AMST 801 Spring 2006

Research Seminar in Americans' Lives & Cultures

Nancy L. Struna

Office: 2103 Holzapfel

Phone, 301-405-1357

Email: nlstruna@umd.edu

Course Description:

This course provides graduate students with the opportunity to construct and complete an original research project and to gain experience in several related scholarly activities, including proposing and critiquing research and making a conference-style presentation, commonly required by universities and other institutions. It is intended to benefit students who are in the process of doing thesis or dissertation research, and those who wish to complete a research project for publication. We shall also aim to foster a scholarly community to which all members contribute and which helps each student to produce a research product of recognized excellence.

Course Schedule:

Jan. 25 –- Introduction

Feb. 1 – The Research Process: Questions, Sources, Interpretations

Read: Wayne C. Booth, Joseph M. Williams, & Gregory C. Columb, The Craft of Research (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1995).

Feb. 8 – Initial Proposals: Class Discussion

Assignment due: Provide the class with an initial title of and a descriptive paragraph about your research, including the questions you are asking.

Feb. 15 – Student research

Assignment due: Submit to the instructor via email your "final" research questions and probable sources.

Feb. 22 – Student research

March 1 – Student research

March 8 – Research updates in class

March 15 – Student research

March 22 – Spring Break

March 29 – Student research

April 5– Student research; progress reports

Assignment due: Submit via email (by April 2) an initial outline of your research paper including your argument/interpretation and bibliography of primary and secondary sources.

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April 12 – Student research

April 19 – Student research

April 26 – Student research

Assignment due: Submit via email a draft of your formal 20-minute presentation to your commentator by this date.

May 3 – Presentations & commentaries

May 10 – Presentations & commentaries

Course Requirements -- Each student will:

1. Contribute to class discussions and to each student’s research interests, questions, sources, and reports (10% of course grade).

2. Orally present one’s research (10%).

3. Serve as commentator on another student’s research presentation (10%).

4. Complete a scholarly chapter/essay of a quality expected of a dissertation, thesis, or publication (25-40 pages, typed, double spaced, footnotes or endnotes; due May 17; 70%).