ENGL
496: Senior Seminar—Doing English
Baker's Home Page | 496 Requirements | 496 Syllabus | Course Descriptions and Syllabi
Instructor: Moira P. Baker
406 Young Hall
831-5352 (Office)
731-4104 (Home)
Office Hours: Tues, Wed, Thurs:
5:00-6:15;
and by appointment
Course Description and Objectives
This course provides a "capstone" for your English major: the final or finishing stroke, the crowning part. To the degree that a single course can do so, it will help you integrate your study of literature, writing, and theory as we examine the discipline of English itself. You will be doing English Studies, at its most scholarly level, in your Senior Thesis and reflecting upon the discipline of English in the readings for the course. Some of the readings will engage us in the lively conversations about the discipline that professionals share when they ask such questions as: Why study literature? What literature should we study? How should we study it? What constitutes "great" literature? Where should writing fit into English Studies? What role (if any) should theory play in English Studies? Senior Seminar will be like other English courses in that writing, research, drafting and revision are central to the course design. It will be unlike other courses in that you will spend the whole semester working on a research project with the assistance of a faculty mentor so that you can produce a senior thesis as a capstone, or crowing achievement, for your work as an English major. As one of the core writing-intensive courses in the English major, Senior Seminar affords you the opportunity to develop and refine your writing skills through a process of drafting and revision guided by the instructor and your thesis advisor. Throughout the course, we will be hearing from a number of professionals, who majored in English and then followed quite creative career paths that suggest many ways of “doing English” as a career. Your final project affords you the opportunity to reflect upon a future career path and to begin the process of finding a position that allows you to use the knowledge and skills you have developed as an English major so that you can continue “doing English” in your professional life.
Requirements
Research Project (60 % of grade): The
research project consists of two major assignments: Bibliographic Project and Senior Thesis
1. Bibliographic Project (30% of grade)
To record and analyze the research necessary for a scholarly senior thesis, you will complete a two-installment bibliographic project. Each installment of the bibliographic project will consist of two parts: 1) 20-item working bibliography typed in correct MLA format, 2) annotations for ten of the entries on the working bibliography. Annotations must be typed. Click on Bibliographic Project for a full description of the requirements and assessment criteria for this assignment.
Due Dates: First Installment of Bibliographic Project: February 6 (20-item bibliography and 10
annotations)
Second
Installment of Bibliographic Project:
March 6 (20-item bibliography and 10 annotations)
2. Senior Thesis (30% of grade)
The Senior Thesis is a fully researched essay of 15-20 pages, in which you explore any topic within the discipline of English Studies. Your final paper must demonstrate your engagement with the scholarship on your subject; hence, you will use at least 12 sources in your paper, including your primary text(s). Your thesis must use correct MLA style for documentation and citation of your sources.
You will select from English Department faculty a project advisor with expertise in the topic area you have chosen; he or she need not be someone with whom you have already worked or taken a course. This advisor will serve as your mentor, directing your research, suggesting essential sources, and responding to your first draft with suggestions for revision. Your advisor will also grade your final draft of the senior thesis and communicate that evaluation to you and to me. It is, therefore, imperative that you meet with your advisor during the semester at various stages of your research and writing.
You are required to meet with the advisor at least three times after your
initial meeting. After the initial meeting with your advisor, you will both
sign a contract with the subsequent dates on which you will meet to discuss
your research and drafts. This contract is due, signed by you and your advisor, on
January 16 at class time.
Due Dates: January
16: Signed contract due at class time
March
27: First draft of senior thesis due in
class and by 5:00 to your advisor
April
17: Final draft of senior thesis due in
class and by 5:00 to your advisor
Failure to submit the first draft of your Senior Thesis in class and to your advisor by the deadline will automatically lower the final grade on the thesis. Failure to submit the final version of your Senior Thesis by the due date will result in a failing grade on the thesis.
Click on Senior Thesis for a full description of the requirements and assessment criteria for this assignment.
3. Career Path Portfolio (20% of grade)
This activity prepares you for finding a job, internship, volunteer service placement, or graduate /professional degree program upon completing your B. A. in English. The project includes three components: 1) an internet (and/or other source) search for a job, internship, volunteer placement, or advanced degree program for which your English major has prepared you and for which you will apply; 2) a resume written and revised with that position or program in mind; 3) a letter of application or cover letter in which you formally apply for the position or program.
