Module 3
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Grad Studies   PhD Seminars Colloquium 2002
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Module 3 - Preparation

During this module, you will be formulating and finalizing the details for your own presentations. While we have blocked out only one week, this module will overlap modules 2 and 4 because the process will vary for each person.

By the end of week 5 you should be ready to post your initial decisions about your presentation as follows:

 1.                  Presentation Details:

Post your dissertation topic

Include a brief abstract (less than 250 words) (can be future tense)

You may post a reading that your colleagues will be expected to read prior to engaging in your presentation. Make sure that it is accessible on-line to all (i.e., available on-line; or at all libraries; or downloaded if not copyrighted)

Post your dissertation proposal to date, or sufficient information from the proposal that participants will gain an adequate understanding of your plans..

 2.                  On-line discussion:

You are expected to participate in the on-line discussion group at least once per week. Your instructors, or other participants, will post some guiding questions for your thoughtful response.

Also, you may wish to seek information from colleagues or instructors about issues surrounding the preparation of your presentation.

 

 

About your presentation

Your topic is your dissertation topic at it's current stage of development. You may need to be selective in the information you provide because your readers are somewhat limited in the time available. (This course is intended to provide opportunity for you to explore some aspects of the question you are developing for your dissertation. In some cases, this course will confirm your intent to continue this line of research; in other cases it might allow students to realize that this topic does not hold the merit originally intended. Either is seen by your instructors as a positive outcome.)

NB: For this presentation, do not carry out any collection of data toward your dissertation. Data collection cannot occur until you have both your dissertation proposal approved and ethical clearance. However, you may wish to try a small pilot study which includes some data collection to determine best methods of research for the dissertation. In order to do this, ethical review must be cleared through your own institution prior to any data collection and you would not be able to use these findings in your dissertation because the proposal has not yet been approved. (You could, however, note in your methodology chapter that a pilot study had informed your question and methodology.)

You might consider using this presentation to expand the literature review of your dissertation; or to develop more appropriate research instruments; or to look into and compare more appropriate research methodologies.