Spring 2009

ENG 499: ENGLISH SENIOR PROJECT

GENERAL INFORMATION

• Course Convener : Fidel Fajardo-Acosta
• Office: Hitchcock Communication Arts Building (CA) Room 304 A
• Office Telephone: (402) 280-2522
• E-mail: fajardo@creighton.edu
• Home Page: http://mockingbird.creighton.edu/english/fajardo/

THIS DOCUMENT IS INTENDED FOR GENERAL INFORMATION PURPOSES ONLY. OFFICIAL INFORMATION ON THIS COURSE IS AVAILABLE TO ENROLLED STUDENTS IN BLUELINE:

HTTPS://BLUELINE.CREIGHTON.EDU

ENGLISH 499: SENIOR PROJECT
GUIDELINES AND DEADLINES
COURSE DESCRIPTION

This is a course designed for senior English majors; its purpose is to provide a capstone for your
work in the major and your specialization (if any). You will work on your own project--a senior
thesis appropriate to your course of study or a creative writing project if you have specialized in
creative writing--directed by a faculty supervisor. Along with your final thesis/project, you will be
required to submit a reflective essay that examines how your project serves as a culmination to
your course of study within the major.

The senior project is meant to be a culmination of your work as a major in the English
Department, a meaningful and permanent record of your hard work. Over the course of the term,
you and your supervisor will confer over revisions of your senior project. It's very important to
stick to the schedule outlined below so that you have plenty of time to produce a portfolio you and
your supervisor can be proud of.

Each term a different faculty member will be assigned the job of convening the English 499
students, projects, and supervisors. Though the course is listed on the Registrar's schedule as
meeting MWF 8:30-9:20, this is in order to make sure all students are more likely to be available
for one or more meetings of the entire group of Senior Project students for that term. There will be
one meeting in the first week of term. Others may be added by the convener.

The focus of your thesis/project will be determined in consultation with your academic advisor
and/or your faculty supervisor. Again, the thesis/project must be appropriate to your course of
study and, if applicable, your specialization (for example, it would not be appropriate to propose a
work of fiction if you have not taken the required creative writing courses, or a thesis subject in an
area in which you have taken no courses). Projects in alternative media--for example, hypertext,
digital multimedia, or film, among other possibilities--will be considered with approval of both the
supervisor and the department chair.

Where appropriate and agreed upon by your supervisor, your final project may include revisions
of, or work based upon, assignments from previous classes in the major. (For example, you might
propose an expanded thesis based on a paper written in a genre course, or revisions of poetry
written for a poetic forms course, and so forth). A portfolio of your final project will be kept on file
in the department for assessment purposes; you will keep a copy for yourself.

Specific information about the length and format of your creative or scholarly project is listed
below.

PREREQUISITES
This course should be taken in your final year of work in the major, so that you will have ample
background and material to draw upon for your project. You should consult closely with your
academic advisor about when would be the most appropriate semester (spring or fall) for you to
enroll in the course.

COURSE GOALS
Your senior project will provide concrete evidence of your hard work and achievements as an
undergraduate and should represent your very best work. In producing and presenting your
thesis or creative writing project, you are expected to:
2
1. Demonstrate mastery of the techniques and habits of mind associated with the
appropriate writing mode (professional, creative, scholarly).
2. Engage in all appropriate stages of an advanced-level major project in the appropriate
area of English studies (see above), from proposal and research to finished project.
3. Reflect on and develop your own thinking, reading, research, and writing processes,
understanding and delineating your strengths, challenges, purposes and goals.
4. Engage writing as a social, professional, and/or artistic process, demonstrating skills
necessary to participate effectively in a community of writers and thinkers.

REQUIRED TEXTS :
These will be assigned by your supervisor, as appropriate for your individual project.

ATTENDANCE & PARTICIPATION
This class provides an opportunity for you to take your first steps toward graduate or professional
work in your area of study. It’s important, therefore, to commit yourself fully to the work of the
course. Your best efforts are expected. It is your responsibility to make certain your supervisor’s
specific expectations are clear; ask if you are uncertain.
It is a good idea if you have already made contact with your potential supervisor prior to the start
of the semester.

