Course Outline MA(IL) 806
Mr. Easton
Summer 2006
The purpose of this course is to provide you with
an
opportunity to develop topics and methods that help you in designing a
strategy
that will be useful for approaching your required project.
In particular we will discuss the approaches
to topics that are used in the social sciences and stress the structure
and nature
of arguments that can be helpful in developing your projects. The key feature of the course will be an
incremental project. Each week will
include
a five (or more) page increment to a single essay that progressively
will
develop the themes presented in lecture and discussion.
The references below illustrate some of the books that have been written. There is no text for the course.
Silverman, D. Doing Qualitative Research: A
Practical
Handbook H62 S55 2000
Friedman S. and S. Steinberg. Writing and Thinking in the
Social Sciences H 62 F727
Hart, C. Doing a
Literature Review H 62 H2566 1998
Grading will be based on the progressive essay
(50%),
classroom participation (25%), and the completed essay (25%).
I. General Approaches to Preparing a
Project: A User's Guide to
Formal Success
a. Introduction
and Outline
b. Getting to know you and your interests
c. Writing in the social
sciences
d. Expositions versus criticism
e. Choosing your topic versus knowing your area of
interest
f. Work on the 'homework' essay