Colleague's name: _________________________________________________________
act poss
pts pts
CONTENT:
A. The context
1. Does your colleague identify the subfield(s)
in which his or her proposed project fits? .......... ____ 1
2. Does your colleague develop the intellectual
context of the proposed project? In other
words, does s/he briefly summarize the
existing research on the topic, with an eye
to showing how the proposed project might
add some necessary or interesting information
to that area of study? Are you convinced the
student is actually conversant enough with
the literature of the chosen subfield to be
able to justify and carry out a senior thesis
in this area? That is, do you think your
colleague has done his or her homework in
setting the stage for the senior thesis? One
is okay, 2 is good, and 3 is truly excellent. ....... ____ 3
3. Does your colleague indicate why the topic
might be important to society, the environ-
ment, or the disciplines of geography or
planning? ........................................... ____ 2
B. The purpose statement
1. Is this sentence clear and easy to understand?
Does it concisely indicate what the proposed
project is going to accomplish?
2. Does this sentence imply the approach your
colleague will take to tackle the project
(does it suggest the sorts of data and methods
that might be used)? ............................... ____ 2
C. Data
1. Does the proposal describe the kinds of data
your colleague will collect to accomplish the
purpose of the project? ............................ ____ 2
2. Will your colleague collect original data on
his or her own? OR has the student identified
high quality secondary data that s/he plans to
subject to original analysis? ....................... ____ 4
3. Does your colleague plan ONLY to use informa-
tion already collected and analyzed by other
researchers (as in existing articles and
books) and just report on it? ...................... ____ -4
D. Methods
1. Does your colleague discuss the methods s/he
will use to collect original or secondary data? .... ____ 2
2. Does the proposal mention the specific methods
to be used to interpret or analyze these data? ..... ____ 4
E. Feasibility
1. Does the proposal contain a tentative timeline
of reasonable activities, properly sequencing
what needs to be done to accomplish the pur-
pose in a semester's timeframe? .................... ____ 1
2. Do you believe that your colleague can
feasibly accomplish the project described in
the timeframe of a semester? Really? You can
generally tell the student is in trouble if
the proposal is filled with fuzzy generalities
and evasions or if the project, even if well
thought out, is too cosmic and ambitious for
an advanced undergraduate to pull off in the
frenzy of the senior year. ......................... ____ 2
SUM OF CONTENT: ......................................... ____ 23
WRITING AND DOCUMENTATION MECHANICS:
A. Does your colleague follow Annals format in
documentation? ......................................... ____ 1
B. Is every reference in the text also in the refer-
ence list and vice-versa? .............................. ____ 1
C. Is the paper well-organized and easy to follow? ........ ____ 2
D. Is the spelling perfect? ............................... ____ 2
E. Is the grammar perfect? ................................ ____ 1
F. Is sentence structure correct, complete, and varied? ... ____ 2
G. Is the paper free of potentially sexist usage? ......... ____ 1
SUM OF WRITING AND DOCUMENTATION MECHANICS: ............ ____ 10
SUM OF POINTS (add totals for content and writing): .......... ____ 33
HELPFUL COMMENTS FOR YOUR COLLEAGUE: