The reading load at graduate school can be overwhelming, and while there is no magic bullet for speeding through your reading assignments, this 90-minute interactive workshop will provide strategies for reading difficult texts critically. We will focus on (1) techniques for scanning longer works, (2) identifying the argument and evaluating supporting evidence, (3) techniques for making summaries, and (4) how to approach exam questions.
This writing workshop will prepare you for a successful transition back to the classroom. Writing for Fletcher classes can be intimidating because it is different from writing for the media, business, or public sectors. This 90-minute workshop is a hands-on, insider’s look at the nuts and bolts of academic writing, including (1) structures for social science papers, legal papers, and business case studies, (2) research methodology, and (3) advice from your fellow students.
Equivalency exams for the Economics divisional requirement and for the Quantitative Reasoning requirement will be given during the Friday of Orientation (Friday, September 4, 2009). Three exams (E201, E210m, and B205) are administered. Students are not required to take the equivalency exams. However if you have a foundation in Economics, Statistics, and/or Quantitative Methods you may want to try one or more of these exams in an attempt to
(a) satisfy the Quantitative Reasoning requirement,
(b) take a higher level Economics course to meet your EIB breadth requirement, or
(c) satisfy your EIB breadth requirement.
MALD students taking and passing the E201/Introduction to Economic Theory exam will be able to take a higher level Economics course in order to satisfy the Economics breadth requirement. MALD students taking and passing one or both of the Quantitative Reasoning Placement Exams (E210m, B205) will satisfy the Quantitative Reasoning requirement. MIB students are eligible to take the B205 equivalency exam and, if successful in the exam, will not be required to take B205. LLM and MA students may take the equivalency exams but passing an exam will neither satisfy a breadth requirement nor provide any course reduction. Ph.D. students may take the equivalency exams but passing an exam will not satisfy a breadth requirement. However, Ph.D. students passing either the E210m and/or B205 exam will satisfy the completion of the required Statistical Methods course requirement.
Students planning to emphasize economics are encouraged to acquire a knowledge of calculus before enrolling. Students offering more than one of the following fields - International Trade & Commercial Policies, International Monetary Theory and Policy, and Developmental Economics - either for the MALD or the Ph.D. degree - are required to complete EIB E211/Microeconomics, EIB E230/International Finance, and EIB E240/Development Economics (and they are advised to complete EIB E213/Econometrics) or their respective equivalents. Students offering only one of the three fields are required to complete EIB 201/Introduction to Economic Theory or the equivalent.
The Fletcher School and Tufts Information Technology Services are pleased to offer an online training resource called Element K. This Internet-based solution delivers training right to your desktop and offers self-paced courses that fit into your schedule - at school, at home, or at a café. Using elementk.com you can learn new software skills that may be required in Fletcher classes, refresh old ones, or even explore some totally new topics. With the self-paced tutorial, you can take a class from beginning to end, or select specific lessons to complete.
With Element K you may choose from classes ranging from MS Office productivity tools such as PowerPoint and Excel, to Web-building and Design software like Dreamweaver or Photoshop. Element K also maintains a personal course catalog that tracks all of your course activity, module by module, so that you can cover as little or as much content as you want and pick right up where you left off.
Requests for Element K account access are fulfilled on a first-come, first-serve basis and subscriptions are not unlimited. ITS reserves the right to close an account that is inactive or idle, however you are welcome to ask for your account to be reinstated if this occurs.
Once you arrive on campus, you are eligible to sign up for Element K. If you are interested, please contact Marc Patacchiola at ITS Training:
Email: training@ase.tufts.edu
Phone: 617.627.5897
Web: http://ase.tufts.edu/its/training.htm