COURSE SCHEDULE
Although all students pursuing the senior project in a given semester will meet as a group in the
first week of the semester, English 499 is primarily a tutorial class, which means you meet
individually with your faculty supervisor throughout the term according to a schedule you will
establish with her or him. A typical schedule will conform to the following sequence of deadlines:

First week:
Initial meeting with all senior project students and that term's convener.
Note that the convener may schedule more than one meeting during the
term. Otherwise, all meetings are with the project supervisor at an
agreed-upon time and place. In the first week of term, or even before the
term, you should meet with your supervisor to establish the focus of
project, the meeting schedule, assigned text(s), and any other details.

Second week:
Written proposal and plan of work prepared with supervisor and
submitted to be on record with convener no later than the end of the
second week.

By Term Break:
Rough draft of thesis/project due to supervisor for commentary and
subsequent revision.

Seventh week:
(If project/thesis calls for “outside readers” – to be decided with
supervisor – choose and contact faculty readers.)

Eleventh week: (or as determined with supervisor)
Final draft due to supervisor for approval.

Twelfth week: (or as determined with supervisor)
(Final draft to any outside readers, if applicable.)

Near End of term:
The Senior Project Presentation will take place near the end of term. It is
a public event. Feel free to invite family and friends. More and more, this
event has become deeply important to the English department's majors
and faculty. It's the chance for our graduating seniors to share their talent
and hard work, a way of summing up their time as an English major.
Each year, attendees come away very impressed by the presentations--
by the variety of subjects and approaches, the depth of insight, and the
strength and beauty of the writing. Please take this important event as
seriously as we do, by preparing well and being sure to fit your
presentation to the time-frame you're given.

The English Department will be surveying English 499 students as part
of its program assessment efforts. Completing the survey will take only a
few minutes, it will help the Department improve its policies and
procedures for future majors, and submitting a completed survey makes
you eligible for a valuable prize.

By the last day of term:
No later than the last official day of term, submit the approved final
project, along with the summative essay, via email to the supervisor and
to the department chair (to be placed on file in the department).

The number of class meetings and interim deadlines will vary depending on the needs of your
thesis/project, and will be determined by you and your supervisor. You will need to agree upon
and write up a project proposal and a schedule of work, to be submitted to the convener for the
term by the end of the second week of the semester.

GRADING
Your grade for this course will be reported by your project supervisor. For English department
grading standards for scholarly projects and creative writing projects, see below.

MANUSCRIPT SPECIFICATIONS
Detailed information on the rationale, format, and procedures for scholarly projects and creative
writing projects below. There is a sample of the ms. specifications for creative writing mss., and
for scholarly project mss.

PLAGIARISM
Plagiarism is a serious academic crime. The university guidelines on such academic misconduct
are available on the web at
https://www2.creighton.edu/fileadmin/user/CCAS/docs/acadhonesty.html; if you have not already
done so, make sure you read them. A student may be expelled from the University for
plagiarism; specific penalties for plagiarism in this course will be determined by your supervisor.
Don’t be careless; don’t follow a bad impulse. Talk to your supervisor if you have any questions
or are having problems with your work.

MANUSCRIPT SPECIFICATIONS FOR THE SENIOR PROJECT IN LITERARY SCHOLARSHIP

RATIONALE
The senior project is meant to be the culmination of your work in the major, and in particular, in
your area of scholarly concentration, if any. It should represent the very best work you are
capable of producing, and should stand as a strong and original contribution to the field of English
Studies.

You should think about your senior project as a small monograph or short book, although it will
not likely be that long. You may divide the project up into individual chapters or sections if that
would be helpful. The important thing to remember is that the scope of this project is more
ambitious than that of a typical term paper. At the same time as you will be able to go further than
you would be able to in a typical term paper, however, it is important to remember that within that
more ambitious scope you must also have a topic that is appropriate. As such, a comparison of
all temptress figures in British literature or a history of the use of metaphor in lyric poetry may be
beyond the extent of a one-semester project. It is perfectly appropriate to develop a paper that
you began in another course, or to link and develop essays from more than one previous course,
bearing in mind, however, that you will be doing more than simply producing an anthology of your
best essays. The senior project is not a portfolio of your 3 or 4 best pieces from prior classes
collated with no revisions. The senior project can bring together previous work but must develop
it in new directions, beyond its previous form, demonstrating substantial revision.

