Syllabus, Fall 2011

Thesis I: Independent Investigations
EMS-590-02 / ARTH-590-02 / US-590-02

Thursdays, 4:15-7 LH 3

Instructor: Dale Carrico
Contact: dcarrico@sfai.edu; ndaleca@gmail.com
Blog: http://thesespieces.blogspot.com

Course Description:

This course marks the next stage in the fulfillment of the degree requirements for an MA in Exhibition and Museum Studies, History and Theory of Contemporary Art, and Urban Studies at the San Francisco Art Institute. Students will participate in a host of writing and peer review workshops as well as intensive consultations with the instructor. We will explore methodologies for academic research and writing together as well as work our way through the administrative, conceptual, analytic, political, and existential turmoil that inevitably gurgles up over the course of extended academic writing projects. The various assignments and their due dates are designed to shepherd you through the optimal timeline for completion of the sequence of requirements for your degree this term.

Provisional Schedule of Meetings

Week One -- August 30
Introductions

Contact your Committees, begin the process of setting a date for Convening your Committee.

Everybody submit your Draft Abstract, Preliminary Work Plan/Outline, Annotated Bibliography to me by the Monday immediately preceding your Individual Meeting with me Weeks 2-3.

Week Two -- September 6
Individual Meetings (Committees, Abstracts, Bibliographies)

Week Three -- September 13
Individual Meetings Continued

Week Four -- September 20
Introduction to Library Resources and Research Methods at Chestnut
Roundtable discussion of ongoing and upcoming MA Reviews, other issues.

Everybody should have scheduled their MA Review by now, and by next week all of these reviews should have taken place.

Week Five -- September 27
Peer Review Workshop (8-12pp. Excerpts)

Week Six -- October 4
Peer Review Workshop Continued.

Week Seven -- October 11
Individual Meetings (Taking stock, moving on)

Week Eight -- October 18
Individual Meetings Continued.
Everybody should have conclusively passed their MA Reviews at this point.

Week Nine -- October 25
Writing, Editing

Week Ten -- November 1
Title Brainstorming, Abstract Peer Review Workshop

Week Eleven -- November 8
Peer Review Workshop (10-12pp. Excerpts)

Week Twelve -- November 15
Peer Review Workshop Continued.

Week Thirteen -- November 22
Off for the Thanksgiving Holiday -- no rest for the weary, however!

Week Fourteen -- November 29
Peer Review Workshop (25-35pp. Drafts)

Week Fifteen -- December 6
Peer Review Workshop Continued.
Everybody should submit their latest Thesis Draft to their Committee Chair at this point.

Course Objectives:

One. The development and refinement of an abstract, a preliminary work plan/outline and annotated bibliography by the fourth week of the term.

Two. The convening of Thesis Committees by the fifth week of the term and completion of the MA Review for all students in the cohort no later than the eighth week of the term.

Three. The submission of a working title and abstract for the thesis by the eleventh week of the term.

Four. The completion and submission to Committee Chairs of a thirty-five page draft by the fifteenth week of the term.