University of Victoria
Fall 2013
ECONOMICS 595
Ph.D. Scholarship Skills Seminar
(Directed Study)
Prof: Martin Farnham
BEC 354
mfarnham@uvic.ca
Office Hours:
By appointment
OBJECTIVES
This seminar will hone the writing, presenting, and independent research
skills of Ph.D. students. Students will present and discuss new research ideas,
submit writing assignments, and critique the writing and presentation of their
fellow students in the seminar in a constructive and collegial atmosphere. Students
will be expected to attend both weekly departmental research seminars (the
Wednesday brownbag and the formal Friday seminar) and to read available seminar
papers and discuss them when our seminar meets.
Other topics/activities will include discussing how to manage a large project,
how to write grant proposals (including SSHRC), how to write a good referee report,
and how to avoid various pitfalls of academic research, including plagiarism.
This seminar is meant to complement the research activities of Ph.D.
students, so many, if not most, assignments will be related to the student’s thesis
work. While open to all economics Ph.D. students, the seminar is ideally suited to
those who have successfully completed their comps and are preparing for their
candidacy exam. M.A. students with strong research interests may be admitted with
permission of the instructor.
EVALUATION
Evaluation in this course will consist of class participation (20%), writing
assignments (60%), and presentation assignments (20%). There will be no exams.
Course letter grade--numerical score (%) equivalencies used in the Department are
as follows:
A+
A
AB+
B
BC+
C
D
F
9085807773706560500-49
100
89
84
79
76
72
69
64
59
Note: E grades will not be assigned in this course. A mark below 50% will result in
an F.
NOTE ON COURSE NUMBER
Because this is a new course, it is not yet listed in the University Calendar.
Therefore for the first 1-2 iterations, the course will be conducted as a Directed
Study (Econ 595). In all other ways, it is equivalent to a calendar-listed course.
ASSIGNMENTS
A) Each week, students are expected to attend the department Seminar
http://web.uvic.ca/econ/research/seminars.php and the Brownbag Seminar
http://web.uvic.ca/econ/research/seminars.php#section0-10. These seminars will
be discussed in class each week. Students should prepare for the discussion by
attending seminar and reading the paper, (preferably before attending the seminar)
if a copy is provided on the website. Participation in this discussion will be assessed
as part of your overall participation grade in this class.
B) Most weeks, students are also expected to come with one new research idea to
discuss. The point of this assignment is to keep your mind actively scanning for
research ideas, some of which—hopefully—will become part of your thesis or postgraduate work. For your research idea, you should be prepared to explain:
1) What your idea is (stated in the form of a research question)
2) Why it is an important question to answer
3) What methodology you would use to answer your question.
While coming up with research ideas is hard, there are two advantages to taking this
exercise seriously. 1) You’ll never be force to follow through and actually pursue
one of these ideas to completion, so you can be a bit creative and needn’t always be
constrained by such realities as data availability; and 2) By the end of term, you’ll
have around eight research ideas jotted down, any of which you can decide to
pursue when you’re otherwise experiencing a dry spell, research-wise. That’s a nice
set of notes to walk away from a class with.
C) Other assignments (primarily writing and presenting) are noted in the class
schedule below.
CLASS POLICIES
Attendance: Attendance is required and will contribute part of your participation
grade.
Respect for classmates/me: You will discuss and critique each others’ (and
possibly my) research ideas. Part of being a good colleague—whether in grad school
or in your professional academic positions after grad school—is giving criticism in
an honest but constructive way. I expect you to show respect for others in the
seminar in the way you interact with them.
Webpage: Announcements, assignments and answers to assignments will be made
available through the course web page at
http://web.uvic.ca/~mfarnham/phd_seminar.html. It is expected that students will
check the web page frequently for updates and information relevant to the course.
Academic Integrity: Academic integrity requires commitment to the values of
honesty, trust, fairness, respect, and responsibility. Students are expected to observe
the same standards of scholarly integrity as their academic and professional
counterparts. A student who is found to have engaged in unethical academic
behaviour, including the practices described in the Policy on Academic Integrity
(http://web.uvic.ca/calendar/FACS/UnIn/UARe/PoAcI.html) in the University
Calendar, is subject to penalty by the University.
