It's official: I'm graduating from Kent State with an MA!

Entrance to the Kent State School of Journalism.

   It's official. My Master's Project has been approved. I posted the final paper and the course syllabus in separate pages on the top of this blog.
   I will discuss in more detail about the approval process soon.
   I am Kent State.

Starting my lead sentence with a date: December 15

   December 15.

   That lead sentence breaks a long-held journalism rule of not starting a lead sentence with a date unless that date is important. So today I’m breaking that rule because I’m writing about a milestone in my life.

   December 15 is the day I hope to be set free from the toils of academia. There are so many things I will be able to do again. Let me count thy ways:

The announcement.

1.     My family will regain my attention;

2.     I can start working out again. I need to harden the softening muscles that went flab during five years of sitting on a chair with my nose glued to a computer or book;

3.     Housework will get the attention to detail it so desperately needs;

4.     My own students will get their grades returned in a more timely fashion;

5.    Did I already mention my family would regain my attention they so desperately crave?

   There are two concrete things that help make this impending day more real: the cap and gown that’s still in the Kent State University Bookstore plastic bag and hanging on a dresser knob in my bedroom, and the graduation announcements that are still in the box on my desk. They are in my possession, and I can hold them, wear them, put addresses and stamps on them, but they don’t matter until my Master’s project is officially approved.

   I defend the project at KSU Nov. 29, and if my committee chairs approve the course proposal, then I will celebrate by trying on my cap and gown, and mailing out the announcements.

   It's been more than a month since my last blog post. I just didn’t have the energy or wit to explain one more time how difficult learning APA was for me. But now that I’m familiar with APA, working on the project is easier and more enjoyable.

   Let me take this opportunity to impart one very important piece of advice to anyone working on a Master’s project or thesis some day: Buy a good book on APA guidelines, and study it before you write that first word. It will save you lots of time, and your instructors will love you for it!

On sleepless nights, a weary mind and graduation

   It’s 2 a.m. on a Saturday night.

   I should be in bed, but all I can think about is my Master’s project, amongst other things.  What still needs to be done? Can it be done in time? Can I do it?

   The good news is that the literature review, which is the bulk of the proposal paper, is nearly complete. The proposal has been through multiple drafts, and I’m anticipating a green light on the project any day now.

   I just reprinted the survey and the survey paperwork, which is now ready to be shipped off for approval from the powers that be at KSU.  Once the survey is deemed safe for human experimentation, I can work on getting it into the hands of the teachers. This will be the second hardest chore of the project, considering I must rely on busy teachers to take the survey and return it to me in a timely manner. Should I promise them chocolate?

   Then there’s the design of the course, which won’t be too labor intensive.  I’ve been teaching basic photography and photojournalism courses at Owens Community College since 2006.  I have a strong instinct on what teachers might want to learn. The survey will help with that, as well.

   It’s now 2:24 a.m.,

   I must force myself to rest my weary mind, which won’t stop. I still have a cap and gown to order. Who will I invite to my graduation? I only have 12 tickets but there are 13 people on the invite list. I hope the survey will be approved. Should I go to each local school and talk to the teachers in person? My lawn needs mowing and the patio furniture needs to be stored for the winter. Both campers need winterizing. Will Obama win? Please let Obama win. Dang, I forgot to give one of my cats his ear medicine today. I must finish grading before Monday………….

   See what I mean? Time to pop a sleeping aid and call it a night.
(UPDATE Nov. 30 - The survey was turned in too late and not included in the study. However, during the defense yesterday my committee members agreed it wouldn't have helped much anyway.)

This procrastinator is in full panic mode, and it feels good

   It’s time to take a few days off from my hectic life to concentrate on getting this Master's Project paper done! October 15 is the due date for the second draft, which I’m assuming is the entire paper, syllabus and all.

   I am going to ask for unpaid time off from work (I’ve used up all of my 3-weeks of vacation time at the Toledo Blade). Sometimes you have to make sacrifices, and this financial sacrifice better pay off with a diploma in my hand in two months. I didn't have to do this after all! My proposal is submitted, and I hope there are few major changes to make!

   So, this is my plan for the next week:

·      Visit a few high school photography teachers to find out exactly what they think the course should cover in order to satisfy their educational needs. After all, this course is for them - the unsung visual arts heroes who are ultimately responsible for getting high school students interested in photography and into the college photography classrooms.

·      Get that survey approved! It’s ready to go, but I’ve been sitting on the paperwork.

·      Meet with a rep for the Continuing Education office at Owens Community College. I want to make sure the course satisfies their requirements.

·      Design the syllabus and lesson plans.

·      Order my cap and gown.

   Yep, I will be busy tying up very, very loose ends, but I am a procrastinator at heart, and work best under intense pressure.

   Here’s a sneak preview of the abstract:

When high school teachers are tasked with teaching or managing student photographers, they should know how to operate a camera, understand what makes a good photograph, and be aware of the basic legal rights and ethical standards of a photographer.  Photography is more than just pointing and shooting a camera to capture a pretty picture.  It is a technical and aesthetic discipline that invokes critical thinking.  However, because of recent budget and teacher cuts in the subject of art, photography is being taught by teachers who do not have experience or educational backgrounds in photography.  This project involves creating a basic photography course for high school teachers who want or need to learn more about photography.  A syllabus, lesson plans and homework assignments will be developed in accordance with survey results, scholarly research and teacher interviews.

It certainly takes a village to write a research paper

   It certainly does take a village!

   Hillary Rodham Clinton had it right when she wrote a book on how it takes a village to raise a child. But that famous proverb can be applied to just about anything, including writing research papers.

   Even though the paper is on its third draft and still not completely done, I want to take this opportunity to thank my village people for helping me get this far. So what if it’s a little premature to offer my appreciation. I feel the need.

