Global Commerce Thesis Program: Overview and Requirements
The Global Commerce Scholars (GCS) program serves as McIntire's premier version of a distinguished major program. It provides fourth-year McIntire students with the opportunity to carry out independent research under the guidance of one or more faculty advisors. The thesis project is a significant undertaking and therefore students should have a deep interest in the research topic. In recognition of the fact that most serious research is aimed at developing general knowledge, the research topic need not have a direct “international” focus. With that said, students will be encouraged to consider the global implications of more general research topics.
Through close collaboration with faculty advisers, students will learn about professional research methods and practice as well as career opportunities in research. The experience will be especially valuable to students considering graduate studies leading to research careers in business, consulting, government, or academia.
The remainder of this document describes the admissions process, thesis development and completion, and theresponsibilities and workflow that students can expect to face from the time they are admitted to the program.
3rd-Year Admission Process
Getting Started
Students who wish to explore the thesis option are welcome to contact Professor Bill Wilhelm (Program Director), Chris Elliott (GCS Coach and Assistant Dean of Global Affairs), or any member of the GCS faculty groupwhich includes Professors Zhaohui Chen (Finance), Amanda Cowen (Management), Natasha Foutz (Marketing), Mike Gallmeyer (Finance), Adam Koch (Accounting), David Lehman (Management), Peter Maillet (Finance/Global Commerce), Nicole Montgomery (Marketing), Saonee Sarker (Information Technology), Mark White (Finance/Sustainability), and Bill Wilhelm (Finance).
Admission to the program requires a letter of approval from a member of the GCS faculty group who will also serve as the student’s primary faculty advisor. Students need not have a specific research topic in mind to begin a conversation with a GCS faculty member nor will they be required to work within their area(s) of degree concentration. Ideally, the focus of the research project will be developed in collaboration with the faculty advisor and correspond with the advisor’s research interests and expertise. GCS faculty research profiles are provided on the program website.
Given the collaborative nature of the admissions process, it is important for prospective applicants to begin meeting with one or more faculty advisors as early as possible during the 3rd year.Serving as a thesis advisor is a significant responsibility in addition to the advisor’s regular teaching and research responsibilities. Most advisors will work with one student and it is unlikely that a single advisor would take on more than two students. Thus admission to the program will be limited and willrequire sponsorshipfrom a GCS faculty advisor. Moreover, successful completion of the GCS program may be conditional on the student completing a research methods course (e.g., Marketing Research Techniques [Comm 3330] or Econometrics [ECON 3720]) by the end of the fall semester of the 4th year. Early contact with GCS faculty advisors and preliminary approval of a project may provide the student with greater flexibility in course planning.
In special circumstances, a student may receive permission to work with a faculty member outside the GCS faculty group. Students interested in pursuing this option MUST receive permission from Professor Wilhelm BEFOREapproachingthe faculty member. The primary rationale for approving an advisor from outside the GCS faculty group would be a clear need for specialized expertise to support the research project.
During the spring semester of one’s 3rd year, approved studentswill register for Comm 4840 for the following fall semester of their 4th year. Students will be on a tight timeline during the fall semester and should be prepared to spend some time on the project during the summer.
4th-Year Fall (Comm 4840)
Students will be responsible for scheduling regular meetings with their advisors throughout the academic year. As the work progresses, advisors may increase or decrease the frequency of meetings as needs arise. Students also must be prepared to attend regular group meetings or academic seminars on Fridays.
There are two significant pieces of work to be delivered during the fall semester. First, students must develop a literature review and present their findings before the GCS faculty group and other GCS students. The 2016 literature review presentations are tentatively set for the morning of Friday, October 21. The literature review will be distributed to faculty and students several days before the presentation date and students must submit a first draft of the literature review to their faculty advisor no later than Friday, October 7.
The literature review is a standard feature of academic research. The purpose of the literature review is to acknowledge and learn from existing work that is relevant to the project at hand and to identify opportunities for original contributions that expand knowledge in the area of research. Students will work with their advisor to identify the relevant literature. There is no set requirement for the number of articles to be reviewed but the minimum would likely be in the range of 10-20 articles.
The literature review should begin with an abstract followed by a broad outline of the envisioned research project. The review should demonstrate an understanding of the research questions in the cited papers, the methods used to address them, and identify opportunities for new research. Finally, the review should include a bibliography of the cited articles.
