DMin Major Projects

This guide collects a wide range of resources that can help you through the creation of your Major Project, from proposal to final submission.
 
Research Tips - An overview of print and electronic resources, how to formulate search queries and refining search results, and organizing the resources you collect with bibliographic management software.

Literature Review - The mechanics of compiling and assessing resources in preparation for a literature review.

Annotated Bibliography - The mechanics of compiling an annotated bibliography with or without bibliographic management software.

IRB and QDA - An explanation of when and how to consult the Institutional Review Board (IRB) and a small collection of tools that may be helpful in qualitative data analysis (QDA).

Presentation Tips - How to prepare for your presentation and suggestions for visuals.

Formatting Help - The mechanics of creating a publication-ready file to submit to ProQuest.

Final Submission - An overview of copyright considerations and the mechanics of submitting your publication-ready file to ProQuest.

DMin Major Projects on the Digital Archive of Lancaster Theological Seminary

Dissertations and Theses @ Lancaster Theological Seminary (off-campus access for faculty, staff, students, and alumni/ae)

Dissertations and Theses @ Lancaster Theological Seminary (access for anyone on campus)

Tip: Use the Google login option and your lancasterseminary.edu account to join the discussion.

Is information or a source good? The CRAAP Test can help you decide!

Currency
Relevance
Authority
Accuracy
Purpose

Step 1: Go to https://library.lancasterseminary.edu and log in

• Your library account login is connected to your lancasterseminary.edu Google login
• Use the link at the top of the site and follow the prompts (if any) to log in with your lancasterseminary.edu Google account

Step 2: Wait for the purple "Authenticating into OpenAthens" banner to disappear before continuing

• This only takes a few seconds

Step 1: (After logging in as described above) Go to EBSCO Discovery Service

Step 2: In the top menu bar, click "Sign In"

Step 3: Follow the prompts to create a new account and link it to your login. You will only have to do this once. After your account is created, clicking "Sign In" will automatically connect to your EBSCOhost account.

Features of a personal My EBSCOhost account:

• Collect, store, and organize resources into folders (more information)
• Save searches (more information)
• Create and manage search alerts (more information)
• Create and manage journal alerts (more information)
• Setup and manage RSS feeds for search alerts and journal alerts (more information)

Discovery Searches in the Library Catalog = EBSCO Discovery Service

• Aggregated search engine that pulls results from our local collections, subscribed electronic content, and select open access resources
• Returns a lot of results; using limiters is important
• Good for initial searching and for follow-up searching after examining more focused search results
• Use the EBSCO Discovery Interface or click the link to "View in EDS" from the library's catalog to access the My EBSCOhost features listed in the box above

Dissertations and Theses @ Lancaster Theological Seminary

• Digital records of past major projects submitted by graduates of Lancaster Seminary's DMin program
• Helpful to see examples of successful major projects
• Digital copies made available per student's wishes

Research in Ministry (RIM)

• Searchable database of dissertations, theses, and major projects from seminaries across the U.S. and Canada
• Listing usually includes an abstract
• Some also include links to open access digital copies
• Content not available open access may be requested via ILL

EBSCO Publication Finder

• Searchable and browsable title list for all our journals and magazines
• See articles published in a journal by issue

Atla Religion Database with AtlaSerials PLUS

• Top database for religion research
• Not all listings are full text
• Search and browse for articles by scripture passage

Religion and Philosophy Collection

• Complements the ATLA Religion Database
• Provides additional full text resources
• Good database for religion, theology, and philosophy research

• Good database for sociology, psychology, and social work research
• Useful for projects on pastoral care to specific groups of people or projects exploring social issues
• All resources are available in full text

JSTOR - Religion & Theology Collection and Arts & Sciences XI

• Another religion-specific database with strong interdisciplinary and international resources
• Full-text available
• Most titles have a "moving wall" for full text, but we can often get articles behind that wall from ILL

Project MUSE - Humanities Collection plus eBooks

• Good interdisciplinary database
• Provides full text, DRM-free electronic resources
• Useful for religion, theology, philosophy, sociology, and interdisciplinary research that includes literature, art, music, and history 

WorldCat

• Global library catalog
• Helpful when looking for a particular item and the nearest library where it may be located
• Correlate holding libraries with the list of SEPTLA libraries and ATLA Reciprocal Borrowing Program participants to see if there's a library near you that would allow you to direct borrow
• Or, submit an ILL request and pick up the item when it is delivered to Lancaster Seminary

Limiters
All our databases and catalogs have a way to limit search results. This is a way of narrowing down the list by removing results that don't meet certain criteria. Helpful limiters for any search are:

• Language - set this to your preferred language if you don't want to see results that may need to be translated
• Date published - this range can be adjusted so that you only see results published within a specific time period
• Full text - check this box if you're looking for articles and books you can read online immediately (not always desirable!)