Policy on Inclusivity and Diversity: “The University of Victoria is committed to
promoting, providing and protecting a positive, supportive and safe learning and
working environment for all its members.” This is important. Respect your
classmates.
USEFUL LINKS
Job Openings for Economists. Grab your cup of JOE and peruse the latest academic
job listings on the American Economics Association job website. See what
universities and government agencies the world over are looking for in job
candidates. After all, the main reason you’re torturing yourself by doing a Ph.D. is to
get a good job.
http://www.aeaweb.org/joe/
Canadian Economics Association. As an academic economist in Canada, this is a
must-have membership. It will give you access to the Canadian Journal of Economics
and information on conferences, various prizes and fellowships you may be eligible
for, and the Canadian Economics Employment Exchange is a job fair held in Toronto
each December which most of you will want to attend in your last year of the Ph.D.
as you go searching for jobs. You will need to pay a $20 membership fee for
students, but if you use the resources of the CEA, I suspect you will find this money
well spent.
http://economics.ca/en/index.php
Economics Blogs: Labouring away down in the salt mines of thesis-land, you’ll find
that it is easy to become blind to the big picture of economics. Thinking about other
people’s questions while working on your own very specialized niche is a good way
to 1) keep sane; 2) keep thinking about new areas you might want to work on; 3) get
ideas that might be applied to your own work; and 4) pick up examples that can
enliven courses you teach and make you look clever at the pub. Blogs are a good way
to think about other economists’ questions in a light, fun way. You don’t have to
pick up the latest copy of the American Economic Review to keep up on what other
economists are pondering. You can just read their blog. Here is a
sampling…consider looking for blogs in your area of specialty as well.
Worthwhile Canadian Initiative. Academic economists in Canada should all check in
with the blog Worthwhile Canadian Initiative on occasion, at least. Here you will find
discussions of policy, teaching, research, the job market, the tenure process, the
workplace and many other topics that fall at the intersection of Academics,
Economics, and Canada.
http://worthwhile.typepad.com/
Marginal Revolution. http://marginalrevolution.com/
Economist’s View. http://economistsview.typepad.com/
Brad DeLong. http://delong.typepad.com/
Econometrics Beat. http://davegiles.blogspot.ca/
Environmental and Urban Economics. http://greeneconomics.blogspot.ca/
COURSE SCHEDULE
The following is a rough schedule of the course. We may deviate from this schedule,
so pay attention to announcements throughout the term. Note that in seminar each
week we will discuss either past or upcoming research seminars (or possibly both).
So be prepared by attending research seminars, and by reading the upcoming
week’s seminar paper(s) ahead of time.
Week 1
Topics:
Introduction and Housekeeping
Introductions
Course overview: Goals for this course.
What makes good research? (a starter conversation)
How to live a happy life as a grad student
Neuroscience for the lay academic (why you learn best by doing, not
reading)
Readings:
NIMH handout on depression among university students.
http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/depression-and-collegestudents/depression-college-students.pdf
Neuroscience and learning
http://www.icn.ucl.ac.uk/sblakemore/SJ_papers/BlaFri_DevSci05.pdf
Useful links:
General info on mental health disorders http://psychcentral.com/
UVic Counselling Services http://www.coun.uvic.ca/
Coming up with research papers from everyday observations (blog post)
http://worthwhile.typepad.com/worthwhile_canadian_initi/2011/08/turning-aninteresting-topic-into-a-research-hypothesis.html#more
http://worthwhile.typepad.com/worthwhile_canadian_initi/2011/07/how-to-finda-topic-for-an-economics-research-essay.html#more
Week 2
Assignments Due:
2 page written research proposal (for the first assignment, this can be about
research you’re currently working on—for future assignments, it should be a totally
new idea)
Topics:
Guest, Stephen Hume
How to give a good presentation
How to write well
Useful links:
AEA Guide to giving good economics presentations
http://www.aeaweb.org/committees/cswep/PDFs/top10_list.pdf
Tim Kehoe’s tips on presenting in economics
http://www.econ.umn.edu/~tkehoe/classes/TipsOct05.pdf
How to present empirical work (blog post)
http://worthwhile.typepad.com/worthwhile_canadian_initi/2011/11/howto-present-a-paper-revisited.html#more
Greg Mankiw on how to write well in economics
http://gregmankiw.blogspot.ca/2006/10/how-to-write-well.html
Week 3
Assignments Due: Rewrite of last week’s 2-page proposal, incorporating writing
suggestions from Hume, Farnham.
