This course gives students the dedicated time and support for completing the dissertation proposal literature review for their selected topic, building on and modifying the decisions made about the topic in the Research Process course, ISCM 8130. This course?s final paper will serve as the full draft of the dissertation proposal parts Chapter 1: The Introduction and Chapter 2: the Literature Review. This includes (1) demonstrating the ability to select interdisciplinary relevant literature, confirming and disconfirming, that enables students to understand and weigh the arguments, claims, contexts, methods, theories, findings, and implications of what is known about the topic, (2) engaging in intellectual debates with various authors and colleagues to further develop understanding of topics and research processes, (3) grasping and articulating the limitations of and gaps in the knowledge base, and (4) organizing and assembling a coherent argument of their own for conducting their research.