Lit Review

There are a number of things student have to do in order to graduate, there are the obvious general ones like take your classes and pass, but there are also some that are more division dependant. As a student at Foundations and Practices division of GSE I am expected to write a 40 page literature review on a topic of my interest in order to be graduate. Penn is a research one university as many of you already know, and training students in the different aspects of research is something our faculty prides itself in. I was a little worried at first during the semester because I had very little background in research, I was mostly concerned with how much guidance we will receive as students starting off a master’s degree. The answer is plenty!
As part of the 10 credit courses one has to take in order to graduate, there is one class specially designed to guide students through the process of doing the research and, formulating their plan to do so. The class is simply numbered 668 and all masters students at FPE planning to graduate by the summer have to take the course this spring. The good thing is however, you don’t really start in the spring! In fact the preparation starts as soon as you start your program. We are assigned 4 classes during the fall semester, a month apart from another. And for each meeting we have a few things assigned in order to get an early start on the literature review. This coming Monday, my first draft of a proposal is due. I’m excited and anxious at the same time. I have my proposal written out, and already consulted some professors as well as literature on the topic which I am working on. I was pleasantly surprised to find out that one of my current professors at Penn is huge in the field in which I am working on! Dr. Ingersoll who is currently giving a class at GSE “School and Society” had his name all over the educational journals when I would be searching for literature to review. I have to admit it felt really good to know that.
I will talk more about the proposal I am working on more in the next blog as I would have had someone look over it, and lets face it, no one likes to mess up in public! But what I will be doing for future blogs also is feature some students from GSE and have them talk about certain experiences or issues concerned with university life. I would also love to hear any feed back you as my reader would have on any particular topics you would like me to cover. Once again this Maher Zamel signing off, Penn GSE, Philadelphia! (I am seriously considering a career with CNN after this blogging business)