Click on Career Path Portfolio for the requirements and due dates of this assignment.
4. Weekly
Focus Questions (20% of grade)
For each set of assigned readings, you will submit a set of focus questions. These questions will be typed. The focus questions provide you the opportunity to articulate your thinking about the assigned readings before you come to class. Your questions will enhance our conversations about the texts we will be reading and insure that everyone is prepared to make substantive contributions to our dialogue in class. Another important purpose of the focus questions is to indicate to me whether you are reading and comprehending all the assigned texts; keep in mind that your questions should demonstrate to me that you have read all the assigned texts carefully and thoughtfully.
Assessment Criteria: The focus questions will constitute 20% of the final grade. I will assess them according to how specifically they address the readings, how comprehensively they do so, and how analytically they do so. In other words, I will ask myself whether the questions deal specifically with the texts, attempting to nail down the central ideas; whether they reflect that you read all of the assigned texts; and whether you have attempted some kind of analysis that goes beyond mere summary. You need not concern yourself with a single "right analysis," nor need you worry about a "wrong analysis." Any analytic insight that focuses on more than mere summary or surface detail is acceptable. Each set of focus questions will be graded on a scale from 1-5, with 5 representing the highest level of achievement. I will average missing questions in as zero. No late questions accepted. Click on Focus Questions for required format and details about this assignment.
Class Policies
Attendance
and Participation:
Regular attendance and thoughtful participation in class discussion are essential not only to your individual performance, but also to the success of this course. Our work together relies on collaboration so that we might form an intellectual community whose insights and power surpass those of any one of us working on our own. We are all subjects who share the responsibilities of teaching and learning in this class. Each of us has a responsibility to the group and to the learning that goes on in class. Because this is a seminar course, your attendance is vital and required. Excessive absences will necessarily affect your grade negatively.
If you miss more than 2 seminar sessions your grade will be lowered; if you miss more than 3, no matter what the reason, you will unconditionally fail the course. I do not make distinctions between excused and unexcused absences; therefore, use your absences wisely, saving them for occasions when you cannot come to class for legitimate reasons.
Due Dates
and Request for Extensions: Drafts of Senior Thesis, Bibliographic Projects
I do not accept late work. If you do not submit your senior thesis to your advisor and me by the due date, you will receive a grade of "F" on it. The first draft of your senior thesis must be ready for writing workshop on the assigned date and must be submitted to your advisor and me on that date. A late first draft will lower the final grade on the scholarly essay by one letter grade for each day it is late.
It is important that you complete both installments of the bibliographic project by the due dates so that you work at your research consistently and methodically. If you do not submit a bibliographic project by the due date, the grade will be lowered by one letter grade for each day it is late.
In the event of difficult circumstances such as sickness or emergencies, I can be reasonable about granting extensions of due dates. However, you must request an extension on your work before the due date. Such extensions may be granted provided you have a legitimate reason. I will not grant an extension on the day something is due.
Academic
Honesty
The University Affairs Council has asked all faculty members to include the following statement in our course policies:
"By accepting admission to
Plagiarism, including the use of work submitted to another course without the consent of both instructors, the use of work by another person, or the use of someone else's words, ideas, or arrangement of argument without giving proper reference to the author, is a serious violation of the Honor Code. Please see the section on plagiarism in your Student Handbook. Be especially careful, as you complete your scholarly essay, that you do not use the ideas of other critics without giving them credit even if you do not use direct quotations. You must give credit to another writer when you paraphrase his or her ideas. This applies to all sources you find on the Worldwide Web and all electronic sources in the library, such as Infotrac and other electronic bibliographies or indexes that provide abstracts of articles or complete articles.
Required Texts
Baker, Moira. Timeline of
Earlier British Literature. Provided
for all students who will take the Praxis subject exam this year. Not a required reading.
Eaglestone, Robert. Doing English: A Guide for Literature Students. 2nd Edition.
Gibaldi, Joseph. MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers. 6th Edition. New York: Modern Language Association, 2003.
Richter, David. Falling into Theory:
Conflicting Views on Reading Literature. Second Edition.
2000.
Baker's Home Page | 496 Requirements | 496 Syllabus | Course Descriptions and Syllabi