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Wow that is so helpful!
Do you pick your mentor based on your major? For example, I’m an English major, would my mentor be from that department?
Amy
Goal: BA in English at TESU
Completed: 78 B&M credits plus:
Institutes: Ethics
Study.com: Personal Finance, History of the Vietnam War, English Comp I, Intro World Religions, Public Speaking, Intro to Humanities
Shmoop: Bible as Literature, Shakespeare's Plays, Women's Lit, Modernist Lit, Holocaust Lit
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(12-16-2017, 04:19 AM)KAnn Wrote: I am in the middle of my BALS capstone now and thought I would weigh in. I chose Christine Hansen for my mentor and she has been very helpful, supportive, and easy to get along with. Definitely take the online course and earn that easy 23%. Choose your topic carefully! I am 8 weeks into writing about the Holocaust and I am struggling with being so immersed in this heavy of a topic. It's interesting but depressing, and since I have a full time job this capstone is about the only thing I do besides work right now. Narrow your topic and your research questions down, down, down. I thought my questions were narrow enough but they are not. I've found I could easily write 25 pages on any one of my sub questions, because there is so much information out there. Choose 3 research questions to support your topic, not 4. Four is just getting to be too much. Do not worry about hitting the page requirement. The individual assignments have you doing so much writing, I passed 25 pages by the end of the second assignment. Make sure there are plenty of SCHOLARLY resources available on your topic. Wikipedia and random websites will not cut it here. You can use Google scholar and the research section of New Jersey State Library. If you don't already have a library card there, sign up for it and they will email you your card number so you can access what you need as soon as possible. Get familiar with APA and find an online citation generator that you like. Figure out what an annotated bibliography is and write one out as soon as you decide you are going to use a resource for your research...it will save you a ton of time later when you need it. Pretty much forget about interviewing people as a way to gather data on your topic, unless you live with the people you want to interview. A few of us wanted to do interviews and it worked out for none of us, plus the e-book cautions against it. As soon as you can access the online capstone e-book, start reading. Read the whole thing and then let that percolate for a day. Most of it won't make a lick of sense to you. Go back and read it again. You will also refer to it for every new chapter and things start to make sense as you are working through the project. I also found it very helpful to Google samples of real, professional research papers to see what their literature review looks like, what their research design looks like, etc. Speaking of the literature review, get familiar with that. I didn't know what it was before this course and I found that to be the most challenging chapter so far. You definitely want to work frequently and steadily on this project...the assignments are NOT something you can crank out in a night or two.
Kerry
Great review. Thanks!!!! So, are there reading assignments in addition to all the writing? Where do the reading assignments come from?
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I also think that 3 subquestions are enough although I started with 5 then cut two of them after the third assignment when I could see that they were either too much work or not easily researched.
NanoDegree: Intro to Self-Driving Cars (2019)
Coursera: Stanford Machine Learning (2019)
TESU: BA in Comp Sci (2016)
TECEP:Env Ethics (2015); TESU PLA:Software Eng, Computer Arch, C++, Advanced C++, Data Struct (2015); TESU Courses:Capstone, Database Mngmnt Sys, Op Sys, Artificial Intel, Discrete Math, Intro to Portfolio Dev, Intro PLA (2014-16); DSST:Anthro, Pers Fin, Astronomy (2014); CLEP:Intro to Soc (2014); Saylor.org:Intro to Computers (2014); CC: 69 units (1980-88)
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12-16-2017, 11:24 PM
(This post was last modified: 12-16-2017, 11:27 PM by KAnn.)
(12-16-2017, 10:20 AM)originalamyj Wrote: Wow that is so helpful!
Do you pick your mentor based on your major? For example, I’m an English major, would my mentor be from that department? No, you just choose who you want from who is available when you register for the course. I registered late and the pickings were slim but I am happy with my mentor. To have options you want to register as soon as you can. You also have to pay right away.
