Senior e-Portfolio
In addition to satisfying the course requirements, all department majors are required to compile an e-portfolio of their work and to submit it electronically to the department during the last semester of their senior year. Seniors away from campus during their last semester should make prior arrangements with the department while on campus. The creation of an e-portfolio allows graduating seniors to demonstrate how they have completed the major, and to synthesize their personal and intellectual experience as majors. When students declare a major, they should seek a faculty advisor in the department who will advise them on the compilation of their e-portfolio. It is the students' ultimate responsibility to ensure the completion of the e-portfolio. The e-portfolio is due by April 15 for May graduates or November 15 for December graduates. Each departmental faculty advisor will certify that the e-portfolio fulfills the department's standards for graduation. If a departmental faculty advisor is unavailable, another faculty member in French may certify the e-portfolio’s completion. Completed e-portfolios will be created using the university e-portfolio platform at pugetsound.digication.com. To ensure proper notification of the registrar for your graduation clearance, students must submit the e-portfolio by the specified deadlines. All material must be submitted electronically.
Requirements for the Senior e-portfolio:
1. A personal statement (minimum 2 to 3 pages typed) written in English that documents the student's academic development as a major and discusses the content of the e-portfolio. This statement should include a self-assessment of language strengths and weaknesses, a discussion of how the papers included in the e-portfolio reflect the student’s intellectual development, insights into the target culture, and reflections upon various learning experiences such as specific courses, study abroad, departmental activities participation, internships, etc.
2. A minimum of three papers at different levels demonstrating progress during the student's coursework at Puget Sound or elsewhere. These papers should be "clean" copies, i.e., without professor's written remarks on the paper.
3. The senior paper. French Language and Literature majors (not FLIA majors) must include their senior paper in the e-portfolio in addition to the three papers mentioned in (2.) above.
4. Other optional materials may include photographs of the student’s participation in study abroad or in French-themed activities on campus, final projects from summer research, evidence of internship experience, a curriculum vitae (CV), materials that illustrate integration of the interdisciplinary majors, and/or any other documentation or digital media that highlights the student’s academic progress as a French Studies major.
Senior Paper
In addition to satisfying the course requirements and completing a senior e-portfolio, all French Language and Literature majors are required to write a senior paper as per the requirements below. The senior paper is required of all majors except FLIA majors.
Topic: The senior paper in French Studies is necessarily a work of literary analysis. For interdisciplinary or double majors, this paper ideally allows the student to explore an interface between different academic areas of interest as expressed in the literary world. The topic should be determined in consultation with the adviser for the senior paper.
Process and Method: The senior paper is a process project written under the guidance of a faculty member in French Studies either for a class or as a guided independent study project.
Students should choose their advisor for the senior paper during the semester prior to their final semester at Puget Sound and with that faculty member determine a topic and establish a plan for the completion of the senior paper. The senior paper must demonstrate the ability to do literary analysis appropriate to the undergraduate level in French, as well as facility with and awareness of critical method, and must draw upon a bibliography of primary and secondary sources. It will showcase a student’s abilities to think critically, research and express a strong argument in French.
The professor of the upper-division course or independent study may establish additional criteria for the senior paper within the parameters of the course or independent study. The senior paper will be included in the senior e-portfolio (see above).
Length: A minimum of 3,500 words, double-spaced, 12 font.
Due date: Determined in consultation with the faculty member teaching the upper‐division course or supervising the independent study option, but no later than April 15th for May graduates, or November 15th for December graduates.
Language: French
Format: Consistent with the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers guidelines.
Evaluation: The faculty member of the course in which the paper is written will evaluate the paper, and a copy of the final version will be available to the remaining faculty in French Studies, and retained in the department electronic files.