Overview of the CCT Synthesis Project
(addressed to students)
April 2000, with revisions November 2000, December 2001, and September 2010

This "Capstone experience" is an opportunity for you to synthesize your practical and theoretical learning in Critical and Creative Thinking through a project in an area of your special interest.  There are many specific options for the Synthesis project, from the development of a traditional theoretical paper to a curriculum or professional development series, to the creation of a web site.  One component of each option is a 20-40 page paper or "Synthesis."  Through the meetings, activities, and tasks of the Synthesis seminar the instructor coaches you along towards completing the "Synthesis" and you get input and support from other students—both during class and outside in buddy pairs.  An arrangement with an editor is also essential for the experience to be a positive one.

You should spend the summer or winter before the synthesis semester doing reading and research on your project in consultation with your advisor and other readers.  Once the semester starts, each CCT694 class meeting will begin with a check-in on your progress (including work with your buddy and editor), and end with a check-out on your concrete goals for the coming week.  (You should be aiming for 6 pages or 1200-1500 words of new or revised material each week.)  In between check-in and check-out, you will spend time on the week's theme or tools , in student-instructor conferences and working with other students in "buddy" pairs or small groups.  Over the course of the semester you should move though and/or revisit the "phases of research and engagement" introduced in the CCT692 course.  This work may lead you to revise what you thought was "finished," but openness to revision is one of the goals of reflective practitioners.  In any case, the review of the different tools and practices of research and engagement will help prepare you to coach/teach/support students and/or colleagues.

Outside class you will submit drafts to your advisor and other reader(s) and meet with them according to schedules/sub-deadlines that you arrange.  Your advisor should be the primary person with whom you work on conceptualizing the topic, identifying appropriate scope and approach, and revising drafts.  If the seminar instructor is not your advisor or reader, they will serve as a second reader.  Allow two weeks for comments on what you submit to the seminar instructor.

Given the teaching and advising load of faculty, you should not rely on your advisor or reader(s) to do detailed copy-editing of your writing.  Moreover, a copy-editing relationship between student and teacher usually gets in the way of dialogue around the content and overall organization of your synthesis.  Assistance from some outside party, skilled in manuscript-editing, should be arranged—it is worth the cost.

Requirements
1.  The final Synthesis should be 20-40 pages (4500-9000 words), depending on the option selected, and ready for submission to the CCT Program following Graduate School Guidelines, adjusted according to CCT Synthesis Guidelines, M. Liblanc's Structural Standards (revised version, November 2000), and supplements distributed from time to time.

Options for the Synthesis Project include:
Long essay/paper;
Case Study/Practitioner's Narratives;
Curriculum Unit/ Professional Development Workshop Series;
Original Products (with documentation); and
Arts Option (Performance) (also with documentation).
See the Graduate Bulletin and CCT Handbook for further description of these options.  Theses from previous years can be viewed in the Healey Library and theses and syntheses are stored in Peter Taylor's Office.  Abstracts can be viewed on CCT website (omega.cc.umb.edu/~cct/abstracts-TOC.html).

As part of your Synthesis Project, the following are required:
1A.	An Abstract of your synthesis, submitted in electronic form for inclusion on the CCT website and publication by the University.  (You may also submit your complete synthesis in electronic form to be linked to the abstract on the website); and
1B.	A 30-60 minute Public Presentation based on your synthesis project; and

In addition, the Program requires:
2.  A Self-Assessment, which centers on your Synthesis experience, but allows some room for you to review your CCT experience as a whole.  A copy will be kept in your CCT file to help document the Program's effect on students.  
This self-assessment asks you to reflect on twenty goals.  After completing the self-assessment you will be able, with modest input from readers and course instructor, to determine your own grade.

Guidelines for Advisors and Readers
April 2000, with revisions November 2000, December 2001, and September 2010

Except when a special arrangement is approved, the primary advisor will be a regular CCT faculty member.  The reader(s) may be anyone experienced in the student's area of specialisation and, in general, possessing a Master's degree or higher.  The synthesis seminar instructor is often either the student's advisor or one reader.

The responsibility of the advisor is to be the primary person with whom the student works on conceptualizing the topic, identifying appropriate scope and approach, and revising drafts.  If the advisor does not have expertise in the student's subject area, it is the student's responsibility to get the necessary specialist input from a reader and others.
The advisor should be aware of the technical requirements of submitting a Synthesis to the CCT Program, but the student should also consult with the Synthesis seminar instructor and use the seminar to fulfill the requirements.  During the last three weeks of the semester finishing synthesis students will make presentations on their work, which the advisor should attend.  There is no formal defence of the syntheses.

The responsibility of a reader is to convey to the student before the second week of the semester (preferably earlier) the areas and material that should be addressed, to comment on a complete draft, and to review and comment on changes made between that draft and the final draft.  If the reader specializes in the area of the student's project, their comments may stem primarily from their special knowledge or experience.  Otherwise, readers should simply think of themselves as intelligent people who want the student's distinctive ideas and accomplishments to emerge as powerfully as possible from the written Synthesis.  The reader does not have to focus on the technical requirements of submitting a Synthesis to the CCT Program; for this, the student, advisor, and the instructor for the Synthesis seminar are responsible.  During early May or December each synthesis student will make a presentation on their work, which the reader should attend.  There is no formal defence of the syntheses.

The Synthesis seminar instructor is responsible for working with the students to fulfill requirements 1B & 2 (see the Overview). 

Subject to approval by the Department, the CCT Program is able to offer a honorarium of $200 for advisors and $100 for readers who are not regular UMass faculty.  We recognize the extremely modest size of these honoraria, but we trust the experience will be rewarding in other ways. 

A copy of the syllabus and the self-assessment will be sent to all readers.  Advisors will also receive a copy of the CCT Synthesis Guidelines and supplements distributed from time to time.
Please contact the CCT Faculty Advisor if you have questions.

Peter Taylor
Program in Critical & Creative Thinking
University of Massachusetts, Boston, MA 02125, USA
phone: 617-287-7636 (office); 7664 (fax)    email: peter.taylor@umb.edu