Home Page for Senior Seminar--Bishop, Fall 1998

Class hours: Thursdays 3:30 to 5:30, 303 Chapman
Office hours: Wednesday 9 am to noon, 1 to 3 pm, 314 Chapman, 346-0733

Requirements | Grading | Weekly schedule | Link to sign-up sheet

Purpose: The purpose of the senior seminar is to acquaint students with the thesis process, to establish a topic for the thesis, to establish a good working relationship with advisor and committee, to articulate the thesis topic for non-specialists, and to sharpen the focus of the thesis (perhaps narrowing the topic) and fill in the gaps.

Goal: the goal of the senior seminar is to have a prospectus and bibliography, approved by the advisor, at the end of the term.

Requirements:

• Every student will prepare a provisional summary of his/her prospectus (a few paragraphs) and his/her advisor's name by Thursday, October 8.
• As presenter:

  Sign up for presentation date

  Arrange for your thesis advisor to attend your presentation

  Distribute copies of prospectus ONE WEEK BEFORE PRESENTATION

• As audience (the following is the responsibility of EACH STUDENT for EACH CLASS):

  Read and critique each week's prospectuses BEFORE CLASS.

  Write detailed critiques (you may write these directly on the prospectus copy itself). Each critiqued prospectus, signed by the critic, will be given to the presenter after I've eyeballed them for satisfying the requirement.

  Serve as a format reviewer. Click here for a list of format reviewer pairs. Provided with an article from the main journal in the presenter's field or with a style manual, you will go over the prospectus's format with a fine-toothed comb (details count) and note all discrepancies. The reviewer will give me the corrected prospectus, which I will also check for accuracy. (Top of page)

Grading: The senior seminar is a P/NP course, and a passing grade is based on attendance, on-time performance, and completed assignments (including evaluating prospectuses and serving as format reviewer). No student can pass this course without successful completion of satisfactory prospectus and submission of appropriate forms to the Honors College office. Additionally, a student who acquires 10 demerits will not pass the course.

Each unexcused absence = 4 demerits	Each unprepared critique = 1 demerit
Each late arrival to class = 1 demerit	Unprepared or inadequate format review = 1 demerit

Weekly schedule (link to sign-up sheet)

Week 1 (Oct. 1): Introduction: assignment, sign-up for prospectus presentation
Week 2 (Oct. 8): Due: Provisional summary of prospectus (a few paragraphs) and advisor's name
Weeks 3 through 8 (October 15 through November 19): Presentation of prospectuses
Week 10 (Dec. 3): Conclusion

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