INFSCI 3006: Introduction to Doctoral Research - II

Spring 2007 (2074) - 1.5 Credits
Wed 12:00 - 1:25pm IS 502
Class: 16743

Instructor: Dr. Stephen Hirtle
Office: 2B01 IS Building 
Office Phone: 412-624-9434
Email: hirtle@pitt.edu
Secretary: Mary Stewart, 720 IS Bldg, 412-624-9402
Office Hours: Tuesday 1:30-3:00pm

Overview

Introduction to Doctoral Research (INFSCI 3005/3006) is a two-term sequence of courses required of all first year PhD students in the Information Science program. INFSCI 3005/3006 is offered every fall/spring and should be taken during the first year of study.

An introduction to the purpose and nature of doctoral studies in information science, theories and processes in scholarly research and the current state of research in the discipline. Graduate faculty in the program will present and discuss their current interests with students.

Prerequisites: Enrollment in doctoral program in information science.

Required Textbook: None

Required Readings: To be announced

Requirements

To fulfill the requirements of the course, each student will need to complete three requirements:

  1. Attend regular meetings of the class to hear faculty presentations and participate in discussions.
  2. Attend all talks in the school and related departments, deamed relevant to the Graduate Program in Information Sciences. Attendence at no more than ten talks required over the course of the term. Appropriate talks will be announced each week.
  3. Write one short (500-1000 words) essays (also known as white papers or extended abstracts), which could form the basis of a future grant proposal. These papers are to be submitted electronically through COURSEWEB using the DIGITAL DROPBOX by Sunday night following the class in which it is marked as due. Any standard format (doc, pdf, rtf) is acceptable. When NAMING your FILE, please include your last name in the filename (e.g, is3005_paper1_smith.doc). Start your essay with a title and your name, so that this information will appear on any printed copy.
  4. Present one of your short essays ideas to the group with a focus on (1) what is the problem that you are addressing and (2) what novel aspect are you bringing to bear in addressng the problem.

Weekly Schedule
Week
Date
Topic/Speaker
Notes
1

03-Jan-07

Skills Sets and Time Management
2

10-Jan-07

Research Skills - 1

Presentation of Results
Readings: Cleveland & McGill (1984)
3

17-Jan-07

Research Skills - 2

Where to Publish
Readings: Harnad (1999)
Also see Harnad (2004), Pringle (2002), Open Access Project

4

Fri 26-Jan-07

Prelim Presentations
no regular class meeting this week
5

31-Jan-07

Video - 1
Essay #4 due this week
6

07-Feb-07

Teaching Skills - 1
7

14-Feb-07

Teaching Skills - 2
Readings: to be announced
8

21-Feb-07

Video - 2
9

28-Feb-07

Service Skills - 1
Readings: to be announced
10

07-Mar-07

Spring Break
No Class Meeting
11

14-Mar-07

Video - 3
12

21-Mar-07

David Tipper
  Presentations
Present one of your four short essays ideas to the group with a focus on (1) what is the problem that you are addressing and (2) what novel aspect are you bringing to bear in addressng the problem. In addition, think carefully about the construction and use of powerpoint slides (cf. Tufte) and why this is a important problem that others should care about (cf. Olden).
13

28-Mar-07

Presentations -1
Piwayan & Silvia
14

04-Apr-07

Presentations - 2
Michael
15

11-Apr-07

Presentations - 3
Danielle & Qi
16

18-Apr-07

Presentations - 4

 
Sharon & Ying-Feng
17

25-Apr-07

no class meeting during finals week

Last update: March 14, 2007