Deliverables & Assessment
Presentations (70% of your total grade)
There are three presentations throughout the semester, collectively which are worth 70% of your total grade. Presentations are a time to share the work you’ve completed in your research process (how did you get to where you are?), demonstrate your knowledge of your topic area, pose questions, and receive feedback from your instructors and peers.
Presentation I: Identifying a Topic (20%, 09/27)
In this presentation you will identify your research area, and your ideas for narrowing to a specific topic within this area. We recognize your ideas are in flux, but getting specific now will make the rest of the process easier. Demonstrate how you arrived at your topic area: this may include some background on your previous interests and work both professionally and at IDM, and must include primary research exercises such as brainstorming, iteration, and conversation with people, as well as secondary research and reading. Indicate your plan for researching the topic further going forward.
Presentation II: Secondary Research (20%, 10/25, 11/01)
In this presentation you will share the secondary research that you’ve done so far, as well as give us reasons for why you consulted the texts or exemplars that you did. Background research should take a thorough look at the work that has been done in your area already. All research should be properly cited. Failure to cite your sources constitutes plagiarism. It may be necessary to map out different fields that relate to your topic, and offer a brief background on each.
For example, a thesis topic area of “building instruments based on data from oak trees in Prospect Park” may include background research on:
- Experimental music and instruments, new interfaces for musical expression (NIME)
- Bio-art: history and theories for working with nature in creative practice
- Oak trees, and your site of Prospect Park specifically.
Analyze the research you have completed – how does it relate to your topic and how will it inform your direction? (i.e. sketching, word maps, conversations with classmates that have informed your ideas). Finally, indicate your plan moving forward.
Presentation III: Primary Research & Findings (20%, 12/06, 12/13)
In the final presentation for this semester you will focus on summarizing your process so far, and focus on the progress you’ve made since your last presentation. If you’ve been undertaking a process that involves research via making prototypes, you should be prepared to show us those and talk about them and present an exhibit plan; if it involves field research, you should have a research plan, participants identified, and be prepared to talk about your methodology and how you plan to analyze your findings; if you’re doing a theoretical or historical project, you should cover the relevant texts and authors and describe your insights so far. Summarize your key findings and insights: what have you learned so far?
Finally, indicate your plan for going forward in the thesis semester, including any changes to your plan, methodology/approach, topic area, or research question. Indicate what you need to do in order to eventually arrive at your final thesis project, as well as what limitations or constraints you anticipate facing. You will also, as part of your final grade, submit the first two chapters of your dissertation (details below):
Dissertation Chapters 1 and 2: (10%, Due 12/17 by midnight)
Your documentation for this project will take the form of a thesis book that will cover all the work that you’ve done over the pre-thesis and thesis semesters. Following the final presentation you will submit the first two chapters of your dissertation:
Chapter 1) An introduction to your topic, why it is relevant, and some context and background making the case for why it is worth researching and working on and to set up subsequent chapters, as well as indicating who your potential stakeholders might be;
Chapter 2) A review of the literature and secondary research that informs your topic theoretically, paying attention to what is particularly relevant and meaningful for you.
You may receive feedback from your final presentation that you may want to factor in when writing your chapters, which is why they are due at the end of the final week of school.
Presentation Grading Rubric
| Research Quality | Project Synthesis | Presentation Quality |
| Was there a wide range of secondary sources such as books, academic journals, periodicals, web sources, and catalogs? | Was research related back to the research question, theme or topic? | Was the presentation clearly organized and did images or graphics relate to and support the presenter’s argument? |
| Do secondary sources include a range of publishing dates? (i.e. recent and older sources) | Does research lead to a discernible direction in the thesis project, and are next steps clearly articulated? | Were primary and secondary sources properly cited through-out? |
| Was there a range in primary research activities such as writing, material tests, interviews, and observation? | Does the thesis topic demonstrate creativity and originality? | Did presenter demonstrate knowledge of the background subject area? |
| Did the presenter identify gaps and next steps in their research findings and process? | Were project steps (brainstorming, testing, making) executed with high quality and care? | Did presenter relate topic back to a broader context and demonstrate cultural relevance? |
| Did the presenter organize, analyze and interpret their preliminary findings? | Has the presenter shown evidence of iteration in their research and project process? |
Meetings (15% of your total grade)
During the semester you will have a minimum of three required one-on-one meetings with the professor. Sometimes these meetings will replace class. These meetings will be scheduled using doodle polls, Google Calendar or other online scheduling tools. Always bring your laptop and any relevant work required to the meeting, and be prepared to start each meeting with a brief presentation to update your professor on where you are in your process, including your recent findings, questions and concerns. Each meeting is a straight 5% of your grade – failing to show up prepared will result in a straight deduction to your grade.
Weekly Process Blog Updates (15% of your total grade)
In a written reflection each week, you will develop your own questions, observations and points of discussion based on your experiences with the exercises, lectures and readings for the week, and on your pre-thesis progress over the week. These will offer you a chance to document your own thinking and demonstrate to us that you have been engaging with the material taught in the previous week. You will write these reflections on your own over the week after class and upload a minimum of 500–750 words on Monday onto your blog before the next class. Medium and NYU WordPress are recommended.
Your blog content should include descriptions of your research process, as well as analysis of how the research activities have impacted your thinking. For example, if you want to highlight a reading you completed this week, you should analyze the reading and explain how it relates to your topic. The idea is for you to give us your own thoughts, observations and reflections on your progress and process, thinking about both what you’ve learned from your research and making and how you envision moving forward. Blog content might include: analyzing key readings, providing images and documentation of prototypes and experiments, documenting conversations with peers and questions raised therein, and reflecting on how these activities have impacted your thinking. For 14 weeks of class, each blog post is a straight 1% of your grade if done on time, with 1% reserved for your advisor’s discretion since we started the semester late.
Grading Scale
Letter grades are assigned according to the criteria below and instructor given grades are non-negotiable.
Grading Percentiles
A ( 96% and above)
A- (90 to 95%)
B+ (87%-89%)
B (83%-86%)
B- (80 to 82%)
C+ (77%-79%)
C (73%-76%)
C- (70%-72%)
D+ (66 to 69%)
D (60 to 65%)
F (60% and below)