This course is designed to help students approaching a senior year of honors research in symbolic systems. It is primarily aimed at juniors in SSP, although sophomores and students from other majors may be admitted if the circumstances warrant it. To some extent, the content and structure of the course will be a function of the students who take it, and the schedule below should be viewed as quite tentative for that reason -- it is meant as an outline of the likely progression over the quarter. The guiding idea behind the course, though, is that students may benefit from reflecting systematically on what they hope to get out of doing an honors project, what the topic will be, the commitment that will be required, and the means by which the project will be done (research and writing methods, milestones, logistics, and human relationships). It should ideally be of use to students across a wide range of project types and stages.
SCHEDULE (all links are .doc files unless otherwise noted)
Session 1 (1/8) - Introductions and "SquareZero"
Reflective listening exercise for introductions. Goal
clarification
exercise.
Assignment 1: "Grading your
transcript"
Session 2 (1/22) - Overview of the Honors Thesis Process
Structure of the Symbolic Systems Honors Program. Philosophy of
the honors thesis. Components of an honors
thesis. Student funding opportunities.
Handout:
Pursuing
an Honors Degree in Symbolic Systems at Stanford: Advice, Guidelines,
and Policies for 2008-2009 (from the Symsys website)
Handout: Some Components of an
Honors Thesis
Handout:
Stanford Research Grants Descriptions and Deadlines (from UAL website)
Handout:
Guidelines for Faculty Mentor Letters of Support (from UAL website)
Assignment 2: "The
Student Strikes Back
Session 3 (1/29) - Topic
Development
Relating your topic to your goals.
Getting ideas. Scoping.
Handout: Example Goals for an Honors
Project
Handout: Stages in Early
Topic Development
Assignment 3: "Developing an
idea for your honors project"
Session 4 (2/12) - Methodologies I
Questions that emerge from topic development. Introduction
to different research methodologies: philosophical, formal,
experimental, observational, and computational.
Assignment 4:
"Considering different methodologies"
Session 5 (2/26) - Topic Development II and Methodologies II
Searching the literature. The camera metaphor. Learning
to ask "why". Individual review of topics.
Choosing a method/methods for your
project, and comparing
it/them with
other
methods. Methods, lifestyles, and personalities exercise.
Learning to operationalize. Individual review of methods.
Handout: "Searching the
Literature"
Exercise: Project Characteristics
Assignment 5: "Write
something down!"
Session 6 (3/11) - Resources, Logistics, and Project
Management
Resources at
Stanford:
funding, information, consulting services.
Other resources. Human subjects requirements and other planning
considerations. Getting organized. Overcoming the
planning
fallacy. Attacking larger writing projects. Tools for
organizing
information, keeping notes, and developing an outline. Peer review
exercise. Writing strategies.
Handout:
"How to Write - and Edit - a
Paper" by Barry Wellman
Assignment 6: "A
plan
for your project"
STANFORD RESOURCES
Center for Teaching and Learning
(many resources for more effective learning, including the Oral
Communication Program for training in speechmaking)
Department
of Statistics Consulting (free drop-in service for researchers
seeking advice from Statistics Department Ph.D. students)
Honors
at Stanford (Undergraduate Research Programs site - many helpful
links; read the stuff for faculty too, and note that faculty grants can
cover honors projects that are faculty-initiated)
Pursuing
an Honors Degree in Symbolic Systems at Stanford: Advice, Guidelines,
and Policies for 2007-2008 (from the Symsys website, same as 1/22
handout)
Research Compliance
Office and IRB (for everything related to getting approval for
human subjects research at Stanford)
Stanford University Libraries
and Academic Information Resources (SULAIR) (portal for library
services at Stanford, including the catalogue Socrates, research
databases, and services like Social Science Data and Sofware)
Undergraduate
Research Programs (URP) Student Grants (for everything related to
funding student-initiated work, including summer earnings replacement!
See 1/22)
INTERNET RESOURCES (OUTSIDE OF
STANFORD)
ACM's Online Guide to
Computing Literature (database for computer science literature,
requires Stanford access)
Boote, D.N. & Beile, P. (2005). Scholars
before researchers: On the centrality of the dissertation literature
review in research preparation. Educational
Researcher, 34(6):3-15. (Good article on the purposes of
literature review)
CiteSeer.IST (citations
and text database for computer and information science papers)
ComIndex (database
for communication literature, requires Stanford access)
Bibliographic
Management Software (Stanford Library guide to EndNote and RefWorks)
Databases
and Articles (list of databases available through the Stanford
Library)
Google Scholar (Somewhat
haphazard, automated culling of scholarly papers and citations on the
web. Very useful, but only as a rough initial literature search -
it's missing a lot of older work. Try regular Google as well.)
Levine, S.J. (2005). Writing and
Presenting Your Thesis or Disseration. Learner Associates.
(online book, also available in print form)
LLBA:
Linguistics and Language Behavior Abstracts (database for
linguistics literature, requires Stanford access)
** Palmquist, M. (2006). The Bedford Researcher.
Bedford/St. Martins Press. (free companion website to book, lots of
excellent material and extensive weblinks of use to student researchers)
Philosophers
Index (database for philosophy literature, requires Stanford access)
Philosophy
in Cyberspace; Section 5: Student Resources (annotated list of
links about philosophical argument and writing)
PsycInfo
(database for psychology literature, requires Stanford access)
Resources
on Research, Writing, and Careers in Computer Science (list of
sites put together at Iowa State University)
Young, M. Undergraduate
Philosophical Writing (online manual created by a graduate student
at the University of California, Irvine)
"How to Write - and Edit - a Paper" by Barry Wellman (same as Week 9 handout)
PRINT RESOURCES
Levine, S.J. (2005). Writing and
Presenting Your Thesis or Disseration. Learner Associates.
(online book, also available in print form)
Palmquist, M. (2006). The Bedford Researcher. 2nd
edition. Bedford/St. Martins Press.
see A
Selection of Books to Help With Your Thesis or Disseration (Joe
Levine's annotated listing)
Sternberg, R. (2005). The Psychologist's Companion: A Guide to
Scientific Writing for Students and Researchers. 4th
edition. Cambridge University Press.
GRADING BASIS
1. Project plan (50%)
2. Other assignments (30%)
3. Attendance and participation (20%)