TESU LIB495 - No help, withdrawing from it. Thoughts?

[cookderosa]

I took both Comp1 and 2 through Study.com and I don't recall having to write a 'thesis' paper. A thesis was always just described as the sentence (or three) that explains the main idea of the paper. When I do the capstone I am sure I will need to look at examples and research exactly what type of paper i am supposed to write.

you're right- that word can mean 2 different things.

The thesis of a sentence, as you describe, is essentially the main idea or objective. A thesis paper is a research paper - usually really long - done at the conclusion of a degree and sometimes involves conducting research and or doing statistical analysis.

A capstone will NOT require conducting original research, and since TESU isn't a research institution, there wouldn't be anyone to supervise it anyway.

[NolaRice]

I'm doing the July capstone and I have Augustus Black - he's fantastic and very accessible, see if you can switch to his class maybe? Don't stress out about the capstone, it's really not that big of a deal. I found some sample papers on this forum and am modelling the structure of my paper after them (the format, not the writing itself!) - it's working just fine so far.

[sheptr]

I just finished the April 2019 LIB-495 Capstone and we were required to provide original research. Maybe it depends on the mentor.
Either way, it was not a showstopper.

[spoilt999]

Can someone send me the samples as well please?

Thanks

[spree610]

unfortunately any help posted here may not be as relevant to current (Aug and beyond) students. I'm in the Aug Online class and our mentor can't provide any examples of what is required because we are the first class to go through the completely revamped course.

[NolaRice]

For the new capstone format - my mentor says that the capstone is more of a graduate-level project and that a lot of students are confused about it. Since there aren't any sample papers using the new format, I've started reviewing graduate-level theses (masters and PhD) available on the web to base my paper on in terms of formatting. You do not need to provide original research, which makes things a ton easier. 
Once I go through the course, I will post my final paper here.

[mysonx3]

So they want you to produce a graduate level thesis, in just 3 months, with no institutional research funding/support? I'm sure that will go swimmingly for them.

[NolaRice]

So they want you to produce a graduate level thesis, in just 3 months, with no institutional research funding/support? I'm sure that will go swimmingly for them.

I meant a graduate type paper in format. You're not expected to go as deep as a graduate project for this. I agree that the guidelines are confusing but I don't think the paper is that hard.

[High_Order1]

A capstone will NOT require conducting original research, and since TESU isn't a research institution, there wouldn't be anyone to supervise it anyway.

When I went through TESU a couple years ago, mine did. I wound up constructing and running a survey, and interviewed several subject matter experts. I feel pretty strongly that was mandated and not me just overachieving, lol

My cohort got little instruction. They expected us to already know how to do a capstone, and just do it. I was totally lost the entire time. I did google searches for completed capstone projects, and haunted other colleges looking for their help sections on how to do it.

I was fairly successful (want to say it was 94%) but I can't say if I was pitched a softball, or my work actually was rigorous enough. Reading dozens of other papers, it at least *looks* like theirs, lol

Rereading my post before I push send, I can't stress enough how lost I felt. And, how little feedback and how long it took to get the sheepherder / class facilitator / whatever he was called to respond to even the most basic questions, which most certainly were NOT in any of his provided data. (shrugs)

And, the feedback that came with each segment was canned. No question. I think, one time it didn't even really address what I was doing LOL.

All I can offer OP is, a- hang in there. They can't eat you. b-be brief. I know about word counts, I'm telling you academics love conciseness. c-the thesis is the heart of the paper. Every individual paragraph somehow ties right back into it. If they don't mesh, adjust fire on the thesis. d-seriously, go light on filler words. Get someone else to read your stuff, and maybe add another point instead of puffing each paragraph.

Edit - yeah, they do. TESU has an IRB, and because my survey involved people, I sent them a thing. https://www.tesu.edu/about/institutional-review-board

[bartlebuck]

A capstone will NOT require conducting original research, and since TESU isn't a research institution, there wouldn't be anyone to supervise it anyway.  

When I went through TESU a couple years ago, mine did. I wound up constructing and running a survey, and interviewed several subject matter experts. I feel pretty strongly that was mandated and not me just overachieving, lol

My cohort got little instruction. They expected us to already know how to do a capstone, and just do it. I was totally lost the entire time. I did google searches for completed capstone projects, and haunted other colleges looking for their help sections on how to do it.

I was fairly successful (want to say it was 94%) but I can't say if I was pitched a softball, or my work actually was rigorous enough. Reading dozens of other papers, it at least *looks* like theirs, lol

Rereading my post before I push send, I can't stress enough how lost I felt. And, how little feedback and how long it took to get the sheepherder / class facilitator / whatever he was called to respond to even the most basic questions, which most certainly were NOT in any of his provided data. (shrugs)

And, the feedback that came with each segment was canned. No question. I think, one time it didn't even really address what I was doing LOL.

All I can offer OP is, a- hang in there. They can't eat you. b-be brief. I know about word counts, I'm telling you academics love conciseness. c-the thesis is the heart of the paper. Every individual paragraph somehow ties right back into it. If they don't mesh, adjust fire on the thesis. d-seriously, go light on filler words. Get someone else to read your stuff, and maybe add another point instead of puffing each paragraph.

Edit - yeah, they do. TESU has an IRB, and because my survey involved people, I sent them a thing.  https://www.tesu.edu/about/institutional-review-board

I just wanted to add to this thread in case any students read through it in 2022.  If anyone is nervous about taking LIB495, and perhaps not confident about your abilities to succeed, a good mentor would be Dr. Haydel. She will give you her phone number on day 1 and you are invited to call her with your questions, etc. She runs a weekly zoom call where students can bring their questions,  support one another, etc. She is an example of a prof who is very hands on. Not everyone likes that, but it's a great choice if you feel scared/lost by the prospect of a 25-40 page research paper.

25-40 pages is the current length range given in the syllabus, and original research is no longer required. Online courses have weekly discussion groups, but the general studies course replaces the weekly discussion group with a written assignment. It is the exact same question for both. The rubrics and course objectives are identical for each course as well.