Special Research I

Session 15: Setting Up a Research Plan

[Introduction]

 The last assignment of this course is a research plan. Prepare your research plan in the manner described below.

This Session's Task

Carry out "Draft Submission" and "Mutual Commenting" for the research plans found at "Discussion Board: Research Plan Draft Submission Discussion Board".

Submit a draft research plan for your master's thesis. Read one another's plans and then inform each respective submitter of your thoughts in the form of a “Reply.” For the mutual evaluation, refer to the scoring standards listed below and make a concerted effort to include advice on what they can do to make their proposals better. Task 15 will be considered as completed once you have submitted a draft research plan and posted one or more mutual comments.
*Please view and provide comments for the plans of the other students after submitting your own. Take care so as not to make a mistake with the sequence.

[Submission Method]
• Create and submit a new message.
• Attach the mutual comments in the form of a reply to each message.

Deadline for draft submission & mutual commenting: 31.3.2009

Designating Professors

 Designate the names of three professors who you would like to check and give feedback (including score) to the final submission of your research plan. Those three professors designated by you will conduct the assessment for you.
 You will use the assessment tool to designate three professors' names of your choice. Enter only surnames (e.g., Suzuki, not Katsuaki Suzuki) in the response column.
 Once the designating process has been completed, “Assignment 3: Research Plan (Final Submission)” will be opened so that you can submit the final paper.

     Note that if you do not enter this correctly then “Assignment 3: Research Plan (Final Submission)” will not be displayed.

Assignment Submission

Carry out the final submission of your research plan to "Assignment 3: Research Plan (Final Submission)."

*(Assignment 3) Research Plan (30 points)

Make revisions by referring to the mutual comments from the other students and then submit the first manuscript for your research plan. The scoring will be based on both the final paper and mutual comments provided in the final submission.

[Scoring Standards]
This assignment will be assigned a score independently by the three professors stipulated by the submitter. Perfect scores of 10 points each will give you a total of 30 points, with 60% of this, or 18 points, the lowest level that is still passing.

While there will be differences in the viewpoint of each professor on scoring, they are to share a common understanding by bearing the following general indicators in mind.

10 points: Excellent. I would like to give guidance to this student without a doubt.
 9 points: Interesting. I would like him/her to be one of the students who I give guidance to.
 8 points: Of course. I would be fine with guiding this person.
 7 points: Understood. I'll provide guidance if I have some extra leeway.
 6 points: Well written, but the theme is far from my interests.
 5 points: The format is in order, but I did not fully understand what s/he wanted to do.
 4 points: Will only pass if the other two professors give it a good score (average of seven points or higher).
 3 points: I have absolutely no problem passing him/her if there is a professor who wants to accept him/her, but I myself will refrain from doing so.
 2 points: I feel that they failed to fulfill the requirements of the assignment (failing).
 1 points: I feel that they largely failed to fulfill the requirements of the assignment (failing).
 0 points: Report was not submitted (failing).

Submission deadline: 31.3.2009