Additional Program Requirements
The various degree requirements at Augustana University vary by program. These requirements may include a Graduate Paper, a Synthesis Portfolio, a Written Comprehensive Exam, a Research Synthesis, and/or an Oral Examinations. Below is a description of each of these requirements:
GRADUATE PAPER – Master of Arts in Sports Administration and Leadership
If required by a specific program, a graduate paper is to be a work of serious, creative scholarship and/or research, written under the guidance of a faculty paper tutor. It should demonstrate graduate level writing ability, along with careful and extensive research. Note: Research or projects which involve gaining information from or about human participants must be reviewed by the Institutional Review Board (IRB) for the Protection of Human Subjects in Research before the research or project begins.
The completion of the graduate paper occurs through enrollment in 698: Research and Writing Tutorial. The student should enroll in 698: Research and Writing Tutorial once they have chosen their paper tutor and are ready to start on their graduate project. Registration for the tutorial must occur no later than the semester preceding the term in which program completion is anticipated. To register for the tutorial, the student must have 1) submitted Application for Candidacy Part A, Permission to Register for 698, and 2) Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval (where applicable). The registration form is available online from www.augie.edu/graduate and must be submitted to the Office of Graduate and Continuing Education with a copy of the approved proposal attached. A student is allowed a maximum of one year to complete the tutorial.
Guidelines for the graduate paper:
Three copies of the completed draft of the graduate paper shall be submitted to the Office of Graduate and Continuing Education who then will distribute the copies to the examination committee. Following successful completion of the oral exam, the graduate student shall deliver three final copies of the graduate paper to the Office of Graduate and Continuing Education. The copies of the graduate paper (minimum of 35 pages in length) are to be submitted on uniform size (8 inches by 11 inches) good quality white paper. The graduate paper is to be written using the current APA (American Psychological Association) style. The paper is to be double-spaced and word-processed (letter quality printer), allowing a margin of one and one half inches on the left side and one inch on the other three sides. Photographs, maps, charts, etc., may be included using a photocopy process. Sturdy covers must be used for the final copies. Bound copies may be submitted if preferred.
SYNTHESIS PORTFOLIO – Master of Arts in Sports Administration and Leadership
The purposes of the synthesis portfolio are to validate that the student has successfully met all course and program objectives and to document how course work has enhanced attainment of program objectives. The candidate shall prepare a synthesis portfolio according to department guidelines. A student’s examination committee will review and evaluate the portfolio prior to the scheduling of the oral exam. The portfolio will include the following four (4) items:
1. Title Page
2. Table of Contents
3. A typed essay reflecting on the student’s personal and professional development during the program of study. The essay will address each of the graduate program objectives and describe how scholarly course work supports the student’s achievement of program outcomes. Evidence of scholarly work included in the portfolio must be referenced clearly in the essay. The essay shall be of sufficient length to reflect depth and breadth of study and meet departmental guidelines.
4. Papers, projects, and other examples of scholarly work for each course in the program of study. Artistic projects should be photographed and included in the portfolio. All projects must be appropriately labeled with course number, title, and completion date.
THE WRITTEN EXAMINATION – Master of Professional Accountancy
The purpose of this examination is two-fold: 1) to encourage students to review their course work and integrate the knowledge they have gained, and 2) to allow the graduate faculty to assess whether the student has gained the knowledge and acquired the skills of analysis and synthesis that are the hallmarks of the graduate degree.
The written exam consists of 200 multiple-choice questions (170 scored items; 30 pre-test items). An examinee has four (4) hours to complete the examination. The candidate will be asked to select the one best answer from four options provided for each question.
• After copies of the graduate paper have been submitted to the Office of Graduate Education, the comprehensive written exam will be arranged for the scheduled date on the academic calendar. Examination questions for the written exam will be obtained from each of the candidate’s examination committee members. The Office of Graduate and Continuing Education will be responsible for administering the examination and for distributing the completed exam to the committee members for evaluation.
• The candidate must receive a pass on all three written examination questions, OR have the synthesis portfolio approved by all examination committee members, to be eligible to proceed to the oral examination.
• A candidate who fails the written examination, or does not successfully complete the synthesis portfolio, may retake the examination or redo the portfolio once in attempting to successfully complete this program requirement.
