Liberal and Integrative Studies Paper

Liberal and Integrative Studies Paper

and
Thesis/Project Proposal

Given-Name Surname

UIN 666000666

Liberal and Integrative Studies, University of Illinois, Springfield

Draft for LNT Committee’s Approval, December 2022

Degree Title

Street Address

Peoria, Illinois 61614-5342

217-206-7376

Liberal and Integrative Studies Paper 1

Table of Contents 1

Acknowledgements 2

Introduction 3

Personal Learning Autobiography 4

Narrative About Course Work 5

Progress Toward Achieving Learning Needs 6

Field of Mastery. 7

Theories. 7

Knowledge. 7

Skills 7

Values. 7

Personal Change 7

Conclusion 8

Future Plans 8

My LNT Committee 9

LNT Advisor. 9

Academic Advisors. 9

Dean’s Representative. 9

Thesis / Project Sponsor. 10

Outside Expert. 10

Peer. 10

Proposal 12

Acknowledgments 13

Personal Significance 14

Purpose 14

Background 15

Methods, Procedures, and Activities 16

Bibliography 17

Tentative Outline of the Final Document 18

Acknowledgments

This is where you put your acknowledgements, assuming you want to have any. This is optional. Just paste your work over this text or write here.

Introduction

If you have an introduction, you may put it here. You might describe how you are feeling in this final semester of your LNT course work, and reflect on what has brought you here to this point in your life.

Learning Autobiography

Personal Learning Autobiography

“Quotation here.”

Name of author of quote

The learning autobiography you put in the liberal and integrative paper ought to be about half as long as the one you wrote for your degree plan, and at least half of this learning autobiography ought to focus on what has been going on in your life as you have been a graduate student at the University of Illinois. So, get the highlights and most important details from your first learning autobiography (the one you did in the Graduate Colloquium LNT-501), and add to the abbreviated version of that work new material that describes your recent life, with an emphasis on your intellectual growth and skills development, and events surrounding such aspects of your life.

Course Review Narrative

Narrative About Course Work

In this section you must write about the courses you have taken toward your master’s degree. Describe these courses and review what you learned, and how each course put you on the path toward mastery of your subject area. In particular, review skills you’ve gained or improved, or new knowledge you’ve gained, or new perspectives and values you’ve incorporated into your approach, based on what you experienced in courses and other learning activities during your graduate studies with the University of Illinois.

Most typically you should group your courses according to themes: often themes like, “skill building and methods” and “theory and background” or else “contributions from [first established discipline]” and “contributions from [second established discipline]” and “[third hybrid interdisciplinary discipline you’ve created by synthesizing the two established disciplines]” or things like this. For example, a student who has done a degree on women in history might have a theme of “historical research and writing” as a sort of methods for the historical part of their degree, a theme of “women’s studies” as a theory and skills theme related specifically to the study of women and ignored groups, and then a third theme of “studying women in history” where the two themes are brought together. Or, “studying women in history” might be the overall point of the degree, and the third sub-theme might be something like “cultural history of women” or “history of women’s social movements” or “history around central female figures” or something like that. At any rate, the thing to do is to present your classes and a discussion of them in a format that shows your degree with some sort of structure, rather than a random list of courses that seemed interesting or convenient for you to take.

Overview of Gains in Field of Mastery

Progress Toward Achieving Learning Needs

Here you should reflect on what you were hoping to learn in the program and whether you have learned those things you set out to learn.

You may want to use this table:

Learning need / Ratings on a 0-10 scale
Specific learning needs / current level / desired level / Rating change needed to meet goal
1. Learning need one specifically described and listed here. / 3 / 7 / +4
2. Learning need two specifically described and listed here. / 3 / 6 / +3
3. Learning need two specifically described and listed here. / 6 / 8 / +2
4. Learning need two specifically described and listed here. / 4 / 6 / +2
5. Learning need two specifically described and listed here. / 1 / 6 / +5
6. Learning need two specifically described and listed here. / 6 / 7 / +1

0 = No competence at all.

1 = Low or minimal levels of knowledge/skill.

2 = Modest levels of knowledge/skill.

