Capstone Information
The 15-page Capstone paper is a culminating experience whereby students choose to research a topic relevant to the dentistry field. Capstone papers are graded as Pass/Fail and designed for students completing the degree in 12 months. The paper is overseen by a faculty mentor.
The topic chosen is open-ended but must be within a reasonable scope for the length of the paper. Topics can cover many different fields related to dentistry including:
- Community or public health dentistry
- Dental disparities (US or abroad)
- Hot topics in dental research (e.g. tissue regeneration, new materials, artificial intelligence, etc)
- Current clinical approaches and practices
Capstone papers must follow all content and format guidelines. See the Capstone Guidelines (below) for additional details and important information.
All students planning to complete the Capstone must submit the Capstone Proposal form by the deadline.
Capstone Deadlines
|
August Graduation |
January Graduation |
May Graduation |
| Capstone Proposal Form submission deadline |
April 1st |
October 1st |
February 1st |
| Final Capstone Outline (with annotated bibliography) and draft of the Introduction (including references) submitted to mentor |
May 19th |
October 15th |
February 15th |
| Meet with mentor and submit the Mentor Review Form |
May 19th – May 29th |
May 19th – May 29th
and
September 19th – September 29th |
May 19th – May 29th
and
January 19th – January 29th |
| Full draft of Capstone and Turnitin Report submitted to mentor |
May 30th – June 15th |
November 1st – November 15th |
March 1st – March 15th |
| Submission deadline for mentor approved Capstone, Capstone Checklist, and Turnitin Report |
July 8 |
December 3 |
March 30th |
Grade of Pass/Fail will be posted in the month of graduation.
Capstone Guidelines
All students must review the Capstone Guidelines for important details and information, including Capstone content & formatting requirements, mentor requirements, deadlines, and submission details.
Outline and Introduction Draft Submission
Submit the following as two separate documents to your mentor by the deadline.
Outline
- Use the outline template provided during the Biomedical Information course
- Use bullets in all sections
- Always include citations when applicable
- Include your annotated bibliography
- All references must be in APA format
- Send the draft to your mentor in .docx format
Introduction
- The draft of your Introduction section must be written using the Capstone Template
- Only include references that you have cited in your written capstone in the References section of the template. Do not include references from your outline that you have not cited in your capstone yet.
- All references must be in APA format
- Send the draft to your mentor in .docx format
- When your mentor reviews your draft, they will be adding comments and using the ‘Track Changes’ feature in MS Word to add their edits. If you are unfamiliar with this feature, please review this Microsoft webpage: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/track-changes-in-word-197ba630-0f5f-4a8e-9a77-3712475e806a
Capstone Mentor Review Form
Capstone Checklist and Plagiarism Check
- Capstone Checklist: Use the Capstone Submission Checklist to verify the content and formatting of the Capstone paper. Submit the completed checklist together with your Capstone paper.
- Turnitin Plagiarism Check:
- Make sure to check your Capstone using the Turnitin Plagiarism Check and include the printout and % similarity with your checklist.
- Directions on how to gain access to the site can be found here, near the bottom of the page.