Rene David's thesis syllabus

Here's Rene's syllabus, I got permission to share it with you. Some of the readings are similar to Nezar's, Rem SMLXL for instance. My biggest problem with this syllabus is that 2/3s of the term is taken up with general background reading whereas only 1/3 of the term is spent on individual readings related directly to our research topic. Some of the assignments seem helpful, but some seem more general, geared to folks who don't know what they want to do. It suggests that almost two syllabai are needed, one for folks who are still trying to figure out their topic and one for those who already have. Also, I feel that thesis prep should result in getting much of our writing done for thesis. At least the background chapters of our thesis should be written.