draft
9	Nov 1, 4:10-6:00 530 & 514 Altschul	Mini-conference 1, 10min presentations plus 2min discussion (see student list for time and room assignment) deposit files on courseworks, remote control
10	Nov 8, 4:10-6:00 530 & 514 Altschul	Mini-conference 2, 10min presentations plus 2min discussion (see student list for time) Individual meetings with seminar faculty and mentors, discuss poster, final thesis/proposal, begin of peer review process, look at examples of thesis proposals and theses
11	Nov 15, 4:10-6:00 530 & 514 Altschul	Mini-conference 3, 10min presentations plus 2min discussion (see student list for time) Individual meetings with seminar faculty and mentors, discuss poster, final thesis/proposal
11	Nov 15, 4:10-6:00 530 & 514 Altschul	Due: thesis proposal draft, 2 copies, begin of peer review process	Due: 2nd draft of thesis, 3 copies, begin of peer review process
12	Nov 22, no class	Thanksgiving
13	Nov 29, 4:10-6:00	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, drop off in 404 Altschul, BC Env Sci	Present one minute summary slides in class/discussion of poster drafts (MS) Due: poster drafts, one min slide, copy of review sheet for your peer, sign up for poster printing time slot
	by Th Dec 6, 12 noon		Due: deposit one-page summary ppt slide on courseworks
14	Dec 6, 4:10pm-6pm 10^th floor, Schermerhorn Ext.	Poster session (internal, only second semester students present)
15	Tu Dec. 11, 12 noon, 404 Altschul; no class	Due: Final thesis (proposal) (paper and electronic copy on courseworks) - course evaluations

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
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

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 make a photocopy of 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

hand in the copy of the rubric in class (2nd semester students) or put it into the drawer labelled 'Senior Seminar' in teh large wooden cabinet on the 4th floor of Altschul Hall opposite of the elevators.
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 teh 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 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.doc (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.ppt)
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

How to give a scientfic talk

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
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 one minute summary slides in class/discussion of poster drafts

please deposit a one-minute slide and a draft of your poster on Courseworks (EESC X3800, look for folders under 'shared files') before noon on Thursday
we are going to print the posters on 11.5x14 paper in black & white and bring them to class
in class, you'll be asked to present your one minute slide in front of the class and we'll discuss your poster drafts in small groups
We have discussed one minute slides, but you can look at them on-line in the thesis data base again. Instructions for the poster making are posted below

for inspiration, look at the one-minute slides from 2011

Poster session

the poster session will begin with a one-slide, less than 1 minute 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 theses, proposals, ppt talks and posters from previous years

Go to the following link, login with your UNI and browse by year

How to get ahead in prefessional orgnizational environments (by Steve Cohen & Jackie Marineese, SIPA)

topic to be discussed by our guests:

developing and maintaining a professional network
planning your first post - Barnard/Columbia professional move.
successding on the job.
building skills and competences
developing a professional reputation
overcoming prfessional adversity
moving up, over, and around
keeping your career in perspective

handouts: