General Guidelines

DAS 525: Senior Research in International Studies

1. General Purpose / Objectives. The DAS 525 research paper offers you the opportunity to do in-depth research on a topic of your choice. Topics must be international in scope and should also draw on the interdisciplinary perspectives you have you have encountered in your courses and/or international experience.
   
   
2. Open Topic: you may choose your own topic for your paper. It should be of interest to you and a theme that you will want to research. Some students anticipate graduate studies by doing a project that will help them define a problem, research an issue, or explore a general concept or theme. Your topic must be approved by the program director
   
   
3. Length. Generally speaking, papers should be between 25 and 40 pages including notes and bibliography.
   
   
4. Documentation. Follow the standard bibliographic form that is used in the discipline that you have chosen. Social sciences often follow guidelines established by the American Psychological Association. Students in the humanities, especially literature, commonly use the rules of documentation of the Modern Language Association. There are other style manuals, such as University of Chicago, and Turabian. Whichever one you use, be consistent by following its recommendations.
   
   
5. Evaluation / Grading. We may agree that I will be the sole evaluator of your project. As an alternative, you may choose to work with a mentor of your own choosing, who will normally provide the grade for your work. Another option is to have that person recommend a grade to me, leaving me the ultimate authority and responsibility for the grade. If you choose a mentor, particularly one who has responsibility for grading your paper, it is important for that person to know the general objectives of this project. This is neither a Master's thesis nor a simple term paper. You are not attending class and doing a paper as part of the course requirements. Your paper IS the course requirement. It is your responsibility to advise your mentor of the expectations for this project.
   
   
6. Staying on Track. It is extremely important to keep on schedule for such a major project. You need to be working throughout the semester in order to finish on time with a product of which you can be proud. The dates below are suggested. Note: the dates are not designed to correspond to any particular calendar year. If a date falls on a weekend, please just move it to the following Monday.
   
   

   	Spring	Summer	Fall
   Selection of Topic:	January 31	June 5	August 31
   Initial Bibliography:	February 25	June 25	September 20
   First Draft:	March 30	July 10	October 31
   Final Paper:	April 30	July 25	November 30

   
   This time line allows me to help you along the way. If your first draft needs major revision, there is time for you to make corrections before the final draft is due. Periodically, I will send out reminders when a deadline is approaching, but it is your responsibility to complete your work in a timely fashion. I cannot guarantee that I will have time to make suggestions on a first draft if I receive it too late in the semester. Note: Please submit all documents as an attachment to an e-mail to my address: rclark@ksu.edu.
   
   
7. Meetings / Communication. This time line allows me to help you along the way. If your first draft needs major revision, there is time for you to make corrections before the final draft is due. Periodically, I will send out reminders when a deadline is approaching, but it is your responsibility to complete your work in a timely fashion. I cannot guarantee that I will have time to make suggestions on a first draft if I receive it too late in the semester. Note: Please submit all documents as an attachment to an e-mail to my address: rclark@ksu.edu.
   
   

   For more information, contact Robert L.A. Clark, Director, International and Area Studies, College of Arts and Sciences. Office: Eisenhower 14A. Office phone: 785-341-3173. E-mail: rclark@ksu.edu.