TESU Capstone topics

[rlw74]

I would pick a topic I love and start gathering solid scholarly resources. I do not remember how many were needed - I want to say five? I ended up with a lot more though. Once you start researching it is not hard to fill that quota. Just remember to keep your sub-questions really tight. A really narrow topic is easier to research. Something too broad will require a lot more research and more writing.

I would also review APA on the Purdue Owl website. I got the very strong impression MOST of my grade was based on how well APA formatting was executed in the paper.

Do not worry too much about the format of the modules right away. You will be provided with instructions from your professor and each professor has slightly different requirements. Mine provided sample papers which were really helpful. When you consider that you have to write an introduction and conclusion on every single module paper and it is double spaced, you will find it to not be too hard. There is lots of repetition and you will fill up pages just from the repetition alone. As long as you have solid sources and can summarize, quote, and cite each one properly, you will fill up those remaining pages very, very easily.

I stressed a lot over this course before it started, but found it not to be too bad. I have written way more now in my master's degree. The capstone prepared me for the master's degree program I am in now, but I could probably write the whole paper for the capstone in a week or two with what I have learned and practiced over the last year. So, if you are continuing on in your education and you have to write papers for your future degree(s), this will really help. I actually found it enjoyable (but I love to write and research so I may not be the norm).

[Sparklette]

I ended up with Otto. Good luck to you all

I had Otto. He is fairly lenient on some aspects, but is a stickler for due dates. He will give advice, but you will pretty much have to run your own show. I saw some students struggle with that. For instance, he won’t reword your subquestions for you, but will explain how/why to reword what you have. Also, if he suggests your topic is too broad, you really need to address that before moving forward or you will end up floundering when there’s little time left.

[davewill]

My mentor said they were required to dock points for late assignments unless the student notified the mentor ahead of time.

[Iamtehking]

My mentor has been very confusing with Capstone topics. It seems she is heavily towards a field research topic, and didn't approve of regular research projects.
I'm just going to interview local people for my topic and include online research.

[MSK9]

I ended up with Otto. Good luck to you all

I liked Otto. He’s helpful, but make sure to respond to more than two of your classmates’ discussions on Moodle so you get full credit. The course minimum is two responses to others’ discussions; Otto won’t give full credit unless you give meaningful replies to several discussions.

[Kacebrenden]

I just completed my LIB-495 Capstone at TESU and thought I'd share my experience. At the start, after reading what the paper/project needed to entail, I was a bit daunted and overwhelmed. It turned out to be not so bad at all, though it did take more total time than any course I've taken in a long time. It's 100 % self regulated, so expect to figure out everything you need to do on ur own. All the info is available online bit it's a lot to read and digest. Do it anyways! A few things that surprised me: the professor feedback along the way was VERY minimal (e.g.: the Prof wrote less than 100 words total in response to my ALL of my written assignments). It's possible this is because I'm a competent writer and was on track/didn't obviously need any 'extra help' or 'guidance' to meet the criteria of each assignment. I still would have liked some more feedback even if it was just a 'well done' or 'great project'. Nope, got nothing! The discussion element (7 primary posts with at least 2 replies to classmates posts) is total fluff, and don't expect any of ur classmates responses to actually help you. The good part of this is that it is free points (lower weight than written assignment scores) so it helps ensure a better grade overall (though I didn't need 'em). If you follow the directions exactly for each assignment and search online for some sample papers (mostly for formatting and what to include) you will be fine. I chose to do a creative project as wanted a usable finished project. Officially, you only need to do a 15 pg complimentary paper in this case, however, if you follow directions for each assignment/draft I can't see how it could be this short. Mine was abt 45 pgs plus double that # of slides in my PowerPoint for the creative project element (most students do not choose the creative project opton but this was what kept me engaged and motivated). The 1st and 2nd assignments I found took the most time, #1 as ur still sorting out exactly what you want to write about and are streamlining your topic/?'s. #2 is entirely research (literature review) and is a straight-up reasearch paper. This one took me the longest. Make sure to annotate all references. #3-5 all have elements where you can cut and paste with minor edits from sections of previous chapters and took less time to complete. #6 is the assembly of the final paper which just adds a title page, a contents page, moving your keywords to the appendix at the end and reworking a few sections. You will need to edit and revise drafts #1-3 (as directed by Prof) even if you scored a 100. I honestly don't know how much work and time other students really put into it but I will say the about 1/3 of my online 'classmates' didn't demonstrate strong writing skills so it may have been more challenging for them. If you can write and know how to research, this class will be a lot of just jumping through the hoops (a lot of em, but they are low to the ground). Assignments are due every 2 wks. Since I did a creative project I would work on it constantly during week 1 of assignment and then devote week two to the written assignment element. #4 is just turning in the creative project option if this was ur choice, that said I did still have to hustle to finish it by due date for assignment #4 as I didn't initialy expect to turn it in til the final submission. I did score a 100 on every discussion, assignment and on the final paper and project. I can't tell you how other students did relatively but I would guess at least 4 or 5 others likely also got A's. Some students clearly didn't do the discussion elements on time and this didn't make sense to me as this part was easy and free points. Granted, it ads nothing to the class or your paper except for the sense that your not in this totally. It was exhausting at times but as long as you stay on track, turn in each element on time, make sure to carefully edit, use an app to generate ur APA formatted references and are a competent writer the course wasn't HARD just alot to do. You must be good at planning and self-discipline to get through the this one. Good luck!

[zzzz24]

100% on the paper? wow, that's crazy. I can't see myself being able to get that.

[Supermind]

100% is mindblowing!!! Congratulations!! Thank you for elaborating the details. Very helpful post.