[home]

Capstone Project Reader Meeting Notes

The Basics

• Brief description: Reader Meeting Notes are a crucial component of your capstone project, designed to facilitate communication with your faculty reader and track your project's progress. Remember that you and your faculty reader should be meeting at least every 2 weeks. These notes should adhere to a specific format, combining essential information with concise summaries of your meetings and project developments.
• Research: No research is required, but it may be included if you prefer.
• Format: Modified MLA Style. Follow all MLA Style guides except use block paragraph formatting: this involves making each paragraph single-spaced paragraphs, with no indentation on the first line, and a double space between each paragraph to create a clear visual separation. In the upper lefthand corner of the first page and the first page only, include the following information, single-spaced: the title of your project, your name, the name of your faculty reader, the date of your most recent meeting with your faculty reader, and the name of this course.
• Length: Minimum 300 words, but use as many words as are needed.

The Details

The Reader Meeting Notes that you write are an essential part of your capstone project, helping you stay on track and ensuring you get valuable guidance from your faculty mentor. Here are the things to include in each set of Reader Meeting Notes. I know it looks like a lot, but feel free to use bullet points and, where appropriate, sentence fragments and short phrases. As long as your notes are clear, that's really all that matters.

1. Meeting Date(s): Start by noting the date (or dates) of your most recent meeting(s) with your faculty reader. This helps track your progress over time.
2. Key Discussion Points: Summarize the main topics you discussed during the meeting. Highlight any questions, concerns, or drafts you brought to the meeting. Summarize any questions, concerns, or advice your reader provided.
3. Progress Update: Share your progress on your research essay since the last meeting. Mention any major developments, challenges, or breakthroughs you’ve experienced.
4. Feedback Received: Report any feedback you received from your mentor regarding your research, methodology, or writing. Be specific about any suggested improvements.
5. Action Items: List any specific tasks or action items assigned by your mentor. This could include additional research, revising a section, or refining your research questions.
6. Next Steps: Outline the steps you plan to take before your next meeting. This could involve implementing feedback, conducting further research, or revising your essay structure.
7. Questions for Further Discussion: If you have any questions or uncertainties about your project, list them here. These questions can guide the discussion in your next meeting.
8. Reflection: Take a moment to reflect on what you’ve learned during the meeting and how it impacts your project moving forward.

Deadline Reminder: Check the course timeline and ensure you’re meeting upcoming deadlines for drafts, revisions, and final submissions.

The Rubric

• 30% Content Relevance and Depth
  • Insufficient: The meeting notes lack relevant content and depth, failing to capture essential discussion points, progress updates, or feedback received from the faculty mentor.
  • Adequate: The meeting notes provide some relevant content and depth, but they may require further elaboration or specificity to fully convey the meeting's discussion.
  • Good: The meeting notes exhibit a high level of content relevance and depth, effectively summarizing key discussion points, progress updates, and feedback from the faculty mentor.
  • Outstanding: The meeting notes excel in content relevance and depth, offering comprehensive coverage of all discussion aspects with insightful analysis and reflection.
• 30% Clarity and Organization
  • Insufficient: The meeting notes lack clarity and organization, making it challenging to follow the sequence of discussion or discern key takeaways.
  • Adequate: The meeting notes show some clarity and organization but may benefit from improved structure and presentation for better understanding.
  • Good: The meeting notes are well-structured and clear, presenting information in a logical order, making it easy to follow the discussion and its outcomes.
  • Outstanding: Clarity and organization in the meeting notes are exceptional, with a well-defined structure that enhances readability and comprehension.
• 30% Completeness of Information
  • Insufficient: The meeting notes are incomplete, missing critical details such as meeting dates, discussion points, progress updates, feedback, action items, and next steps.
  • Adequate: The meeting notes contain some information but lack completeness in certain areas, leaving gaps in the understanding of the meeting.
  • Good: The meeting notes are complete, covering all necessary aspects such as meeting dates, discussion points, progress updates, feedback, action items, and next steps.
  • Outstanding: Completeness of information in the meeting notes is exemplary, leaving no room for ambiguity and providing a thorough record of the meeting.
• 10% Adherence to Formatting Guidelines
  • Insufficient: The meeting notes deviate significantly from the specified formatting guidelines, including spacing, indentation, or other required elements.
  • Adequate: The meeting notes generally adhere to the formatting guidelines but may have minor deviations or inconsistencies.
  • Good: The meeting notes mostly conform to the formatting guidelines, with only minor and inconsequential deviations.
  • Outstanding: Adherence to formatting guidelines in the meeting notes is impeccable, meeting all requirements with precision.