Spring 2007 Interdisciplinary Studies Senior Seminar Presentations

Tuesday, April 24, 2007
Great Hall, LLA 205 – 9:00 a.m.-10:30 a.m.

• Mike Gubbins, "Interdisciplinarity and the Third Reich."
• Ian Morton, "The Construction of a Small-Scale Algal Culture System for the Cultivation of Botryccocus Braunii."
• Adam Coker, "Casting a Vision: A Preliminary Plan for a Therapeutic Group Farm."
• Patrick Sullivan, "Ecological Ethics: Better Red than Dead."
• Robin Ward, "Hip-Hop Culture and Multicultural Leadership."

Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Great Hall, LLA 205 – 6:00 p.m.-9:30 p.m.

• Matthew C. Alexander, "Environmental Justice in America: The Case of the Hopi Indians."
• Erin Stanforth, "Parallels Between Victims of Hurricane Katrina and Mountaintop Removal."
• Meghan Martin, "Agriculture, Food Security, and HIV/AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa."
• Robert Kollm, "Sustainable Development and New Urbanism."
• Daniel Judge, "A Guide to Ethanol Production: Latin America as a Guide to Change and Expectations Within the US."
• Zack McClellan, "Vermicomposting in Cold Climates."
• Adam Wells, "Alternative Pedagogies in Action: The Mountaintop Removal Taskforce."
• Jennifer Schroeder, "Analyzing the Use of Economic Indicators with Application to the Solar Panel Project in Cordoba, Argentina."
• Patrick Ferrell, "Artistic Collaboration: Seen Through the Lenses, Heard Through Your Headphones."

Intermission

• Clint Carter, "Regeneration Through Violence in American Literature."
  
• Patrick T. McCaully, "Illicit Relations, Impeachment, and Iraq: Ramifications of the Clinton-Lewinsky Scandal."
• Katy Horton, "Our Growth, Smart Growth."
• Claire McClendon, "Agriculture and Community: Exploration of the Potentials for Sustainable Development Among the Lenca People of Western Honduras."
• John Brier, "Raving Online."
• Lyndsey Rivera, "Geiko: The Disappearing Women of Art."
• Ashley Colton, "Female Genital Cutting in the United States."
• Adrienne Wagner, "Umbrella: Bringing Performance Art out the Theatre and to the People."
• Anthony Joyce, "Proper Conduct: An Analysis of the Impact of Honor, Islam, and Current Political Developments on Pashtun Tribal Codes."
  

We Will Have Class Tuesday 4/16

We'll talk about the final presentation schedule. See you there.

Final Project Details

Senior Project Check-Sheet:

Your final project is due in my box by 5:00 p.m. on Th, 4/19. Late projects will have 1/3 of a letter grade deducted for every day late.

Typically, your project will be on an interdisciplinary topic emerging from your concentration, 25-50 pages in length (6250-12,500 words), establish a thesis or claim regarding an important aspect of your topic, support that claim with appropriate research, and document that research both in the text and in a bibliography. You will be graded on the degree to which you fulfill each of these requirements as well as on the quality of your writing, research and documentation. The bound copy you give me will stay in the department. The checklist below will assure your having met the requirements for the project.

Checklist
___ spiral binding
___ cover with title page
___ internal title page
___ 25-50 pages (6250-12,500 words) text, i.e. excluding bibliography
___ double-spaced
___ standard margins
___ serif font, e.g. Times
___ white paper, single-sided (blank on back)
___ pages numbered
___ well-written
___ well-organized
___ argues a clear thesis
___ emerges from your IDS concentration
___ uses all relevant quality reference material
___ proper citation of reference material
___ no plagiarism
___ adheres to ASU’s “Code of Academic Integrity”
___ MLA formatted bibliography, error-free


The final copy of your senior project will also be posted online to your class blog.

Printed:
“Black-comb” spiral binding.
Any color cover (printing on cover is not required).
Single-sided printing recommended for most projects (white paper please).
Print shops such as Precision, SOS, or Minor’s can often do this while you wait.
Use a serif font like Times.
Double-space everything (including quotes, endnotes, footnotes, title page, bibliography, etc.)
Left justify only (do not justify the right hand margin).
Number pages in upper right hand corner.

Title page:

Title (not in quotes)

Your Name

Senior Seminar
Dr. Derek Stanovsky
Interdisciplinary Studies Department
Appalachian State University
April 2007

You must give me one bound copy, which will be kept by the department.
I recommend you print at least one more copy for yourself.

Electronic:
You must also post a copy online to your blog.

Office of Student Research - Present & Publish

Office of Student Research - Present & Publish:

"Deadline for submission: March 9, 2007

To participate in the Celebration of Student Research and Creative Endeavors, you must submit this form by the deadline date. The form requires a brief description or abstract of your project. Following your submission, you will be contacted by the Office of Student Research with additional details."