3 = Some degree of expertise, but not mastery.

4 = Significant expertise and competence without total mastery

5 = Strong competence approaching mastery

6 = Early stage of mastery

7 = Mastery with depth and broad application

8 = Mastery at an outstanding level

9 = Mastery at a nearly unique level

10 = Perfect mastery (theoretical limit of what humans can achieve)

Overview of Gains in Field of Mastery

Field of Mastery.

Give an overview of your field of mastery. If you prefer, you can change the subtitle for this section to “Master’s Degree Outcomes” since that is what we’re going for here. What is your field of mastery, now that you have completed all or most of the course work in your degree? What independent work can a person with mastery in your field do? How does a person with mastery in your field participate in society and use your education toward benefit for yourself or others?

In this outline I’ve suggested you use the sub-headings and topics of “theories, knowledge, skills, values, and personal change” to organize your discussion of your gains in your field of mastery. Our undergraduate students are asked to address “skills developed, surprises, values and attitudes, major ideas, questions answered, and learning style” and that is another good way to organize your comments on your overall gains toward mastery.

A common problem in writing this section is that in your description of what you did and learned in your courses, you may have already covered much of this stuff. Use this section to elaborate and give examples to support what you may have more briefly noted in your narrative about the courses you’ve completed. Or, when you wrote about the courses you completed, you may not have been able to draw some overall conclusions about your learning across all the courses and experiences you had while a graduate student, so use this section of the paper to talk about your development and growth overall, across all the readings and work you’ve done as a graduate student in the LNT Program.

Theories.

Demonstrate that you are familiar with the main theories in your field of mastery by explaining some of those theories here in your own words. Discuss how you developed your understanding of these theories in your graduate education.

Knowledge.

Describe the critical core knowledge a specialist in your field must have. Share some of the key facts and studies within your field. What are the points a person with mastery in your field can keep in mind and share with others?

Skills

A person with mastery in a subject area should be able to do independent work in that field. What are you able to do? What skills do you have that demonstrate that you have mastery? How did you enhance or build those skills in your graduate education?

Values.

Most disciplines have a worldview and a set of values that shape the thinking of experts in the discipline. How have your values or worldviews been changed by your study and developing mastery while a graduate student?

Personal Change

Most people who go through a graduate education find that the experience changes them in some way. Describe the personal change you have experienced while a graduate student. What is different about you know compared to how you were when you started the graduate program?

Conclusion & Future Plans

Conclusion

Offer a paragraph or two in which you summarize your learning as a graduate student and your development toward mastery in your subject.

As part of your conclusion, provide a list of the courses you have taken and are using toward your LNT master’s degree.

Schedule of Courses in My Master’s Degree

LNT 501 Graduate Colloquium Fall 2022 4.0

LNT 599 Medieval Studies Overview and Methods Spring 2023 4.0

HIS 501 Historiography Spring 2023 4.0

ENG 405 Arthurian Literature Fall 2023 4.0

LNT 521 Liberal and Integrative Studies Fall 2023 3.0

LNT 550 Project for master’s completion Spring 2023 4.0

Etc. etc.

Future Plans

Let your committee know what you plan to do after graduation. What will you do with your degree?

LNT Committee

My LNT Committee

LNT Advisor.

Hadley-Ives, Eric: Associate Professor of Liberal Studies and Liberal and Integrative Studies

Degree: Ph.D. Social Work, Washington University

Liberal and Integrative Studies

University of Illinois at Springfield

One University Plaza

Office: UHB 3028

Springfield, Illinois 62703

Office Phone: 217-206-8207

E-mail:

Academic Advisors.

Neginsky, Rosina: Professor of Liberal Studies and Liberal and Integrative Studies

Degree: Ph.D. English, University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana

Liberal and Integrative Studies

University of Illinois at Springfield

One University Plaza

Office: UHB 3038

Springfield, Illinois 62703

Office Phone: 217-206-7431

E-mail:

Kline, William: Associate Professor of Liberal Studies and Liberal and Integrative Studies

Degree: Ph.D. Philosophy, Bowling Green State University

Liberal and Integrative Studies

University of Illinois at Springfield

One University Plaza

Office: UHB 3031

Springfield, Illinois 62703

Office Phone: 217-206-7418

E-mail:

Dean’s Representative.

