Senior Project Meeting Schedule

Fall 2025

Author

Affiliation

Justin Dainer-Best

Bard College

This is not a syllabus per se, but rather a plan for how we will work together during the semester. In planning for your work with me, you should refer to this schedule.

As opposed to a normal syllabus, your senior project work should primarily be governed by the Psychology Handbook and the College’s guidelines on senior project. As such, this schedule will primarily help us as a group to stay on-track, remind you of deadlines (also in the handbook!), and set a few ground rules.

Besides our normal meetings, I hold office hours on Mondays and Thursdays. You can make an appointment or email me to schedule something else.

Meetings

There are a few “meeting types” in the schedule below.

• Group meetings: Senior IIs will meet as a group on Mondays at 11:45am in my office
• Individual meetings: We will hold individual meetings as below:
  • Mondays, 12:30-1:15pm, TJG
  • Mondays, 3-3:45pm, CB
  • Wednesdays, 9:30-10am, AC
  • Wednesdays, 3-3:45pm, RIL
  • Thursdays, 12:45-1:30pm, MB
• Email: You should email me the “required” writing by early in the week; I will provide feedback on a Google Doc. I will also be available for questions during our group meeting time
• None: There is no meeting this week; you should plan to work on your own

Schedules are separate for Senior Is and Senior IIs; see the schedule below.

In weeks when we do not meet as a group all together, and especially where you do not have an individual meeting scheduled, you may also “drop in” to the group meeting time to ask questions—i.e., you may view this time as senior project office hours.

Additionally, you may of course always email me with questions relating to your senior project. If you would like me to answer specific questions about writing, giving me a specific section is recommended.

Given the busy nature of the semester, it is unlikely that we will be able to reschedule meetings if you cannot attend (although you may ask).

Taking notes

Generally speaking, I prefer to work on a collaborative Google Doc with students completing their senior project. I recommend sharing a Google Drive folder with me which contains the following:

If you’d prefer to use another method, let’s discuss! I’m happy to work with you if you’d like to use Overleaf or typst, or perhaps Quarto.

• A folder in which you will save articles relating to your project
• A google doc titled, e.g., “Dainer-Best Senior Project meeting notes” in which we will both take notes during our meetings
• A google doc in which you will begin taking notes on the project, brainstorm, outline, etc.

As you create new documents, save them in this folder. I recommend working consistently in the same documents, so that you can see old versions, as well as being able to refer to changes you’ve made.

Note

I strongly recommend beginning right away to use a citation manager. At minimum, keep track in a Google Doc of articles and books that you come across (at least a DOI, but preferably a full citation). Zotero is a good, free, and open-source citation manager and the Library has a guide for it. Importantly, knowing the rules of APA style will be necessary whichever manager you use. (I use a different manager, BibDesk, which I do not recommend if you are writing in Google Docs.)

If you don’t like Zotero, Wikipedia has an article on comparing reference management software. LLMs like ChatGPT are not reference managers and cannot replace them.

Senior project policies

Attendance and participation

You should come to our meetings on-time. When we meet as a group, you should come even if you don’t have much to discuss. (You will benefit from others’ questions.)

Please be on-time and prepared to discuss your own project and progress.

However, do note: if you are not feeling well, please do not come to our meetings. If you have recently been ill but recovered, you may choose to wear a mask when you attend; masks are effective at reducing spread of many respiratory illnesses. I can also meet on Zoom for individual meetings.

Accommodations & Accessibility

Bard College is committed to providing equal access to all students. If you anticipate issues related to the format or requirements of this course, please contact me so that we can arrange to discuss. I would like us to discuss ways to ensure your full participation in the course. Together we can plan how best to support your learning and coordinate your accommodations. Students who have already been approved to receive academic accommodations through disability services should share their accommodation letter with me and make arrangements to meet as soon as possible.

If you have a learning difference or disability that may relate to your ability to fully participate in this class, but have not yet met with the Disability Support Coordinator at Bard, you can contact their office through https://www.bard.edu/accessibility/students/; the Coordinator will confidentially discuss the process to establish reasonable accommodations.

I am available for meetings online as well as those in person.

Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion

It is important to me that the senior project provides an open and supportive learning environment for all students. It is my intent that students from diverse backgrounds and perspectives be able to benefit from any of my courses. I invite you to speak with me if you have concerns or questions regarding issues of belonging, safety, or equity in the classroom, or in the process of writing your project. I want our discussions to be respectful of all students. If we are not working in an inclusive environment, I invite you to provide me with feedback.

Plagiarism and Academic Integrity

I expect you to be familiar with what plagiarism is and is not. You may not present someone else’s work as your own without proper citation. Using AI-generated text is not a replacement for your own writing, and automated tools to edit grammar and spelling should be used sparingly. You should be doing your writing in English, not using translation software for the bulk of the text. You may not copy someone else’s work. You may not simply reword text from another source without giving credit, or ask generative textbots to do so. Please cite others’ work where relevant, and use your own writing. If you are not sure about the definition of plagiarism, or whether something constitutes plagiarism, please consult with me or with someone at Bard’s Learning Commons. Students caught plagiarizing will be reported to the Academic Judiciary Board, will get no credit for the assignment, and may fail the course.

I operate from the standpoint that you are interested in learning this material, and are doing your best to operate with integrity. Using text generators like chatGPT take away your ability to learn from the process of writing, while also increasing your likelihood of generating “slop” (see, e.g., Willison, 2024; OUP, 2024). Do your best to learn from the assignments in this class.

Your faculty expect you to cite sources that you use, including tools that reword your writing like Grammarly, tutors who help you rework a paper, or if you use chatGPT or similar tools to understand a complex topic.

As a student completing their senior project, please also refer to the Psychology Program’s Handbook chapter on the senior project, specifically the section on academic integrity.

Schedule

These schedules are intended as a guideline for us to think about when we’ll be meeting. Work described as “due” should generally be shared as a Google Doc (unless you’re writing on another platform). For senior IIs, dates are for the Monday of that week; if an individual meeting is on Wed/Thurs, it’s the Wed/Thurs following.

Note that the first schedule is for Senior Is and the second for Senior IIs.

Senior I schedule

Week	Meeting type	Date	Topic	Due
1	Individual	Sep 3	Finding topics	Basic senior project ideas
2	Individual	Sep 10	Finding topics	3–4 topics and thesis statements
3	Email	Sep 17	Email	Senior project statement due 9/22; share a draft to me
4	None	Sep 24	No meeting
5	Individual	Oct 1	Writing review	2 pages of writing or outline
6	None	Oct 8	No meeting
7	Individual	Oct 15	IRB planning
8	Individual	Oct 22	Writing review	2 additional pages of writing
9	Email	Oct 29	Writing update
10	Individual	Nov 5	As necessary check-in
11	Email	Nov 12	Email: abstract
12	Email	Nov 19	Email: midway draft	Midway due 11/21 to Program; share a draft of 10+ pages by week before
13	None	Nov 26	(week of Thanksgiving: no meetings)
14	Email	Dec 3	Check-in
15	Individual	Dec 10	Plans for winter break & for board this week

Senior II schedule

Week	Meeting type	Date	Topic	Due
1	Group	Sep 1	Group: Planning, check-in, midway presentations for review	Email presentation
2	Individual	Sep 8	Progress updates; semester planning	Presentation
3	Email	Sep 15	Data collection: setup // Proposal: progress & plans	Emailed updates & plans
4	Group	Sep 22	Proposal: preregistration and IRB // Data collection: check-in & problem-solving
5	Individual	Sep 29	Check-in and edits	Text for me
6	None	Oct 6	No meetings
7	None	Oct 13	Fall break
8	Email	Oct 20	Report / writing; may drop in to group meeting time
9	Individual	Oct 27	Check-in and edits	Text for me
10	Group	Nov 3	Peer review	2–3 pages to share
11	Email	Nov 10	Check-in
12	Group	Nov 17	Check-in
13	None	Nov 24	(week of Thanksgiving: no meetings)
14	Individual	Dec 1	Final edits	Final project due 12/8
15	Group	Dec 8	Celebrate! Posters	Final project due today