Senior Research Seminar

The Senior Research Seminar is an important part of the major in Theology and Religious Studies, a component that is challenging, even demanding. At the same time, it represents a significant accomplishment of which THRS majors, their friends, and their families are rightly proud, once it is completed.

A two semester, capstone course, the Senior Seminar is designed to give majors an opportunity to integrate the knowledge and skills they have acquired, and to hone their research and writing skills, through the production of an original research project. Students register for one unit in the fall semester (THRS 495W) and two units in the spring (496W).

During the fall seminar participants meet with the faculty seminar director once a week for an hour to discuss research methods, including the skills necessary to delineate a research topic and establish a bibliography for a major paper. They also develop facility in the use of a manual of style. The approved topic becomes the basis of a substantial research paper (35-50 pages) to be completed and presented in the spring. Research for the paper, however, begins in the fall, under the guidance of the faculty member directing the seminar, as well as other faculty specializing in the student's area of interest. By the end of the fall semester, students are expected to have worked out, in consultation with the seminar director, a detailed outline of their seminar papers.

In the spring semester, students complete the writing of their paper and present the results in a formal, publicly announced colloquium. Students are also asked to complete an assessment of their experience as majors in the department.

The goals of the senior seminar are as follows:

1. To acquire skills in research methodology, including the abilities to establish a critical bibliography for a major paper and to delineate a research topic successfully.
2. To acquire facility in the use of a manual of style.
3. To research and write a thirty-five to fifty page paper (excluding notes and bibliography) to be completed and orally presented in the spring at an open colloquium of the department.
4. To hone skills of critical written and oral communication and of effective argumentation in the field of theology and religious studies.
5. To develop scholarly colleagueship with the faculty and students of the department.
6. To prepare majors for graduate work in theology or religious studies.
7. To provide opportunity for the department to assess major program in Theology and Religious Studies, both in terms of the quality of the students' output and the students' feedback as to their perceptions of the program.