This course offers the English major whose grade point average is at least 3.00 the opportunity to pursue a topic or an idea of interest that has arisen out of another course already completed. It is not intended to be a means by which a student may take privately a course normally offered in the curriculum.
The student is expected to:
- Secure a professor’s permission to be the student’s mentor. This must be done prior to the semester in which the work is to be pursued; the student may not register for Literature 495 without having first secured this permission.
- Submit the following in writing to the professor within one week after the semester has begun: the topic or area of interest to be pursued, a proposed reading list, a schedule of the number of private meetings desired with the professor, the types of papers to be submitted, and an indication of credit desired (1-4 hours)
- The professor will promptly make suggestions or additions to insure that the amount of work proposed is sufficient for the credit desired and that the proposal does not put an unacceptable burden on the professor’s workload. A copy of the request should be returned to the student, and a time for the individual sessions should be agreed upon.
- Faithfully adhere to the schedule. The burden for completing the work according to the agreed upon deadlines lies entirely with the student. The professor may drop a student from the course without credit whenever it is felt the student is not pursuing the work with sufficient diligence to achieve a satisfying outcome.
- Complete all work, including the submission of all papers, not later than one week prior to the conclusion of the semester in which the work is being done.
- Any deviation from the above guidelines must have the full concurrence of the student, advising professor, and chair of the department.