Ava
Senior Member
Joined: Jan 30, 2011 12:23:55 GMT -5
Posts: 4,256
|
Post by Ava on Apr 8, 2014 10:56:03 GMT -5
I am THIS CLOSE to graduation. If everything goes well, I'll be graduating next December. The only two things that stand in my way are;
1- Statistics I have a test tomorrow, I am very close to failing. My new manager, who is as awesome as my previous one, gave me the day off today so I can study. If I fail Statistics, I'll take it during the summer. Not the best thing but it won't stop me from graduation.
2- Research Project- I need to take this during the August-December semester in order to graduate in December. I've never done anything like that. In order to even enroll, I have to submit a one page summary to the program director about the topic of my research and a summary of the project. Zero idea where to start. I decided to work on the presentation page during the weekend because I have Statistics and another test this week. Then I'll submit on Monday. I am an Accounting major, I took all my electives in accounting for the MBA, and I plan to pursue CPA designation once I'm done with school. Do you have any ideas for my project topic? What should my presentation to the director look like? What I'm supposed to put in there? Does it have to be about accounting? Thanks so much for your help!!
|
|
Ava
Senior Member
Joined: Jan 30, 2011 12:23:55 GMT -5
Posts: 4,256
|
Post by Ava on Apr 8, 2014 11:21:02 GMT -5
A lit search? How do I go about that?
|
|
Deleted
Joined: Oct 9, 2024 4:28:52 GMT -5
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Apr 8, 2014 11:31:28 GMT -5
How are you graduating without knowing how to do a lit search? What are you graduating from? Anyway, my biggest piece of advice is not to get unnecessarily complicated with it. The point here is to show you know proper research techniques and are able to analyse the data appropriately. Don't give yourself headaches you don't have to with subjects that are diificult to coordinate or obscure topics.
|
|
|
Post by The Walk of the Penguin Mich on Apr 8, 2014 12:01:35 GMT -5
A lit search? How do I go about that? What you want to do is choose a topic (normally one that interests you...you tend not to do so well on topics you don't care about). If you are registered at a university, you should have online access to the library. What you do is you put your search parameters into the search engine and look at the publications that have been written on the subject that you are interested in. Reading what is available and has been done in the past is a good place to get ideas for what you can write about. Honestly, how are you supposed to write a one page proposal about what you want to do in a weekend when you have not looked at what has been done in the past, when you have no idea what to even use as a proposal? Normally, a lit search takes up a lot of time because you wind up needing to read (actually skim, some articles you can immediately discard as not being what relevant to your topic) a significant amount in order to formulate ideas. The lit search for my thesis took me over a month and that was when I KNEW what my topic was! Your's shouldn't take as long, but if you don't have any ideas at all, you really need to read what's been done in whatever topic you choose in order to get some idea as to what to write about.
|
|
Ava
Senior Member
Joined: Jan 30, 2011 12:23:55 GMT -5
Posts: 4,256
|
Post by Ava on Apr 8, 2014 12:15:44 GMT -5
I know. It's crazy. The curriculum shows there's a Research Project as a final class. But I thought you enrolled and then they will teach you how to do your research. They don't give you an introductory chat or anything. Now that it's time for me to take the class, I cannot sign in online. So I e-mailed the department secretary and she answered that I have to put together one page stating my research subject and submit it to the director. That's all I know. I have access to their library. I e-mailed someone who's doing the final project right now, and he said he's doing it on nonprofits. I don't know if it has to be about accounting, the MBA program wants you to have a broad education. They don't have concentrations and encourage you to have electives in different fields. I took mine in accounting (there are only three electives in the program). I guess a non accounting project would be fine. I don't know, really. I don't think they expect me to do original research, just to research existing materials and come up with a paper.
|
|
Deleted
Joined: Oct 9, 2024 4:28:52 GMT -5
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Apr 8, 2014 12:23:57 GMT -5
any way you can speak to the director to get some idea on what the real requirements are?
