Senior Seminar (398-0-20)
Instructors
Erin Beth Waxenbaum Dennison
847/491-4818
1810 Hinman Ave., Room #A54A, EV Campus
Waxenbaum is a physical anthropologist and skeletal biologist specializing in human evolutionary biology, variation as well as human growth and development. She is also trained as a forensic anthropologist and currently serves as the Forensic Anthropologist for Cook, DuPage, McHenry and Champaign Counties.
Meeting Info
ANTHRO Lab A58 - 1810 Hinmn: Fri 1:00PM - 3:00PM
Overview of class
This course is for all anthropology majors writing a senior thesis and will provide students with a forum for writing their thesis. It is an opportunity for you to analyze findings/data from your original research on a topic of your choice within anthropology and to draft a paper based on that research. A range of issues will be considered, including research and writing styles characteristic of all four subfields, clarifying research and writing goals, preparing a critical literature review, data analysis and presentation and, most importantly, writing processes. Students will be expected to make brief presentations about the development of their paper throughout the quarter. The goal for this class is to produce a 20-page paper minimum that describes your research questions/issues/problems and presents an analysis using material from field research, laboratory work, data sets or library research; this will serve as the basis for the thesis you submit to the Anthropology Department in early spring quarter.
Registration Requirements
Senior who submitted intent to complete a senior honors thesis
Learning Objectives
"• Hone critical thinking, written, and oral communication of research within Anthropology.
• Evaluate primary literature in research area and develop unique research question.
• Proceed through staged evaluation of thesis/research document development - elevator pitch, outline, abstract, poster, and final thesis draft with constructive oral/written feedback at each stage.
• Produce a substantive research paper following field-specific methodology, structure, and convention which will ultimately emulate a publishable manuscript developed through constructive oral/written feedback from peers and faculty.
• Produce conference-worthy research poster developed through feedback from peers and faculty."
Teaching Method
Class discussion, peer review and research presentation
Evaluation Method
Final grades will be determined through an evaluation of class participation, written activities and final thesis draft.
Class Materials (Required)
N/A
Class Materials (Suggested)
N/A
Class Attributes
Advanced Expression