Sofia-Jeff-Jeff Thesis Workshop




                               LOGISTICS


1.  WHEN: The seminar will be in 234 Giannini from 10:00-11:00 Mondays.

2.  RULES: Anyone who wants to participate is welcome,
 but only those people who agree to attend and participate
 in all sessions may present.

3.  REGISTRATION: Is not necessary, but encouraged.
  You can register for ARE 298, section 12 # 01784 for 2 units pass/no pass.
  There are no requirements other than attending and participating.

4.  WRITTEN MATERIAL: On Friday by 5 PM, the presenter for the week will
 make available to us not as a huge email):

A.  All the information we need to understand what you're doing. 
 This document should not include everything you've ever written.
  We only need the relevant information. 
 We do need an explicit statement of your study's objective (see below).

B.  A statement of the question you want help with during the seminar.


Please send the PDF file to Sofia, who will post it.

The purpose of this write up is so that the group will enter the room
 understanding what you're doing and where you are stuck. 
 Hopefully, this advanced preparation will save time and allow us to
 make full use of our hour.


5.  OBJECTIVE: We suggest that the proper way to write your paper
 and organize your seminar is to start with a "question" or "hypothesis."
  That is, we'd like you to state a hypothesis that you are going to prove
 analytically or test empirically.  

You can state this hypothesis as either a declarative statement or question
.  Typically, the hypothesis is presented as a one-way conditional (if-then)
 statement, such as: 
If the government imposes a tax on the Internet, then the equilibrium quantity
 sold on the Internet will fall (holding all else constant).  
Such a statement can be restated as a question: 
If the government imposes a tax on the Internet, will the equilibrium quantity
 sold on the Internet fall (holding all else constant)?


In other cases, you might set up a horse race, where you compare
two competing hypotheses.  
The drop in housing construction in winter months is due to either a
 rightward shift of the supply curve (higher costs) or to a leftward
 shift of the demand curve during those months.


What we suggest you stay away from are open-ended questions, such as 
What happens to the market for chickens if a new variety is introduced? 
We'd prefer that you formulate a hypothesis (e.g., "average price will
 rise if a new variety is introduced") rather than leave the possible responses vague.