|
|
|
Post by The Walk of the Penguin Mich on Apr 8, 2014 12:39:00 GMT -5
I know. It's crazy. The curriculum shows there's a Research Project as a final class. But I thought you enrolled and then they will teach you how to do your research. They don't give you an introductory chat or anything. Now that it's time for me to take the class, I cannot sign in online. So I e-mailed the department secretary and she answered that I have to put together one page stating my research subject and submit it to the director. That's all I know. I have access to their library. I e-mailed someone who's doing the final project right now, and he said he's doing it on nonprofits. I don't know if it has to be about accounting, the MBA program wants you to have a broad education. They don't have concentrations and encourage you to have electives in different fields. I took mine in accounting (there are only three electives in the program). I guess a non accounting project would be fine. I don't know, really. I don't think they expect me to do original research, just to research existing materials and come up with a paper. In graduate programs, a research project is generally not considered a class, but an allotment of credit to allow you to write. It gives you credit while you are researching/writing. I think that for my PhD program, you could take 6 credits/semester (no more than 2 of these) for your research project. However, the course director *should* be giving you parameters as to how long it should be, and how in depth you need to make it. Is there any information available in the degree requirements online? Many times, a lot of these things are in the department course info areas. I know that's where I found mine and the template that they wanted you to use. You mentioned accounting, so something that might be different is analyzing how various charities spend the money that they receive and how or whether it gets the biggest bang for the buck. I would imagine that most charities have to provide their financials to the public, so the information should be available if you do some digging. You could compare those big ones, like Red Cross and the United Way, or smaller ones.
|
|
Deleted
Joined: Oct 9, 2024 4:28:52 GMT -5
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Apr 8, 2014 13:02:24 GMT -5
Go to the university library and talk with one of the librarians. If this is a school requirement, he/she has LOTS of experience with people not knowing where to start, etc.
I guarantee you that there' s a book on the shelf or that he/she recommends that will give you a quick overview of what this research process is. There was such a book when I took my grad school research course, but I forgot the name of it.
Ironically, I was ABD in English and never took a research course. I even wrote a thesis. But the research course was a big deal in the Library and Information School. You even had to learn all the different types depending on major.
You are probably supposed to count something since you are in accounting. That's not a joke. English people don't often do measurable research, which is why many people aren't impressed with their form of "research."
|
|
Ava
Senior Member
Joined: Jan 30, 2011 12:23:55 GMT -5
Posts: 4,256
|
Post by Ava on Apr 8, 2014 14:17:09 GMT -5
Oh, thanks for all the information. I'm going to e-mail the secretary again and see if she can tell me where to find the parameters. It's true that it's not a traditional class; you don't have to attend weekly. They give you credit for your research. They assign you a professor who acts as your mentor. I just thought that you enrolled and then they would give you a guideline. But it looks like you have to come up with a plan, present it, and then you can enroll. Problem is, I don't even know what they want. Probably the secretary can clue me in. I'm going to look in the website, too. And there's this person I know who's doing research right now, I'll see him on Thursday because he's in one of my classes. I'll ask him for more information then. I really want to present everything by Monday. There aren't many slots available and I don't want to miss the opportunity.
|
|
Ava
Senior Member
Joined: Jan 30, 2011 12:23:55 GMT -5
Posts: 4,256
|
Post by Ava on Apr 8, 2014 14:18:56 GMT -5
Go to the university library and talk with one of the librarians. If this is a school requirement, he/she has LOTS of experience with people not knowing where to start, etc.
I guarantee you that there' s a book on the shelf or that he/she recommends that will give you a quick overview of what this research process is. There was such a book when I took my grad school research course, but I forgot the name of it.
Ironically, I was ABD in English and never took a research course. I even wrote a thesis. But the research course was a big deal in the Library and Information School. You even had to learn all the different types depending on major.
You are probably supposed to count something since you are in accounting. That's not a joke. English people don't often do measurable research, which is why many people aren't impressed with their form of "research." I will try to talk to a librarian, too. That's a great idea. But their schedules are not very friendly for someone who works. I'll call the library and find out if I can arrange a meeting with one of them.
|
|
Pants
Junior Associate
Joined: Dec 27, 2010 19:26:44 GMT -5
Posts: 7,579
|
Post by Pants on Apr 8, 2014 15:19:00 GMT -5
Ava - also take a look at current events. For instance, your research might be on the accounting impact of a new regulation or piece of legislation on a particular business or the economy as a whole. Like, if Obama signs the executive order about payroll transparency for federal contractors, how will that impact your accounting department? Those businesses as a whole? What new accounting controls would be necessary? What is the potential financial impact? Will this impact the organization of accounting departments? The way they interact with other departments?
There's lots of things that can spark great ideas for papers. Good luck!
|
|
Lizard Queen
Senior Associate
103/2024
Joined: Jan 17, 2011 22:19:13 GMT -5
Posts: 14,659
|
Post by Lizard Queen on Apr 9, 2014 7:21:05 GMT -5
Don't you have an advisor assigned to you help you pick classes? That's the person who should be able to guide you through this. Before choosing a topic, I like to look for research first, just to make sure there are reference articles available. It makes it so much easier if you have good references to start from. A couple ideas off the top of my head:
The convergence of IFRS and US GAAP (tons of specific sub-topics you could focus on) The suitability of different depreciation methods. Accounting for Goodwill. Cash flow vs. accounting profits.
|
|
NoNamePerson
Distinguished Associate
Is There Anybody OUT There?