(12-16-2017, 10:26 AM)Silly_Me Wrote: (12-16-2017, 04:19 AM)KAnn Wrote: I am in the middle of my BALS capstone now and thought I would weigh in. I chose Christine Hansen for my mentor and she has been very helpful, supportive, and easy to get along with. Definitely take the online course and earn that easy 23%. Choose your topic carefully! I am 8 weeks into writing about the Holocaust and I am struggling with being so immersed in this heavy of a topic. It's interesting but depressing, and since I have a full time job this capstone is about the only thing I do besides work right now. Narrow your topic and your research questions down, down, down. I thought my questions were narrow enough but they are not. I've found I could easily write 25 pages on any one of my sub questions, because there is so much information out there. Choose 3 research questions to support your topic, not 4. Four is just getting to be too much. Do not worry about hitting the page requirement. The individual assignments have you doing so much writing, I passed 25 pages by the end of the second assignment. Make sure there are plenty of SCHOLARLY resources available on your topic. Wikipedia and random websites will not cut it here. You can use Google scholar and the research section of New Jersey State Library. If you don't already have a library card there, sign up for it and they will email you your card number so you can access what you need as soon as possible. Get familiar with APA and find an online citation generator that you like. Figure out what an annotated bibliography is and write one out as soon as you decide you are going to use a resource for your research...it will save you a ton of time later when you need it. Pretty much forget about interviewing people as a way to gather data on your topic, unless you live with the people you want to interview. A few of us wanted to do interviews and it worked out for none of us, plus the e-book cautions against it. As soon as you can access the online capstone e-book, start reading. Read the whole thing and then let that percolate for a day. Most of it won't make a lick of sense to you. Go back and read it again. You will also refer to it for every new chapter and things start to make sense as you are working through the project. I also found it very helpful to Google samples of real, professional research papers to see what their literature review looks like, what their research design looks like, etc. Speaking of the literature review, get familiar with that. I didn't know what it was before this course and I found that to be the most challenging chapter so far. You definitely want to work frequently and steadily on this project...the assignments are NOT something you can crank out in a night or two.
Kerry
Great review. Thanks!!!! So, are there reading assignments in addition to all the writing? Where do the reading assignments come from?
The assignments aren't assigned reading, they are writing one part of the capstone project at a time. The reading you will want/need to do so you know how to proceed with the assignments, are in the capstone e-book you will have access to a few days before the course begins.
2018 TESU GRADUATE
BALS-SOCIAL SCIENCE
CLEP:
A&I Literature 68 Intro to Sociology 61 Human Gr & Dev 70 Intro to Educational Psychology 68
Prin. of Management 71 Prin. of Marketing 72
ALEKS:
Interm. Algebra 73%
Sophia:
Dev. Effective Teams 96%
The Institutes:
Ethics & CPCU Code of Prof. Conduct 76%
Shmoop:
Modern European History 84% Literature in the Media 82% Holocaust Lit 90%
Women's Lit 87% Shakespeare's Plays 87%
Straighterline:
Western Civ I 93% Intro to Nutrition 87% Macroecon 86% Microecon 90%
Intro to Environmental Science 89% Western Civ II 91% Intro to Religion 98%
Cultural Anthropology 95% US History I 90% US History II 93%
Intro to Communication 93% Organizational Behavior 91%
Study.com
Personal Finance 98% History of the Vietnam War 97% Abnormal Psychology 94%
Social Psychology 92% Civil War & Reconstruction 87% Human & Cultural Geography 94%
Ed4Credit
Aging & Society 97%
TESU
Capstone 100%
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I just finished my capstone course with an A, it was slightly difficult, Really focus on APA.... APA nearly dropped me to a B+
Working towards BA Psychology from TESU
Started 3/22/2017 with Aleks and the Institute
Started 4/4/2017 with Straighterline
72/120 credits so far.
Straighterline: 4/4/2017
REL-277 Introduction to Religion
ANT-101 Introduction to Anthropology
POS-110 American Government
HIS-101 Western Civilization I
HIS-102 Western Civilization II
HIS-113 American History I
HIS-114 American History II
SOC-101 Introduction to Sociology
BIO-208 Nutrition
PSY-101 Introduction to Psychology
STA-201 Statistics
HEA-203 Medical Terminology
COM-101 Introduction to Communications
BUS-301 Principles of Management
Study.com
Personal Finance
Lifespan Development
ALEKS 3/22/2017
MAT-121 College Algebra
The Institute 3/22/2017
PHI-384 Ethics -2
TEEX
Cyber 101 -2
Cyber 201 -2
PREVIOUS EDUCATION
St. Leo University 2004
College Comp I
Integrated Physical Science
Algebra and Functions
Cuyamaca College
Spanish I - 5
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(12-18-2017, 06:58 PM)Ancapman Wrote: I just finished my capstone course with an A, it was slightly difficult, Really focus on APA.... APA nearly dropped me to a B+
CONGRATS!!!
