• Individual instructors may assemble a group of texts that will allow students to meet the objectives and specifications outlined above. No specific texts are required.

• A capstone seminar designed to assess students' learning in the program.  The course will integrate literature, theory and writing, centering on an idea, a theoretical issue or critical concern in literary studies. Required for the English major.
• Cannot be taken until ENGL 1101, 1102 and core area F have been completed with a minimum passing grade of C.
• A minimum of 18 hours of upper level classes must also have been completed.
• Requires permission of the department chair.
• Not offered during the summer session.
• A further specific description pertaining to this section of the course may be added.

Course Goals

•  Students will understand and apply select theoretical and practical issues in the discipline of literary studies.
•  Students will become conversant with representative texts and a selected issue in literary history that allows for integration of the aims of the discipline.
• Students will develop the ability to work both independently and collaboratively toward the publication of an anthology of essays by class members.
• Students will propose, research, and execute a substantive literary argument appropriate to the seminar topic.
• Students will be able to make effective oral presentations, both individual and collaborative.
• Students will participate in an end-of-semester exit interview to assess how the course and the major have served their professional goals
• Students will demonstrate in both oral and written work a discipline-specific critical facility through convincing and well-supported analysis of related material.
• Students will demonstrate their command of academic English and the tenets of sound composition by means of thesis-driven analytical prose.

Program Goals

• This course fulfills one of the departmental requirements for the completion of the English major.
• Students will develop the analytical, oral and written skills to pursue graduate study or careers in teaching, writing, business and a variety of other fields.
• Students will be able to define and pursue independent research agendas.
• This course contributes to the program goal of equipping students with a foundation in literary history and the issues surrounding literary study in contemporary culture.
• This course broadens students' desire and ability to take pleasure in their encounter with literature.

• This course, required of all English majors, must be taken during the final semester of course work within the English major. Enrollment will be limited to twelve (12) students in each section in order to facilitate a seminar format. In keeping with that format, the class will be discussion, rather than lecture, driven, and all professors teaching ENGL 4384 will be committed to encouraging students toward independent and collaborative work generated by the class members rather than solely by the teacher.
• Proposed sections of ENGL 4384 must involve the three elements of study that students in an English major encounter: literature, theory and writing. To this end, professors will center their course on an idea, theoretical issue or critical concern in literary studies which is illustrated by readings of a theoretical nature in tandem with one or more appropriate literary texts selected according to the professor’s specialty.  The class should not become dominated by those literary texts since their primary focus is to provide a concrete instance of the idea, theoretical issue or critical concern which anchors the course. Since the course functions as a capstone for the English major, the students should be able to draw on their previous experience as students of English in their selection and execution of their final projects.

• While these may include various combinations of instruments ranging from reading quizzes, response papers, and presentations to longer essays, including documented essays, students in all sections should produce a 15-20 page research documented essay for inclusion in the final anthology in order to meet departmental expectations.
• The primary written product generated by the class will be an anthology of 15-20 page essays produced by the students, essays which share the class’s central focus but which are based on texts not limited by period, genre or country of origin. The focus of the course must therefore be considered in terms broad enough to facilitate such a range of final projects, even though the professor’s selection of illustrative texts for classroom study may be very tightly focused. It is recommended that, in instances where a student’s final project is significantly outside the professor’s range of expertise, the professor advises the student to solicit help from other faculty early in the project’s development.
• The papers will be rigorously edited and organized into a collection by the students collaboratively. They will make all decisions about the design of the anthology itself, and will share responsibility for ensuring the quality of the essays contained therein. Faculty will submit all electronic documents to the publication coordinator within four weeks after the end of the term.  Page proofs will be promptly distributed to the faculty member with final edits due two weeks after receipt of the page proofs. The final version of the anthology will be printed and bound, each student taking at least one copy, and one copy being kept by the department. The finished anthology will be distributed to the students no later than eight weeks after the end of the term. 

• Departmental plagiarism policies
• Other policy statements specific to this class should be included on the syllabus.
• A detailed calendar of readings and assignments should be made available to the class at the first class meeting. A copy should be posted electronically and kept on file in the English department office.
• Attendance and Participation: Because of the collaborative nature of the seminar, students should be expected to come to class, prepared and able to participate.
• MLA style should be emphasized and required on out-of-class essays.
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