ENGL / WR 403 - Senior Project - Fall 2003
2 Quarter Hours; Writing Intensive; Letter Graded
Instructor: Prof. Cora Agatucci, Ph.D.
On-site EOU/OSU-Cascades Adjunct Instructor
Curriculum Vitae: http://www.cocc.edu/cagatucci/vita.htm
URL of this page: http://web.cocc.edu/cagatucci/classes/EOUcapstone/ew403.html

ENGL/WR 403 - Senior Capstone Project: General Description,
Course Requirements, Expectations, & Learning Outcomes

ENGL/WR 403 is designated Writing Intensive; Capstone; Grading Basis: letter graded. 
Successful completion of ENGL/WR 403 and 407, Senior Project capstone courses, are required for EOU’s BA in English Discourse Studies.

Fall 2003 ENGL/WR 403 students working with Prof. Cora Agatucci will:

(1) conduct intensive exploratory and focused research, and consult weekly with Cora, in order to develop a focused topic for the Senior Capstone Project and annotated bibliography that enables the student:

• to pursue her/his academic/professional interests;

• to build upon previous English Discourse Studies coursework and deepen/extend selected English/Writing knowledge and skills [see English-Writing Program Outcomes]; and

• to develop and support her/his original, independent critical/creative perspectives;

(2) meet regularly during the term with the instructor/advisor to discuss work in progress and present research and proposal notes;
(3) prepare a formal written Senior Capstone Project Proposal
Suggested length (not including bibliography): 8 double-spaced, word-processed pages, conforming to standard MLA style and the conventions of standard written English;
and
(4) a working Annotated Bibliography of 15-20 relevant sources (at least 10 of which must be annotated), to be submitted to and approved by the instructor/advisor before the end of the Fall 2003 term.

Senior Project Proposal, plus Annotated Bibliography, is typically comprised of the following parts:

(1) Title and Approval Page
(2) Introduction
(3) Review of Research
(4) Prospectus Outline for the Senior Project
(5) Project Work remaining to be accomplished in ENGL/WR 407
(6) Annotated Bibliography

Example Proposal by Wendy R. Weber:
URL: http://www.cocc.edu/cagatucci/classes/EOUcapstone/proposalweber.htm

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ENGL/WR 403 Senior Capstone Project Proposal and Working Annotated Bibliography should satisfy Senior Project expectations (see below) for research and study on a focused topic in the student's area of concentration, and demonstrate the following upper-division competencies:

1. independent topic selection, project design, and in-depth study and research;
2. critical and creative thinking and problem-solving;
3. synthesis and application of concepts and resources from other Discourse Studies courses appropriate to a "capstone" Senior Project
4. senior college-level research and study, including identification and sophisticated integration of theoretical and applied resources, primary and secondary sources, major journals in the field, and interdisciplinary relationships relevant to their Senior Project topic;
5. senior college-level writing, emphasizing the genres of the academic research proposal and working/annotated bibliography;
6. documentation of sources conforming to MLA (Modern Language Association) style, and adherence to the academic conventions of standard written English.

Senior Project Expectations

Depth:  Choose a focused topic (issue, problem, questions, hypothesis) within your area of concentration Discourse Studies (literature or writing) that you wish to pursue in depth through sustained research and study over two quarters.

Breadth:  Identify and integrate interdisciplinary relationships and applications across the fields of literature and writing (and perhaps other relevant disciplines as well), which extend and enrich the dimensions of your focused topic and project design in demonstrable ways.

Pedagogical Component (for CUESTE students) must be integrated into the Senior Project to address the topic’s practical future application(s) to the classroom, informed by interdisciplinary relationships across the fields of literature and writing relevant to students' focused topic. Typically, CUESTE students' Senior Project includes designing a lesson for practical classroom application. CUESTE students enrolled in ED 309 are encouraged to use this and other relevant practical teaching experiences to help them identify an appropriate pedagogical problem or issue relevant to their areas of concentration and their Senior Project topic; and to discuss the pedagogical content with the student's CUESTE advisor.

