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The Senior Project differs a little from the other courses in the English major, and so we provide this page to answer questions you may have about it.
The Senior Project is meant to provide you with a culminating experience to your study of language and literatures. We call it a "culminating" experience not only because it occurs when you are a senior near the end of your undergraduate work, but also because it gives you a chance to use knowledge and skills in research, writing and interpreting that you have acquired in your other courses. As you investigate a topic of your own choosing under the guidance of a member of the faculty, you have a chance to reveal to yourself and others what you have learned as an English major at HSU.
When you do your Senior Project, you will register concurrently for two (2) one-unit courses: English 490 (which is CR/NC) and English 492 (which is graded). English 490 adds a sense of structure and community to what some students in the past have felt is an otherwise lonely and shapeless experience: it gives you a timetable for carrying out your research and writing in a timely manner, and it allows you to meet regularly with a group of peers who are all engaged in the same endeavor, so that you can provide one another with "feedback" and support. In English 490, you will meet once at the beginning of the semester to review the general aims and outlines of the Senior Project, and to introduce to your peers the particular work you have planned. At regular intervals throughout the semester, you will reconvene to present progress reports, to discuss obstacles you've encountered in carrying out the design of your project, and to share and comment upon one another's work.
When all is said and done, however, the Senior Project is a solitary enterprise, conceived and accomplished by you alone in conjunction with your faculty supervisor. It's for this reason that the other component of the project, English 492, is structured as a one-on-one tutorial. The professor you choose to supervise your project will get to know you and your work well, and may become an important unofficial advisor to you as you plan for further study or employment.
Choosing a Topic
You should, of course, choose a topic that interests you. Think about the courses you've taken. Very likely in previous course work you've encountered a poet, novelist, short story writer, playwright, critic or theorist whose work intrigued you. Perhaps you're curious about other works by this writer that weren't discussed in the course: some aspect of her work or career could, then, become a topic for your project. Or perhaps you don't feel as well-informed as you'd like to be about a particular genre, or movement, or period of English, American, or world literature (anglophone African, Caribbean, or Pacific literatures, for example). You might use the project to fill this gap. You may want to study linguistics further, or some topic in the history of the English language. Perhaps you have a budding interest in some branch of contemporary literary theory. The Senior Project is an appropriate way to explore all such interests.
Faculty members can help you choose a topic. In the English Department office you can get a list of faculty members' particular interests and specialties. At least midway through the semester before you will register for the Senior Project, you should choose a professor whose interests seem to coincide with yours, visit her or him during office hours, and discuss possibilities together. By the beginning of the following semester (i.e., the semester in which you actually undertake your project), not only should you have decided upon a project advisor, but with his or her help, you should have settled upon a topic and tentatively determined the scope and goals of your project.
"Creative" Projects
Normally the Senior Project results in a twenty to twenty-five-page critical essay. Our major leads to a B.A., not a B.F.A.; it aims to make you an intelligent and appreciative reader, interpreter and critic of literary texts and other expressive culture, but not necessarily a producer. The boundaries implied by such distinctions are not hard and fast, however, and "creative" Senior Projects--original stories, poetry, or creative nonfiction, for example--may be allowed if the student is judged to be adequately prepared. (Evidence of preparation may include ample coursework in creative writing and/or samples of creative work written before the Senior Project is undertaken.)
Registration Procedures
Obtain a Senior Project approval form from the English Department. Take
this form to the faculty member who has agreed to supervise your project
and fill out the form together. Have the faculty member sign this form.
Bring the signed form to the English Department office for review and approval.
After obtaining this approval, you may register on the web. Make sure
you have registered for both English 490 and English 492.
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