I am currently on chapter five.
Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Studies Thomas Edison State University 2018
Cert in Emergency Management - Three Rivers CC 2017
Cert in Basic Police Ed - Walters State CC 1996
Current Goal: new job
Working on: securing funding I don't have to pay back for a Masters.
Up Next: Toying with Masters Programs
Finished: First Degree
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Would any of you be willing to share what you wrote your capstone on? Or would that not be a good idea? (not intending to cheat or steal ideas!) I'm just so curious about what you all studied! I'm actually excited about doing it. Was super nervous about a topic idea but then I got to googling for ideas (not content) and found some great ideas that resonate with me. Things I want to spend hours and hours of my life researching and learning more about.
Amy
Goal: BA in English at TESU
Completed: 78 B&M credits plus:
Institutes: Ethics
Study.com: Personal Finance, History of the Vietnam War, English Comp I, Intro World Religions, Public Speaking, Intro to Humanities
Shmoop: Bible as Literature, Shakespeare's Plays, Women's Lit, Modernist Lit, Holocaust Lit
TECEP: Technical Writing
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12-20-2017, 10:02 AM
(This post was last modified: 12-20-2017, 10:03 AM by davewill.)
No problem sharing. Even if you "steal" my idea, you'll write a completely different paper.
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NanoDegree: Intro to Self-Driving Cars (2019)
Coursera: Stanford Machine Learning (2019)
TESU: BA in Comp Sci (2016)
TECEP:Env Ethics (2015); TESU PLA:Software Eng, Computer Arch, C++, Advanced C++, Data Struct (2015); TESU Courses:Capstone, Database Mngmnt Sys, Op Sys, Artificial Intel, Discrete Math, Intro to Portfolio Dev, Intro PLA (2014-16); DSST:Anthro, Pers Fin, Astronomy (2014); CLEP:Intro to Soc (2014); Saylor.org:Intro to Computers (2014); CC: 69 units (1980-88)
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(12-19-2017, 04:55 PM)originalamyj Wrote: Would any of you be willing to share what you wrote your capstone on? Or would that not be a good idea? (not intending to cheat or steal ideas!) I'm just so curious about what you all studied! I'm actually excited about doing it. Was super nervous about a topic idea but then I got to googling for ideas (not content) and found some great ideas that resonate with me. Things I want to spend hours and hours of my life researching and learning more about.
My paper is about the unique ways Jewish women suffered during the Holocaust due to their gender. My research questions look at how gender roles of the time impacted how/if they and their families survived, how being a woman made their suffering worse, how being a woman made their suffering more tolerable, and what Holocaust experiences most impacted their post-war lives. I would caution against immersing yourself in a thoroughly depressing topic such as this. I am 90 pages into it and have read about nothing but Holocaust abuse for 6 weeks. It's draining.
On that subject, please, PLEASE do yourself a favor and narrow down your research questions as tightly as you can. I know I mentioned this before but I am really struggling to put a lid on this paper. My questions are so loaded and there is so much important information that I can't find a place to stop researching. My paper is almost four times the page requirement 2/3 of the way through the course. It's very stressful and it's taking way longer than I know it should, so don't do that to yourself.
Other topics in my class include a study of how we are running out of water, the success of Walt Disney, the death penalty, what to do about juvenile offenders, and how technology is changing interpersonal communication. One classmate is writing a series of short stories to explore themes of morality and loyalty. He seems to be having the most fun. I did not see our mentor strike down any topics completely, but she did offer suggestions on how to proceed when she thought it would be helpful. Just be sure your topic is interesting to you; you will be spending a lot of time with it and the project is challenging enough under good circumstances.
Depending on how your life is going, I also would seriously consider the time of year you take the Capstone. I work full time, am a single mom, and have three kids. The holiday season is NOT the best time of year for me to be spending 17 hours a week on a project with hard deadlines. I actually cried a bit trying to get chapter 2 done before Thanksgiving, and I am pushing myself to finish chapter 4 tonight so I don't have to think about this again until after Christmas. My post graduation plans changed and it became important that I graduate in March, but I had originally wanted to take the Capstone in the spring.