Joined: Dec 17, 2010 17:03:17 GMT -5
Posts: 26,214
Location: WITNESS PROTECTION
|
Post by NoNamePerson on Apr 9, 2014 8:22:08 GMT -5
We have a link on our library website "Ask-A-Libarian" You might try this for info. Not saying use this in lieu of trip to library since have no clue how long the reponse time is, but might save time if you can get suggestion for reference book or such like someone else suggested. Just a thought.
|
|
Deleted
Joined: Oct 9, 2024 4:28:52 GMT -5
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Apr 9, 2014 9:37:04 GMT -5
Actually, "Ask-A-Librarian" tends to be for answers to research-based questions. Things like "How many newspapers were there in NYC in 1872?" That was one of our practice questions in the MLIS research course. A lot of people just contact the library when they want to know something rather than trying to find the answer for themselves.
Making an appointment with a librarian is your best approach. I think you'll find one available at a time that works for working students, too.
|
|
|
Post by The Walk of the Penguin Mich on Apr 9, 2014 9:59:42 GMT -5
The librarian is a place to go AFTER Ava gets the scope of her project. They likely are not going to know the specific requirements for the program and she needs to find out those first.....from either her advisor or the chair of the program.
Right now, it sounds like she has no idea as to how long this project needs to be, how much analysis needs to be done (and as it seems to be a requirement after her stats class, I would imagine that they are expecting some of this to show up in the paper/project too), etc.
Right now, if she goes to the librarian, they are going to ask her these questions. As she does not know, they are going to send her back to the department.
Ava, if you could get a copy of a project that someone before you used in this program, then you have something to work with.
|
|
Deleted
Joined: Oct 9, 2024 4:28:52 GMT -5
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Apr 9, 2014 13:33:12 GMT -5
The librarian is a place to go AFTER Ava gets the scope of her project. They likely are not going to know the specific requirements for the program and she needs to find out those first.....from either her advisor or the chair of the program. Right now, it sounds like she has no idea as to how long this project needs to be, how much analysis needs to be done (and as it seems to be a requirement after her state class, I would imagine that they are expecting some of this to show up in the paper/project too), etc. Right now, if she goes to the librarian, they are going to ask her these questions. As she does not know, they are going to send her back to the department. Ava, if you could get a copy of a project that someone before you used in this program, then you have something to work with. A good librarian could direct Ava to a book about doing the various types of research . . . the kind that is used in a basic graduate-level research course. It would explain to her what a literature search is, etc. That was what I was suggesting. If the program isn't requiring a research course, the people in the program are getting their research knowledge from somewhere.
|
|
Ava
Senior Member
Joined: Jan 30, 2011 12:23:55 GMT -5
Posts: 4,256
|
Post by Ava on Apr 9, 2014 17:25:53 GMT -5
Got an answer from the secretary. She said there are no guidelines for the presentation. It has to be one page. She can arrange an appointment with the program director if I want, but it won't be until next Wednesday, so a week away. I am undecided. I want to try to do it on the weekend and submit by Monday. The other option is to wait to meet with the director and submit the following Monday. I think the second option is best, but right now I am up to my head with school projects, my new job, household chores, cooking, grocery shopping, etc. that another meeting just seems like a drag. What would you do? Submit a summary on your own or go for the meeting? It does seem to be just a submission of your topic idea so the director knows who to assign you as a mentor, I think.
|
|
beenherebefore
Familiar Member
Joined: Jan 3, 2012 17:07:23 GMT -5
Posts: 761
|
Post by beenherebefore on Apr 9, 2014 19:10:21 GMT -5
Is there a Faculty Advisor at your school? Is one assigned to you?
|
|
|
Post by The Walk of the Penguin Mich on Apr 9, 2014 19:27:29 GMT -5
Got an answer from the secretary. She said there are no guidelines for the presentation. It has to be one page. She can arrange an appointment with the program director if I want, but it won't be until next Wednesday, so a week away. I am undecided. I want to try to do it on the weekend and submit by Monday. The other option is to wait to meet with the director and submit the following Monday. I think the second option is best, but right now I am up to my head with school projects, my new job, household chores, cooking, grocery shopping, etc. that another meeting just seems like a drag. What would you do? Submit a summary on your own or go for the meeting? It does seem to be just a submission of your topic idea so the director knows who to assign you as a mentor, I think. How are you supposed to come up with a topic if you have no idea exactly how involved it needs to be? What you propose for a 10 page paper is way different than that of a 70 page paper. Are you going to need to research a topic, or will you need to do some sort of analysis too? Is there anyone else in the department that you can talk to before then? This sounds like a fairly important meeting if you intend on graduating in December.
|
|