Grubbs, Jim: Associate Professor of Liberal Studies and Liberal and Integrative Studies

Degree: Ph.D. Communication and Culture, Indiana University

Liberal and Integrative Studies

University of Illinois at Springfield

One University Plaza

Office: UHB 3020

Springfield, Illinois 62703

Office Phone: 217-206-7365

E-mail:

Thesis / Project Sponsor.

Boltuc, Peter: Professor of Philosophy

Office: UHB 3030

Office Phone: 217-206-7422

E-mail:

Outside Expert.

Ken Brashier: Professor of Religion and Humanities

Office: ETC 203, Reed College, 3203 SE Woodstock Boulevard, Portland, OR 97202-8199

Office Phone: 503-517-7377

E-mail:

Peer.

Bush, Helen: Childhood friend

Address: 109 South 5th Street. Springfield, IL 62701

Phone: 217-211-5101

E-mail:

Graduate Studies Bibliography

Bibliography

List books that were significant and meaningful to you during your graduate studies. Be sure to list any works you have referenced in the liberal and integrative studies paper.

Proposal

Given-Name Surname

UIN 666000666

Liberal and Integrative Studies, University of Illinois, Springfield

Draft for LNT Committee’s Approval, December 2022

Degree Title

Proposal for Project/Thesis

[Insert name of your project or thesis here]

Street Address

Peoria, Illinois 61614-5342

217-206-7376

Acknowledgments

In this entirely optional section, you can put some acknowledgments, and you might focus on the help people have given you in planning your thesis or project, while your acknowledgments for the whole master’s degree go more in the Liberal and Integrative Studies section of the paper.

Personal Significance and Purpose

Personal Significance

The personal significance of your project or proposal. This section should include a brief statement (approximately one page) about your reasons for choosing to complete this project. Mention what interested you about this topic specifically, and your expectations for and impact of this project or thesis on your personal, academic and/or professional development.

Purpose

In two or three sentences state the overall purpose of the project. If you have several objectives, describe them briefly, in order of their importance. This could be in the form of a question or hypothesis.

Background

This section of the proposal should explain the ideas and concepts that are necessary in order to understand your topic. Discuss why the topic is important and identify the audience to whom it is addressed. Include a discussion of existing professional literature that you have read, or other information that you have gathered in preparation for this project or thesis. Describe experiences that you have had that were important to your emerging understand of this topic. In general, briefly demonstrate that you have sufficient understanding of this topic to be able to carry out your study or project. What you elect to include will vary according to your topic and purpose. Three to four double-spaced pages is usually sufficient.

Methods

Methods, Procedures, and Activities

This section should clearly describe how you intend to carry out your project or thesis study. A research study should address issues such as sampling (or selection of participants), data gathering, and data analysis. A philosophical or historical inquiry should address resources and procedures associated with each step of the exploration. A project intended to produce another type of product should describe intended activities, for example, a list of the people with whom you will be involved and what they will contribute; time schedule or a chronology of events; tools you plan to use, such as training sessions, interviews, or special equipment. The nature of the project will determine what will be needed but the main idea, irrespective of the nature of the project or thesis, is to specify the steps to be taken to accomplish your purpose. It may be helpful to present this section as a numeric listing of the events that you expect to take place in the order in which they will occur. This section should be as thorough as you can make it since any flaws in your planning will create problems for you later. Your faculty advisers may be able to help you identify potential pitfalls in advance.

Bibliography for LNT Project/Thesis Proposal

Bibliography

An initial bibliography, including any references cited in the background section, should be included. The bibliography should be in the format that you expect to use in your final draft of the thesis, or in the essay which accompanies your project’s product. You are free to select the format, but you should use a standard one, such as the American Psychological Association (APA), Turabian, or Modern Language Association (MLA), and you should use it consistently throughout your document. If you have any questions about your choice of format, or its consistent use, consult with the Center for Teaching and Learning.