Learn more about limiters from EBSCO. The library catalog, Project MUSE, and other platforms also use limiters similar to EBSCO.

Linked Data
When you click on a record from the search results, you get more information about that resource: authors, subject headings, and series or journal titles. All of this information is hyperlinked. Clicking on any of these links will launch a new search for all records that share that author, heading, or title.

As you explore search results, you may find that some resources are more relevant to you than others. Use the linked data on these records to find additional resources that may not have come up in your initial keyword search.

Boolean Operators
Most searching starts with entering a few keywords. Search engines, however, are trained to recognize Boolean operators (AND, OR, and NOT) that can be used to create more sophisticated searches. 

Boolean searches can be especially helpful when the keywords in a search mean different things. Using them helps narrow an unwieldy search that cannot be narrowed easily using limiters. Here is more information from EBSCO about Boolean searches.

Staying Informed with RSS Feeds
RSS feeds are text-based broadcasts that come from websites and databases. Collect the feeds from resources central to your research topics and stay up-to-date when new articles or information becomes available. RSS feeds can be saved in your browser, added to Zotero, delivered to your email, or added to an RSS reader service like Feedly. 
 

In addition to the texts used in DMin Seminar IV, here are some helpful online resources about preparing a literature review:

• Literature Reviews, by the Writing Center at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
• Learn How to Write a Review of Literature, by the Writing Center of the University of Wisconsin-Madison
• Literature Reviews: An Overview for Graduate Students, by NCSU Libraries

 

• Take a look at the record details. Are the subject headings relevant to your topic? Is the publication date appropriate to the scope of your research?
• For books: Read the table of contents and skim the index. If it still seems this would be a helpful resource, skim the introduction and conclusion. Next, read the summary, introduction, and conclusion for each chapter. Finally, deep dive into the parts that are most relevant to your topic.
• For articles: Read the abstract and look at the section headings. If it still seems this would be a helpful resource, read the introduction and conclusion. Finally, deep dive into the parts that are most relevant to your topic.

It is extremely important to keep track of the resources you review. It is extremely difficult to track down the source of a quote when you have begun the writing phase if you didn't properly record it in your notes. There are many different ways to take and organize notes. 

Paper-Based Systems
Notecards and notebooks are still widely used and many prefer the tactile, kinetic experience of recording notes by hand. We recommend the following for those who are inclined toward paper-based note keeping:

• Keep things neat and tidy - use notebooks, folders, and/or file boxes that can keep individual pages and cards contained
• Keep things secure - avoid file folders without flaps or pockets and loose paper clips that could lead to lost pages
• Keep things in one place - when you have completed a trip to the library or a searching session on your computer, store all your notes in a centralized location
• Pay attention to details - record full publication information about a source and where you found it so that you can create an accurate footnote and bibliography entry
• Use quotation marks when copying a direct quote
• Page numbers, URLs, and dates of access are also very important to record and keep

Electronic Systems
For those who are inclined to keep everything on a computer, we recommend using a citation management program like Zotero. This type of program can save resources directly from our library catalog, databases, and websites. You can organize your saved resources, attach PDF files, and add your notes. Zotero also has a plugin for Microsoft Word and other word processing programs that allow you to drag and drop formatted citations directly into your document.

For more information about Zotero, please see this guide.

Things to remember:

• Pay attention to details - sometimes the information about the resource will need to be edited to match Chicago/Turabian style (e.g., captialization in the title)
• Use quotation marks to indicate that you have copied a direct quote into your notes
• Keep track of page numbers and dates when you accessed an online resource
• Remember to backup your computer regularly and/or backup your Zotero database to an online location (e.g., Zotero's online account service or Google Drive)

In addition to the texts used in DMin Seminar IV, here are some helpful resources about preparing an annotated bibliography:

• Writing an Annotated Bibliography, by the University of Toronto
• How to Prepare an Annotated Bibliography, by Cornell University Library
• Annotated Bibliographies, by the Purdue Online Writing Lab
• Annotated Bibliographies, by University of Central Florida

An example of an annotated bibliography:

• "Medieval Popular Religion: An Annotated Bibliography for Teachers," by Alison Harper

Click here to go to the Chicago Manual of Style guide

What is an Institutional Review Board (IRB)?

