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Office: Tydings 4118G |
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Fall 2010 |
E-mail: vegh@econ.bsos.umd.edu |
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Tuesdays, 2:00-4:45 pm |
Website: http://www.econ.umd.edu/~vegh |
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Jimenez Hall 1122 |
Office hours: Tu,
10.30-11.30; W, 11.00-12.30 or by appointment |
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Computer lab sessions: Lefrak Hall, Rooms 3 and 4. |
TA: Daniel Hernaiz; Office hours: M, 12.00-1.00pm, W
2-3pm, or by appt. Office: Tydings 4118 |
HONORS THESIS
(Econ 396)
Course objective
This is the Independent Honors Study, the first half of a two-semester sequence. In this class and Econ 397 (which meets in the Spring), your objective will be to write a senior honors thesis. Your thesis committee will consist of two persons: a main advisor (that I will help you choose during the initial weeks of the semester) and myself. Ideally, the main advisor will be some professor with whom you took an advanced course (i.e., field course) over the previous academic year and who already knows you. However, if this is not possible, I will help you find an advisor.
How to use this syllabus
While I will distribute a hard copy of this syllabus during the first class, you may want to check it out online (just go to my website and click on courses) to be able to take advantage of various links (which will appear as underlined expressions on the hard copy).
Course website
You can access the course website by clicking here or going to http://www.econ.umd.edu/~vegh/courses/Econ396-397/Econ396.htm. The course website contains all the materials relevant for this course and is updated throughout the semester as needed.
Pre-requisites
The prerequisites for the course may be found in http://www.econ.umd.edu/undergraduate/honors. The main prerequisites are (i) Econ 422 (Econometrics); (ii) GPA of at least 3.25 and (iii) a field course. If you have not taken a field course, please get in touch with me (this is a new prerequisite). Past experience suggests that students without a field course do not fare well in the honors sequence.
Contacting me
The best way of quickly reaching me is by e-mail (vegh@econ.bsos.umd.edu). I answer e-mail seven days a week. E-mail is also the most efficient means of
communication for short and/or concrete questions.
The nature of this course will require numerous personal meetings. In addition to my office hours, I will be happy to meet with you at other times (but please send me an e-mail to make an appointment). Individual research requires a lot of personal will and determination and the worst thing that you can do is to "disappear", so when in doubt, always come to see me! I am here to help you not only with your honors thesis but, very importantly, with your transition to graduate school (where to apply, what to expect, and so forth). So, by all means, if you have questions/concerns/existential crises about your transition to graduate school, please come to see me. You will always be welcome and (hopefully!) feel better afterwards.
Teaching Assistant
The teaching assistant (TA) for the course will be Daniel Hernaiz, a graduate
student in the department. He will be in
charge of helping you with data gathering and econometrics (not only material
covered in Econ 422 and 423, but also new issues that may arise). He will conduct four lab sessions, as
scheduled below. His e-mail is hernaiz@econ.bsos.umd.edu. He will hold office hours on TBA.
The computer lab sessions will take place in Lefrak Hall, Room 0214, 2-4 pm, on the weeks specified in the weekly schedule below. Lab sessions will be conducted by Daniel Hernaiz. Please contact him directly if you have specific questions about the lab sessions and/or the material covered in the lab sessions. Materials for the lab sessions may be found on the course website.
Attendance to these lab sessions is compulsory and Daniel
will be distributing an attendance sheet.
I cannot overemphasize the importance of taking advantage of these lab
sessions to review and improve your Econ 422/423 econometrics and learning how
to use STATA. The most common mistake
that Econ 396 students make is not to take advantage of these lab sessions and
of the TA and then struggle through their econometrics late in the semester and
in the Spring semester. By then, it is
often too late and the result is a mediocre paper!
Course requirements
You will need to make two presentations during the semester (see schedule below). In the first presentation, you will need to motivate your research (i.e., what is the question you are asking? why is this an interesting and relevant question?) and describe your methodology. In the second presentation, you will be expected to present preliminary results. You should be very well prepared for these presentations. Based on these two presentations and the working draft that you will hand in during finals week -- and in consultation with your advisor -- I will give you a grade for this course. The two presentations will count for 30 percent of your grade (15 percent each) and the working draft itself will count for 70 percent. In addition to judging the content of the working draft, I will also take into account the quality and clarity of your writing. Writing well is essential if you are to become an effective researcher.
