Requirements for Graduation

     The proposal is the blueprint of your GP. Your proposal must be logic and show that your GP is soundly doable. Your GP proposal needs to be reviewed by your advisor. It is advisable that you prepare a “proposal abstract” to your advisor before you fully commence your GP. Your proposal abstract should be informative. It should be clear enough to let your advisor know what you are about to do for your GP, and may consist of the following elements.

• Motivation/problem statement: Why do we, people other than you, care about the problem or the issue? What practical, scientific, theoretical or artistic gap is your GP filling?
• Methods/procedure/approach: What will you actually do to get your results?
• Results/findings/product: As a result of completing the above procedure, what will you learn/invent/create?
• Conclusion/implications: What will be the larger implications of your findings or your contribution, especially for the problem/gap/issue identified in the abovementioned first step?

Once your advisor agrees to your proposal abstract, you will start writing your GP proposal. The proposal formats for Senior Paper and Senior Project are different. Please check out the template 【Graduation Paper Template】

     Your process of doing GP is assessed closely by your advisor. There are three requirements during the process. One is that you have to participate in four Orientation Workshops to let yourself fully prepare of all the required GP tasks. Another is that you have to attend six monthly International Affairs Forums to expand your horizon of international affairs. Another is that you are required to have at least six Reflection Meetings with your advisor throughout the length of your Graduation Project. The Orientation Workshops will be held in the first two weeks of your Graduation Project. They are designed to allow you to get the basics of doing your GP tasks. Four 2-hour workshops are provided—Introducing the Graduation Project, Data Collection Resources in Wenzao, Endnote and Style, and Reflection on How to Do a Research.The International Affair Forums are discussion panels sponsored by the Department. Faculty members or outside speakers will be invited to present their works related to international affairs.The Reflection Meetings are to show your efforts of doing your GP. You may consider, though it is not required, preparing a “reflection paper” before each Reflection Meeting. A “reflection paper” is to illustrate what you have learned through the process. It could have two major parts.Part One describes—

• Who have you talked to?
• What have you read (observed, studied, meditated on, etc.)?
• What have you done to document your work and learning?
• What’s next?

Part Two describes—Synthesizes, reflects upon, and discusses your work and learning. It may consist of the following components:

• If you had last month to do over again, what would you do differently? Why?
• What new ideas were triggered by your work over the last month?
• What did you learn about yourself—your working style, your interests, etc?
• What new questions do you have now?
• What did you learn about your topic/subjects that you didn’t know before? What connections among the various things you have studied and researched do you see?

Other than reflection papers, you can present other documentation in your Reflection Meeting with your advisor. To show that you have consistently endeavor in your GP, you may want to keep your documentation in:

• A reliable, systematic, labeled, and clear organizational system
• A complete, thoughtful, and up-to-date record of your progress

Further, you may consider revealing in your documentation that—

• You are using a variety of sources.
• You assess the nature, reliability, and usefulness of your sources.
• You classify, group, and label your information.
• You are documenting your sources and experiences and compiling a properly formatted, annotated bibliography/record of events.