2018 TESU GRADUATE
BALS-SOCIAL SCIENCE
CLEP:
A&I Literature 68 Intro to Sociology 61 Human Gr & Dev 70 Intro to Educational Psychology 68
Prin. of Management 71 Prin. of Marketing 72
ALEKS:
Interm. Algebra 73%
Sophia:
Dev. Effective Teams 96%
The Institutes:
Ethics & CPCU Code of Prof. Conduct 76%
Shmoop:
Modern European History 84% Literature in the Media 82% Holocaust Lit 90%
Women's Lit 87% Shakespeare's Plays 87%
Straighterline:
Western Civ I 93% Intro to Nutrition 87% Macroecon 86% Microecon 90%
Intro to Environmental Science 89% Western Civ II 91% Intro to Religion 98%
Cultural Anthropology 95% US History I 90% US History II 93%
Intro to Communication 93% Organizational Behavior 91%
Study.com
Personal Finance 98% History of the Vietnam War 97% Abnormal Psychology 94%
Social Psychology 92% Civil War & Reconstruction 87% Human & Cultural Geography 94%
Ed4Credit
Aging & Society 97%
TESU
Capstone 100%
B&M Colleges
42 credits
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(12-20-2017, 11:10 AM)KAnn Wrote: (12-19-2017, 04:55 PM)originalamyj Wrote: Would any of you be willing to share what you wrote your capstone on? Or would that not be a good idea? (not intending to cheat or steal ideas!) I'm just so curious about what you all studied! I'm actually excited about doing it. Was super nervous about a topic idea but then I got to googling for ideas (not content) and found some great ideas that resonate with me. Things I want to spend hours and hours of my life researching and learning more about.
My paper is about the unique ways Jewish women suffered during the Holocaust due to their gender. My research questions look at how gender roles of the time impacted how/if they and their families survived, how being a woman made their suffering worse, how being a woman made their suffering more tolerable, and what Holocaust experiences most impacted their post-war lives. I would caution against immersing yourself in a thoroughly depressing topic such as this. I am 90 pages into it and have read about nothing but Holocaust abuse for 6 weeks. It's draining.
On that subject, please, PLEASE do yourself a favor and narrow down your research questions as tightly as you can. I know I mentioned this before but I am really struggling to put a lid on this paper. My questions are so loaded and there is so much important information that I can't find a place to stop researching. My paper is almost four times the page requirement 2/3 of the way through the course. It's very stressful and it's taking way longer than I know it should, so don't do that to yourself.
Other topics in my class include a study of how we are running out of water, the success of Walt Disney, the death penalty, what to do about juvenile offenders, and how technology is changing interpersonal communication. One classmate is writing a series of short stories to explore themes of morality and loyalty. He seems to be having the most fun. I did not see our mentor strike down any topics completely, but she did offer suggestions on how to proceed when she thought it would be helpful. Just be sure your topic is interesting to you; you will be spending a lot of time with it and the project is challenging enough under good circumstances.
Depending on how your life is going, I also would seriously consider the time of year you take the Capstone. I work full time, am a single mom, and have three kids. The holiday season is NOT the best time of year for me to be spending 17 hours a week on a project with hard deadlines. I actually cried a bit trying to get chapter 2 done before Thanksgiving, and I am pushing myself to finish chapter 4 tonight so I don't have to think about this again until after Christmas. My post graduation plans changed and it became important that I graduate in March, but I had originally wanted to take the Capstone in the spring.
Advice taken. Thank you so much for taking the time to write out this advice. I think it will be helpful for me and future capstone students! Your topic is fascinating but I can see how draining it might be. I vividly remember watching Schindler's List for the first time and sitting alone as the room darkened crying my eyes out for like 2 hours. Many of my favorite novels are set in the period. So much heartbreak. But also hope.
Sounds fun to write short stories! I hadn't thought of that!
I'm hoping to register for my capstone in May so I can complete it over the summer when I am on break from my homeschooling and teaching duties. I also thought I'd have more time right now on break for Christmas, but since I have teenagers I feel busier than ever even though school is out!
Amy
Goal: BA in English at TESU
Completed: 78 B&M credits plus:
Institutes: Ethics
Study.com: Personal Finance, History of the Vietnam War, English Comp I, Intro World Religions, Public Speaking, Intro to Humanities
Shmoop: Bible as Literature, Shakespeare's Plays, Women's Lit, Modernist Lit, Holocaust Lit
TECEP: Technical Writing
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