Anyone who wants to produce a project that may fall outside of the realm of the traditional
research/scholarly or creative writing project should speak to his/her faculty advisor and the
department chair.

Whatever the provenance or constitution of your project, the first section of the project will be a
separate personal essay in which you discuss your reasons for selecting your project topic, your
successes and your struggles with that topic, how the topic relates to the rest of the work you
have done within the major, and why your work in English studies matters to you.

Over the course of the semester, you and your supervisor will be conferring closely and
discussing drafts and revisions. It is very important to stick to the schedule you have set up with
your supervisor and that is broadly outlined on the attached syllabus. You will want to give
yourself plenty of time to do your very best work.

FORMAT
Think of the senior project as a book. It is important to produce a manuscript that you would be
proud to send to a graduate admissions committee, a possible employer, or a publisher. In other
words, not only do you want to make sure that your writing is of the very best quality, but that the
presentation of the manuscript is professional as well.
The length should be at least 35 pages (counting the five-page introductory essay). The
manuscript must contain no typing, spelling, punctuation, or grammar errors of any kind.
Use a standard 12-point black font.
Make the margins 1 1/2 inches all around. Double-space non-fiction and fiction,
beginning each new section halfway down the page, with that section's title
centered (see sample below). Poems may be single-spaced and should be
placed flush-left on the vertical and horizontal center of the page (see sample
below).
Reproduce the prefatory pages exactly (see examples below) and include them in this
order as part of your final copy (title page, permissions form [if you accept its
terms], approval page(s), contents page, body). If you like, you may include a
dedication page and/or an epigraph page before the body of the collection
(center text and place it just above the center of the page).
Pages must be numbered, but don't begin numbering pages until the first page of the
body.
Title your collection with an evocative phrase that indicates something important about
the work.

ALTERNATIVE MEDIA
The length or scope and mode of presentation for projects in alternative media must be approved
by the supervisor and the convener.

GRADING CRITERIA FOR THE SENIOR PROJECT IN LITERARY SCHOLARSHIP
The final project for this course is part of the evidence of the student’s progress in the English
curriculum. As such, it is taken seriously by the convener, the instructor, and the student as the
product of a professional in the field. What follows are expectations for particular grade levels for
such a project (realizing, in each case, that the particular requirements of the particular project
will inform the grading process.
An A project is consistently excellent professional work. It has no mechanical errors; its writing is
clear, direct, vivid, and graceful, free of clichés or generalities. It explains itself—that it, it reveals
clearly and fully its significance within and to the field. It shows a full awareness of relevant
scholarship or other work in the field, and uses this scholarship in appropriate and relevant ways
in the project. It takes its place within existing scholarship, yet distinguishes itself from that
scholarship.
An A project is often separated from a B project by several things: the fullness of the detail and
discussion; the sharpness of the points made; the originality of the view, outlook or position taken;
and the consistency of the insight and language. A B project therefore is a very good project,
consistently exceeding the basic requirements of the course.
A C project largely fulfils the requirements of the course, but does little to go further. It is
coherent, makes valid points, may be interesting, has some appropriate detail, and has relevance
to the field. Its language is clear, and largely avoids mechanical error.
D and F projects are usually so for a number of reasons. They may have faults in language,
expression, or logic; they may be very general, providing little evidence to support their
assertions; the assertions may be vague; they may misuse or ignore appropriate scholarship.

MANUSCRIPT SPECIFICATIONS FOR SENIOR PROJECT IN CREATIVE WRITING

RATIONALE
The senior project is meant to be a culmination of your work in the creative writing specialization,
a collection of the best writing you've produced, creating a meaningful and permanent record of
your hard work.