   The proposal, Designing a Photography Course for High School Teachers, is 16 pages of other people’s research, and glued together by APA-style citations. It didn’t start out that way, of course.  After sitting in front of the computer for months, dazed and confused, I realized I needed lots of help. It was time to reach out. Thanks to the following segments of population in my village:

·      Bowling Green University Learning Design program graduate Aaron Carpenter for meeting with me before I even started writing the paper. He helped me formulate an idea for the project.

·      Candace Bowen, John Bowen and Mark Goodman, my project committee co-chairs. I especially want to thank Candace, the director of the Center for Scholastic Journalism at Kent State University, for sending back (in a timely manner) my first draft, which had lots and lots of comment boxes highlighting the mistakes and changes I needed to make.

She pointed out that the first draft was too full of myself, which is a research paper no-no. When writing research papers, stay away from sentences that begin with the following two words: I believe. I think. I will. I hope. The key to writing a thesis is write down what you hope to accomplish, then search and cite other people to back up your points. This takes the “I” out of the equation.

  The paper also had lots of quotation marks, which are for journalists, not researchers. I admit APA style is the hardest concept for me to learn and do.

·      All of the researchers cited in the paper. Without their prior research on photography and education, it couldn’t have been written.

·      Kent State journalism grad student Shelley Blundell, KSU Journalism Educator graduate Marina Hendricks, and University of Toledo Center for Writing grad volunteer Shannon McKeehen. They were my second pair of eyes.

·      Springfield High School (Holland, Ohio) English teacher Mark Davidson for letting me interview him for the paper. 

·      APA Made Easy (APA 6th Edition) (Kindle version) by Scott Matkovich. I wish I would have bought this book before I started writing. It walks you through the whole writing process from the very beginning; choosing your font, setting margins, etc. That would have saved me (and my village people) a lot of frustration.

   Now that the draft is nearly complete, it’s finally time to begin the fun part: designing the course.

APA style is like garlic to vampire journalists who thrive on AP

    APA.

    Those three letters strike fear into many writers who must abide by them when quoting sources. Oh, excuse me, I mean when attributing scholarly citations.

    Adhering to APA style is especially nerve-wracking for journalists. When journalists quote a source who said or wrote something we deem important, for example, we use quotation marks around direct quotes, and then state the person's name and affiliation. That's it. Simple, right? This style of attributing sources is out of the Associated Press (AP) Styleguide, the journalist's Bible for proper spelling, grammar and word usage.

    AP style is in my blood. Journalism DNA flows through me. APA style, on the other hand, is like garlic to a vampire.

    Believe it or not, APA stands for American Psychological Association, and is commonly used to cite sources within the social sciences. Before I actually looked it up to see what it meant, I thought it stood for something like the American Penmanship Assoc. You know, something that had to do with actually writing research papers.

    The psychological word through me off a bit. But I guess it makes sense, since research papers are about studying human behavior, which is part of the social sciences.

    Anyway, I've been sitting on my research paper for about a month. The proposal is nearly finished, and I'm slowing working on the second draft.

    First, I had to take the first person out of the equation. A research paper requires a literature review, which is basically finding scholarly articles written about the topic you are writing about. Instead of saying that I believe it's unfair that students are taught photography by teachers who aren't qualified to teach them, I have to find someone else who believes it too, and then follow the APA style when citing the source.

    Secondly, I have to back up everything I say with another source. This is harder than it seems, considering there aren't many published scholarly articles on the problem of English teachers teaching photography. The upside to my research paper is that I will add such an article to this otherwise anemic topic.

    Lastly, I have to properly cite the multitude of the sources using APA style. Putting the sources in alphabetical order was the easy part. The hard part is formatting the sources according to where you got them, whether it's from a scholarly article, a magazine, a book or online. Each one requires its own special way of handling it. Who made up this stuff?
    I shall overcome the fear because I must. Just writing this post has helped me understand the process a heck of a lot more than I did two months ago. I need to stay focused, and stay away from the garlic.

This is a recent example of me writing my Master's project proposal journalism style, but being told to stick to APA.

  

Overcoming excuses and other reasons for putting IT off

   It’s been a few weeks since I emailed the first draft of my Master’s project proposal to my three committee members at Kent State.

   While I waited for feedback, I updated the syllabus, course policy manual and the first two assignments for the Intro to Photojournalism course I teach at Owens Community College in Toledo. I also created a simple Prezi tutorial.

This is my first Prezi tutorial. I will build on it as ideas come to me.

   Since the prep work for my Intro to PJ class is done, it’s now time to focus on the Master’s project once again. 

   The first draft of the entire paper is due Sept. 15 and I’ve yet to begin editing the proposal paper. But it’s still summer, and I have two kids who need attention, and a full-time job, and I just bought a new RV, and I'm totally into watching Breaking Bad on Netflix! The excuses keep piling up.

   I cannot let those hurdles stop me from getting this done! I’ve worked too hard for five long years. So, every time I feel compelled to delay the inevitable, I remind myself that if I don’t do this now, I will become a statistic. Did you know that lots of grad students don’t graduate because they don’t finish their final Master’s project or thesis? How many you ask? Sorry, but if you want to know a definitive answer, look it up. I don’t have time.

   I don’t want to be a statistic. But more importantly, I want my kids to see me  

walk up on that stage in cap and gown wearing Honors Society cords. They need to witness the final reward of sticking to something you started, and that hard work pays off.

   So after I write this I’m going to watch a few more episodes for Season 2 of Breaking Bad*. After all, next week I will be too busy working on my research paper to watch TV.

*(Update: I'm not proud to report as of Aug. 29, I'm up to Season 5/Espisode 2)