Proposal and Registration
As part of the course registration process,
students should have a topic selected and a proposal drafted. Unless there is a change of plans, this can be the IS 301 proposal with necessary revisions and
refinements.
The proposal process will also help identify which
faculty members will be involved on the committee, and also help the committee predict what resources, if any
should be released to the student.
We understand that many students may have a full semester or longer between
the time they take IS 301 and IS 498. As a result, the literature search
and any preliminary proposals developed in IS 301 may change with time. We will be happy to work with you in this area.
Here is one example of a proposal format that we use in one of our ATM courses.
It is fashioned from the National Science Foundation and NASA formats. You may
want to merge this "style" with that used in IS 301 (consult with the
appropriate faculty as to the proper length and specific form).
Critical to this proposal should be a timeline or simple Gantt chart
which will will lay out the tasks necessary to complete the project as well as
projected milestones and progress benchmarks. This is your map by which
you will complete the project. Be assured that you will probably need to
change this as you proceed. Consult with your prospective
capstone advisor as to the appropriate deadlines for a first draft and defense
date and adjust your timeline accordingly. Typical guidelines for
benchmarks are provided below.
The full document should be a 5 pages (double-spaced) or so, and should lay out what you plan to do, and how you
plan on doing it.
Research and Weekly Meetings
Though there are no assigned class times for this course, you should schedule
and keep regular weekly meetings with your capstone advisor. You should work
closely with your advisor in developing your capstone and keep pace with (and if
necessary, realign) your project time line towards a productive and successful conclusion to your capstone.
In addition to your weekly meetings, it is also a good idea to formally
summarize your work every few weeks. Assess where you are in your work and
if necessary, alter your timeline.
Capstone Paper
As a rule, the capstone paper, similar to a thesis, should be targeted towards your peers, defined here as senior- and junior-level meteorology students, and the IAS and ATM faculty
and staff.
Your paper should be a minimum of 20-25 pages in length at
minimum (not counting
back matter such as
references and appendices). We recommend that you follow the same format required by the Graduate School.
Likewise, we recommend using the citation and discipline-specific styles of the American Meteorological Society.
Depending on the size of your project you may want to have it in
multi-chapter form (like a graduate level thesis) or a mult-section form (closer
to what you see in journal papers). Regardless of the look-and-feel, it
should be sectioned clearly (looking through a few journal articles or smaller
graduate theses in the library may give you a feel for what your project will
look like). There should be one bibliography as part of the back-matter
that covers all citations in the main body and appendices (if you have any).
As a general rule, your first draft should be ready for your
capstone advisor and
possibly your secondary reader by one-half month (at the latest) before your
defense (which should be scheduled to occur at or
before the week preceding final exams). Deadlines are shown in a section
below. You will be given recommend modifications
based on your readers' professional judgment.It is best to adhere to a "final
form" format of your capstone paper from the beginning. This means less
formatting, desktop publishing and other "small stuff" (and none of it is small
stuff) to do at the end.
Defense
When your capstone advisor clears your draft, it will be formally submitted to the
full committee. They should have one week to read it. By the week before finals,
you will schedule a meeting with your committee. The first half of the meeting
will be open to the department. Here, you will present your project. As a rule,
schedule about 20-30 minutes for this. As with your capstone paper, you
will be talking to your faculty, cohort, colleagues and professional peers.
Gear your talk accordingly. The floor will be open for
questions from the general audience. A good rule of thumb for the "open"
part of the defense is about 20 minutes for the presentation, 10 minutes for the
open questions.Next, the room will be cleared of all
but you and your committee, and the committee-level defense will be begin this
should take about 30 minutes. For an
example of this process, rent the film Shallow Grave and watch the opening
sequence. You will be questioned on the
details and implications of your project. It is often the rule that a student
will have some changes to make. These changes should be completed by the
close of finals week where your last paper draft and cleared by your committee.
Here it is a good idea to sit with each committee member even if you have not
done so already before the paper.
Your final draft will be kept in IAS/ATM and IS and should be submitted before
finals week. If your work is exceptional and may contribute to the broader
community, IAS/ATM and IS may recommend that you consider presenting at a regional or
national conference, and we may be able to assist in that area.
