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Welcome to the Bush School
Army Fellows website

This site includes the handouts and other resources we will use to help you prepare your major research projects. Also included are announcements of the interim writing assignments that will be posted each week. Suggestions for additional writing resources are encouraged. Please send suggestions to Cindy Raisor, Director of the Writing Program.

The research projects (i.e., the strategy and civilian research papers) provide the catalyst for this "course," but the goal isn't simply to create well-prepared papers. The goal is to equip the Army Fellows with research, analytical, critical thinking, and writing skills he/she can use beyond the course.

Learning Outcomes

The student learning outcomes have been adapted from the Bush School MPSA consulting capstone course.

  1. Integrate graduate-level knowledge acquired through audited courses, consultations with subject-matter experts at the Bush School and with U.S. Army military to an applied field project.

  2. Identify a primary research problem.

  3. Apply the appropriate tools and techniques to select a focused, manageable research topic.

  4. Synthesize a body of literature.

  5. Apply an appropriate research design to address the research problem.

  6. Gather necessary, sufficient, and appropriate data.

  7. Apply appropriate analytical techniques for testing assumptions and evaluating solutions.

  8. Formulate clear research observations and arguments with supporting rationale and evidence.

  9. Demonstrate advanced written and oral communication skills, including report writing competencies, for a variety of audiences.

  10. Apply guidance in drafting, revising, and finalizing a research report or other deliverables useful to the research paper audience.

  11. Use peer review skills to provide feedback and apply feedback received.

Image source: ©iStock.com/Mie Ahmt

Assessments

  • Individual learning plans submitted regularly to Army mentors

  • Interim papers (e.g., problem statement, literature review, proposal for analysis tools and topics, analysis of options, proposed solutions, recommendations, conclusions, etc.) all reviewed by the writing instructor and Army Fellow peers

  • Proposal for civilian research paper reviewed by Army mentor and writing instructor

  • Final projects: strategy paper and civilian research paper

  • Presentations: (1) Bush School faculty and students and (2) Army supervisors and civilian decision makers or stakeholders

Suggested resources

  • All of the resources at PlainLanguage.Gov, including training videos

  • Communicating with Intelligence: Writing and Briefing for National Security by James S. Major

  • BRIEF: Making a Bigger Impact by Saying Less by Joseph McCormack

  • A Practical Guide for Policy Analysis: The Eightfold Path to More Effective Problem Solving by Eugene Bardach and Eric M. Patashnik

  • Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Take Hold and Others Come Unstuck by Chip & Dan Heath

  • Weekly reading assignments posted in the Announcements (see File Cabinet)