An Institutional Review Board (IRB) reviews a researcher's plans for interacting with human subjects to make sure that the researcher is following sound, ethical practices and to protect the rights of the human subjects. Lancaster Theological Seminary has an agreement with Franklin & Marshall College to use their IRB. F&M maintains a Human Subjects Policy that guides the work of the IRB.
 

When do I need an IRB review?

The Guidelines for the DMin Major Project Proposal, Major Project Consultation, and Major Project state:
Examples of research involving living human subjects include but are not limited to interviews, surveys, and oral histories.
 

How do I start the IRB review process?

Read and fill out the documents linked below and contact the IRB Coordinator at the Office of College Grants at Franklin & Marshall College. This person's contact information is found here on the F&M Website. 

 Lancaster Theological Seminary IRB Checklist  
 Human Subject Study Guidelines  
 Elements of Informed Consent  
 Sample Informed Consent Form for Lancaster Theological Seminary Students  
 Human Subject Study Application - to prepare responses in advance  
Link to Complete and Submit the Online Application
 

Voyant Tools

Voyant Tools is a free web application that allows you to upload digital texts for computer-assisted analysis. It offers an array of features for visualizing a text and connections between words occurring in a text. Play the video in the left side bar for a brief introduction and demonstration of this amazing tool.

Voyant Tools: https://voyant-tools.org/
Getting Started Guide: https://voyant-tools.org/docs/#!/guide/start
About Voyant Tools: https://voyant-tools.org/docs/#!/guide/about

CATMA

CATMA is a free web application for computer assisted text markup and analysis. It allows you to upload texts for annotation, tagging, and analysis. It provides a flexible framework that can adapt to your methodology.

CATMA6: https://app.catma.de/catma/
About CATMA: https://catma.de/

More Resources

In addition to the videos in the side bar, Wheaton College's Buswell Library has produced a great guide about Qualitative Data Analysis that includes more free QDA software tools and tips on using Microsoft Word and Excel for QDA. Click here to view this resource.

Click here to download the Symposium Presentation Guidelines

Your DMin Major Project Presentation is a conversation between you and your major project supervisor. Your conversation is guided by a list of questions provided by the Doctor of Ministry program. In consultation with your supervisor, go over these questions in advance and prepare your answers. Additional questions may be added to tailor the conversation to the topic of your major project.

Each presentation is given a 50-minute sheduled block. Time for question and answer with the attendees is important to include. Generally, the conversation portion of the presentation lasts 35-40 minutes and the question and answer portion lasts 10-15 minutes. 

It is important that each presenation begins and ends promptly on time. 

Preparation is key. Do prepare your answers to the questions in advance. Notecards or an outline of the points you plan to make are a good idea. Notes on a laptop, tablet or mobile device are also allowed provided the device is operating in silent mode.

The conversational nature of the presentation does not lend itself well to visuals. If you find that a visual is necessary to convey a point to the attendees, here are a few things to remember:

• Visuals have to be accessible to both the in-person attendees and the remote attendees
• Handouts are allowed
  • Please provide an electronic version in advance of the presentation to be posted on the symposium's website
  • Students are responsible for bringing their own printouts
• Limited use of presentation slides is allowed
  • These must be used sparingly at appropriate times during your presentation
  • Keep content on the slide to a minimum
  • Do not use animations or fancy slide transitions
  • Keep the upper right corner of the slide blank
  • PowerPoint format is strongly preferred
  • Slides must be provided in advance of the presentation to be used on the day
• Video and audio clips are not allowed

DMin Major Project Manuscript Checklist  
This is identical to the checklist found in ProQuest ETD Administrator.

Preparing Your Manuscript for Submission
These are ProQuest's guidelines (also linked in ProQuest ETD Administrator).

DMin Major Project Template  
This is identical to the file found in ProQuest ETD Administrator.
 

What is set up for you in the template:

• Title page formatting
• Copyright and signature page formatting
• Section breaks - indicate each major component of the document
• Table of Contents - pre-formatted and updatable
• Page numbering - Roman numerals in front matter, Arabic numerals for the main text, centered and 0.5" from bottom of page
• Footnote numbering - set to start over with 1 at the start of every chapter
• Font styles - preset heading and body styles to create a consistent, professional look; 12pt Times New Roman throughout (10pt for footnotes)

Guide to the Font Styles:

