Seminar Description | Seminar Requirements
SEMINAR DESCRIPTION
This seminar is the first semester in a year-long course for economics
undergraduate thesis students. An undergraduate thesis has long been a
signal of academic excellence and achievement in a major field of study. The
creation and execution of a project of one’s own design is often the most
rewarding experience of an undergraduate career. The project immerses the
student in sustained intellectual activity, encourages depth of inquiry, and
develops research, writing, and presentation skills. Our year-long sequence
is designed to support the student through this process. As such, it
requires the student to work in close consultation with the instructor and
with other members of the seminar. Through these interactions, the student
is engaged in an intellectual community focused on the creation of economic
research.
Economics 400 (ECN 499 for Renee Crown Honors students) is open only to students selected for the Economics
Distinction Program. It offers Distinction students the opportunity to
design an original economics research project within a supportive and
challenging academic environment. Throughout the semester we will engage in
a variety of exercises and assignments focused on the preparation of a
detailed project prospectus and the commencement of project research
activities. Seminar participants will present their own evolving ideas,
constructively comment on the ideas of other participants, learn about
research tools on campus and beyond, and struggle with the ideals of
research integrity and research quality.
ECN 400.1 is followed by a Spring course, ECN 400.2: Economics Undergraduate
Thesis Seminar II. The Spring seminar is truly student-centered research, as
thesis writers present their ongoing research, constructively engage the
work of other honors students, and work in close cooperation with a faculty
mentor to complete their research. The ECN 400 course sequence culminates in
the completion of the Thesis Project and, for those who also maintain a
minimum 3.4 cumulative grade point average, graduation with Distinction in
Economics.
COURSE REQUIREMENTS
This seminar is designed to meet the needs of Economics thesis writers as
they proceed through the thesis planning stage to the execution of those
plans. As such, our course schedule is fluid and participants will need to
pay close attention to the class schedule. Our course website has a class
schedule that will be updated regularly. Students should refer to the
website if there is a doubt about any day’s activities and readings.
Seminar participants are required to attend all sessions and to participate
actively in seminar discussions. A participant must notify the instructor IN
ADVANCE if he or she must miss a seminar session for unavoidable reasons.
The instructor can ALWAYS be contacted by email or telephone. Unexcused
seminar absences will result in a lower course grade.
GRADING ELEMENT
SHARE OF FINAL GRADE
Seminar Assignments and Exercises
50
Project Prospectus
25
Seminar Participation
25
As always, students will be held to the highest standards of academic
honesty: For thesis writers, academic honesty issues go beyond the familiar
prohibition against cheating on exams and assignments. We will discuss the
proper treatment of the words and ideas of others, citation methods, and how
to incorporate previous research into our own work while giving credit to
the creators of this work.
In compliance with section 504 of the Americans with Disabilities Act,
Syracuse University is committed to full participation by students with
disabilities. If you feel that you need academic accommodations due to a
disability, you should immediately register with the Office of Disability
Services (ODS) at 804 University Ave., Room 309, 443-4498 or 443-1371 (TDD
only). ODS is the Syracuse University office that authorizes special
accommodations for students with disabilities.
REQUIRED MATERIALS
We will be reading material from economics scholarly journals, work in
progress, and work by each other. These materials are freely available
through the library website or from each other. Accordingly, seminar
participants will need access to an Acrobat reader, either on a personal
computer or at a campus cluster. Each participant also needs access to PowerPoint, again either on a personal computer or at a campus cluster. We
will discuss access to other software as we progress. Participants may be
required to buy specialized research tools, such as a manual of style, once
we take an inventory of resources students already own.
Click on the month to find the assignment and links to readings and discussion questions.
September | October| November |December