FORMAT
You should think of the Senior Project as a book, even though it probably won't be as long as
that. Be careful to produce a manuscript that you would be proud to send to the admissions
committee of a graduate writing program or to a publisher. In other words, be very careful not only
with the writing but also with presentation. The portfolio can take many forms: a single essay
(creative non-fiction), a collection of essays, a group of poems or stories, a novel (or part of a
novel), a full-length or partial play or several one-acts, a full-length or partial screenplay, or a
combination of these things. Anyone who wants to produce a kind of writing that falls outside
these categories should speak to his or her faculty supervisor. The works included may be
revisions of previously written work, brand new work, or a combination of the two.
Whatever the makeup of your collection, the first piece will be a personal essay in which you
discuss any or all of the following topics: your reasons for writing, your aesthetic, why creative
writing matters to you. This essay should be at least five double-spaced pages long.
The length should be at least 25 pages for a collection of poetry, at least 35 for a collection of
fiction, and at least 35 for a combined collection of fiction and poetry. Don't forget to add the fivepage
essay to your count.
The manuscript must contain no typing, spelling, punctuation, or grammar errors of any kind.
Use a standard 12-point black font.
Make the margins 1 1/2 inches all around. Double-space non-fiction and fiction,
beginning each new section halfway down the page, with that section's title
centered (see sample below). Poems may be single-spaced and should be
placed flush-left on the vertical and horizontal center of the page (see sample
below).
Reproduce the following prefatory pages exactly and include them in this order as part of
your final copy (title page, permissions form [if you accept its terms], approval
page(s), contents page, body). If you like, you may include a dedication page
and/or an epigraph page before the body of the collection (center text and place
it just above the center of the page).
Pages must be numbered, but don't begin numbering pages until the first page of the
body.
Title your collection with an evocative phrase that indicates something important about
the work.

CREATIVE WRITING GRADING STANDARDS
Evaluating a work of creative writing isn't merely a matter of preference or opinion. There are
objective, impartial standards. In general, when any kind of writing fails to succeed, it's because
of overwriting or underwriting. This isn't as simple as it sounds, though, because until you've had
a lot of practice, it's hard to figure out what's too much, what's not enough. Students eager to
improve their writing should keep up with the reading assignments, speak up in class, see me in
conference, and pay close attention to my marginal comments on their manuscripts. Here are a
few criteria to distinguish one grade classification from another.

THE A WRITER
The A writer exhibits all of the following virtues and none of the vices of the B and C writer.
The writing has no significant grammar or punctuation errors.
The writing is clear, direct, vivid, and graceful. It isn't burdened by clichés or generalities.
The writer's voice is natural, exhibiting an engaging persona.
The writer's senses and powers of observation are wide open, and he/she creates powerful
mental pictures in the reader's mind. Details are well-chosen and fully described. He/she doesn't
"leave things to the reader's imagination."
The writer takes the reader in surprising, but surprisingly appropriate, directions.
The writer presents particularly apt insights into the people, places, and situations of the world
around us, telling us things we didn't know or didn't know we knew.
The writer shows an especially well-developed control of diction, sound, and rhythm.
The writer does not engage in self-praise and has no axe to grind, but implicitly acknowledges
that there are no easy solutions to our most interesting problems. Instead, he/she honors the
complexity and mystery of human life.

THE B WRITER
The B writer exhibits all of the following virtues and none of the vices of the C writer.
The writer has found a good idea and developed it nicely, avoiding the familiar and easy.
The writer's voice is natural but, at times, opaque or awkward.
The work is carefully structured, proceeding logically from one part to the next. Parts can't be
rearranged without doing harm to the work. The writing is generally vivid, with some lapses. The
dialogue is strong dialogue. The figures of speech are, for the most part, apt.
Grammar and punctuation are free of major errors (fragments, comma splices, run-ons, weak
grammar).

THE C WRITER
The C grade means that the work is adequate, that it satisfies the requirements of the
assignment.
The major problem of the C writer is that the writing is overly general. Even a few of the following
problems can result in a C grade.
The writer hasn't fully explored the material and/or the best methods for presenting it. The central
idea may be stale or not fully developed.
The work feels like a promising first draft in which the writer hasn't fully thought through the
material, carefully shaped it, or polished the writing.
Some aspects of the work may be overly familiar (tired theme, stereotypes, cliché, etc.).
The writing is functional but lacks a clearly defined voice.
The writing itself is awkward at times, making it seem as if the writer has struggled to put words
on paper. Often, the writer tries for "literary" instead of natural language. Not enough attention
has been paid to sound and rhythm.
Instead of creating a mental picture by appealing to the senses, the writer merely tells the reader
what to think. Details are lacking, not fully described, or merely generic.
The writing is often burdened with abstractions, generalities, awkward personifications, adverbs,
uneven diction, and wordiness.

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