Another TESU Capstone thread

[ChilliDawg]

I would like to get feedback from those of you who have already completed the Capstone.  Heck, I guess anyone could really interject their opinion here.

So, what is your take on a Captstone Thesis?  Is it at the discretion of the student, or does the Mentor steer you in the direction that they want you to go?

I am 7 weeks into my Capstone.  I am in a class that has minimal representation from the mentor.  I am not complaining about this, as I write very well, and have generally pulled straight A's in all of my Brick and Mortar Comp classes and Tech writing classes.  At this point in my educational experience, I can write an APA paper, proper mechanics and language, no problem. 

Here is my quandry.  I have selected a thesis surrounding the potential of the Community College to allow workers to enter the workforce sooner, and with less debt.  I have tons of peer-reviewed research and even interviews with industry researchers and experts.

My mentor, however, has made multiple comments about the fact that "debt is still debt", and this is not a solution.  It has taken me a few weeks to see where this is going, but I believe that he is a proponent of free college.

In your estimation, is he just giving me something to think about, or should I be changing my thesis question and sub-questions?  Did any of you change topic, mid-stream?  CAN we change topic mid-stream?  Will my forging ahead with what I think is a relevant topic end up getting me a bad grade if the mentor disagrees.  I cannot imagine that all Capstone thesis statements have lined up with mentor's opinion.  Thoughts?

[allvia]

Why don't you gather and include details/impact results of those states that do offer free community college.  You could work that low debt into an argument of what would even be better is...free CC for all. This way you don't have to rework everything you've done but you will be addressing the point that your mentor has mentioned.

[dfrecore]

Or even do states like CA, where CC is only $46/cr (so not free), but certainly for less than $750/semester ($3,000 for an AA), I doubt many people are going into debt to go pay for CC tuition here.

Now, that's not mentioning that plenty of people take out loans to pay for living expenses, so you're not going to have everyone be debt free if they are determined not to be! Seriously, if the option to go to school were free, there would STILL be people who chose to go to non-free schools, ones who chose not to live at home (even if it was an option) and live on campus for the "college experience," ones who chose to live in an apartment, etc. There will always be some who choose a more expensive route even when a less expensive one is available to them.

[davewill]

I would say he is probably giving you things to think about. The point of the thesis isn't to "agree" with the Prof, but to write a coherent paper that supports your thesis with facts. If you find his ideas relevant, I could see adding or modifying a subquestion to address it, but it should be your judgement, not the mentor's.

I did cut my subquestions down from 5 to 3 after the third chapter. I wasn't finding enough research that addressed them, and I didn't need them to write a good paper.

[jsh1138]

The mentor absolutely can and often will tell you to change things to better suit their idea of what you should be doing. My capstone paper was completely changed by my mentor when, probably about 8 weeks into the term, they casually mentioned that my thesis question wouldn't work and I would have to change it.

My advice to anyone is do as few subquestions as you can get away with. Remember that you are doing this for a grade and not as some sort of life-altering paper that everyone is going to read.

[harrypotter]

I saw on another degreeforum thread that the capstone can be written on anything and does not need to be in your area of study (at least for the liberal arts capstone). Is this true?

[davewill]

I saw on another degreeforum thread that the capstone can be written on anything and does not need to be in your area of study (at least for the liberal arts capstone). Is this true?

True enough. The mentor has the final say on what they will or will not accept, but there isn't any requirement that it directly relate to your AOS as far as I know.

[ChilliDawg]

I saw on another degreeforum thread that the capstone can be written on anything and does not need to be in your area of study (at least for the liberal arts capstone). Is this true?

I agree with what DaveWill just said, above.

Generally, if your topic is socially relevant, I believe the mentor will approve it. In my cohort, I noticed that our mentor only narrowed the topic down a little bit or maybe helped the student focus their thesis.  He was many times concerened that the scope of the thesis was too broad.  I am not sure that I saw anyone's topic rejected.

Examples of topics in my class are:
Student Loan Debt Crisis
Nuclear Energy as a clean alternative
Alcoholism
Mass transit
Debate Club benefits
Buy local, Buy American, etc. etc.......

[davewill]

... Generally, if your topic is socially relevant, I believe the mentor will approve it. ...

I don't think that social relevance is any sort of requirement at all. If you want to do research into the bone structure of dinosaurs, I think you'd be able to.

[ChilliDawg]

... Generally, if your topic is socially relevant, I believe the mentor will approve it. ...

I don't think that social relevance is any sort of requirement at all. If you want to do research into the bone structure of dinosaurs, I think you'd be able to.

I guess maybe I worded my intended thoughts wrong.

I assumed that they wanted to topic to be historical, social, scientific.  I guess almost any topic could be focused to be relevant.  I could probably do a Capstone on why Legos hurt so bad to step on, and it would be relevant.