Senior Seminars

The English department’s senior seminar has been designed as a lively, rigorous, and wide-ranging exploration of literature and writing, and each section of the senior seminar will be small enough to encourage a close-knit community of readers and writers to develop.

The senior seminar in English will provide a context in which you will produce an extended version of the analytic or creative project that in the past has constituted part of the senior capstone requirement in English. The senior examination (see below) now constitutes the entirety of the formal senior capstone, while you will earn course credit for the substantial analytic or creative project you complete through the senior seminar.

In Fall 2016, there are two sections of the senior seminar in literature, taught by Professors Davidson and Matz, as well as a senior seminar in creative writing taught by Professor Hyde for students pursuing the emphasis in creative writing. Professor Weber will teach a senior seminar in creative writing in spring 2017, while Professor O’Neill will teach a section of the senior seminar in literature. Each section of the seminar will be limited to 15 students, with senior English majors being given priority during registration.

**Please note: students pursuing Honors will take the Honors Seminar (ENGL 497) rather than either of the Senior Seminars.

The Senior Seminar in Literature

ENGL 410: fall 2016 OR spring 2017

Offered in several sections, this seminar will require senior English majors to undertake a research project of their own design, within the context of a course that ranges across genres, literary periods, and national borders. Literary works assigned in this course will likely include works from the exam reading list for the given class year, and students will explore them with a variety of critical, historical, cultural, and theoretical contexts. All sections of the course will seek to extend the range of interpretive strategies students can use to undertake a major literary research project. Each student will complete a research paper of 15-17 pages, as well as a two-page assessment of the project explaining the choices made in the major and how the research paper relates to those choices.

The Senior Seminar in Creative Writing

ENGL 405: fall 2016 OR spring 2017

Offered each semester, this seminar is required for English majors pursuing an emphasis in creative writing. Although not primarily a workshop, this seminar will require students to work on a creative project of their own devising (fiction, non-fiction, or poetry). The course will involve critical work on a topic chosen by the instructor (such as Modern Short Story, or Beginnings and Endings, or Contemporary Literary Prizes, for example) and will provide context and structure for students' creative work.

Students will complete a creative project of significant length and write a two-page assessment of the project that explains the choices made in the major and how the creative project relates to those choices.

Senior Seminars

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