This is a reflection paper talks about what I learned from the whole Pathway Program when I studied in INTO Mason University. I focus on independence research ability which I think is the most important ability in graduate study.
Introduction
I enrolled in Pathway program last spring semester. After a few days, I will finish it completely. During two semesters, I took EAP-506, PROV-501, ITRN-503, EAP-504, EAP-507, PROV-502 and PUBP-503. All of these courses have many homework and need hard work, but I enhanced my academic abilities and language skills. What give me the greatest impression are several independence research experience.
Plagiarism and American Academic Culture
The first time for me to finish an independence research was in PROV-501. We were asked to write a paper about plagiarism and American academic culture as midterm homework. It was hard for me, because I still did not have enough experience about the topic, even my professor already taught us about plagiarism during course time. I read required readings and found identify how plagiarism damages American academic culture should be a good topic. I made figure1 to show how plagiarism influence students step by step.
From this independence research experience, I understood how to use figure in my own paper. Mostly, it shows a process and some relationships between several key concepts. But by showing these relationships and process, figure can make paper clear, easy to understand and bring great impression to readers. A nice figure also can be think that the author has a good understanding about research topic.
China’s Exchange Rate Regime and the Efficiency of PBOC’s Monetary Policy
This is my final paper’s topic in ITRN-503. This course focus on macro-economic, and exchange rate is one key section. Because Yuan is suffering a huge depreciation since Aug.2015. To understand why it happened and how PBOC worked to keep Yuan’s exchange rate stable, I chose it as my topic of final paper. In this paper, I identified PBOC’s tools of monetary policy and discussed exchange rate floating during Aug. 10. 2015 to March.31.2016. In this paper, I used several table to describe my new offering, for example table1 and table2.
What I learned from this independence research experience is using international students’ advantages and providing some interesting topic which may impress our professors. Because most Mason’s professor are native American and focus on native issues. As an international student, I think I should bring more information which professor may interested but do not know. This way not only can benefit my grades, but also can help me know my motherland better. Some professional perspective from native professors will enhance my international perspective to make different culture involve to my research.
Privacy Issues in Smart City: Models, Threats and Solutions
To finish Pathway program, students are required to finish a poster presentation, and this is my poster’s topic of my EAP-507. Because if I finish my Pathway, I will enroll in MPP program and focus on urban policy. Smart city is a modern city development tendency, which involve many internet and communication technology to bring convenient life for citizens. Besides make a poster presentation, we also need to write a literature review with the same topic.
By finishing the literature review and poster, I enhanced my independence research ability for another time. The main point of this experience is I can make my presentation skills stronger by completing the final poster activity. Because in my future graduate life, I may need to finish some presentation individually which bases on my independent research. If I do not familiar with that, my performance may suffer negative influence from my poor poster skill.
Conclusion
In this paper, I provide 3 different independence research experience and identify what I learned from them. In my future graduate life, I must meet more independence research challenges. So, recalling these memories can let me understand American academic culture better and help me become more confident.
Figure 1: How plagiarism damage American academic culture
Table 1: the efficiency of reverse repurchase policy from Aug. 10. 2015 to March.31.2016
Table 2: the efficiency of required reverse ratio policy from Aug. 10. 2015 to March.31.2016