Oxford Tutorial

Uca Honors College

Informations

• Publié par: Viwyur
• Nombre de lectures: 31
• Langue: English

Extrait

rev. August 14, 2007

Oxford Tutorial and Honors Thesis

Each student in the Honors College, in order to complete a minor in interdisciplinary

studies, must complete a one-semester Oxford Tutorial (which may be repeated for a total

of two semesters), which will eventually culminate in a Senior Honors Thesis. The

purpose of the Tutorial is to provide an opportunity for a student and a faculty member to

explore a topic one-on-one. The topic of the Tutorial should be worked out between the

student and the professor, with a written contract specifying the topic, goals, and meeting

schedule to be submitted to the Honors College. The student is simultaneously enrolled in

an Honors College course, for which attendance and occasional writings are required.

Approximately one hundred tutors are needed each year to accomplish our undergraduate

research goals. Tutors receive $300 in departmental travel money for each three students

they advise to successful completion of the thesis.

Students should select their tutors and begin planning their Tutorial before the term in

which they enroll in the course. The student directs the Tutorial as much as possible, and

should take primary responsibility for finding sources on the subject. The student should

prepare a list of readings in consultation with their tutor as soon as possible, so that

research can begin immediately. The reading list should function as a guide for the

student and tutor; as the student explores the subject, however, he or she may find the

need to make changes to the reading list to incorporate new angles. Students are

responsible for their own discoveries and for making choices regarding materials

necessary for the research. You are their sounding board.

The Tutorial is a weekly meeting, generally one hour, of one or two students with a tutor.

In these meetings, the student acts as teacher, presenting the results of the week’s work

and assessing the assigned readings. The student should be presenting more than

summaries of findings; s/he should develop critical approaches to the topic, evaluate

evidence, and establish priorities. The student should be critical in his or her approach to

the data, using appropriate and rational means of evaluation, organizing ideas, finding

similarities, and locating essentials. The tutor, in turn, should be critical of the student’s

efforts—asking questions, guiding the student, and pushing the student to do his or her

best to master the material. The tutor’s essential role in the Tutorial is to act as a

pedagogue—to “walk with” the student by providing an example of how to ask insightful

questions. The tutor need not necessarily be an expert on the topic, but have some

knowledge of the field and the kinds of questions and answers that are appropriate.

Tutors may find that they learn a great deal from their students.

The student will not write the thesis during the Tutorial, but may begin by writing a series

of short papers or oral presentations. By the end of the tutorial, students should have

defined a focused topic and developed a possible outline for the thesis. As the student

moves into the writing stage, the student may retain the tutor as a primary reader for his

or her thesis. The student and tutor should work out any scheduled meetings or deadlines

set for the writing period.

1

rev. August 14, 2007

The tutor assigns the student a grade for the course, based on his or her progress and

effort in accomplishing research goals. The instructor of the Honors College Tutorial

course will contact the tutor near the end of the semester, at which time the tutor will

recommend a grade. If the student has not accomplished the objectives that are part of his

or her enrollment in the Honors College course, the instructor should discuss this problem

with the student. The course instructor submits a final grade for the student.

Goals of the tutorial include:

•

Guiding students towards making an argument; a commitment to the best possible

viewpoint

•

Giving students confidence in their own authority and ability to present and be

accountable for their findings

•

Teaching students how to draw reasonable conclusions on their own, without

being either cynical of conclusions or too reliant on others’ conclusions

•

Supporting students as they cross disciplinary boundaries as they establish their

authority on a subject

Tutorials are not (and should not) be easy. The difficulty, however, should lie in the

mastery of the material, and not in problems that interfere with the progress of the

research itself. Whenever problems occur, the student and tutor should try, to the best of

their ability, to discuss the problem openly. In some cases the tutor or student may need

to contact the instructors of the Honors College Tutorial course, Phillip Melton and Doug

Corbitt. In situations that remain unresolved a special committee—composed of the tutor,

tutorial instructor, and at least one member of Honors College administration—is

convened to resolve the matter. Any problems should be addressed as soon as possible;

it’s best to recognize these problems before too much of the semester has passed. Here

are some problems that may arise in the tutorial, and possible solutions.

•

The student loses interest in the topic before the tutorial is complete.

This may happen for several reasons. The student may find out that s/he has tackled a

topic that is too broad, that s/he doesn’t have a grasp of basic concepts important to

the topic, the student may switch majors, or simply find out that the subject did not

yield the results or research possibilities s/he had hoped. When this happens, the

student and tutor may need to regroup, finding new approaches that might stimulate

questions that excite the student anew. Any tutorial will involve some kind of

redirecting and adjustment. However, if the student and tutor cannot find a new

approach to the subject, the student may need to find a new subject and new tutor.

Depending on when this problem occurs, this may involve an immediate change, or

the student may need to take an incomplete in the course until he or she is able to

follow through on a research topic.

•

The tutor and student develop fundamentally opposing viewpoints that impede

progress.

Certainly, the tutor should differ with the student at times, and part of his or her job is

to push the student to look at a number of viewpoints. Students and tutors should be

open about these differences and use them for discussion. However, if the student or

2

rev. August 14, 2007

tutor feels that philosophical differences may impede the student’s progress or the

tutor’s evaluation of the project, the student and tutor should be frank about the

differences, and the student may opt to find another tutor.

