January 14: The importance of
research design in graduate & professional education
and issues of hidden curricula in graduate education
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| Topics: | An introduction to seminar focusing on: 1) the value of research and writing skills in professional life; 2) the research interests of participants; and 3) details of seminar organization. |
| Readings: | Babbit, Victoria,
Elizabeth Rudd, Emory Morrison, Joseph Picciano, and
Maresi Nerad. 2008. Careers of Geography
PhDs: Findings from Social Science PhDs—Five+ Years
Out. Seattle:
University of Washington, Center for Innovation and
Research in Graduate Education. Study questions: 1) What value do the
respondents place on research, grant writing, and
publishing skills? 2) Do doctoral students
who pursue academic careers value research skills
differently from doctoral students who pursue careers
in government, business, and non-profit organizations?
3) How do you think these results might be different
if master's students were surveyed rather than
doctoral students?
Solem, M., Cheung, I., and Schlemper, B. 2008. Skills in Professional Geography: An Assessment of Workforce Needs and Expectations. The Professional Geographer, 60, no. 3: 1-18. Study questions: 1) Of
the skills areas listed in Table 6, where have you
received most of your training? 2) Does the
argument in this article suggest that graduate
training should include more or less attention to
research design? 3) How might table 8, 9, and 10
inform your decisions about future coursework and
training?
Optional: Solem,
Michael, Hopwood, Nick, and Schlemper, M. Beth. 2011.
Experiencing Graduate School: A Comparative Analysis of
Students in Geography Programs. The Professional
Geographer 63 (1): 1–17.Optional: Solem, Michael, Kollasch, Aurelia, and Lee, Jenny. 2013. Career Goals, Pathways and Competencies of Geography Graduate Students in the USA. Journal of Geography in Higher Education 37. |
| Assignment: | Based on your work in History and Theory last semester, pick one research article on a topic that is closest to the topic you would like to pursue for your thesis or dissertation research. This should be an article that involves original research with a clearly stated method, not a review article, position paper, or editorial. Prepare a short presentation (6-8 minutes) that addresses the following points: 1) what are the author(s)'s research questions; 2) what research methods are used; 3) what is the author(s)'s rationale for using these methods to address the article's questions; and 4) what other methods could the author(s) have used to address the same questions? |
January 21: Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday: No Class |
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January 28: Defining and
refining a thesis or dissertation topic
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| Topics: | This seminar session will be devoted to strategies of defining and refining research questions. |
| Readings: | Solís,
Patricia. 2009. Preparing Competitive
Research Grant Proposals. In
Michael N. Solem, Kenneth E. Foote, and Janice J. Monk,
Aspiring Academics: A Resource Book for
Graduate Students and Early Career Faculty, pp.
139-166. |
| Assignment: |
Prepare a one page (2-3
paragraph) statement and a five-minute oral presentation
that describes your thesis or dissertation question.
It should tentatively define the research problem or
question and articulates its significance to your
sub-field. Try to justify your research problem in terms
of its potential contribution or significance to your
sub-field (e.g. conceptually; methodologically; in terms
of new data from an unstudied place or population; a new
application, model, or algorithm; etc.). If appropriate,
also comment on its practical significance and potential
broader impacts for geography, science, and society. Finally,
state one or more strategies you think you will follow in
your research; include in this final paragraph a brief
description of general methods, data sources, tools of
analysis, and schedule. Use Patricia Solís's Activity 11.1 "Starting with a Good Problem" (pp. 1-4) as a guide. |
February 4: Literature Review and
Conceptual/Theoretical Framing
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| Topics: | Discussion of
refined research questions. Writing an effective
literature is one of the greatest challenges of developing
a proposal. Here we focus on how to develop and
shape a concise and convincing literature review for your
project. We will also talk about time management
strategies. |
| Readings: | Foote, Ken. Time
Management. 2009. In
Michael N. Solem,
Kenneth E. Foote, and Janice J. Monk, Aspiring
Academics: A Resource Book for Graduate Students and
Early Career Faculty, pp. 5-15.
Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall. Chapters 1, 2 & 3 from Cresswell, John W. 2009. Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches. 3rd ed. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Chapter 1, 2, 3, 4, 15 & 18 from Turabian , Kate L. 2007. A manual for writers of research papers, theses, and dissertations: Chicago style for students and researchers. 7th ed.. Revised by Wayne C. Booth, Gregory G. Colomb, Joseph M. Williams and the University of Chicago Press Editorial Staff. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. |
| Assignment: |
1) Provide brief comments
on the two statements of research questions which you were
assigned to review. If possible, send those comments
to the authors (and me) by Friday. 2) In no more than six double-spaced pages (not including reference list), write a literature review and conceptual framework based on your (revised) research questions. Include your research questions with this assignment. In citing literature, follow the Turabian parenthetical, reference list style of citation. On Monday, give or send copies of this statement to the people who will review it for next week. I will provide a list of those to who will review your statement. On the cover sheet be sure to include your name, but also: 1) state what you consider to be the best or strongest part of your review; and 2) state any questions or points at which you would like the reviewers focus particular attention. |
February 11: Writing and
Reviewing Grant Proposals
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| Topics: | Discussion of
literature reviews. Overview of the grant writing
process including issues relating to the review process
used by some of the major granting agencies. We will
also focus on some of the other elements grant proposals
include schedules and budgets. We will also discuss
the need for pilot projects to test methodologies as well
as the process of developing "fall-back" plans in case an
element of our methodology doesn't work in the field. |
| Readings: |
Calef, Wesley. 1994. Some Canons of Reviewing. Urban
Geography 15: 1-3. Chamberlin, T.C. 1890. The method of
multiple working hypotheses. Science (old series), 15,
92. |
| Assignment: |
Prepare a page of written
comments for two of the literature reviews distributed in
seminar last week. Focus on: 1) the strengths of the
review; 2) issues which are unclear, need further
refinement, or could be strengthened. As to the
latter issues, provide concrete suggestions and ideas
about how to strengthen the literature review. Send or give these review statements to their authors (and me) by next Monday. |
February 18: Contemporary
Research Methodologies and Methodological Debate in
Geography I
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| Topics: | Begin
methodological presentations and discussions. Instructions
are located here. I have set aside three weeks for us to review and discuss methodological issues related to our projects. We will discuss the strengths and weaknesses of some of the major qualitative and quantitative methods used in contemporary geography, as well as those of direct relevance to your thesis and dissertation projects. We will also consider some of the recent methodological critiques of contemporary research paradigms in geography. |
| Readings: | Chapters 7 & 8
from Cresswell Here are some useful sources I have put on reserve. Please use them as needed: Norlin Reserve: Clifford, Nicholas J., Shaun French and Gill Valentine, eds. 2010. Key methods in geography, 2nd ed. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Norlin Reserve: Cloke, Paul, Ian Cook, Philip Crang, Mark Goodwin, Joe Painter, and Chris Philo. 2004. Practising human geography. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Norlin Reserve: Hay, Iain, ed. 2005. Qualitative research methods in human geography. 2nd ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Norlin Reserve: Kitchin, Rob and Nicholas J. Tate. 2000. Conducting research in human geography: Theory, methodology and practice. Harlow, UK: Pearson. Norlin Reserve: Montello, Daniel R. and Paul C. Sutton. 2006. An introduction to scientific research methods in geography. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Norlin Reserve: Moss, Pamela, ed. 2002. Feminist geography in practice: Research and methods. Oxford: Blackwell. Norlin Reserve: Yin, Robert K. 2009. Case study research: Design and methods. 4th ed. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Another useful book we don't yet have at Norlin is: Gomez, Basil and John Paul Jones. 2010. Research methods in geography: A critical introduction. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell. |
| Assignment: |
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February 25: Contemporary
Research Methodologies and Methodological Debate in
Geography II
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| Topics: | Continue presentations and discussion of contemporary research methodologies. |
| Readings: | Chapters 9 & 10 from Cresswell |
| Assignment: |
In no more
than six double-spaced pages (not including
reference list), write the methodology
section of your proposal. This
section should include a description of the nature and
sources of your data (which may also include a
description of the field site, if appropriate), data
collection strategies, and data analysis.
Be sure and make clear how your data and analysis
will specifically address your research questions and
your rationale for picking the method you propose to
use. If more than one methodology could be applied
to your research question, you may need to compare and
contrast the possible methods. Follow Turabian as
to style of presentation and citation. Give or send this statement to the people who will review them (list will be provided). On the cover sheet be sure to include your name, but also: 1) state what you consider to be the best or strongest part of your review; and 2) state any questions or points at which you would like the reviewers focus particular attention. |
March 4: Contemporary Research
Methodologies and Methodological Debate in Geography III
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| Topics: | Continue presentations and discussion of contemporary research methodologies. |
| Readings: | No additional
readings. |
| Assignment: |
Prepare a
page of written comments for two of the methodological
statements distributed in seminar last week. Focus
on: 1) the strengths of the statement; 2) issues which
are unclear, need further refinement, or could be
strengthened. As to the latter issues, provide
concrete suggestions and ideas about how to strengthen
the methodology. Send your reviews to the authors and to me by Friday. |
March 11: Ethics in Research and Publishing |
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| Topics: | Professional
ethics are at the foundation of all of our work.
This week we consider some of the key issues involved in
the ethics of research and publishing as well as steps for
recognizing and resolving ethical dilemmas. |
| Readings: | Association of American
Geographers, Statement on Professional Ethics, http://www.aag.org/cs/about_aag/governance/statement_of_professional_ethics
CU Human Research Committee, http://humanresearch.colorado.edu/ Hay, Iain and Mark Israel. 2009. Private people, secret
places: Ethical research in practice. In Michael N.
