ISU 692 Information Science Senior Project (4 SH)

In this capstone course, students conduct term-long empirical research projects, inspired by their cooperative education activities and experiences, that investigate some aspect of the interaction between information technology and its context. During the semester, students reflect on and analyze their cooperative education experience, using the information science literature to interpret and better understand those experiences. Building on the skills acquired in the Empirical Research Methods course, students define a research topic, perform a literature review, plan their research and document this in a research proposal, collect and analyze data, and write an in-depth research report. At the end of the semester, students participate in a seminar in which students present the results of their research.

ISU 580. Restricted to majors in the Information Science Program

None. Assigned reading(s): to be provided Other readings are tailored to the student's individual research projects.

Student research projects may address any example of information technology in context, analyzing it from a a socio-technical perspective. Students are required to utilize an analytical framework from the information science literature.

Students completing this course will have the expertise to: develop a written proposal for an empirical research project review the relevant literature collect and analyze data using empirical research techniques write a professional-quality research paper give a professional-quality research presentation

Students provide the following proof of accomplishment according to a pre-defined schedule: Formal research proposal Annotated bibliography Background literature review Final research paper Presentation to the class