| PROFESSIONAL PAPER REQUIREMENTS - WORKSHOP OPTION
MPP students may complete their professional paper through a workshop or through an individual option. This page deals with the workshop option.
Definition of the professional paper
The professional paper is an analysis of a real world policy or managerial problem. The paper typically will analyze the policy and/or organizational context of the problem, consider various alternative policy and organizational strategies, and conclude with concrete recommendations or discussion of the practice implications of the analysis. Students must synthesize skills in
1. substantive knowledge of the field
2. knowledge of applied research methods
3. writing and presentation, and in some cases
4. skill in negotiating a consultant relationship.
Students should survey and properly cite the relevant literature, apply skills acquired throughout their course work, and produce writing of publishable quality. While students are not necessarily expected to conduct original research, the professional paper should reflect substantial research (if only of secondary sources), should be revised substantially in consultation with the supervisor, and reflect graduate level analysis. The target length should be 30 pages of text; the professional paper should never exceed 50 pages. Reports prepared for clients under the workshop option will follow client and faculty advice.
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Workshop components
Workshops are substantive projects for external clients that are completed by small teams of Humphrey School students. These workshops are supervised by Humphrey School instructors who are members of the Graduate Faculty. Workshop courses are numbered PA 8081, PA 8183, and PA 8583 and are worth 3 credits.
Students electing the workshop option must complete three separate components:
1. a team-written report for the client
2. a reflection paper on the workshop experience, and
3. an oral presentation to the client that summarizes the major findings from the report.
The student teams produce the written report and oral presentation to the client, while each individual student writes the reflection paper. In general, the team reports and presentations constitute at least fifty percent of a student's grade while individual assignments constitute the remaining percentages.
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Team-written report
The student team-written report to the client will conform in general to the definition of a Professional Paper. However, there is likely to be variation across workshop reports because the needs and desires of individual clients will differ. For example, some clients may wish to have students explicitly use theoretical concepts and frameworks in their final report, while other clients may desire more direct practical application. Please note that clients must be informed at the beginning of the project that these reports are usually bound and made publicly available. Their permission for such disclosure should be sought.
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Reflection paper
The individual papers required of students participating in the workshop experience are ten to fifteen pages in length. Their purpose is both to allow the workshop instructor to evaluate individual student performance and to provide an opportunity for students to reflect intellectually and personally on the workshop experience. In particular, the individual short papers address:
1. the student's assessment of the relationship between the workshop experience and the theory and concepts presented in class; and,
2. the student's reflection on what he or she learned about working in a team context and as a professional with a client on a real world policy or management problem.
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Oral presentation and final steps
The oral presentation takes the form of a final presentation to the client and the workshop supervisor. The client works with the instructor and the students throughout the semester on the project and, therefore, has the authority to participate in the oral presentation. A successful oral indicates that both the client and the instructor agree that the student team has met the expectations agreed to by the client, instructor and student teams.
Before the oral presentation can take place, the student must have:
- a) an approved Degree Program on file with the Graduate School.
- b) the paper approved by the workshop instructor.
- c) taken or be registered for all of the courses listed on the degree program.
In order to successfully complete the workshop option as part of a student's degree requirements, a student must have the workshop instructor and client sign the team-written client report, must give a final presentation, and must have the workshop instructor sign the individual student reflection paper.
The student takes the client report and the Graduate School's Final Examination Report form to the Graduate Programs Office (Room 225) once the paper has been signed and is ready to be bound.
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