UBC Conference (all day, Vancouver)
Week 4
Assignments Due:
2 page written research proposal
5-10 minute presentation of your proposal (with slides)
Topics:
Grant/Fellowship Applications including SSHRC (Guest, Dr. Peter Kennedy, if
relevant)
Project management
Useful links:
Applying for a SSHRC (advice from a UVic grant-writing expert)
http://www.uvic.ca/graduatestudies/assets/docs/finances/SSHRC_Doctoral_2011.
pdf (needs updating, but contains much timeless info)
External funding sources for UVic grad students
http://www.uvic.ca/graduatestudies/finances/financialaid/externalawards
/index.php
“Getting Things Done” (productivity solution systen)
http://www.43folders.com/2004/09/08/getting-started-with-gettingthings-done
Vitamin R (productivity solution system)
http://www.publicspace.net/Vitamin-R/
Week 5
Assignments Due:
Mock (or real) SSHRC proposal, correctly formatted
15 minute presentation of your SSHRC proposal (with slides)
Topics:
Guest: Dr. Merwan Engineer
How to write a good literature review
Plagiarism and Academic Dishonesty
Useful links:
Advice from University of Toronto on writing a literature review
http://www.writing.utoronto.ca/advice/specific-types-of-writing/literaturereview
UVic Policy on Plagiarism
http://web.uvic.ca/calendar2011/FACS/UnIn/UARe/PoAcI.html
REPEC Plagiarism Page
http://plagiarism.repec.org/
Academic Dishonesty Among Faculty
http://worthwhile.typepad.com/worthwhile_canadian_initi/2011/08/anacademic-integrity-policy-for-faculty.html#more
Week 6
Assignments Due:
2 page written research proposal (be prepared to discuss informally)
Topics:
Guest: Dr. Chris Auld
How to write a good referee report
Juggling research and teaching
Week 7
Assignments Due:
2 page written research proposal (formal discussion with slides)
Topics:
The academic job market
Guest: Dr. Donna Feir
Useful links:
A guide to the junior US economics job market (by John Cawley)
http://www.aeaweb.org/joe/articles/2004/cawley_2004.pdf
An updated version can be downloaded here:
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1933341
This is a website that is populated mostly by immature and insecure Ph.D.
students in economics. I don’t think it’s representative of the population of Ph.D.
students on the economics job market. Still, it gives you a little peek into their
tortured minds. And there are occasionally very useful, informative, and even funny
posts.
http://www.econjobrumors.com/
Week 8
Assignments Due:
2 page written research proposal
5-10 minute presentation on research proposal (with slides)
Topics:
Guest: Beryl Li
The tenure process
How to write a good paper introduction
Week 9
Assignments Due:
Note: No 2-page research proposal is due this week
Referee Report (3-5 page critique of an article relevant to your current
research)
10 minute presentation of your referee report (with slides—note: this
simulates acting as a conference discussant—an important skill)
Topics:
TBA
Week 10 (This is the week before reading break—NO CLASS due to a
conference)
Work on your presentations and revised introductions!
Week 11
Assignments Due:
2-page research proposal (be prepared to discuss informally)
Draft introduction to your major research paper
Topics:
Journal Submission and Review Process (Guest, Dr. David Giles)
Useful links:
Journal Rankings (most commonly cited in UVic Economics ARPT
(Appointment, Reappointment, Promotion and Tenure) Proceedings)
http://www.rcfea.org/RePEc/pdf/wp15_10.pdf
REPEC Journal Rankings
http://ideas.repec.org/top/top.journals.all.html
“A Journal Ranking for the Ambitious Economist”
http://research.stlouisfed.org/publications/review/09/05/Engemann.pdf
Week 12
Assignments Due:
Literature review (relevant to your thesis proposal)
Topics:
TBA
Week 13
Assignments Due:
Final copy of introduction to your major research project presentation
Major research project presentations (20-30 minutes each plus discussion)
Your supervisor(s) will be invited to attend this presentation.
If people are available, we will retire after seminar to the University Club for a drink
to celebrate the end of term.