Course Outline

PEP 426
PEP 593-EEE
PEP 535-EB
Biochem Lab
PEP 593
PEP 627
PEP 528-Neuromuscular Perf.
PEP/HED604
530 Lab. Proced.
Research Methods
PEP 478/579
LabVIEW
PEP 326

HPER:604 Research Seminar

Pre-requisites

Program specific readiness for writing dissertation/thesis proposal

Purpose

To assist the student in all aspects of preparing to propose their graduate thesis/dissertation research project.

Rationale

Graduate students require assistance in the development and writing of their research proposal. To promote uniformity in the style and format of the research proposal, a course is offered to assist the student and the student's research chair and committee.

Objectives

To have written a quality research proposal for dissemination to the student's research committee in preparation for the formal oral proposal.

Alliance With Program, Division and College Missions

There is an increasing need to justify how academic courses "fit" within the theoretical framework of the college they are located within. Explanations of the College of Education Mission and Conceptual Framework are found within the College section of the UNM website.

Format

This course is taught by a combination of lecture, student-teacher discussion, and student presentations. Student involvement in the development of each other's research efforts is expected.

Textbook and Other Required Items

Due to the content of this course, it has always been difficult to find a suitable text. There is no assigned text for this course, but suitable texts do exists such as the one identified below.

Ogden EH. Completing your Doctoral dissertation or Masters thesis in two semesters or less. 1993, Technomic, Lancaster, PA; ISBN: 1566760356.

Additional readings:

Day RA. How to write and publish a scientific paper. 1994, ORYX Press, Phoenix, AZ, ISBN: 0897748646.

Day RA. Scientific English: A guide for scientists and other professionals. 1992, ORYX Press, Phoenix, AZ, ISBN: 0897747224

Select UNM OGS publications and dissertation format documents from select programs will also be used. Where possible, I will link to these resources if they can be found on the UNM website. Otherwise, I will photocopy the documents and hand them out in class.

You must;

	bring all previous handouts to each class. There will be many supplemental handouts to support text and slide material. Always bring these to class, as the content of exercise physiology builds on itself. For example, knowledge of metabolism is applied to systems physiology, and both are applied to more advanced topics later in the course.
	*complete all assigned readings (textbooks and chapters of your peers)*
	*meet the writing schedule*
	*meet the Powerpoint presentation schedule*
	contribute to class discussions
	complete a journal of progress on your dissertation proposal that includes; 1) entries for your work, 2) meetings with your dissertation chair, 3) your time-line goals.

Assessment

Student assessment is based on the scores from,

	written chapters (Chapters 1 and 3)
	topic/chapter PowerPoint presentations (as required for your formal proposal)
	class discussion
	journal and time-line

To obtain class discussion credit, you need to be in class!! Furthermore, this course demands that you all function as a team, helping each other with constructive criticism and advice. Consequently, points will be lost from your grade at a rate of 11 points/unexcused absence, which equates to a 2% deduction in the total grade percentage for each absence.

The point and percentage contribution of each assessment item is summarized in the table below.

Item	Points	Number	Total	% of Total
Written chapters	100	2	200	33
Presentations	100	3	300	50
Discussion	50	1	50	8.5
Journal/Time line	50	1	50	8.5
TOTAL			600	100

Your final grade will simply be based on your percentage score of the 600 total assessment points.

The grade letter and points distribution is provided in the table below.

Total Points (%)	Grade
98-100	A⁺
94-97	A
90-93	A
87-89	B⁺
83-86	B
80-82	B^-
77-79	C⁺
73-76	C
70-72	C^-
< 70	FAIL

Note that according to Department of Health, Exercise and Sports Sciences policy, a grade of C⁺ or worse is a failing grade at the graduate level.