• Heading 1 - 12pt Times New Roman, bold, centered, single spaced
  • Used for titles of chapters, appendices, and bibliography
• Heading 2 (Subheading 1) - 12pt Times New Roman, bold, left aligned, single spaced
  • Used for section headings within chapters and appendices
• Heading 3 (Subheading 2) - 12pt Times New Roman, italic, left aligned, single spaced
  • Used for second level section headings within sections of chapters and appendices
• Body - 12pt Times New Roman, left aligned, first line indent, double spaced
  • Used for all paragraphs and body text in the file

Adding your text to the template (using Microsoft Word):

• Toggle formatting marks to show by clicking the ¶ button in the Home tab. This allows you to see and work with the formatting that's already in the template
• Copy/Paste Tips:
  • Use "paste and match style" to make sure that you're not carrying over unhelpful formatting from a different document
  • Copy/paste by section or element instead of large amounts of text and headings
• To remove a chapter or appendix, highlight all the content in that section, including the Section Break (Next Page) that follows it
• To add a chapter or appendix:
  • Place your cursor at the beginning of the section that will come after the one you're adding
  • Use the menus to insert a Section Break (Next Page)
  • Scroll up to the new page that was inserted, place your cursor at the beginning of the Section Break (Next Page) and hit the return key on your keyboard
  • Place your cursor before the ¶ symbol that is now at the front of the Section Break (Next Page) and hit the return key on your keyboard again
  • Place your cursor before the ¶ symbol at the top of the page, select Heading 1 from the styles, and type the chapter or appendix title
  • When you hit return at the end of the title line, the next line will automatically shift to Body style

Adding Footnotes:

• Start by placing your cursor where you want the footnote to appear.
• If using Zotero:
  • Go to the Zotero tab
  • Click "add/edit citation"
  • Use the Zotero bar to search for your source, add a page number, and press the return key to save and insert the citation into your footnote
• If using a different tool or manual citations:
  • Go to the References tab
  • Click "insert footnote"
  • Type your citation or footnote text in the footnote that appears at the bottom of the page

Updating the Table of Contents:

• Go to the References tab
• Click "update table" (this is usually a smaller button near a "Table of Contents" button)
• If you have changed your chapter titles, you will want to select the option to "update entire table"
• If you have only added text, select the option to "update page numbers only"
• Click OK and verify that the Table of Contents is accurate

DMin Front Matter Template  
This method has been deprecated in favor of the newer template (above). It is no longer found in ProQuest ETD Administrator.

What needs to be changed on the first page:

• Replace the sample title with your title, but break it (hit enter) so that it appears in an inverted pyramid; the top line of your title should be longer than the second line of your title, and so forth. Use title case: capitalize the first word and all principle words, but not articles, prepositions, or conjunctions. Make sure the font stays bold.
• Put your name where it says "Your Name Here." Make sure the font stays bold.
• At the bottom, replace "Graduation Year" with the year of your graduation. For example, if you are graduating in 2018 the line will read "May 2018."

What needs to be changed on the second page:

• First line: replace the sample title with your title. If your project has a long subtitle, it might be best to only include the main title on this page.
• Second line: next to the copyright symbol, replace the text with the year of your graduation and your name, separated by a comma.
• Above Dr. Thayer's name, add the name of your project supervisor.
• Under Dr. Thayer's name, add the date of your submission.

TIP: The page numbers are already set up correctly in the template. Instead of trying to copy and paste these pages into your manuscript file, keep them separate. It will be easier to convert this document into a PDF and merge it with the PDF of your manuscript.

This and the following sections include instructions for Microsoft Word. It is possible to create the same results using a different word processor (e.g., Google Docs or Pages for Mac), but you will need to consult the documentation for those programs.

Also, keep in mind that there are many versions of Microsoft Word in use today, and there will be variations based on which version you are using. Please consult your installation of Microsoft Word to familiarize yourself with which version you have.

One more disclaimer: This is not the only method for preparing your manuscript for publication. There are other ways; some may be better or shorter than what is described below.

Step 1: Bring all of your text (Abstract, Dedication, each individual chapter, appendices, and bibliography) into one Word document

• If you were using separate files during your writing and development phase, now is the time to bring them all together. Copy and paste works well (be careful!), or you can try the insert text from file function. Click here and scroll down to "Add different documents to a file" for instructions.

