Wayne State University

Aim Higher

McNair Scholars Program

Syllabus

Current Syllabus

Wayne State University McNair Scholars Program

Winter 2011 Tentative Schedule

Jan. 14
Welcome Back Day!
Jan. 17
Martin Luther King Holiday Recess - University Closed
Jan. 21
How to utilize a Library for its vital research tool “Searching and Endnote”
Meet at the main Undergraduate Library

The Twenty-Fifth Annual Ronald E. McNair Commemorative Celebration and Tenth National Research Symposium
January 26-28, 2011

North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, Greensboro, NC

Attending Scholars List:
Danae Rose
Cornetta Lane
Fiona Dixon
Lydia Numan

Jan. 28
Preparing for graduate study

How to find the “right institutions and funding”

How and when to apply for graduate school, and what is the application process

The GRE

Discussion of McNair and campus resources available to assist scholars with graduate school application process

What it seems to be a graduate student

The opportunities and challenges after graduate school and beyond
 
Feb. 4
  • Introduction to Research
  • What is research? What is research in your academic discipline?
  • How the undergraduate research experience is so helpful in preparing you for graduate study
  • The structure of Research papers: Essential components and chapters
  • Developing a researchable question
  • What do you do when a question is too broad or too narrow?
  • How do you research a question that has already been researched?
  • Theory and Cognitive Mapping
Feb. 11
Literature Review
  • What is a literature review?
  • What do I look for in the literature?
  • Identifying the theoretical framework used in your field
  • Identifying the methods used by researchers in your field
Locating the academic literature
Reading texts critically
How to incorporate the literature into, your own research and use it to formulate your theoretical construct
How to create an annotated bibliography / Literature review
Conventions in your discipline / citation styles / style manuals
Feb. 18 Hypothesis Testing
  • Is the research question testable?
  • Are there alternate hypothesis?
February 18 through February 21, 2011
University of North Texas 13th Annual McNair Scholars Research Conference
Feb. 25
Selecting Mentor and Demystifying the Mentoring Relationship
Key steps in identifying potential mentors
Mar. 4
“Copyright law in the Classroom”
Mar. 11
Research Methodology Part I: Overview of Quantitative Methods (Survey Research, Experiments, Etc.)
March 14 - 19
Spring Break - No Classes
March 17 - 20
University of Maryland National Research Conference
Mar. 25
Research Methodology Part II: Qualitative Research and Historical/ Literary Analysis (Ethnographic Research, participant Observation, Interviews, Text Analysis, Historiography, etc)
Apr. 1
Graduate School Internal and External Funding Opportunities
Apr. 8
Financial Literacy for Graduate and Doctoral Students
Apr. 15
Poster and Oral Presentation Skills
Research Poster Design & Digital Imaging
Apr. 22
McNair Social and Seminars Wrap- up
April 29 - May 2010
University of Washington McNair Research Conference