13. Step-by-Step Instructions 14 14. Written/Printed Information 14 15. Helpers/Workers 15 16. Working the Project 15 17. Upon completion 15 18. Final Write-Up 16 Thesis/Project Structure 16 – 22 1. 16 2. Title Page 17 3. Text Formatting 17 4. Margins 17 5. First Page 17 6. Footnotes and Endnotes 17 7. Page Numbering 17 8. Acronym Usage 18 9. Explicit and Implied BSA Use of Material 18 10. Table of Contents 18 11. List of Figures/Tables 18 – 19 12. Introduction 19 – 20 13. Discussion 20 14. Conclusions 20 15. Appendices 21
The final submission should be “ready for publication.” This means that the final thesis/project should be in a format that the college or council could immediately implement or distribute without having to re-format the thesis/project. All spell-checking and format standards have been applied and no additional effort needs to be made. 2. Choosing a Thesis Topic: Draft an outline to develop your approach to solving the problem. Use your Thesis/Project Advisor and other Scouters to add items for consideration. When developing an outline, do not consider formatting at this point. Brain storm ideas and write them all down on paper. Do not evaluate the ideas, you will do this later. Once completed, start organizing the ideas/suggestions into groups. Take one group at a time and evaluate each idea for acceptance. Reject any idea that does not have any bearing on the thesis/project. Start/complete review of literature; i.e., your source material and bibliography. Give credit to sources not your own. 3. Choosing a Doctoral Project: The Project must demonstrate leadership and provide service to the council. You should try to choose a project idea that is original, truly valuable to the council, and a challenge to you. Your project may include other volunteers or may be done entirely by you, if you choose. As you look around for ideas, write down several which interest you. You should not spend much time planning a project until you have talked the idea over with your advisor ensure that it is a valid idea. While not required, it is a good idea to get a Project Advisor. This leader can help you choose a project, help you determine what needs to be done in planning it, and help you get the write-up ready to go to the doctoral board for approval. Always take detailed notes when talking to your advisor -- you cannot remember things nearly as well as you can read them from your notes later. Your advisor may not want to tell you the same thing again and again. 4. Research: Organize your outline and begin to fill it out with additional details (i.e. sections/subsections to the main points), review with Thesis/Project Advisor.
How will you use adult leaders? Discuss how you will ensure the safety of the workers. Remember, you do not have to DO any of the physical work yourself; you are responsible for LEADING others in carrying out the project and ensuring that everything is done the way you want it (i.e. show leadership). 16. Working the Project Now that the hard part is over, you can begin the fun part -- working the project! If you have prepared a good plan (which you will have or it won't be submitted), all you have to do is follow the plan and make the project happen. Do what you said you were going to do. It is important that you keep very good notes about everything that is done. Keep lists of all work done, who does the work, and how much time they each spent. For your final report, you will need to discuss how well the plan worked and all areas where you were not able to follow the plan, so keep good track of this information as you go along. Take pictures of each stage of the work. These will be included in the final report and will be a nice souvenir of an important milestone in your life. Keep track of all materials, supplies, tools, etc. used, paying particular attention to any differences from you original plan. 17. Upon Completion: Read and re-read your thesis/project. Have someone else read your thesis/project for clarity. Check for spelling, punctuation, and format. Have your Thesis/Project Advisor review it in person with you to help form your arguments and defense thoughts for the presentation phase; take notes. NOTE: Consider this phase as a “Murder Board”. Look for “what ifs” and “whys” to your proposal. This will help prepare you for your presentation to the Doctoral Review Board. 18. Final Write-up After the actual work on the project is completed, you are ready for the last phase of your project -- the final report. This is the section where you describe what actually happened as you carried out the plan. As with any project, it is important to review what was done and see what lessons were learned as well as providing a historic record. In this case, you also need to write a final report because your project is not complete without it! You should use the project plan as guide for preparing the final report. Briefly describe what was done and how you deviated from
Explicit and Implied BSA Use of this Material Per the requirements for submission of a doctorial thesis/project or project within the College of Commissioner Science process, the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) receives both implied and explicit rights for the use of the material found within this document. This intellectual property is proprietary; it is for the use of the Boy Scouts of America and the author, exclusively. Boy Scouts of America is defined as the national council, headquarters in Irving Texas, and any and all of its subordinate organizations, subsidiaries, and personnel to include any duly registered members who are in good standing that are acting on behalf of the Boy Scouts of America. The author retains original proprietary and all other rights and privileges of this work. Authorization to copy or use this information in any manner or for any purpose otherwise stated must do so with the sole and expressed permission of the author by any individuals, corporations, organizations, or any other entity, other than the Boy Scouts of America. EXAMPLE 3 TABLE OF CONTENTS It will look something like this: Page Title Page 1 List of Figures 2 List of Tables 3 Introduction 4 Results 5 Discussion 5-15 Conclusion 16 Recommendations 17