•

The tutor dominates the Tutorial meetings.

The tutor, no matter how enthusiastic about the topic, should allow the student to take

the leadership role and to do most of the talking. The tutorial does not exist for the

student to discover the tutor’s wisdom, but to provide a setting for conversation in

which the student tries out a position on a listener. If the student feels the tutor is

being domineering, the student should tell the tutor so. Sometimes, students feel shy

about this; if so, the instructor of the Honors College tutorial course may call a

meeting with both student and tutor to try to resolve the problem. The problem can

best be alleviated by setting up a format for meetings that ensure ample time for the

student to present his or her findings.

•

Either tutor or student fails to meet weekly.

Sometimes schedules simply conflict for a week or two; this is often unavoidable.

However, if either tutor or student misses a number of weeks in a row, the tutorial is

not working. If the tutor finds that s/he is unable to devote an hour a week to the

tutorial, the tutor should be frank with the student about the problem, and suggest that

the student find a new tutor. If the student fails to come to meetings, it is probably a

sign of another problem: research malaise, a bad relationship with the tutor,

unhappiness with the topic. If this happens, tutors should try to discover the problem,

or contact the Honors College tutorial course instructor.

•

The student fails to accomplish a significant amount of reading, or to make

progress in answering his or her research question.

This can happen if the student fails to find a narrower focus within the topic, or for

one of the problems mentioned above. Because the students receive a grade for the

course, the tutor should evaluate the student based on the effort and progress he or she

has made. Both tutor and student should be frank about this; often acknowledging that

both feel little has been accomplished can be a relief to both and lead to a new

direction in the research. However, if the tutor genuinely feels that the student has not

put effort into the research and has not reached the goals established at the beginning

of the term, the tutor should feel free to evaluate the student accordingly. If the

problem is not one of effort or enthusiasm, but the volume of research or the problem

of narrowing the topic, then the student and tutor may agree to continue the work

through a second tutorial, and the tutor should evaluate the student’s progress

according to what s/he has achieved.

•

The tutor and student simply do not work well together.

Sometimes personalities do not mesh. If this happens, the student and tutor should

discuss the problem openly. The best solution for this is for the student to find a new

tutor as soon as possible.

The student may go directly on to the Thesis course, or may continue with tutorial

research by enrolling in the course for one more term. Students enrolled in Honors Thesis

should complete the thesis during the semester, regardless of whether they intend to

graduate that term.

3

rev. August 14, 2007

This is a two-semester commitment. The Honors Thesis may take many different forms.

Usually, it is a research essay, but a good thesis could also be a novel, fundamental

research, a performance, or an artistic creation. If the Honors Thesis is a research project

or creative endeavor, the student must also provide a written presentation or

interpretation of it. This may be an introduction, an interpretation of the applications of

research, or an addendum that sets the research in interdisciplinary context. The Honors

Thesis must be different from any departmental thesis the student completes. While the

Honors College accepts theses that rely upon the same body of research as the

departmental thesis, the advisor and student should also check the requirements of the

individual departments, which vary. The Honors Thesis should have an argument that is

significantly different from that of the departmental thesis; it should highlight different

interpretations in the research material. The Honors College Thesis must also be

interdisciplinary. It must bring the perspectives of more than one field of inquiry to bear

on the material. This is generally the basis of distinction between the two theses.

The advisor’s role during this semester is primarily as reader and consultant. The advisor

and student should agree upon dates for written sections of the thesis to be turned in for

reading and for meetings. The student and advisor need not meet every week, but it is

highly recommended that meetings take place regularly throughout the semester. If the

advisor feels that the student is not progressing with work, he or she should contact Philip

Frana (

[e-mail]

) in the Honors College. Students should hand in a polished draft

of the thesis at the midterm break, at which time the advisor will read and make

recommendations for revisions. The student should hand in a final draft of the thesis no

later than a month before graduation, at which time the advisor can submit that the thesis

be approved, approved on condition of minor revision, or rejected. The student should

also choose one other reader for the Thesis, who may or may not represent another

discipline.

The Presentation is scheduled when the Honors College is informed by the Thesis advisor

that the student’s Thesis is ready for the Presentation. But the final decision for this

scheduling rests with the Director or his designee. Normally, invitations to the Thesis

Presentation are sent out by the Honors College to all Honors College students and

faculty and to a list of persons designated by the student. The Thesis Presentation

generally lasts half an hour, with twenty minutes for the presentation and ten minutes for

questions. The advisor and the Honors College thesis representative are given first

opportunity to question the student. Given the fact that they have worked with the student

and approved the Thesis, the questions should reflect questions already discussed in

previous conversation. A representative from the Honors College serves as the Thesis

Presentation moderator.

If the presentation and Thesis meet with the readers’ approval, both readers will sign a

hard copy of the Thesis, which the advisor or student should turn in to the Honors

College, either by giving it to the moderator or to Glenda Middleton, our administrative

assistant for student services. One copy of each Thesis will be placed in the UCA

Archives for use by students and faculty, and a digital copy will be uploaded to HCOL

(Honors College Online).

4