Solem, Kenneth E. Foote, and Janice J. Monk, Aspiring
Academics: A Resource Book for Graduate Students and
Early Career Faculty, pp. 167-178. Upper Saddle
River, NJ: Prentice-Hall. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, s.v. "Scientific
Misconduct," http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_misconduct |
| Assignment: |
Read and be prepared to discuss the case study
scenarios found in Iain Hay and Mark Israel, Activities
for AA Chapter 12, Private People, Secret Places: Ethical Research
in Practice, pp. 16-23. If your research involves human subjects, then take the Human Research Committee online training course before this session. The online training course explains in more details some of the issues we will raise in class. |
March 18: No seminar
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| First full draft of proposal due by Friday. | |
March 25: Spring Break |
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April 1: Getting the Most Out of Conference Participation & Effective Use of Tables, Graphs, Maps and Visualizations in Research Communication |
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| Topics: |
Participation in academic conferences, workshops, and symposia is one of the most important activities of academic life. Conferences are once of the best ways to share ideas, gain new insights and ideas, network, and build networks among peers. Getting the most out of meetings can often benefit from advance preparation which we will focus on this week. We will also focus on the value of tables, graphs, maps, and other visuals to communicate research ideas and findings. |
| Readings: |
Tufte, Edward. 2001.
Graphical excellence. Chapter 1 in The visual display of
quantitative information, pp. 13-51.
Cheshire, CT: Graphics Press Tufte, Edward. 2006. The cognitive style of PowerPoint. In Beautiful evidence, 156-185. Cheshire, CT: Graphics Press, 2009. Chapter 8 & 26 in Turabian |
| Assignment: |
Send your reviews of the full proposals to the authors and to me by Friday. |
April 8: Academic Publishing:
Selecting Journals and Preparing Manuscripts
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| Topics: | I have set aside
two weeks to focus on the process of research
publication. Here we focus on some of the
nuts-and-bolts issues about how to select the journals to
which we submit manuscripts, how the peer-review process
works, and how to work with editors in response to
reviewers' comments. |
| Readings: | Brunn, Stanley
D. 2009. Academic publishing. In Michael N. Solem,
Kenneth E. Foote, and Janice J. Monk, Aspiring
Academics: A Resource Book for Graduate Students and
Early Career Faculty, pp. 179-189. Upper Saddle
River, NJ: Prentice-Hall. ISI Web of Science/Web of Knowledge available through the Chinook library catalog. The CU Libraries provide an online video tutorial on using the Web of Science at: http://ucblibraries.colorado.edu/engineering/flash/WebofScience/WebofScienceFull/WebofScience/WebofScience.html Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, s.v. "Citation Index," http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citation_index |
| Assignment: |
Read and complete
Activities 13.1 "Choosing the right outlet for your
research" and 13.2 "The ethics and politics of academic
publishing" by Jan Monk in
Activities
for AA Chapter 13, Academic Publishing. |
April 15: Academic Publishing: The Peer-Review and Publishing Process |
|
| Topics: | Continuation of
publishing workshop. |
| Readings: |
Kitchin, Rob and Duncan Fuller, Geo-publishing.org: A Publishing Resource for Geographers, http://www.nuim.ie/nirsa/geo-pub/geo-pub.html Chapters 3 and 6 in Kitchin, Rob and Duncan Fuller. 2005. The academic's guide to publishing. London: Sage. There is a large range of excellent books about academic writing and publishing on this list which may be of use to you in the future. |
| Assignment: |
Read and complete Activity
13.3 "Understanding the manuscript review process" by Ken
Foote in Activities
for AA Chapter 13, Academic Publishing. For
this activity, you need to read and review this
manuscript by Michael Solem. A review form
is included in the file. |
April 22: 1) Presentation of
revised research proposals & 2) Career Planning
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| Topics: | During the final two weeks of the semester we save time for everyone to give a 20-minute presentation on their research project and allow them to field questions. This is similar to the presentation you are likely to give during your planning meeting. We should also have some time during these last weeks to raise some "big-picture" issues about how our research fits into our lives--both personal and professional--and our careers. |
| Readings: |
Monk, Janice and
Christine Jocoy. 2009. Career planning:
Personal goals and professional contexts.
In Michael N. Solem,
Kenneth E. Foote, and Janice J. Monk, Aspiring
Academics: A Resource Book for Graduate Students and
Early Career Faculty, pp. 16-31.
Archer, Kevin. 2001. Through the glass darkly: Re-collecting my academic career. In Pamela Moss, ed., Placing Autobiography in Geography, pp. 62-77. Syracuse: Syracuse University Press. |
| Assignment: |
TBA |
April 29: 1) Presentation of revised research proposals & 2) Work/Life Issues |
|
| Topics: | Presentation and review of second draft of research proposals. |
| Readings: |
Schlemper, Beth
and Antoinette M.G.A. WinklerPrins. 2009. Balancing personal and
professional lives. In
Michael N. Solem,
Kenneth E. Foote, and Janice J. Monk, Aspiring
Academics: A Resource Book for Graduate Students and
Early Career Faculty, pp. 42-51.
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| Assignment: |
Review research proposals and provide feedback to presenters. |
Final draft of proposal
due by Friday, May 3th, 4:00 pm
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