RESEARCH SYNTHESIS PROJECT – Master of Education
Each student will design and complete a scholarly final project, which will henceforth be referred to as the Research Synthesis Project. This will be completed under the guidance of a faculty member, who is the Primary Instructor for the EDUC 695 course.
The Research Synthesis Project is an in-depth study of a topic of professional interest in the selected area of concentration that M.Ed students select and investigate using research findings from empirical studies and other scholarly sources. It is an opportunity for students to demonstrate their abilities to conduct an extensive research review, and demonstrate their professional writing abilities. This course will support students in generating a paper of publishable quality. Part of the final project will include the student’s potential application of their research to their future professional practice. The application to future practice should be linked to learning and/or curriculum theory.
Students are expected to develop and submit a prospectus (anticipated length is 3-5 pages) within the first weeks of the 695 course. The instructor will guide the process and provide written approval before the work on the project begins. The guidelines for the prospectus follow:
1. Indicate your topic in the form of a question.
2. Connect your topic of study to your selected area of concentration.
3. Provide a reason or rationale for your interest in finding answers to your question.
4. Explain the topics that you determine need to be researched in the professional literature in order to explore your question in a comprehensive manner.
5. In the American Psychological Association (APA) format, list 15-20 potential references associated with your question. Feel free to use EasyBib to help you with this portion of the prospectus.
Feedback/approval on the prospectus will be given by your Instructor.
Advanced Final Project Criteria
The final project, graded according to the attached rubric, begins with a question that is connected to the student’s specific area of concentration. An appropriate scholarly plan that addresses the question and then determines application to the student’s classroom practice is the end result of the project.
The length of the paper should be 25-35 pages. (The 25-35 page requirement does not include the submission of artifacts for future application of research. Students may submit artifacts related to future application for up to an additional 15 pages.)
The following format provides a road map for the students:
• Cover Page
• Table of Contents
• Introduction
• Research question
• Importance of the study and the connection to your work
• Definition of terms
• Limitations of the study
• Review of Related Literature (minimum twenty resources)
• Analysis
• Application
• Context: classroom, school, community
• Application options (These are simply recommendations, not requirements.): practice within the school or classroom, curriculum development, creation and implementation of an assessment tool, implementation of a particular strategy or technique, or other options.
References
The majority of your references should have been published within the past 7 years.
Submitting the approved final project: The initial submission of the completed drafts and final version will be done via Moodle.
Evaluation of the Final Project
The Research Synthesis Project will be evaluated using the Evaluation Rubric provided in Moodle. The project is the only source of the final grade for the course, and will be given a letter grade according to the points earned.
ORAL EXAMINATION - Master of Arts in Sports Administration and Leadership; Master of Professional Accountancy
Some programs require an oral examination, other do not. For those that do, it is the final evaluation of whether the candidate has mastered the skills and knowledge required to earn the graduate degree. The oral examination is an opportunity for the candidate to defend the graduate paper and to validate the learning that has occurred as a result of graduate study.
Procedure:
• Upon successful completion of 698: Research and Writing Tutorial, it is the candidate’s responsibility to provide the Office of Graduate and Continuing Education with sufficient copies of the paper for all members of the examination committee at least 15 working days prior to the scheduled oral examination to allow the committee time to review the graduate paper.
• The Office of Graduate and Continuing Education will distribute copies of the candidate’s graduate paper to the examination committee members.
a. The candidate will schedule the date and time with committee members.
b. The faculty paper tutor will schedule a room and arrange for presentation equipment.
• Upon satisfactory completion of the oral examination, the members of the examination committee will endorse the examination report form.
• The candidate’s faculty paper tutor, who will chair the oral examination, will deliver the completed examination report form to the Office of Graduate and Continuing Education.
• The candidate’s paper tutor shall report a grade of Satisfactory (S) or Unsatisfactory (U) for the tutorial (698) to the Registrar’s Office. At the oral examination committee’s discretion, a letter grade may be reported.
• A candidate who fails the oral examination may retake it once in attempting to successfully complete this program requirement.
• Following the successful completion of the oral examination, the candidate shall deliver three final copies of the graduate paper to the Office of Graduate and Continuing Education. (The copies will be deposited in the department of concentration, Mikkelsen Library, and the Office of Graduate and Continuing Education.)