This Week's Class Schedule

T 3/6 We will have class. Your starting, partial draft(s), an outline, and a revised abstract if needed are due. Please bring printed copies to give to me in class as well as post them to your blog. Read and comment on at least two of your classmates' blogs.

TH 3/8 No class. Enjoy Spring Break!!

Work on your project as much as you can, whenever you can. The end of the semester will get here quicker than you think!

Reminder: If you are graduating this semester, your completed portfolio is due in your advisor's box before Spring Break.

No Class. Th 3/1

I'm out sick, so we won't be having class today. Check back here on Saturday for next week's revised class schedule. See you next week.

Office of Student Research - Present & Publish

Office of Student Research - Present & Publish:

"Deadline for submission: March 9, 2007

To participate in the Celebration of Student Research and Creative Endeavors, you must submit this form by the deadline date. The form requires a brief description or abstract of your project. Following your submission, you will be contacted by the Office of Student Research with additional details."

Last Chance Office Hours

If you haven't come to talk with me yet, you can still catch me on Tuesday in my office (LLA 125) 8:30-11:00 or 12:45-3:30.

Wednesday Office Hours

I will be in my office today, Wednesday 2/21, from 12:30 - 3:30 pm.

Sorry

Sorry if I missed some of you during my afternoon office hours today (T 2/20). I was home with a sick daughter. I'll try to be in the office some on Wednesday though. You can add a comment to this post to let me know what times would be most helpful. I'll post here again when I know more about me schedule. I should be in my regular office hours on Thursday, though, as well as during our class time. See you then.

Chinese New Year Celebration!

The ASU Chinese Club is presenting a Chinese New Year Celebration with food, song, and performances.

Where: Grandfather Mountain Ballroom, Student Union
When: Monday, February 19th, 6:oo p.m.
What: Food by Hunan and New China Buffet

Abstract

Due Tuesday, 2/13. 150-300 words.

Write and post to your blog a formal abstract describing your senior project proposal. Bring a printed copy to class to hand in to me. You will also give a brief presentation to the class based on that abstract.

Your abstract should articulate as clearly and specifically as possible both what your thesis is with regard to your chosen topic, and how you plan to demonstrate your thesis through the project you have planned.

Your abstract should be clear, well written, concise, specific, and should include an original and informative title for your project. Titles can be hard, and the final title for you project may change, but I would like you to come up with at least a provisional working title now.

Working Bibliography

Post your working bibliography to your blog and bring a printed copy with you to class on Tuesday, 2/6.

Your working bibliography should be as complete and exhaustive as possible. It should contain ALL books, journals, articles, and other library resources that are relevant to your particular project -- aim for at least 50 references, with at least 20 from non-book sources such as journals, online sources, newspapers, magazines, interviews, films, recordings, etc. It should contain not only sources available at Belk Library, but elsewhere as well.

Your working bibliography should be in MLA format (Modern Language Association). There are copies of this guide available at the reserve desk in the library. A quick reference guide to MLA format can also be found at: http://library.osu.edu/sites/guides/mlagd.php

Your working bibliography will change and develop over time as you continue your research. Some sources may drop out as you realize they lack relevance, while other sources, or even whole new categories of sources, may be added. Your working bibliography should reflect a broad and deep search into the published resource materials relevant to your topic.

Resume Clinic / Job Fest

The ASU Career Development Center is sponsoring Resume Clinics 2/19-3/5 from 11:00-2:00 in the student union -- bring your resume to get feedback from recruiters.

And there will be a Job Fest on T 3/6 at the Broyhill Inn from 1:00-4:00.

Group Projects Anyone??

If you think you might be interested in doing a group project this semester, use this thread to leave comments about who you are and what sorts of topics and projects you might be interested in collaborating on this semester. Knock yourselves out.

For T 1/23

Prepare a 2 minute presentation of your proposed topic. Post a 250-500 word summary to your blog. Read and comment on at least two of your classmates' blogs.

This is a first take on coming up with a possible project -- actual projects may vary. Start thinking. Start doing some work in the library. Schedule your libraray RAP session. Come talk with me in my office hours as needed. Think about group project possibilities.

Get busy!

By now...

By now, you should have created your class blog, and posted entries on it about your academic background and about a past senior project. If you don't see a link to your blog over at the right, then I don't know about it yet. It's early days... don't fall behind.

Pimp Your Blog

If you wish to experiment, there are many other blog templates available online to use with your blogger account. The link above takes you to one list. There are many, many others.

Whatever look you settle on (and plain and simple is fine with me) your blog should have an easy to spot link back to THIS class blog.

Create Your Own Blog

Click on the link above, follow the instructions, and create a blog of your own. When you are done, post a comment to this message that includes the address of your new blog. Have fun. Don't worry about making it perfect. You can always change things later. Just make something you can start posting to now. Good luck!

Welcome!

Welcome to our Spring 2007 IDS Senior Seminar class blog. During the semester, you will find information on class meetings, assignments, and due dates here as well links to blogs by your classmates. Check here often to make sure you don't miss important class announcements.