Step 2: Insert section breaks

• At the end of each major component, use a Section Break (Next Page).
• This keeps your document clean (no extra line breaks to move text to a new page), and it tells the computer where each new section begins.
• Instructions for using Section Breaks

Step 3: Style the chapter titles and headings

• Microsoft Word uses styles to identify different parts of the text. For your Table of Contents, you will want each heading that will appear in the contents to be using a style.
• Use Heading 1 for the main titles: Abstract, Dedication, Chapter 1, Chapter 2, etc.
• Use Heading 2, 3, etc. for subheadings within chapters.
• The default styles in Microsoft Word will need to be edited to match Turabian recommendations. We recommend editing the styles yourself, and here are some instructions. There are some third-party Turabian-styled Microsoft Word templates available online; if you choose to use one be sure to check it for consistency with the version of Turabian we use and compliance with the submission guidelines.
• Here are instructions for how to apply a style to text.

Establishing sections by using the "Section Break (Next Page)" command is key to being able to successfully format the page numbers for your document.

Here are instructions from Microsoft Word for inserting page numbers.

Things to remember:

• Place the page numbers centered in the footer
• Start page numbering on the first page of your document with "iii"
• Format the page numbers for the rest of the front matter sections as Roman numerals and continuous numbering with the previous section
• On the first page of Chapter 1, format the page numbers to use Arabic numerals and restart the numbering with "1"
• Check the formatting for the remaining sections to make sure that they are all formatted with Arabic numerals and continuous numbering with the previous section
• To adjust the formatting of the page numbers, you will have to highlight the page number on the first page of the section you are adjusting and open the page numbering format box (check the Microsoft Word instructions for your particular version of Word)

It is best to leave this to the last part. While the Table of Contents can be updated if content changes, the update must be run manually. To prevent the possibility of forgetting to do this, we recommend leaving the Table of Contents until last.

Step 1: Create a blank page for the Table of Contents

• It should follow the dedication
• Insert a Section Break (Next Page) at the end of the dedication, creating a blank page between the dedication and following sections

Step 2: Create a heading for the page according to Turabian style guidelines

• Make it consistent with the headings for all the other parts of your project, but do not use the corresponding style (this prevents the Table of Contents from being included in the Table of Contents)

Step 3: Insert a Table of Contents

• Instructions from Microsoft Word on inserting a Table of Contents

When your entire project is complete, error-free, and formatted, you are ready to convert it to PDF. This is a multiple step-process to bring all the pieces together into one PDF. 

Step 1: Convert everything into a PDF: front matter file and major project file

• Use Microsoft Word to Save As a PDF
• Mac users can print to PDF

Step 2: Merge the PDF documents into one

• Start with the largest PDF file, the one with the bulk of your major project
• Instructions to merge PDFs with Adobe Acrobat
• Mac users can use Preview to merge the cover page and signature page with the major project

ETD Administrator- Electronic Submissions: How To Submit a Thesis or Dissertation

ETD Administrator -- Student Submission Webinar

ETD Administrator help: student table of contents
 

 DMin Copyright Handout  

Before you start:
Make sure that your major project has been proofread thoroughly, is formatted correctly, and compiled into a single PDF file. Refer back to the "Formatting Help" section of this guide, if necessary.
 
Step 1: Click "Create or Continue with Submission." First time users will create a new account.

Step 2: Go to the "Resources & Guidelines" tab to access important information. Pay special attention to these items:

• Major Project Checklist
• Front Matter Template (if you haven't already used the one from the Formatting Help section)
• Time Line and Deadlines
• DMin Major Project Publishing Agreement Supplement
• Copyright and Your Dissertation or Thesis: Ownership, Fair Use, and Your Rights and Responsibilities

Step 3: Click "My ETDs" to start a new submission (or resume where you left off if you started one previously)

Step 4: Complete the submission process

• Instructions - read these and make sure you understand them
• PQ Publishing Options - these are explained in the "Understanding Copyright" video (above)
• ProQuest Agreement - review and accept the agreement for the option you selected
• Contact Information - how you may be reached after graduation
• Dissertation/Thesis Details - title, abstract, degree date, subject categories and keywords, supervisor's name
• PDF - upload your major project as a single PDF file
• Register U.S. Copyright - option for ProQuest to register copyright for you
• Order Copies - one copy for the library is already added; order additional bound copies for yourself if desired
• Shipping Address - where ordered copies will be shipped
• Submit - the final submission button when everything is final

Step 5: Complete and submit the DMin Major Project Publishing Agreement Supplement

Step 6: Celebrate!

DMin Supervisor Expectations  

Role	Responsibilities
Major Project Supervisor	Design, content, interpretation
Writing Coach	Present material and argument as clearly and persuasively as possible, help with overall argumentation and flow, streamline document
Copy Editor*	Chicago Style followed, consistent formatting, page numbers, etc.
Proofreader*	Checks grammar, punctuation, spelling, etc.

* names available on request