Abstracts and literature reviews in academic journal articleswill serve as the general model but they can be quite terse because readers generally are, or aspire to be, specialists in the field and thus will have some knowledge of a cited piece of work. For present purposes, students should not assume that all readers of their literature review are familiar with the literature on which the project will build and should expect potentially detailed questions about any cited articles during the literature review presentation. An example of a fall 2015 literature review is provided at the GCS webpage.[1]
The second significant piece of work during the fall is the research proposal. Students will “defend” their proposal before the GCS faculty committee. Proposal defenses are tentatively set for the morning of Friday, December 2.The proposal will be distributed to faculty and students several days before the presentation date and students must submit a first draft of the proposal to their faculty advisor no later than Friday, November 18.
The purpose of the proposal is to enable GCS faculty members to evaluate the feasibility of the research project and the student’s preparedness for executing the project. Students should be prepared to explain and defend their plans and to revise the proposal in response to faculty feedback.
The proposal will comprise an abstract, the literature review, a careful development of the research question(s) and/or hypotheses to be tested, and a detailed description of the data and methodology that will be used in the analysis. If the project requires statistical analysis, the proposal should include an explicit representation of the statistical model, a discussion of plans for data availability and collection, and any preliminary results. If qualitative or theoretical analysis is called for, there should be a clear demonstration of the student’s understanding of the analytical methodology that will be used. Students will work with their advisor(s) to determine the appropriate methodology for their project. The approved proposal (including any requested revisions) will serve as an informal agreement regarding the scope and depth of the analysis that will be undertaken during the spring semester. An example of a fall 2015 proposal is provided at the GCS webpage.
If the proposalis not approved or the student does not wish to carry out the research project during the spring semester, the student will receive a grade for Comm 4840 reflecting the extent to which the fall requirements were completed and the quality of the work produced in doing so. A failure to gain approval for the proposal need not be a reflection of poor work or a failure to complete the fall requirements. For example, the GCS faculty committee could simply determine that the likelihood of successful completion of the proposed project is sufficiently low as to not warrant continuation of the effort.
Group meetings will be scheduled on Fridaysthroughout the academic year and will be supervised by DeanElliott. These meetings will be used for discussion of students’ progress during the preceding week, general training in research methods or statistical software, or to discuss an academic seminar attended during the preceding week. Students must attend two academic seminars during the fall semester.Seminars are a primary vehicle for researchers to obtain feedback on projects as they progress and they will serve as a model for the shorter presentations that students will deliver during the fall and spring semesters. Friday group meetings will not be held during the weeks of the two seminar dates. To receive credit for attending a seminar, students must submit a one-page summary of the seminar presentation toDean Elliott at the Friday meeting during which the seminar is discussed.
4th-Year Spring (Comm 4841)
Continuing students should plan for occasional Friday meetings with Dean Elliott and to meet at least weekly with their faculty advisor(s). It is especially important for students to work closely with their advisors during this period. In the event of an unexpected barrier to completion of the project as developed in the proposal (e.g., inability to obtain necessary data), the student should meet with his/her advisor as soon as possible to discuss alternatives to the original plan. The student’s advisor and the program director must approve any significant changes to the approved research plan.
The thesis document will comprise the approved proposal (along with any required revisions) and a detailed discussion of the research carried out during the spring semester. The thesis defense will be open to the entire McIntire community and held shortly before the final exam period begins. Examples of theses that were successfully defended are provided at the GCS webpage.
Grading Criteria
Grades for Comm 4840 and 4841 will be determined by the student’s advisor and Professor Wilhelm with input from other GCS faculty members and Dean Elliott In addition to the quality of their written work and presentations, students will be evaluated on their contributions to Friday group meetings and, importantly, on their ability to make steady progress throughout the academic year. Researchers routinely encounter unexpected hurdles in their work – it is impossible to know in advance how a project will develop – and high quality work generally is the result of a good deal of reflection along the way. Thus putting work off to the last minute will likely result in a less favorable outcome than what might have been achieved. Moreover, while students can expect their advisor to help them resolve problems, the advisor cannot be expected to set aside large blocks of time on short notice, especially at the end of a semester.
rev. August 18, 2016
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