PhD Research Seminar

This course is a ‘full court’ seminar in which all doctoral students are invited and encouraged to participate and support doctoral research.

Objective & Outcomes

The purpose of this doctoral seminar is to stimulate critical, constructive and generous discussion of PhD students’ research and writing in progress, to continue cultivating a lively and supportive intellectual design research community.

Investigation and discussion by faculty and students of topics of interest from different perspectives such as building a design research discourse (reading research papers critically, selecting among publication venues); investigating alternative philosophical bases for design research (comparing empirical, pragmatic, and phenomenological approaches); or exploring methodological and theoretical conﬂicts in design research.

Upon completion of the course, students will have a better understanding of their research arguments and progress on building their dissertation.

Typical Schedule

Session 1: Introduction to Class
Session 2: Framing Research Questions
Session 3: Framing Research Questions
Session 4: Positioning Arguments
Session 5: Positioning Arguments
Session 6: Crafting Warrants
Session 7: Crafting Warrants
Session 8: Research Statement Structuring
Session 9: Research Statement Structuring
Session 10: Analogy, Metaphor & Simplifying Devices
Session 11: Analogy, Metaphor & Simplifying Devices
Session 12: Storyboarding Arguments
Session 13: Storyboarding Arguments