Schedule - BC/CU Senior Seminar - Spring 2020

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	spring/fall seq. (1st sem)	fall/spring seq. (2nd sem)
1	Jan. 23, 4:10-6:00 530 Altschul	530: Introductions, courseworks, website, emails, announcements (MS)
		805: Goals of Senior Seminar, grading policy (MP),  signup (MM), career speaker suggestions (MP), scientific writing (JK), What makes a good thesis project (MP), Advisor/mentor/student relationship (JK), Peer review process (MM)	530: Course overview, signup, grading policy (MS), Statistics/data analyses questions (MS); Career speaker suggestions (MS); Senior thesis versus scientific journal article (SM);  common issues with proposals (MS)
2	Jan. 30, no class	Individual meetings with advisors and mentors to discuss thesis topic, no class	Individual meetings with advisors and mentors discussion of thesis proposal, no class
3	Feb. 6, no class	Individual meetings with advisors and mentors to discuss thesis topic, no class	Individual meetings  with advisors and mentors  discussion of thesis, no class
4	Feb. 13, 4:10-6:00 805 & 530 Altschul	805: Outline (MS), Discussion of assigned thesis proposal,  IRB (JK),  Plagiarism (SM),  How to write an introduction (EC), Peer review groups (MS), Concept maps (LB) Individual meetings with advisors and mentors to discuss thesis topic Due: Read assigned thesis proposal	530: Statistics and Data Analysis Salon (optional)  (MP,RC) Individual meetings with advisors and mentors discussion of thesis
5	Feb. 20, 4:10-6:00 530 & 805 Altschul	530: Methods of library research, ISI Web of Science (SM), Discussion of concept maps (EC) Individual meetings with advisors and mentors to discuss thesis topic Due: Concept map of your introduction	805: Statistics and Data Analysis Salon, R (optional)  (RC) Individual meetings with advisors and mentors discussion of thesis
6	Feb. 27, 4:10-6:00 405 Milbank	Careers, Funding opportunities for senior thesis work (e.g. travel) (EC, EL)
		Due: Outline of thesis proposal, incl 10 references (1 copy)	Due: 1st draft of thesis (1 copy)
7	Mar. 5, 4:10-6:00 805 & 530 Altschul
		Individual meetings with advisors and mentors  discussion of thesis proposal outline, no class	530: How to make a poster (TBA),  30 second slides, (TBA) Individual meetings  with advisors and mentors  discussion of thesis draft
8	Mar. 12, 4:10-6:00 on-line, see announcements	805: How to give a scientific talk (SH,RC) PPT & other tech. issues, remote (MS), Results, figures & captions (MM), Abstract Salon (LB) Individual meetings  with advisors and mentors Due: Abstract draft and a figure	530: Figures and Graphs Salon (optional) (SM) Individual meetings  with advisors and mentors  discussion of thesis draft
9	Mar. 19, no class	SPRING BREAK!
10	Mar. 26,  4:10-6:00 on-line, see announcements	Mini-conference 1, 10min presentations plus 3min discussion (see student list for time assignment)
	Mar. 26
11	Apr. 2, 4:10-6:00 on-line, see announcements	Mini-conference 2, 10min presentations plus 3min discussion (see student list for time & peer assignment) Individual meetings  with seminar faculty and mentors, discuss poster, final thesis/proposal, look at examples of thesis proposals and theses
		Due: thesis proposal draft, 2 copies, begin of peer review process	Due: 2nd draft of thesis, 3 copies, begin of peer review process
12	Apr. 9, 4:10-6:00 on-line, see announcements	Mini-conference 3, 10min presentations plus 3min discussion (see student list for time & peer assignment) Individual meetings  with seminar faculty and mentors, discuss poster, final thesis/proposal
13	Apr. 16, 4:10-6:00 on-line, see announcements	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 (Courseworks)	Presentation of 30s slide in class/discussion of poster drafts Due: poster drafts, 30s slide draft, discussion in class, copy of review sheet for your peer (Courseworks)
	by Mo Apr 20, 12 noon		Due: upload final poster as ppt and pdf file on courseworks
	by Tu Apr 21, 12 noon		Due: deposit  final narrated summary ppt slide on courseworks, submit name/title for program
14	Apr. 23, 4:30pm-7pm on-line, see announcements	Poster session Due: upload final poster as ppt and pdf file on courseworks(2nd semester students only)
15	Apr 30,  4:10-5:30 on-line, see announcements	Careers: How to get ahead in Professional organizational environments (S. Cohen?)
16	Mo May 4, midnight EDT, on-line; no class	Due: Final thesis/proposal (electronic copy on courseworks)

---

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
  
• 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 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, look for folders under 'shared files') before noon on the day they are due
  
• for inspiration, look at the one-minute slides from spring 2015
  
• we are going to print the posters  on 11.5x14 paper in black & white 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:
  
• How to make a poster ppt
• How to make a poster
• Poster session invitation/Program

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