Readings in your area of interest will be an essential component of your research, particularly in the early stages of your project. Please take a look at my website on useful readings for undergraduate research (http://www.econ.umd.edu/~vegh/courses/Econ396-397/Econ396/Readings-for-undergrad-research.htm). Please feel free to ask me and/or your main advisor for references in your area of interest.
WEEKLY SCHEDULE
Week 1. Lecture (August 31) on course logistics, topics, and research methods. During this week, you should be reading and thinking about your topic in order to come up with a one-page preliminary proposal. You will also be looking for a main advisor (and possibly meeting with him/her). You may also want to meet with me to discuss potential topics and advisors. The deadline for e-mailing me the preliminary proposal is Monday, September 6, by 5 pm. I will e-mail you back comments and/or meet with you to discuss this preliminary proposal.
Week 2. Lecture (September 7) on graduate school. During this second week, you should revise the preliminary proposal taking into account my comments (and those of your main advisor) and prepare a formal three-page proposal that you should e-mail me by Monday, September 13, at 5 pm. By the end of the second week, you should have found an advisor and meet with him/her to discuss your proposal and plan the work for the semester.
Weeks 3, 4, and 5 (Weeks of September 13, 20, and 27). Individual consultation on proposals. During these three weeks, you will meet with me individually to discuss your proposals. I will post sign-up sheets on my office door for you to sign up for 15-minute meetings. (Needless to say, if we need more time, we will schedule another meeting.) I may ask you to revise the 3-page proposal and send me a revised version. If you have not done so, you should also meet with your main advisor to plan your work for the rest of the semester.
Week 6. Lab session with TA (October 5; Lefrak Hall; Rooms 3 and 4; 2:00-4:00 pm). First lab session. The lab sessions are designed to help you get going with data loading, basic econometrics, and programming in STATA (some of the material should be a review of material that you have seen in Econ 422). We will be using the program STATA in the lab sessions (this is the econometric program currently used in most sections of Econ 422). The first lab session will cover some basic features of STATA and how to input data into the program. You may also have to meet me again on your revised 3-page proposal.
Week 7. Second lab session (October 12; Lefrak Hall; Rooms 3 and 4; 2:00-4:00 pm). This second lab session will cover multivariate regressions analysis. By this time, you should definitely be working on getting data, familiarizing yourself with STATA (in case you are not), and developing your methodology.
Week 8. Third lab session (October 19; Lefrak Hall; Rooms 3 and 4; 2:00-4:00 pm). This third lab session will cover extensions/variations of multivariate regressions analysis. You should also plan to meet with me if you have any questions/doubts about your work in progress.
Week 9. Fourth lab session (October 26 Lefrak Hall; Rooms 3 and 4; 2:00-4:00 pm). This session will review previous material and provide students an opportunity to ask questions and solve practical computer problems. You should also plan to meet with me if you have any questions/doubts about your work in progress.
Weeks 10. Class presentations of work in progress (November 2). This will count for 15 percent of your grade so you should come well prepared. Typically you would prepare your presentation using PowerPoint (but feel free to use some other means provided that you let me know in advance). I will arrange for a laptop to be brought in. I will ask you to e-mail me your presentation the night before to upload it in the departmental laptop. Just in case, please also bring the presentation to class in a memory stick.
Weeks 11, 12, and 13, and 14 (Weeks of November 8, 15, 22, and 29). Individual consultation. During these three weeks, you will need to give your project a big push and prepare the final class presentation. You should consult with your main advisor and me as frequently as you need to. I will also give you feedback on your work based on your presentation on November 3.
Week 15 (December 7). Class presentations of working draft. I will give you comments based on your presentation that you will be able to incorporate in your final working draft. Presentations will follow the same format outlined above.
Finals week. 20-25 page working draft is due on Tuesday, December 14, by 5 pm. Both your main advisor and I will read the draft and give you feedback so that you can work on the paper over the Winter break.