Students currently enrolled in URBP 298A or 298B will find the latest course website here.
Contents of this page:
Asha
Weinstein Agrawal
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Roxanne Ezzet-Lofstrom |
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Shishir Mathur
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Hilary Nixon
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Dayana Salazar |
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To enroll in URBP 298A, the first semester of the 298 process, students must meet two prerequisites. First, students must pass the WST if they joined the MUP program in Fall 2006 or later. In addition, all students must complete a Preliminary Proposal by the due date. Follow the steps below to complete this process and obtain an enrollment code for the course.
Browse through this 298 course website. In particular, familiarize yourself with the Research Proposal, IRB, and Literature Review assignments. The guidelines for the assignments may change slightly for the Fall 2009 semester, but the assignments will remain substantially the same.
Each student in URBP 298 works with a faculty advisor. In Fall 2009, the advisors will be Earl Bossard, Roxanne Ezzet-Lofstrom, Shishir Mathur, Hilary Nixon, and Dayana Salazar.
If you have identified a preferred advisor, contact him/her directly to say you hope to work with him/her. If space is not available with that advisor, then ask to be put on his/her waiting list. Alternatively, you can contact Prof. Salazar, who will be the URBP 298 coordinator for Fall 2009, and ask to be put on a general waiting list for an advisor.
Please note that the department cannot guarantee who your advisor will be until the first week of the semester. However, we make every effort to match students with their preferred advisor.
Read Chapters 1, 2, 3, and 4 of Kate L. Turabian’s A Manual for Writers of Research Papers, Theses, and Dissertations, seventh edition. Note that you must read the seventh edition, which is a newer version than some of you may already own.
Using what you have learned from the Turabian readings, prepare a preliminary proposal that contains the following 9 items:
To prove that your question is an important one, worth studying, you must answer for readers the "who cares?" question. To do so, this section must explain why answering your specific research question will provide valuable information to improve planning practice in general and/or the conditions within a specific community. In writing this section of the proposal, think both about the relevance of your general topic and also about the relevance of your specific question.
By Friday, August 14, 2009, email your Preliminary Proposal to the advisor with whom you hope to work. If you have not yet identified a specific advisor with whom you wish to work, then submit your proposal to Professor Salazar, who will be the URBP 298 coordinator for Fall 2009.
To register for URBP 298A, you need an enrollment code. During the first week of classes, the department will distribute add codes so that you can register for URBP 298A (assuming that your preliminary proposal is turned in on time and is of acceptable quality). Please do not ask for an add code before the first week of classes, as the department will not give them out until that time.
Class meeting times for Spring 2009 (subject to change with notice)
The class will meet on Mondays evenings, from 7:15 - 10:00 p.m, in Clark Hall 302. The first meeting will be held on January 26. The other meeting dates will most likely be February 2, February 9, February 23, and April 20.
Assignments for Spring 2009
Here are
some sample proposals written by URBP 298 students that will give you some
ideas of how to construct your own: Donlon (.pdf),
Fauria (.pdf), Kim (.pdf)
Here are some well-developed literature reviews written by prior 298 students that may give you ideas of how to construct your own literature review: Hebela (.pdf) and Hodge (.pdf). Note that when these were written, the instructions for the assignment were somewhat different.
Key due dates for Spring 2009
Assignment Due Date 1. Draft #1 of Research Proposal 2/9 2. Draft #2 of Research Proposal 2/23 3. Draft #1 of IRB Application 3/2 4. Final Research Proposal 3/9 5. Final IRB Application 3/16 6. Draft Literature Review 3/30 7. Final Literature Review 4/13 8. Draft report sections 5/13
Class meeting topics and handouts for Fall 2008 (subject to change with notice)
January 26 - Class 1
Lecture:
Introductions; overview of the 298 process and greensheet; explanation of
the research proposal assignment, framing the research question
Handouts:
February 2 - Class 2
Lecture: Conducting case studies;
conducting interviews; the IRB process
Readings:
Handouts
February 9 - Class 3
Lecture: Analyzing qualitative data (i.e., interview notes or primary documents); how to take notes
Class materials
Link to the Center for Disease Control and Preventions's EZ-Text software
On-line bibliographic software available through the SJSU library: RefWorks (you can log in from here -- see the RefWorks link under "Research Help")
February 23 - Class 4
Lecture: Explanation of the
literature review assignment; review of when and how to cite sources
Workshop: Discuss draft research proposals
Handouts
April 20 - Class 5
Lecture: Review of document design principles; tips on using advanced MS Word features to format a report; what to expect in URBP 298B
Handouts
Assignment |
Due Date |
First full draft |
3/16 (recommended 3/9) |
Second full draft |
4/20 (recommended 4/13) |
Final report for instructor review |
5/6 |
Finished report (pdf and print) |
5/13 |
See the URBP 298 reports that have received an honors designation:
There are many good resources available on the web that can help you to develop your thesis, organize your paper, cite sources properly, and such. A small subset appears below here.
You will also find many recommended books on writing in the course materials for Asha W. Agrawal's version of URBP 213. See the suggested readings at the bottom of the course home page and also the required readings on the course syllabus.
Page last updated on 9 March 2009 by Asha Weinstein Agrawal