ENGL 4630-B Senior Seminar Dr. Robinson

Spring 2000

Office: 3303B Newton

Office Telephone: 681-0155

Department Telephone: 681-5471

E-Mail: dwrob@gasou.edu

Website: www.oneeyedman.com/mirror/

Office Hours: By appointment

Required Texts:

William Blake, Songs of Innocence and of Experience

Christoph Hein, The Tango Player

Alfred Lord Tennyon, In Memoriam

MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers

Course Description

The Senior Seminar is a required course for English majors which calls on students near the end of their undergraduate work to tackle an unfamiliar literary topic and write a paper about it. The course is meant to provide both the student and the Department of English with some sense of how well English majors are being prepared. The quarter will fall into three parts:

1. Discussion of the assigned readings (5 weeks).

The three authors to be discussed were selected for the inherent complexity and interest of their texts, for the sizable body of critical writing about them, and with the assumption that nobody in the class will have written a major research paper on the chosen work. Their is no particular relation among the authors or works assigned, though I did provide some variety of genre. The discussion of the authors will be a straightforward introduction, touching on the principle critical questions surrounding each work, and accomplishing as much close reading as possible in the time available.

2. Independent work on a critical project in consultation with the professor (9 weeks).

Class will not meet during this time, but students will be required to meet with the professor privately with drafts in hand. In this particular course, it is not the function of the professor to directly aid the student with the nuts and bolts of research, but to suggest possible general directions of research, and to assess the research done and the arguments constructed from it.

3. Oral presentations of the finished projects and submission of written version (final week of classes).

These oral presentations will be made before a committee of present, past, and future teachers of the Senior Seminar, with the grade being arrived at by consensus. Students will speak on their topic at moderate length, and then they will be asked questions concerning it. Prior to the presentations, we will have a class session devoted to preparing people specifically for this semi-public appearance.

The course grade is based wholly on the final project and presentation. There is no final exam in the conventional sense. I may give ungraded reading quizzes for purely diagnostic reasons.

Summary of Course Requirements:

1. Careful preparation of course materials and active participation in discussions.

2. Responsibility to meet preliminary as well as final deadlines.

3. A critical research paper of at least 12 pages (approximately 4,000 words), not including endnotes and List of Works Cited. The paper should be correctly documented as outlined in the handbook.

4. A 15-minute oral presentation (a summary, not a reading) of the paper to members of the Seminar committee with questions from faculty and students.

Schedule:

Each Tuesday and Thursday after the formal discusions end, I will be present in my office during class time, and class will not meet. It is strongly recommended that students drop in on a regular basis to discuss their progress. I can also be contacted by E-mail.

The following meeting times are mandatory:

Friday 3-3 -- BY APPOINTMENT: Prospectus due (200 words, including thesis and preliminary plan for argument and research). An appointment sign-up sheet will be on my office door during the prior week.

Monday 4-3 -- BY APPOINTMENT: Annotated bibliography due (at least fifteen items). An appointment sign-up sheet will be on my office door during the prior week.

Wednesday 4-26 -- Final draft due in my office by 5 pm.

Thursday 4-27 -- Preparation for the actual experience of the oral presentation and the questioning that will follow.

Monday 5-1 to Friday 5-5 -- Oral Presentations (details TBA). These final meetings have the status of a final examination for all students. Failure to attend on your assigned day to present will result in a grade of "F." All students must attend all of the meetings, under penalty of a one-letter final grade penalty for each absence.