7/17/10

Date, Time and Place has been set for the dissertation proposal defense! Now, I'm scrambling to create a 20 minute Powerpoint presentation. Hopefully I can get it done by Wednesday, so that there's more than enough time for my advisor to look it over before my presentation on July 26! So close! So excited! So nervous.

Visa...well, nothing yet.

Housing? Well...nothing yet either.

10/20/08

Clarify, clarify, clarify!

I went to a dissertation defense today. The title was "Evaluation and Development of a University English Reading Program in Korea". It was a great learning experience. I think the panel consisted of five professors. They each had a stack of paper (the dissertation) that was almost 3 inches thick! That's crazy!

The student did a brief presentation about her study. Then the panel discussed the dissertation chapter by chapter. The following are some of the notes that I took during the whole thing.

-Why is your study important out side of ***** University?
-Why is this important?
-Terms: Confusing, need to clarify.
-Include graphic organizer in chapter 1 to help the reader understand.
-Include examples of program development so it illustrates and show how it applies
-Need time line in order to help reader understand if the study involves the same students and when it occurred
-Need to explain how data was analyzed. The steps.
-Don't use the passive voice
-Explain why you chose to focus on an aspect. Why the priority?
-Include reference names in the paragraph for it to be a strong back up instead of adding it in parenthesis a the end of paragraph
-Sometimes the word "paper" can be replaced with the word "chapter"
-Lesson plans, activities, materials should be boxed off, italicized, or in a different font to clarify it is different from the text
-Clarify how everything is related to each section, and transition between chapters
-In the last chapter, start by summarizing, and then including the limitations of the study in the last paragraph.