Capstone Experience: Your Senior Project is intended to be a “capstone” achievement, as well as a culminating learning experience.  The project should, therefore, allow you to synthesize and apply, as well as build on and extend--in demonstrable ways--significant and relevant knowledge, skills, and experience gained from previous coursework completed toward the B.A. degree in English Discourse Studies (and, if applicable, Licensure in Secondary Education).

Writing Intensive: This EOU designation requires that a significant component of ENGL/WR 403 will entail writing, both formal and informal.  Formal ENGL/WR 403 writing assignments are the Senior Project Proposal and an accompanying Working /Annotated Bibliography.  Informal writing assignments include research notes/journal, working bibliography, preliminary outlines, drafts, peer evaluations.

Preparation for ENGL/WR 407: You will have primary responsibility for designing, conducting research for, organizing, and executing your Senior Project--with the guidance and approval of your instructor. In addition to meeting the general parameters described above, you should also project your plans and goals for the major research paper and oral classroom presentation for peers to be completed in the second-term course ENGL/WR 407.

 STAGE ONE: Weeks # 1 - #5

Orientation: Preliminary meetings with instructor: topic, research, selection and project development; &
Schedule weekly check-in time with your instructor, one-on-one, in person and via email

Weekly meetings with your instructor to discuss Senior Project topics, plans for project design, work in progress, troubleshooting

Getting Started

Researcher’s Notebook (form of your choice) to record not only research notes (in whatever forms, including, for example, annotations or highlighting of xeroxed copies of journal articles), but informal written tracks of your thinking at various stages of the ENGL/WR 403 learning process.  Such informal writing will also be useful later in helping you write the Senior Project Proposal.

Topic Exploration: Since the Senior Project is intended to be a capstone experience, in exploring topics, I recommend that you make use of what you have already gained.  Even if you already have a good topic idea, the review process recommended below can help you synthesize and integrate relevant knowledge, skills and resources for the capstone.  Look back, reflect and write informally to identify:

• Interesting topics, arguable issues, unsolved problems, and unanswered questions raised in past English Discourse Studies and related Education coursework--then single out those that you’d like to study in more depth and perhaps in new ways;

• Meaningful knowledge, skills, and experiences gained, as well as significant assignments and projects completed, in past courses--then single out those that you would like to develop, extend, and refine further.

•  Overlapping content, theories, methods applications, projects, resources, etc. addressed across your previous coursework--this review may remind you of explicit interdisciplinary relationships you can explore further.

• A list of sources and resources, tapped and untapped, from past coursework which may be relevant to the topic(s) you are considering and may prove useful for this project.

Research Strategy Entries: Develop ideas for your topic and project design, and test their viability, through exploratory research and notetaking.  Such research will be more fruitful if you have a strategy: i.e., (1) What do you need to know? (2) Where are you likely to find the answers?  Consider writing out working answers to the following:

•  important questions to be answered, problems to be solved, issues to be argued;

• your own and others’ leading assumptions, (hypo)theses, and judgments to be tested;

• key terms and concepts to be defined;

• major theories, approaches, trends, and developments, experts, studies, scholarly/professional journals, etc., in the field(s) to be identified and investigated;

•  practical applications, methods, models, and materials to be explored.

Exploratory Research and Working Bibliography/Notetaking: Exploratory research into potential and selected topics early in the quarter can help you generate and explore topic ideas, and/or test their viability, for the Senior Project:

• Does the topic have the potential to meet Senior Project Expectations? Will the topic sustain my interest and engagement over two quarters?

• Write notes for all useful (or potentially useful) sources consulted during the exploratory research stage. 

Prepare Working Bibliography, with Annotations.

EOU Capstone Project Home Page | ENGL/WR 403 | Fall 2003 Course Schedule |
Proposal & Annotated Bibliography Directions | Example ENGL/WR 403 Proposal by Wendy Weber

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URL of this page: http://web.cocc.edu/cagatucci/classes/EOUcapstone/ew403.html
Last Updated: 11 October 2003
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