Major: Bachelor of Arts

The Capstone Seminar in English offers students the opportunity to revise a promising seminar paper or creative work from a previous class. The Capstone will combine the benefits of a workshop and an advanced seminar. Weekly readings will include texts in creative nonfiction, scholarly writing, and literary interpretation. Additionally, students will share their own work and provide constructive responses to other students. Students must email the instructor prior to the beginning of class with a copy of the work they plan to revise during the quarter. This capstone will be especially useful for those interested in preparing a strong writing sample for future applications, and for those who wished they had had more time to develop a previous, and still interesting, text.

The Honors Program in English provides another way for majors concentrating on literature to fulfill the capstone requirement. Students in the honors program participate in an honors seminar, perform individual research to develop an honors thesis in consultation with faculty and graduate-student advisors, and present their work at a public honors colloquium in the spring. Honors theses may be nominated for various awards within the department and the School of Humanities and Sciences.

Please see the Honors Requirement section below for further details.

English majors concentrating in Creative Writing may fulfill the capstone requirement by completing a workshop in their area of specialty.

English majors concentrating in Interdisciplinary Studies who would like to complete a capstone project related to their area of concentration may present for approval to the Director of Undergraduate Studies a proposal for individual study in their senior year.

Unit count will vary depending on the project.

Leveraging the unique resources of the Literary Lab, students will undertake their capstone project through a Lab course. Seniors in the track will be required to attend all meetings during the quarter that they take the course, as well as join a project and contribute to its research. Students may also choose to undertake their own research project within the Lab at the discretion of their advisor.

Twenty-five units of elective literature courses chosen from among those offered by the Department of English. Students must select two of these courses in relation to their interdisciplinary focus.

Fifteen units related to the area of inquiry. These courses may be chosen from another department or interdisciplinary program within the School of Humanities and Sciences; they must form a cohesive study program to your selected literature courses and must be pre-approved by the Director of Undergraduate Studies.

Elective courses must be taken for at least 3 units, and the total number of courses must equal 20 units. (One of the courses may be fulfilled with a creative writing workshop).

• Two upper division courses of special relevance to the study of Philosophy and Literature. Both of these courses must be in the English department. A list of approved courses is available on this Philosophy and Literature website opens in a new tab.

• Two additional elective courses in the English department.

• One capstone seminar course of relevance to the study of Philosophy and Literature. A list of approved courses is available on this Philosophy and Literature website. opens in a new tab

Elective units must be from the English Department.

Elective courses must be taken for at least three units, and the total number of courses must equal 20 units. These units may be taken as Literature or Creative Writing courses. Students may substitute ONE course for a relevant class taught elsewhere in the University, in consultation with your advisor.